Saturday, February 28, 2009


“The fifth means to gain the knowledge of your interest in Christ is, by cleaving to Christ, and whatsoever is dear to Christ, in the face of all miseries, difficulties, and dangers.
It is nothing to cleave to Christ in fair weather, when every one cleaves to Christ, when every one professes Christ; but to cleave to him in a storm, when every one runs from him, it speaks out a child-like disposition; it speaks out a Jacob’s spirit. Surely he must needs have much of Christ, that nothing can take off from cleaving to Christ. When the soul says to Christ, as Ruth said to Naomi, ‘whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me, Ruth 1:15-18.


When neither the frowns of men, nor the reproach of men, nor the contempt of men, nor oppositions from men, can take the soul off from cleaving to Christ, it will not be long before Christ speaks peace to such a soul: Ps.63:8, ‘My soul followeth hard after thee, thy right hand upholds me.’ – As Jonathan’s soul cleaved to David, and as Jacob’s soul cleaved to Rachel, in the face of all afflictions and difficulties, this carries with it very much evidence of its interest in Christ.
In temporals men cleave to persons and things, as their interest is in them; and so it is in spirituals also. Christ cannot, Christ will not, cast aside those that hang about him, that cleave to him.”

Thomas Brooks - photo taken from the Internet

4 comments:

Mel said...

Oh, Fred... Wow! (I use that word too much, I know.)

Our family is going through the John Bevere video teaching series called "The Bait of Satan." We watched the 3rd session this last Tuesday, and he was talking about how, when people truly have God... When they seek Him for Himself, and not for what He can do for them, their temporal circumstances cease to matter. They can be as joyful and content in the desert as they can in the rainforest. Because they know that no matter what other people do to them, or what happens to them, nothing and no-one can ever take God away from them, or take them away from God.

That's exactly what this post says to me, and it is precious. Thank you for posting it. :)

Mel said...

Greetings, Fred! :)

I just finished watching "The Secret Life of Bees" with Linnea. You were right... What a fantastic story. I was mesmorized the entire time. Dakota Fanning is a gifted actress, to say the least. I cried broken-heared tears when she was telling August about how her mother died and how her father didn't love her, and that she knew she was unlovable. I'm so glad the movie ended the way it did.

Thank you so much for recommending it. I pray your weekend has been going well. :)

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Fred :)

This is a very inspiring and enlightening post.

However, I always thought that
Christians cleaved on to Christ only when they are in trouble and difficulties and they never thought about HIM is good times. They always take credit for the good things that are happening to them and only went to HIM in times of distress.

Many thanks for sharing.

Have a wonderful day :)

FCB said...

Hi Mel,
That series sounds very interesting and certainly what you mentioned is deep truth.

I'm glad you got a chance to watch that show, it really touched me as well. It was heart wrenching, but thank God for bringing it to a happy ending.
God bless.


Hi Joseph,
I'm afraid you are so right in your assessment of many Christians, and even King David said "in my affliction I sought the Lord", but I wonder, if we don't give God praise for the good times, if they may not come around as often.
I'm sure we have both suffered enough bad that we are very grateful for the good. Thank you Lord Jesus,
Fred