The Seasons Of Your Pilgrimage (Poem)

 

The Seasons Of Your Pilgrimage

In the springtime of your pilgrimage,
There's a new beginning, a fresh view.
There's a quickening of the spirit,
As you find the Saviour walks with you.

In the fervency of your First Love,
There's a freedom and peace to be found.
The burden of sin has been lifted
And the joy of salvation abounds.

In the summer of your pilgrimage,
The burning sun waxes fierce and strong.
Yet amidst all the trials and sorrows,
Jesus still fills your heart with a song.

Jagged mountains block the horizons
But above them your spirit has soared.
You receive more strength to be a victor,
As you patiently wait on the Lord.

In the Autumn of your pilgrimage,
Wisdom tempers your walk with the Lord.
With earthly treasures all left behind,
You find He is worth all these and more!

You're learning to be a conqueror,
Fighting the good fight with help from above.
You're serving Him faithfully with joy,
So amazed and awed at His love!

In the wintertime of your pilgrimage
Your physical strength is fading fast,
But the joys of Heaven seem so near
And you long for your Home that will last.

Now after a lifetime in His service,
Rejoicing, you lift up your heart to sing.
As you step through His door to open arms,
With tears of gladness, you behold your King!

In the springtime of Heaven's glory,
Awed by all the wonders that you can see,
You're filled with His love, as you behold Jesus -
In Heaven, it's springtime eternally.

November 25th, 2002
Jerry Bouey

Jacob's (Israel's) Testimony Of His Pilgrimage With The Lord:

Genesis 28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Genesis 28:20-21 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:

Genesis 48:15-16a And he (Israel) blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.

Psalms 119:54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

The Pilgrim Wrestling With The Lord

Genesis 32:25 And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him.

Our greatest victories are wrought out through pain, and purchased at the cost of the humbling of the flesh. Jacob learned that the secret of prevailing with God and man was not in the strength, but in the weakness and suffering of the flesh. It must ever be so. The victor Lamb bears still the scars of Calvary, and appears as one who had been slain.

Had Laban met Jacob that morning, he would have pointed to that limp as an indication of God's wrath and displeasure; but if he had looked into his face, he would have seen all its hardness and cunning gone, and would have been arrested by the unwonted tenderness in his voice.

The shrunken sinew counteracts pride. - So high a spiritual achievement as to prevail with God might have tempted Jacob to arrogance and self-esteem. But God anticipated the possible temptation by this physical infirmity, which was constantly present to Jacob's consciousness.

The shrunken sinew was the secret of victory. - Had it not been shrivelled by the angel's touch, Jacob would have continued to resist in the pride of his strength, and would never have clung convulsively to the angel, crying, "I will not let Thee go." (Genesis 32:26) It was only in that act that he became Israel, the Prince.

The shrunken sinew makes us think little of this world and much of the next. - From this moment Jacob takes up more of the pilgrim attitude. He finds that for him, at least, the pace will have to be slower; but it is well, for he relaxes his hold on the seen to entwine more tenaciously about the unseen. "The days of the years of my pilgrimage" (Genesis 47:9) - such is his epitome of his life.

(Taken from Our Daily Homily by F.B. Meyer)