Through the Refining Fires of Affliction to the New Life of Spiritual Spring:
REST, VESSEL. ~ “Requies, Vas.” ~ A VESSEL RESTS.
Has God Our Sovereign Savior allowed unfathomable pain in your life beyond human utterance? If so, take refuge in His paradoxical, great divine work of love and grace. When fiery afflictions come, He is our only hiding place.
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
STANZA 16
•At first it was simple, easy, and light.
Jesus Gives True Rest 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.Matthew 11:28-30
“Jesus invites the weary to find rest and refreshment in Him. He does not extend His invitation to those who are naturally intelligent but to little children, not to the strong but to the weary and heavy-laden…([Jesus] is the incarnate wisdom of God)…the yoke of Jesus, while demanding, is “easy” because it is from one who is “gentle and lowly in heart”. He has fulfilled the law’s rightward demands perfectly for His people, and His Spirit empowers their grateful obedience. Therefore, He alone can provide true rest for the soul.” (Reformation Study Bible Commentary: Matthew 11:28-30) Just as a young ox is yoked to a more experienced ox for training and guidance, so is the student discipled by the teacher yoked to Christ, facilitating the growing process: simple, easy, and light! (Matthew 11:28-30)
•As it grew nearer, the heart grew affright.
The Suffering, Praise, and Posterity of the Messiah
6 But I am a worm, and no man; A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7 All those who see Me ridicule Me; They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
9 But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.
11 Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. Psalm 22:6-10
Both physiological and spiritual factors contribute to the trouble of a man’s soul, causing the heart to grow affright. Yet, the mere complaint of a heart “pressed down, overwhelmed with grief and terror…is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual senses exercised.” When trouble is near, even in “the abject state to which [we are] reduced”, our zeal and love for Christ, and declaration of His holiness, assure us that He is not far from us! (Matthew Henry Commentary: Psalm 22) (Psalm 22:6-10)
•The vessel broke open, word-flooding cries,
ס SAMEK115 Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.116 Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope. 117 Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually. Psalm 119:115-117 20
Approved and Disapproved WorkersBut in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:20-21
Holiness in everyday life is to be the pursuit of every believer! We are to be broken and poured out for our Master’s use as vessels of honor. “Our holy security is grounded on Divine supports.” (Matthew Henry Commentary: Psalm 119:113-120) God’s upholds by His Word, sustaining our hope and safety, even when evildoers seek to shame and blame us. (Psalm 119:115-117; 2 Timothy 2:20-21)
•Sneering, jeering in a conscience’s disguise.
Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law. Psalm 119:153
Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As He says also in Hosea:
“I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” Romans 9:14-26
God certainly delivers His children from all of their fears, the sneering and jeering disguises of the enemy, and is faithful in the afflictions He allows, fortifying our will to know and obey His Word. “The closer we cleave to the word of God, both as our rule and as our stay, the more assurance we have of deliverance…Our obedience is only pleasing to God, and pleasant to ourselves, when it comes from a principle of love. All, in every age, who receive God’s word in faith and love, find every saying in it faithful.” (Matthew Henry Commentary: Psalm 119:113-120) As the Potter, God shows His mercy and power and makes known the riches of His glory in whatever way He chooses to fashion His vessels of mercy, the sons of the living God. (Psalm 119:153: Romans 9:14-26)
