GOD’S CARE
A. B. Parker
Matthew 4: 1, 5–7; Deuteronomy 8: 2, 3, 15, 16
Scripture tells us that God is “preserver of all men, specially of those that believe”, 1 Timothy 4: 10. The circumstances surrounding our brother’s death were both unusual and sorrowful.
Let us not, however, feel that God’s protecting hand was not over our brother. In God’s wisdom He allowed the circumstances which led to his death. The passage read from Matthew’s gospel shows how Satan will even use Scripture to lead us to tempt God as to His care for us. The Lord would not allow Himself to take any action that would put Himself in the position of testing out the reality of God’s care of Him. I feel that this is a word to us, dear brethren. Our circumstances should not be such as to tempt God in His care of us, particularly if we are living alone, as our brother was. We know that our brother was concerned about living nearer to the meeting room, where he would be in closer contact with the brethren, but that desire was never realised. I do not dwell further on that side of things save to say that it is not sufficient for us just to say that we have faith that God will care for us. God would expect us to see that our surroundings and circumstances are such that His care for us is not tempted.
The passage in Deuteronomy relates to the way that God leads us for our spiritual education and blessing. Jacob, shortly before he died, could speak of the “God that shepherded me all my life long”, Genesis 48: 15. Our brother has had a long life; it was over sixty years ago that I first met him. He then was interested in the truth to the extent that he attended the meetings frequently and also purchased a complete set of J. N. Darby’s ‘Collected Writings’ and F. E.
Raven’s ‘Lectures’, both of which may have provided a fund of spiritual instruction for him during his lifetime. We know little about many years of that time prior to his relatively recent years when he was able to realise what had been in his heart ever since those early days—to enjoy, with the brethren, the ministry of the truth in a sphere of salvation and peace. The interim, under God’s hand, undoubtedly was used for some formation, but it was God’s intent that he should be blessed in his latter end. His “latter end”, as I refer to it, is the part of his life that is known to most of us with whom he has walked in fellowship these recent years.
We know the comfort that he has found, and the joy that his presence amongst us has been to us all, but specially to his local brethren. We know what a bright, lovable believer he was, and we appreciated the way in which he demonstrated in his manner of life the practical character of divine teaching. All this, I suggest, would be related to God ‘doing him good’ in his “latter end”.
The Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of God’s disciplinary ways with us, of the way in which as a father God chastens His sons, causing us to go through various experiences so that our sinful nature may be thoroughly judged and full room made for the liberty and activity of the Holy Spirit in us. This is the latter end reached, as that epistle says—“afterwards yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness to those exercised by it”, Hebrews 12: 11. Our dear brother has had this experience; he reached the ‘afterwards’ amongst his brethren. It has been a great joy to witness his development in the truth, the appreciation he had of a fellowship which, through most of his life, he had desired to have part in. God blessed him in his latter end, for which we give thanks.