The Sustaining Thought of God

"The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action" (Daniel 11:32).

I reread Maurice Robert's The Thought of God last month and found so much encouragement I bought several copies and gave them to friends for Christmas. Early on Roberts talks about how the thought of God strengthens His people in difficult circumstances.

To have God in his mind and thought is the believer's constant source of strength. The martyr languishes in the flames but his mind flies upward to God his Saviour and looks forward blissfully to the glory that awaits him even as his body sinks to ashes. The imprisoned Christian forgets the harsh regime of the camp, the daily grind and gruelling labour, as his mind soars upward on the wings of hope to remember God. The weary missionary, struggling with unfamiliar syllables and convoluted grammar in his appointed sphere of service sees beyond the frustrations of the hour as he remembers God, his 'exceeding great reward' (Gen 15:1). The faithful pastor of the congregation in his study and confronted with an impossible daily agenda of duties, brightens in his heart and feels his pulse quicken as he remembers his Master above. The thought of God enlivens all action.

That the infinite God loves us individually and perfectly is a thought that often relieves sorrow.

[W]hat an infinity there is in the thought of God! Nothing can approach in beauty to the idea of the true and living God. That there exists a Being who is infinite in power, knowledge and goodness, that that Being cares for me with a perfect love as though I were the only man in existence, that he loved me before I was born and created me to enjoy him eternally and that he sent his Son to suffer the agony of the cross to secure my eternal happiness--that, surely, must be a thought to end all sorrow. It ought to be and often it is.

What lies ahead in 2012? What trials, what blessings, what challenges, what changes, what loses, what gains, what setbacks, what improvements, what surprises? Whatever is coming, we will find the strength we need if we lean into God and fix our thoughts on the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).