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Palms of Elim: Chapter 20 - Future Unfoldings

By John MacDuff


      "This is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose"--

      "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." John 13:7

      A gracious 'whisper' into the ear of an ardent and loving but impetuous apostle, from Him who was Himself the Heavenly Palm. An assurance well calculated to relieve needless anxiety; and impart confidence, trust, and strength to His people, at all times, and under all circumstances.

      Here in this present world, we have only a partial view of God's dealings, His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished Temple of Eternity!

      Go, in the reign of Israel's greatest King, to the heights of Lebanon. See that noble Cedar, the pride of its peers, an old wrestler with northern blasts! Summer loves to smile upon it--night spangles its feathery foliage with dewdrops--the birds nestle on its branches, the weary pilgrim, or wandering shepherd rest under its shadow from the midday heat or from the furious storm; but, all at once, it is marked out to fall! The aged inhabitant of the forest is doomed to succumb to the woodman's stroke! As we see the axe making its first gash on its gnarled trunk, then the noble limbs stripped of their branches, and at last the "Tree of God," as was its distinctive epithet, coming with a crash to the ground, we exclaim against the uncalled-for destruction, the demolition of this proud pillar in the temple of nature. We are tempted to cry with the prophet, as if inviting the sympathy of every lowlier stem--invoking inanimate things to resent the affront--"Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar has fallen!"

      But wait a little. Follow that gigantic trunk as the workmen of Hiram launch it down the mountainside; thence conveyed in rafts along the blue waters of the Mediterranean; and last of all, behold it set a glorious polished beam in the Temple of God. As you see its destination, placed in the very Holy of Holies, in the diadem of the Great King--say, can you grudge that 'the crown of Lebanon' was ravaged, in order that this jewel might have so noble a setting? That cedar stood as a stately prop in Nature's sanctuary, but the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former.

      How many of our souls are like these cedars of old! God's axes of trial have stripped and bared them. We see no reason for dealings so dark and mysterious. But He has a noble end and object in view; to set them as everlasting pillars and rafters in His Heavenly Zion; to make them "a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God."

      Jehovah, had He seen fit, might, by miracle or otherwise, have studded the march of the Israelites all the way to Canaan with Elim groves. At each fresh encampment, as the guiding cloud gave the sign of rest, an improvised oasis, fringed with trees and musical with springs, might have risen in the midst of the barren sands. The beautiful promise of the evangelical prophet might have had a literal fulfillment--"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon" (Isaiah 35:1, 2).

      We know how different was their experience! Take one of the many similar entries in the inspired record--"Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran" (Numbers 10:12). Their route lay through barren wastes and waterless valleys and under brazen skies--the way infested with serpents and scorpions, their steps tracked by predatory tribes. So also in the case of His people still. Had He seen fit He might have ordained that their pathway was to be without gloom or darkness, trial or tear; no cross, no "deep calling to deep," nothing but seas undisturbed by a ripple; sunny slopes and verdant valleys, and bright clusters of palm, with sunlit fronds of love and faithfulness!

      But to keep them humble, to teach them their dependence on Himself, to make their present existence a state of discipline and probation, He has ordered it otherwise. Their journey, as travelers, is at times through mist and cloudland. Their voyage, as seamen, through alternate calm and storm. They are like the vessel being built in the dockyard. The unskilled and uninitiated can hear nothing but clanging hammers; they can see nothing but unshapely timbers and glare of torches. It is a scene of din and noise, dust and confusion. But all will at last be acknowledged as needed portions in the spiritual workmanship, when the soul, released from its earthly fastenings, is launched on the summer seas of eternity.

      "Give to the winds your fears;
      Hope, and be undismayed;
      God hears your sighs and counts your tears,
      God shall lift up your head.
      Through waves and clouds and storms
      He gently clears your way
      O wait His time--so shall this night
      Soon end in joyous day!"

      "THEN shall we know," to use the words of an earnest thinker, "that the dark scenes were dark with light too bright for mortal eye; the sorrow turning into dearest joys when seen to be the filling up of Christ's; who withholds not from us His own crown, bidding us drink of His cup and be baptized with His baptism; and saying to our reluctant hearts, 'What I do you know not now, but you shall know hereafter'" (Hinton).

      "I do not ask, O Lord, that life may be
      A pleasant road;
      I do not ask that Thou wouldst take from me
      Aught of its load.

      "I do not ask that flowers should always spring
      Beneath my feet;
      I know too well the poison and the sting
      Of things too sweet.

      "For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead,
      Lead me aright--
      Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed,
      Through peace to light.

      "I do not ask my cross to understand,
      My way to see--
      Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
      And follow Thee."

      "When evening comes, there will be light."

Back to John MacDuff index.

See Also:
   Chapter 1 - Divine Immutability
   Chapter 2 - All For Good
   Chapter 3 - The Sympathy of Jesus
   Chapter 4 - The Wind Tempered
   Chapter 5 - The Fatherhood of God
   Chapter 6 - Transcendently Able
   Chapter 7 - Right Guidance
   Chapter 8 - Higher Uses
   Chapter 9 - The Gracious Word
   Chapter 10 - A Reigning Savior
   Chapter 11 - Divine Leading
   Chapter 12 - The Farewell Gift
   Chapter 13 - The Compassion of Jesus
   Chapter 14 - The Lord Upright
   Chapter 15 - Full Satisfaction
   Chapter 16 - The Secret of Submission
   Chapter 17 - A Risen Christ
   Chapter 18 - The Creator and Redeemer
   Chapter 19 - Proof and Triumph of Love
   Chapter 20 - Future Unfoldings
   Chapter 21 - A Great Salvation
   Chapter 22 - Fears Quieted
   Chapter 23 - The Way Known
   Chapter 24 - Prayer
   Chapter 25 - Tender Dealings
   Chapter 26 - Sleeping and Waking
   Chapter 27 - The Return to Zion
   Chapter 28 - The Great High Priest
   Chapter 29 - Fatherly Chastisement
   Chapter 30 - God Unchanging
   Chapter 31 - Healing for All
   Chapter 32 - Divine Power
   Chapter 33 - Providence and Grace
   Chapter 34 - Transformation at Death
   Chapter 35 - The Incarnate Savior
   Chapter 36 - The Rebukes of Love
   Chapter 37 - The Unspeakable Gift
   Chapter 38 - Jehovah Jireh
   Chapter 39 - Glorious Attributes and Ways
   Chapter 40 - The Second Coming
   Chapter 41 - Imputed Righteousness
   Chapter 42 - Christ Ever the Same
   Chapter 43 - The Soul's Portion
   Chapter 44 - Hope
   Chapter 45 - The Supreme Rule of Jesus
   Chapter 46 - The Perpetual Presence
   Chapter 47 - Christ's Deity
   Chapter 48 - THE Imperishable Gift
   Chapter 49 - The Recompense of Trust
   Chapter 50 - The Riches of God's Mercy
   Chapter 51 - Acceptance of the Little
   Chapter 52 - None Cast Out
   Chapter 53 - The Blessed Hope
   Chapter 54 - The Divine Way Perfect
   Chapter 55 - Perseverance
   Chapter 56 - Delight in God's Law
   Chapter 57 - Christ the Propitiation
   Chapter 58 - Fullness of Joy
   Chapter 59 - Inviolable Security
   Chapter 60 - The Safe Deposit
   Chapter 61 - All Power of Jesus
   Chapter 62 - Help in Extremity
   Chapter 63 - Prevailing Intercession
   Chapter 64 - A Pardoning God
   Chapter 65 - A Gracious Message
   Chapter 66 - Perfect Trust
   Chapter 67 - God All Satisfying
   Chapter 68 - Salvation to the Uttermost
   Chapter 69 - Asleep in Jesus
   Chapter 70 - The Last Musing

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