KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD

"Who are kept by the power of God." -- I Peter 1:5.

     Peter may have meant all right, but he trusted the wrong person. He loved Jesus with all the power of his impetuous heart; his life had become so knit to the life of his divine Master, that, like many others, he thought nothing could sever them; but, alas, he trusted Peter instead of Christ, and Peter was a very insecure foundation. His impetuosity which, when rightly directed, made him a leader for good, if wrongly directed, would send him just as swiftly in the other direction.

     No man can trust his own natural heart. It is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?" The unenlightened mind is constantly misinterpreting the movements of the soul. It is a common thing to hear a proud person boasting of his humility, for a stingy, man to talk of his own liberality, or for a vile person to forget his own defects and display the defects of others. The writer will never forget the picture in an old reader of a miserable little hunchback jeeringly pointing at the hump on the back of the man walking ahead of him. The wise man declares that "all the ways of a man are right in his own eyes."

     By overestimating his own strength, Peter got out of connection with the source of true strength. Thrown back on his own resources, like the rest of us would be, he was as weak as water. When he saw his weakness without Christ, weeping bitterly, he returned to his source of power.

     But it takes more than the sight of one's own filthiness to cause true repentance. This comes when our vileness is contrasted with Christ's loveliness, our unholiness with Christ's holiness, our weakness with His strength. When our sins are seen as a millstone eternally dragging us from God into awful and enduring corruption, we are ready to cry, "What shall I do? "

     When Peter beheld the sufferings of Christ his own sufferings looked insignificant. My brother, are you discouraged? Do the burdens of life press you sorely? Do the crosses you bear cause the tears to flow unbidden down your cheeks? Then "consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." Here is strength, here is keeping power.

     John Flavel says, "Are you staggered at your sufferings and the hard things you must endure for Christ in this world? Doth the flesh shrink from these. things, and cry, Spare thyself? What is there more likely to fortify thy spirit with resolution and courage than such a sight as this? Did Christ meet the wrath of man and the wrath of God too? Did He stand with unbroken patience and steadfast resolution under such troubles, and shall I shrink for a trifle? Ah, He did not serve me so! I will arm myself with the like mind."

     A sight of the wonderful compassion of Christ who turned and looked with such melting tenderness on His erring disciple broke the heart of Peter till he went out and wept bitterly. How he was disappointed in himself! How his own strength was shown to be weakness! How he must, in spirit, have crowded up close to his suffering Master in that hour! Let us venture the assertion that he never lost connection again: this was his lesson in the vanity of self-reliance and the necessity of the keeping power of God.

     "Reserved-for you, who are kept by the power of God." The inheritance is only for those who are "kept." The inheritance is "reserved" or kept for a people who in their turn are kept. The same great heart of love that is keeping you is reserving your inheritance. What a day of glad surprises there will be when the great Lover of souls brings the two together! Then the dark things shall be plain, and we shall go in to our glory never to come out again.

     "But angels themselves cannot tell

     The joys of that heavenly place,

     Where Jesus is pleased to reveal

     The light of His heavenly face:

When, caught in the rapturous flame

     The sight beatific they prove;

     And walk in the light of the Lamb,

     Enjoying the beams of His love."

     God has special blessings for His children; among these, one of the greatest is His keeping power. There is not another religion in the world that even remotely professes to keep its votaries from sin. Imagine a disciple of Mohammed, or Buddha, or Confucius, no matter how pious, exclaiming, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded, that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." The very thought of such a thing seems so absurd that it almost causes one to smile. (Some who call themselves Christians would like to place the Christian religion on the same low plain of powerlessness and inefficiency as heathen religions. If you do not desire to be guilty of such a sin, never say again that God is unable or unwilling, nor that He does not keep His children from sin.) The reason of this power of Christianity lies in the fact that in its conception, its origin, its workings, its essential composition, it is divine. It is not simply an emanation from God, having God as its author but now existing independent of Him, but it carries with it the power of God, nay, more, God Himself. Jesus did not say, "I go away and leave my word with you," but, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

     Oh, the joy -of possessing an ever-present Christ! He who dwells in Christ and Christ in him may drink constantly of divine pleasures. In a waste and desert land he may find streams of living water, and bathe his weary soul in the river that makes glad the city of God. A'Kempis says, "Christ will come unto thee, and show thee His own consolation, if thou prepare for Him a worthy mansion within thee. All His glory and beauty is from within, and there He delighteth Himself. The inward man He often visiteth; and hath with Him sweet discourses, pleasant solace, much peace, familiarity exceeding wonderful."

     Then why should we worry? Our Keeper neither slumbers nor sleeps. The almighty power of the infinite godhead is pledged to see us through. We put our money in the bank, and rest easy; but banks break up. We put our seed in the ground, and go to sleep; but seasons fail. We perform our daily tasks and give ourselves no anxiety as to the receiving of our pay; but corporations as well as individuals fail. Why can we not as well, nay, much better, trust God? His promises never fail.

     "There's a heart, there's a hand,

     We can feel but cannot see.

     We've always been provided for,

     And we shall always be.,,

     The whole world was destroyed by the flood, but eight persons, hidden away in the ark, rode safely over the surging waves; they were kept by the power of God. "Few and evil" were the days of the pilgrimage of Jacob (120 years at the time he said this), but in the midst of his enemies God had His hand on him for good, and even the events that seemed adverse were guided by providence, and were part of the all-wise plan in making Jacob a blessing. The cities of the plain were overthrown, but Lot and his two daughters escaped by the power of God. Paul, surrounded by enemies thirsting for his blood, in perils by land and sea, in perils among the heathen and among false brethren could say, "All things work together for good to them that love God," and, "In all these things we are more than conquerors."