I Am Unutterably Vile, If I Can Dare To Criticize The Utterance Of ABSOLUTE LOVE.

There has been too much 

trifling with JEHOVAH!

(Archibald Brown, "Amen, O LORD!" 1894)

"Then I answered and said: 
Amen, O LORD!" Jeremiah 11:5 
[Or, So be it, O LORD.]

Perhaps there is a secret contention 

going on between you and GOD. 

GOD has spoken to you--

but thus far there has not been 

Jeremiah's response of 'Amen, O LORD.'

Here you have the one response 

which a man of GOD must ever make 

to the words of GOD. When GOD says 

anything to him, there is nothing left 

for him but to bow the head and say, 

'Amen, O LORD--so be it!' 

This response is the only one 

that suits a creature's lip.

When GOD speaks--

there is nothing left for man 

but to hear.

When GOD decrees--

there is nothing for man 

to do but acquiesce.

When JEHOVAH gives a command--

what is there left for HIS 

creature to do but obey?

Any other word than 'Amen' 

springs from rebellion. Any other 

response to the word of JEHOVAH, 

simply tells of a heart that wars with GOD.

It is not for men to judge GOD'S 

words, far less to amend them. 

If it pleases JEHOVAH to say anything, 

no matter how stern, how dreadful, 

or how searching--

there is only one position for man: 

that is to bow his head and say, 

 'Amen, O LORD.'

'Oh,' says one, in the proud spirit 

of our times, 'you are making a bold 

bid for your GOD this morning.'

I am. The sovereignty of GOD 

needs to be brought to the front. 

There has been too much 

trifling with JEHOVAH! 

Man needs to have the peacock's 

feathers plucked out of his cap, and be

taught that he is a poor little nothing, 

and that for GOD to speak to him 

at all is infinite condescension, 

and that for him to say anything else 

than 'Amen' is boundless impudence!

If GOD condescends to utter a command, 

am I to go and judge whether the LORD 

has a right to say it? Shall I take 

the word of JEHOVAH my MAKER 

and weigh it in my scales--

and bring up HIS thoughts to 

the paltry bar of my fallen reason--

and enter my protest unless 

I can see a good reason for GOD 

speaking as HE does?

When GOD promulgates a decree, 

HE does not send it to man to be 

revised.  HIS claim is this, 

"I am JEHOVAH, I, the LORD, speak 
that which is right, and let man say: 
Amen, O Lord." 

We are living in the days 
of the deification  of humanity. 
We hear so much about 'the glory 
of humanity', and 'the triumphs 
of humanity'--
that GOD has become 
little better than a very inferior 
deity who runs after man and 
tips HIS cap to him.

This is not the picture which GOD'S 
Book gives. GOD'S claim is this, 

"I am the LORD, and you are but 
the creatures of MY hand. The brightest 
of MY angels are but sparks struck off 
from the anvil of MY creative omnipotence. 
When I speak, let men and angels be silent; or, 
if they must speak, let them say: Amen, O LORD!" 

This is the only the response 
that suits a creature's lip.
If you can conceive of a being who is . . .
  INFINITELY WISE,
  ALL-POWERFUL,
 INFINITELY RIGHTEOUS,
  ABSOLUTELY HOLY,
  INFLEXIBLY just,  
and all gathered up into 
BOUNDLESS LOVE--
that is GOD.

If such a ONE speaks--
then what is there left for me 
but to say, 'Amen'? I am stark, 
raving mad, if I dare question 
the utterance of INFINITE WISDOM. 

I am unutterably vile, if I can dare to 
criticize the utterance of ABSOLUTE LOVE. 

Idiocy must have taken hold of my brain 
and, alas! of my heart, if I would amend 
anything which HIS infinite holiness 
has declared. The very nature and 
character of GOD declare that 
the only response for man when 
GOD speaks, is 'Amen, O LORD.'

Oh, for that grand attitude 
of resignation and submission to GOD, 
that bows before every word of GOD--
whether it be a silver note of mercy 
from Heaven, or a thunder-clap 
of denunciation!

   ~  ~  ~  ~

GraceGems has published J.R. Miller's helpful one page short article, 
"Obedience that Pleases Christ".