MUSINGS

SPIRITUAL PANORAMAS It always adds to the interest of a view when, at the summit of a high hill or mountain, there is an indicator identifying points perhaps as far as fifty miles away in all directions. There are also spiritual panoramas, and Moses had a keen appreciation of them. His acute vision would have enabled him to discern far-distant objects.

From the top of Pisgah he would have looked “over the surface of the waste” (Numbers 21: 20)—and it is a healthy thing for us to look back and trace the way in which divine mercy and grace have faithfully led and preserved us. But from the same summit, just before he died, Moses was shown by Jehovah “the whole land” which had been promised to the patriarchs (Deuteronomy 31: 1–4). How fine a prospect to look out over the vast range of the inheritance, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him, involving every spiritual blessing. The great scope of Moses’ vision is seen in Psalm 90 as he declares worshipfully, “Even from eternity to eternity thou art God”. But Moses’ finest view was granted to him when, on “a high mountain apart” (Matthew 17: 1), he was found in holy converse with Jesus and beheld the glory of Him who, through His operations in time, has brought into fruition all the purposes of eternity, and sustains all, now and eternally for divine pleasure. It is in the service of God that we get the most glorious glimpses of the grand scope of divine purposes and operations, and of God’s delight and rest in their eternal results.

POWER TO DEAL WITH EVIL Near the Cornish coast we were arrested by the cries of seagulls overhead. Looking up, we saw a flock of gulls and, in the middle of them, the menacing shape of a buzzard. There was no fighting; it seemed as if the bird of prey was being irresistibly moved on. As the gulls acted together in the instincts of self-preservation, it just had to retreat. This left a strong impression of the power the christian has, by the Holy Spirit, to expel from his mind sinful suggestions and thoughts. It also illustrates the way in which believers, set together in the light of the assembly, have power to act should there be any intrusion of

evil in teaching or conduct. How pleasing it is to the Lord to see His people acting as one man so that evil is named, judged, and repudiated, though the desire would be that the persons involved in it might be saved.

FCM