Good Cheer for The Needy

The practical value of a text very much depends upon the man to whom it comes. The song of the troubadour was charming to Richard Cœur-de-Lion because he knew the responsive verses. The trail is full of meaning to the Indian, for his quick eye knows how to follow it: it would not mean a tithe as much to a white man. The sight of the light-house is cheering to the mariner, for from it he gathers his whereabouts. So will those who are spiritually poor and needy eagerly lay hold on this promise, prize it, and live upon it with content.

It is literally true that the needy are remembered of God; and though they may be overlooked by man’s laws, the Lord will rectify that error at the last. In better times also he will so order Governments that they shall look with peculiar interest upon the poor. Using the text spiritually we see—

I. TWO BITTER EXPERIENCES ENDED.

1. “The needy shall not always be forgotten.” You have been forgotten—

   • By former friends and admirers.
   • In arrangements made, and plans projected.
   • In judgments formed, and in praises distributed.
   • In help estimated, and reliance expressed.
   • In fact, you have not been a factor in the calculation; you have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind. This has wounded you deeply, for there was a time when you were consulted among the first.
   • This will not be so always.

2. “The expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.” You have been disappointed—

   • In your natural expectation from justice, gratitude, relationship, age, sympathy, charity, etc.
   • In your confidence in man.
   • In your judgment of yourself.
   • In your expectations of providence.
   • This disappointment shall only be temporary. Your expectation shall not perish forever: you shall yet receive more than you expected.

II. TWO SAD FEARS REMOVED. FEARS WHICH ARE NATURALLY SUGGESTED BY WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY EXPERIENCED.

1. Not forever shall you be forgotten—

   • You shall not meet with final forgetfulness.
   • In the day of severe trouble.
   • In the night of grief and alarm for sin.
   • In the hour of death.

2. Nor shall your expectation perish—

   • Your weakness shall not frustrate the power of God.
   • Your sin shall not dry up the grace of God.
   • Your constitutional infirmities shall not cause your overthrow.
   • Your future trials shall not be too much for you.

III. TWO SWEET PROMISES GIVEN.

1. “Not always be forgotten;” you shall not be overlooked—

   • In the arrangements of providence.
   • At the mercy-seat, when you are pleading.
   • From the pulpit, and in the Word, when your soul is hungering.
   • At the Breaking of Bread, when you long for communion with your Lord.
   • In your sufferings and service, when to be thought of by the Lord will be your main consolation.
   • By the angels, or by any other spiritual agencies.
   • By the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.

2. “Expectation shall not perish forever.” You shall not be disappointed—

   • Peace shall visit your heart.
   • Sin shall be vanquished without and within.
   • Mercy shall deliver in trial and out of trial.
   • Assurance shall be gained, and all its strong confidence.
   • Eminent joys shall be obtained, and an abundant entrance into glory.
   • Let the poor man hope in God.
   • Let him feast on the future if he find the present to be scant.
   • Above all, let him rest in the promise of a faithful God.

Illuminators

The pain of being forgotten is forcibly expressed in the words ascribed by Cowper to Alexander Selkirk in his solitude—

“My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought alter me? O tell me I yet have a friend.

Though a friend I am never to see.”

An aged Christian, lying, on his death-bed in a state, of such extreme weakness that he was often entirely unconscious of all around him, was asked the cause of his perfect peace. He replied, “When I am able to think, I think of Jesus; and when I am unable to think of him, I know he is thinking of me.”

Thirty years ago, before the Lord caused me to wander from my father’s house and from my native place, I put my mark upon this passage in Isaiah: “You shall know that I am the Lord,” etc. (chapter 49:23.) Of the many books I now possess, the Bible that bears this mark is the only one that belonged to me at that time. It now lies before me, and I find that, although the hair which then was dark as night has meanwhile become as sable silvered, the ink which marked this text has grown into intensity of blackness as the time advanced, corresponding with, and in fact recording, the growing: intensity of the conviction that “they shall not be ashamed” who wait for You. I believed it then, but I know it now, and I can write “Probatum est” with my whole heart over against the symbol which that mark is to me of my ancient faith.… Under many perilous circumstances, in many most trying scenes, amid faintings within and fears without, and under tortures that rend the heart, and troubles that crush it down, I have waited for You, and lo! I stand this day as one not ashamed.—Dr. John Kitto.

In choosing a minister, and in all other church acts, let us be sure to remember the poor of the flock: they should, in fact, have double consideration, for the Lord would not have them to be overlooked. Do not let them suppose that they are forgotten.

Let us beware of disappointing a needy person. He sets great store by a promise when he greatly needs the help, and if it does not come in due time it causes him sharp distress. Let us never disappoint one of the Lord’s poor, for the Lord will never do so himself.

What recompenses there will be in the eternal state, and what changes of position! Reputations will have a resurrection as well as bodies. Dishonor and neglect shall be rewarded with glory and honor. Disappointment through unjust withholding shall be doubly repaid by surprises of unlooked-for happiness. The wheel will turn, and that part of it which touched the dust shall mount aloft. Those words, “not always,” are a wonderful abatement to present ingratitude; and those, “not forever,” are an equal solatium under this life’s trials.