November 10, 2022

Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Psalm 51:8-11

We continue from yesterday with the thoughtful young man from France. He understood that the “heretics” rested their faith solely upon the Bible, so he made a decision to study it to see if he could discover the secret behind that countenance of irrepressible joy. In it he found Christ!

“O Father! His blood has washed away my impurities; His cross has borne my curse; His death has atoned for me. We had devised for ourselves many useless follies, but Thou hast placed thy Word before me like a torch, and Thou hast touched my heart, in order that I may hold in abomination all other merits save those of Jesus!”

Quietly, the young man entered upon a firm devotion to the study of God’s Word. The riches he discovered therein captivated and enthralled him! Those who were closest to him urged him to teach, but being timid of personality, he hesitated. At last the earnest entreaties of his friends won his consent. “Wonderful it is,” he said, “that one of so lowly an origin should be exalted to so great a dignity.” That young man’s name: John Calvin.

God has gently and consistently led His people toward the light of truth. He reveals to the earnestly searching heart all of the error, fault, and sin contained therein, but never all at once! While we can look back into the lives of those who led the charge in the Reformation and find fault or shortcomings, we cannot charge them with failing to act upon that light which the Spirit of God had made clear to them. To each of them we owe a great debt of gratitude. Each arose to address the specific point or points to which he was called. Their energies were directed to uplift and care for the spiritually hungry. As fellow members of Christ’s body, are we—am I—to do any less?

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36