Meeting With Earnest Robinson Dana Bay

H299 (Approved of God) H218 (Love is the Kingdom’s banner)   SERENA HOLTZHAUSEN (Not verbatim)   I would just like to tell you a few thoughts that have been in my heart the last while. A few weeks ago we stayed in the holiday home of the Potgieters. One day I picked up their visitors’ book. There I saw an entry made by Ernest in 1965. He gave his address as “Servant’s Quarters,  Narrow Rd ,  Zion ”! That is an address we would all like to have. The highest rank we can have is to be a servant of God.  There is a longing in my heart that I can give my address as that. Even when the enemy speaks to me, that I would say this is where I live. Wonderful that we have the privilege to live in  Zion . The city of  God . I have been reading in Revelations and the description of the heavenly city is one to be looked forward to. As we meet together and have fellowship it is wonderful that we are citizens of  Zion  and we are happy to be walking in the narrow way. We would desire to remain inhabitants of the servant’s quarters until the last.  Jer 31.21 says “Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of  Israel , turn again to these thy cities”. It is a wonderfully comforting thought when we are on a road that we don’t know, but we see landmarks that we’ve been told of.  This is a walking way and isn’t it wonderful to look back and see times when maybe we have not been near, but see times of victory, times of defeat, times of rejoicing, and times of grief. Landmarks to look back to and we appreciate these. My thoughts wonder back so far, from the beginning. As I look back I can truly say surely goodness and mercy have followed me. We can say this already now, and we know it will be all the way. It embraces and encloses us. When sadness or an empty feeling comes and there is so much that wants to discourage and cause distress, just think of the Lord’s goodness. I have thought of the tree of life and its fruit (Rev 22). But leaves are also useful. They can be used for medicine. We read of them being used for the healing of the nations. Sometimes we hear it being said that words mean nothing, But I have often been glad for words; words spoken to me or in my presence that can act as healing and bring comfort. So one is also grateful for words spoken in the past that come back to our memory and they are like the leaves. A fig tree for example has big leaves and they protect the figs. I am also glad for God’s word that brings comfort, joy and cheer.   H304 (Come brothers on and forward)   ERNEST ROBINSON (Not verbatim)   Ecclesiastes 12 speaks of old age and death. V7 says “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”. The only thing that returns to God is the spirit. I remember about 20 plus years ago in New Zealand the older brother there, Nathan McCarthy, said all that is going to matter at the end is if we have the spirit of the lamb, and that is so true. At the end the only thing that is going to matter is whether we have the spirit of the lamb. That is what God is busy with now. Our spirits.  There are three people in the Bible that I find very pathetic. When I read about them I feel very sad and think they had a raw deal in life. 1 – Leah, Jacob’s first wife, who I wish to talk about; 2 – Naboth. He was killed because he would not give up the inheritance of his fathers. It is wonderful to have the spirit of Naboth. This inheritance that is ours ... The standard of the truth that has been handed to us at a great cost ... And it is very sad to see the standard is not being kept up. It is good to have the spirit of Naboth even if it means our life. 3 – Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. I feel so sorry for that man. But the one I want to speak about is Leah. I was brought to the meetings as a small child and been in meetings for about 80 years and have not heard much spoken about Leah. Rachel was not productive. Her sister, Leah, was. And Jacob loved Rachel. Unfortunately men are very stupid. They so often fall for a pretty face. Jacob fell for that pretty face. But Rachel was not a good bargain. When they left the father’s house she was carrying her father’s idols.  It seems she was meaning to carry on this idol worship. Not much spiritual help to Jacob. But Leah was a gem. Leah knew that Jacob loved Rachel. But one thing I can hardly fathom is when Laban insisted that Leah go in to deceive Jacob. How could she have allowed that? She knew. What a terrible blow to any woman’s dignity. The thing that amazes me is she was willing to obey her father. Our Lord knew what waited for him, but he obeyed his father. Poor Leah.  Then she had a son. She called him Reuben, saying “surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me”. My husband will love me now that I have born him a son! But a pie in the sky.  Then she had another son and named him Simeon. This time she said “because the Lord hath heard that I was hated he hath therefore given me this son also”. God hath seen that I am hated! Unloved is one of the sadest words, but hated is even worse. That is how she was feeling. When she produced her third son, Levi she said “now this time will my husband be joined unto me because I have born him three sons”. But he only wanted to be with Rachel. Nothing worse for a woman’s dignity.  Later Reuben found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother. Mandrakes must be nice!? Leah was prepared to let Rachel have the mandrakes in exchange for Jacob to be with her that night. ‘Just for me to have a little time with my husband’. Giving a bribe to be with her husband! She must have cried herself to sleep many a night.   Then the worst thing ... on their way back home when Jacob had to meet Esau. He was afraid and thought they were coming to kill him. He arranged it that the handmaids and their children should go first, then Leah and then last Rachel. Leah in the front. ‘It doesn’t matter if I die as long as Rachel is saved’. Poor Leah, all her life was hurt with sorrow. Anyway Leah didn’t die. God decided to take Rachel away instead.  But the thing I want to say (and it applies to Naboth and Uriah also) is that what matters is what God is doing to our spirits while the other is happening. We know about the formation of the pearl. I don’t think anyone at that time would have been able to guess what a beautiful pearl God was forming in Leah’s character. It is going to glisten through all eternity.  The Koreans have an interesting word for a gnat. They call it ‘one day living’. The gnat only lives for a day. In comparison to eternity our life is like that. One day living. But what remains is what God is able to do in our spirits. In this life Leah would have been envious of Rachel’s beauty and would have thought if I had it I would get on better. But through eternity Rachel is going to envy Leah. That beauty that is going to shine for ever. What happens to us in this life doesn’t matter. Even Naboth and Uriah – what happened didn’t matter, but what God was able to do. That mattered and that is what is going to remain. The only thing that is going to matter is whether or not we have the nature of the lamb.  What matters is what is produced in our spirits through what is happening.   H82 (AB) (Kosbaar’ Goud)   After the meeting Ernest told of some interesting incidents which some may have read/heard about, but two are recounted below: One of the most touching things I heard while in  South America  was the account of how the first workers crossed the  Andes  mountains to take the gospel to  Western Argentina . It was 1928, and there were already workers in  Buenos Aires  and in  Chile . It was decided that going over the  Andes  from  Chile  would be much closer than crossing  Argentina . The workers who were to go from  Argentina  were Jack Jackson, Jeff Goodrich and Henry Savage.  They only had train fare for one of them, so the remaining two would have to walk the  252 kilometers  ( 157 miles ), and over a height of  3,200 meters  ( 10,500 feet ) to the city of  Mendoza  in  West Argentina .  Henry was not strong, so he was elected to go by train.  Since the other two had to carry food and water for the long walk and the weight would be a problem, they only took enough for half the journey, and the rest of the food was made into a package which Henry would drop next to the railway line at a prearranged point.  Jack and Jeff crossed the  Andes  by following the railway line. However, when they got to the place where Henry was to drop the food, there was nothing!  (Later they found out that Henry had fallen asleep at the time the train passed that place so was unable to drop the package).  This meant that the two brothers had to walk all the rest of the way without food.  A glance at the photo below would show you that there was no chance of finding anything to eat along the way either! (This is one of several photos I took of the old, now unused, railway line when we were crossing the  Andes  by bus. In some places the road was quite near the line.) They did manage to get water from occasional streams that they found flowing down the mountain.  They needed to get to  Mendoza  as soon as possible now to save from starving, so walked continually except for sleeping at night.  Jeff told Jack that they needed to stop once in a while to pray, but Jack said that time was now critical, and they would have to pray while they walked.  Jeff later said that he discovered that this was possible!  One night they discovered a cave in the mountain, so went inside to sleep.  The next morning when they came out they discovered a puma's fresh tracks at the mouth of the cave.  The puma would definitely have got their scent, so it was only miraculous help from God that prevented it from going in.  They could not take their boots off at night because their feet were so swollen that they would not have been able to get their boots on again.  Jeff later said that when he finally took his boots off at Mendoza, they were full of blood.  They had been walking for seven days. Anyway, they were rewarded for their suffering by finding very good fruit during their labours in  Mendoza .   Told us about one of our friends, who had a house on the edge of  town. He worked in a factory a distance away. There was a farm between his house and the factory. He was on good terms with the farmer, so every day he walked across the farm, as it was shorter. But, one day that farmer sold his farm, and a new man moved in. The next morning our friend, forgetting this, started to walk across it, when the farmer came out, shouting at him, “How dare you do this without my permission?!” “I’m sorry,” our friend replied. “I’ll go back and walk around.” The farmer replied, “It’s OK this time, but don’t do it again!” So, he didn’t! And, when passing, our friend always greeted the farmer with “Good morning”, but the farmer would just ignore him! One morning he said, “Good morning, that was a lovely rain last night, wasn’t it?” And for the first time, the farmer answered him, “What kind of man are you, anyway? If you did to me what I did to you, I would never have spoken to you again! You must have something I don’t have!” So, our friend invited him to the meetings, and he and his wife came, and both professed! Later on our friend, who had the Sunday morning meeting, moved away, and the meeting was put in the farmer’s home, and sometime later, there was a convention on that farm! All because of a man who responded like a lamb, and not like a goat!