The cry of every heart is to have a philosophy to live by, not a philosophy of man that is deceitful, but God’s way of thinking, given to us so that we can adjust to it.
One of the unhappy things about the human frame of mind is that people do not seem to know how to live. They exist with a hope of living by and by. In Russia they would go through great lengths of sacrifice, because they think it will be better for the children, grandchildren, or another generation to come. And I suppose there are a lot of people that live with the hope of things to come.
The Apostle Paul didn’t have much hope that the persecutions would cease, yet he continually lived with joy, and I think it was because he had a certain philosophy. Some object to the word philosophy because it has the wrong meaning in people’s minds. If you recognize philosophy as a love of wisdom (which the word means), then you say, “Lord, I love the wisdom of God, that I might know how to live.
People exist—they want something for tomorrow but they don’t know how to bring out of every day, the joy and the blessing that God has for that day. Every day that you live can be likened to a little grandchild’s plate at the end of the meal. You look at the little pieces of food still there, and you could cry if you were raised through depression times to clean up your plate and eat everything that was set before you, and everything left in the bowls was carefully put in something and stuck back in the refrigerator, to be a blessing later.
Suddenly, it dawns upon me that Christians are doing the same things. At the end of the day they haven’t partaken of all that that day could mean. They haven’t known how rich that day was. They picked at it. They were upset at the things that distracted them, but they didn’t partake of the fullness. God has so much for every day. He has so much for us to live for. I have learned to do that through the years; and the burdens and problems I’ve gone through would have been intolerable, because many of the situations in my life have produced real unhappiness at different periods in my life, sometimes more accentuated than others, if it had not been for the Lord teaching me how to draw the happiness and joy that He set before me; and He gave me in the Spirit a zest for living. I think that you can tell that I have it and I wish you had it too.
Billy Bray, the old Cornish miner that became a Christian, when they use to talk to him about the trials and tribulations would say, “Yes, they are there but I’ve learned to take my vinegar with a teaspoon, and my honey with a ladle. And I think that’s the answer. You can minimize a lot of the things. Maybe you have to take a little of it, but you can take it with a teaspoon, you don’t have to take so much of it—but the honey you can feast upon, because the goodness of the Lord is always there and God will give you the joy.
What are we promised in the midst of this great restoration we’re in? We’re promised, Instead of your shame ye shall have double; and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be unto them. Isaiah 6:7. Everlasting joy—and this is what I want to call your attention to, because so many things pass away. God says there is everlasting joy that we can partake of, and in my thinking I want to change. I want more and more to partake each day of the everlasting joy. I don’t want to say, “Way off in eternity, or by and by in the Kingdom, there’s going to be everlasting joy.” This was part of the restoration, and I think we ought to begin to preach joy to the people. There are enough trials, troubles and problems, and some of those problems just will not go away, no matter what you do—so why not just draw upon that everlasting joy? but learn to do it every day with a zest for it—coming into the house of God with joy unspeakable and full of glory, knowing that everlasting joy is to be a portion; for after all, joy is the second fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, only love precedes it in pre-eminence in Galatians 5:22, in that list of the fruit of the Spirit. The joy of the Lord is to be that bubbling, sustaining thing all the time. I believe we ought to learn to draw upon it all the more. There are so many things in this life, so many blessings that come, and then they go.
Do you remember the story in which a king wanted a word that he could live by? So he called in the wise men and he said, “Can you give me a truth that will be wisdom, that no matter what I’m going through, if I’m going through trials or troubles or wars in the kingdom, that that word will sustain me, and if I come to great moments of exaltation and blessing, that that word too will sustain me. A wise man came back, with a scroll and said, “Upon this scroll are the words that you shall remember day and night, and they will always bless you, and they will give you wisdom.” He looked at the scroll and it said, “And this too, shall pass away.” So when he was going through his hard problems, he’d open the scroll, “And this too, shall pass away.” When there were moments of love and tenderness and great joy he wouldn’t forget to open the scroll and say, “And this too, shall pass away.” There were moments of great success, and great victory, and he’d say, “And this too, shall pass away.” The Psalmist said, … we spend our years as a tale that is told. Psalm 90:9b.
You young people, think, “Oh, if I can just pass through this time of going to school, etc.” You’ll pass through it. You’ll pass through the time of your youth. You’ll pass through the time of your youthful beauty. You parents say, “Oh, if I can just get my children started.” Yes, that will happen. That time will pass and they won’t be children anymore and all you’ll have are scrapbooks and photographs of a time that was. It will pass. All of these things in the transitory scene shall pass away, but I think we enjoy them more, as well as get more wisdom out of our trials and tests as we pass through them, if we have the one thing that doesn’t pass away, everlasting joy—and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. Isaiah 51:11.
To walk with a double portion means that you’re going to get more out of life, than you would receive otherwise. As you go along in the midst of the battle, because you’ve learned to draw from the Lord, you’re like Jonathan who took his spear and snagged the honeycomb out of the tree and went on to slay more Philistines in that day of Israel’s victory.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:15–17. Do you know, we’re not teaching you something that is robbing you of life? The preaching of the living word, of the great restoration, of the Lordship of Christ is bringing you the message of the only things that are going to endure.
Some just want to “raise children.” But children come and they go. And there isn’t anything as total in its disastrous effect as a woman’s life that is shattered when she’s raised her children and they’ve cut loose from the apron strings. When they were little, she was the most important person in the whole world to them. Now, they don’t need her anymore, and she wanders around trying to find something to do, something to fill her mind, because there’s nothing outside of herself to live for. When you raise children, raise them for God and enjoy them every day, enjoy them to the fullest. Don’t be an old nag or a crank, but discipline them to discipline themselves. Let them grow up to be good men and women of God, but don’t hang on, because it will pass. When it passes, believe that you will have a man or a woman, standing in their own right, walking with God. What will you be doing? You will be going on to better things that God has for you too.
There’s the passing scene, but it’s the permanent thing we’re concerned about, that joy. I’m going to take hold of it more and more, because the world every day will bring one thing after another—its bitter and its sweet things that it gives you. I don’t want to miss any of them. I’ll eat the bitter and I’ll eat the sweet, because that’s my portion. But I’m going to have that everlasting joy of the Lord upon my head—the joy of doing the will of God.… He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. I John 2:17. That’s what we will preach to you and help you to do it.
Some of you have gone through things that are heart breaking. That’s all you’re living for, isn’t it, to do the will of God? Homes have broken up because some want to serve God and others do not. They would have broken anyway, but you realize they come to pass maybe more quickly, because the division comes over whether you’re going to walk with God, or you’re not going to walk with God. And you set your heart to walk with God, and the division comes rather suddenly. Then, you have to decide which was greater—the will of God was greater. All of these things will pass with the passing scene. The permanence comes with the man who has the joy of the Lord and is doing the will of God.
One of the saddest things that you could read is from an old Church of England book for burying the dead. For we are consumed in thy anger, and in thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years; yet is their pride but labor and sorrow; For it is soon gone, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger, And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee? So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord; how long? And let it repent thee concerning thy servants. Psalm 90:7–13. Kind of rough—how would you like to be buried to verses like that? What does that belong to? It belongs to Moses in the wilderness—the lamentations of people that were dying because they refused to go on into Canaan. That’s not the story of life, that’s the story of Israel in the wilderness. Psalms 90 and 91 were written by Moses in the wilderness. It was a cry of Israel, “We missed it and there’s nothing for us to do but to die. We spend our days under your wrath.” “I’m not going to bury you, and I’m not going to let you live,” were verses of Scripture that belong to people that are under the wrath of God. I don’t know whether your years will be threescore years and ten or not. We might break through and you might outlive Methuselah.
Let’s begin to live with faith. Down with pessimism, down with the feeling that life is filled with so many woes and troubles. “It’s a wonder that as many of us ever get through life as do”—down with that sort of thinking. There’s something richer than that. Let’s believe in the everlasting joy of the Lord.
I believe we’re facing the most difficult days the world has ever seen—a time of trouble, such as the world has never known. And there will be people that will go mad because of pressures. The insanity rate is going up and it’s hitting the young people. In Luke 21:26, Jesus spoke of, Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.
What am I telling you to do? I’m speaking of the fact to live your life while you can. You may look back at these days and think that they had some good things that were really worth while and you may never see them again. There will be other good things to come that will be better than what you have now. There are days of limitation and fulfillment, but they are simultaneous. Enjoy your families while you have them. Enjoy what you have, appreciate it. When you go to the refrigerator, don’t grumble because you look for something and someone else ate it. Thank God that you have a refrigerator. In the early years of our married life, we didn’t have a refrigerator. Our life was one continual thing of an ice box pan running over, ice water running out on the floor and walking through it. I’m thankful for a refrigerator. For the first five years of our married life we didn’t have a washing machine, traveling around from place to place—you can’t take a washing machine with you. I have assisted, many times, with a wash board and the bath tub and have scrubbed out more diapers than you can count. Now, when I hear that automatic washer, I say, “Ah, that’s nice!” Be thankful for what you have, and enjoy it. There may be days, that you won’t have it. And when those days come, rejoice, because you’ll have something better in God. I don’t know whether I got it across—I’ve called it a philosophy of God’s wisdom for us to live by—live with the zest for living, the joy of it, the will of the Lord. “There’s no thing befallen you but such as is common to man.” You have a good life. You have a good church. You have a wonderful Lord. You have a great privilege of walking with God. You have less restrictions and limitations than you think. There are a lot of things going for you. God has provided a real joy for us to live in. Let’s live in it.