(1) How To Wait
"Blessed is he that waiteth" (Dan. 12:12).
It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one
of the postures which a Christian soldier learns
not without years of teaching. Marching and
quick-marching are much easier to God's warriors
than standing still.
There are hours of perplexity when the most
willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the
Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what
shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in
cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or
rush forward in presumption?
No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however.
Call upon God and spread the case before Him;
tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise
of aid.
Wait in faith. Express your unstaggering
confidence in Him. Believe that if He keep you
tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at
the right time; the vision shall come, and shall
not tarry.
Wait in quiet patience. Never murmur against the
second cause, as the children of Israel did
against Moses. Accept the case as it is, and put
it as it stands, simply and with your whole
heart, without any self-will, into the hand of
your covenant God, saying, "Now, Lord, not my
will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I
am brought to extremities; but I will wait until
Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my
foes. I will wait, if Thou keep me many a day,
for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone, O God, and
my spirit waiteth for Thee in full conviction
that Thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my
refuge and my strong tower." --Morning by Morning
Wait patiently wait,
God never is late;
Thy budding plans are in Thy Father's holding,
And only wait His grand divine unfolding.
Then wait, wait,
Patiently wait.
Trust, hopefully trust,
That God will adjust
Thy tangled life; and from its dark concealings,
Will bring His will, in all its bright
revealings.
Then trust, trust,
Hopefully trust.
Rest, peacefully rest
On thy Saviour's breast;
Breathe in His ear thy sacred high ambition,
And He will bring it forth in blest fruition.
Then rest, rest,
Peacefully rest! --Mercy A. Gladwin
(2) Leave It To God
"Roll on Jehovah thy way" (Ps. 37:6, margin).
Whatever it is that presses thee, go tell the
Father; put the whole matter over into His hand,
and so shalt thou be freed from that dividing,
perplexing care that the world is full of. When
thou art either to do or suffer anything, when
thou art about any purpose or business, go tell
God of it, and acquaint Him with it; yes, burden
Him with it, and thou hast done for matter of
caring; no more care, but quiet, sweet, diligence
in thy duty, and dependence on Him for the
carriage of thy matters. Roll thy cares, and
thyself with them, as one burden, all on thy God.
--R. Leighton
Build a little fence of trust
Around today;
Fill the space with loving work
And therein stay.
Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon tomorrow;
God will help thee bear what comes
Of joy or sorrow. --Mary Butts
We shall find it impossible to commit our way
unto the Lord, unless it be a way that He
approves. It is only by faith that a man can
commit his way unto the Lord; if there be the
slightest doubt in the heart that "our way" is
not a good one, faith will refuse to have
anything to do with it. This committing of our
way must be a continuous, not a single act.
However extraordinary and unexpected may seem to
be His guidance, however near the precipice He
may take you, you are not to snatch the guiding
reins out of His hands. Are we willing to have
all our ways submitted to God, for Him to
pronounce judgment on them? There is nothing a
Christian needs to be more scrutinizing about
than about his confirmed habits and views. He is
too apt to take for granted the Divine
approbation of them. Why are some Christians so
anxious, so fearful? Evidently because they have
not left their way with the Lord. They took it to
Him, but brought it away with them again.
--Selected
(3) Dealing With the Past
"Believe ye that I am able to do this?" (Matt.
9:28).
God deals with impossibilities. It is never too
late for Him to do so, when the impossible is
brought to Him, in full faith, by the one in
whose life and circumstances the impossible must
be accomplished if God is to be glorified. If in
our own life there have been rebellion, unbelief,
sin, and disaster, it is never too late for God
to deal triumphantly with these tragic facts if
brought to Him in full surrender and trust. It
has often been said, and with truth, that
Christianity is the only religion that can deal
with man's past. God can "restore the years that
the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25); and He will
do this when we put the whole situation and
ourselves unreservedly and believingly into His
hands. Not because of what we are but because of
what He is. God forgives and heals and restores.
He is "the God of all grace." Let us praise Him
and trust Him. --Sunday School Times
"Nothing is too hard for Jesus
No man can work like Him."
"We have a God who delights in impossibilities."
Nothing too hard for Me. --Andrew Murray
(4) Rock Flowers
"Thou hast shewed thy people hard things" (Ps.
60:3).
I have always been glad that the Psalmist said to
God that some things were hard. There is no
mistake about it; there are hard things in life.
Some beautiful pink flowers were given me this
summer, and as I took them I said, "What are
they?" And the answer came, "They are rock
flowers; they grow and bloom only on rocks where
you can see no soil." Then I thought of God's
flowers growing in hard places; and I feel,
somehow, that He may have a peculiar tenderness
for His "rock flowers" that He may not have for
His lilies and roses. --Margaret Bottome
The tests of life are to make, not break us.
Trouble may demolish a man's business but build
up his character. The blow at the outward man may
be the greatest blessing to the inner man. If
God, then, puts or permits anything hard in our
lives, be sure that the real peril, the real
trouble, is what we shall lose if we flinch or
rebel. --Maltbie D. Babcock
"Heroes are forged on anvils hot with pain,
And splendid courage comes but with the test.
Some natures ripen and some natures bloom
Only on blood-wet soil, some souls prove great
Only in moments dark with death or doom."
"God gets his best soldiers out of the highlands
of affliction."
(5) The Power of Silence
"Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10).
Is there any note of music in all the chorus as
mighty as the emphatic pause? Is there any word
in all the Psalter more eloquent than that one
word, Selah (Pause)? Is there anything more
thrilling and awful than the hush that comes
before the bursting of the tempest and the
strange quiet that seems to fall upon all nature
before some preternatural phenomenon or
convulsion? Is there anything that can touch our
hearts as the power of stillness?
There is for the heart that will cease from
itself, "the peace of God that passeth all
understanding," a "quietness and confidence"
which is the source of all strength, a sweet
peace "which nothing can offend," a deep rest
which the world can neither give nor take away.
There is in the deepest center of the soul a
chamber of peace where God dwells, and where, if
we will only enter in and hush every other sound,
we can hear His still, small voice.
There is in the swiftest wheel that revolves upon
its axis a place in the very center, where there
is no movement at all; and so in the busiest life
there may be a place where we dwell alone with
God, in eternal stillness, There is only one way
to know God. "Be still, and know." "God is in his
holy temple; let all the earth keep silence
before him." --Selected
"All-loving Father, sometimes we have walked
under starless skies that dripped darkness like
drenching rain. We despaired of starshine or
moonlight or sunrise. The sullen blackness
gloomed above us as if it would last forever. And
out of the dark there spoke no soothing voice to
mend our broken hearts. We would gladly have
welcomed some wild thunder peal to break the
torturing stillness of that over-brooding night.
"But Thy winsome whisper of eternal love spoke
more sweetly to our bruised and bleeding souls
than any winds that breathe across Aeolian harps.
It was Thy 'still small voice' that spoke to us.
We were listening and we heard. We looked and saw
Thy face radiant with the light of love. And when
we heard Thy voice and saw Thy face, new life
came back to us as life comes back to withered
blooms that drink the summer rain."
(6) God's Best
"Take the arrows. . . . Smite upon the ground.
And he smote twice and stayed. And the man of God
was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have
smitten five or six times"
(2 Kings 13:18, 19).
How striking and eloquent the message of these
words! Jehoash thought he had done very well when
he duplicated and triplicated what to him was
certainly an extraordinary act of faith. But the
Lord and the prophet were bitterly disappointed
because he had stopped half way.
He got something. He got much. He got exactly
what he believed for in the final test, but he
did not get all that the prophet meant and the
Lord wanted to bestow. He missed much of the
meaning of the promise and the fullness of the
blessing. He got something better than the human,
but he did not get God's best.
Beloved, how solemn is the application! How
heartsearching the message of God to us! How
important that we should learn to pray through!
Shall we claim all the fullness of the promise
and all the possibilities of believing prayer?
--A. B. Simpson
"Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20).
There is no other such piling up of words in
Paul's writings as these, "exceeding abundantly
above all," and each word is packed with infinite
love and power to "do" for His praying saints.
There is one limitation, "according to the power
that worketh in us." He will do just as much for
us as we let Him do in us. The power that saved
us, washed us with His own blood, filled us with
might by His Spirit, kept us in manifold
temptations, will work for us, meeting every
emergency, every crisis, every circumstance, and
every adversary. --The Alliance
(7) Upper Springs
"And Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou? Who
answered, give me a blessing; for thou hast given
me a south land; give me also springs of water.
And he gave her the upper springs, and the nether
springs" (Joshua 15:18, 19).
There are both upper and nether springs. They are
springs, not stagnant pools. There are joys and
blessings that flow from above through the
hottest summer and the most desert land of sorrow
and trial. The lands of Achsah were "south
lands," lying under a burning sun and often
parched with burning heat. But from the hills
came the unfailing springs, that cooled,
refreshed and fertilized all the land.
There are springs that flow in the low places of
life, in the hard places, in the desert places,
in the lone places, in the common places, and no
matter what may be our situation, we can always
find these upper springs.
Abraham found them amid the hills of Canaan.
Moses found them among the rocks of Midian. David
found them among the ashes of Ziklag when his
property was gone, his family captives and his
people talked of stoning him, but "David
encouraged himself in the Lord."
Habakkuk found them when the fig tree was
withered and the fields were brown, but as he
drank from them he could sing: "Yet will I
rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my
salvation."
Isaiah found them in the awful days of
Sennacherib's invasion, when the mountains seemed
hurled into the midst of the sea, but faith could
sing: "There is a river whose streams make glad
the city of God. God is in the midst of her: she
shall not be moved."
The martyrs found them amid the flames, and
reformers amid their foes and conflicts, and we
can find them all the year if we have the
Comforter in our hearts and have learned to say
with David: "All my springs are in thee."
How many and how precious these springs, and how
much more there is to be possessed of God's own
fulness! --A. B. Simpson
I said: "The desert is so wide!"
I said: "The desert is so bare!
What springs to quench my thirst are there?
Whence shall I from the tempest hide?"
I said: "The desert is so lone!
Nor gentle voice, nor loving face
Will brighten any smallest space."
I paused or ere my moan was done!
I heard a flow of hidden springs;
Before me palms rose green and fair;
The birds were singing; all the air
Did shine and stir with angels' wings!
And One said mildly: "Why, indeed,
Take over-anxious thought for that
The morrow bringeth! See you not
The Father knoweth what you need?"
--Selected
(8) The Lord's Times
"Thou makest the outgoing of the morning and
evening to rejoice" (Ps. 65:8).
Get up early and go to the mountain and watch God
make a morning. The dull gray will give way as
God pushes the sun towards the horizon, and there
will be tints and hues of every shade, that will
blend into one perfect light as the full-orbed
sun bursts into view. As the King of day moves
forth majestically, flooding the earth and every
lowly vale, listen to the music of heaven's choir
as it sings of the majesty of God and the glory
of the morning."
In the holy hush of the early dawn
I hear a Voice
"I am with you all the day,
Rejoice! Rejoice!"
The clear, pure light of the morning made me long
for the truth in my heart, which alone could make
me pure and clear as the morning, tune me up to
the concert-pitch of the nature around me. And
the wind that blew from the sunrise made me hope
in the God who had first breathed into my
nostrils the breath of life; that He would at
length so fill me with His breath, His mind, His
Spirit, that I should think only His thoughts,
and live His life, finding therein my own life,
only glorified infinitely. What should we poor
humans do without our God's nights and mornings?
--George MacDonald
"In the early morning hours,
'Twixt the night and day,
While from earth the darkness passes
Silently away;
"Then 'tis sweet to talk with Jesus
In thy chamber still
For the coming day and duties
Ask to know His will.
"Then He'll lead the way before you,
Mountains laying low;
Making desert places blossom,
Sweet'ning Marah's flow.
"Would you know this life of triumph,
Victory all the way?
Then put God in the beginning
Of each coming day."
(9) Impossible Flowers
"For with God nothing shall be impossible" (Luke
1:37).
Far up in the Alpine hollows, year by year God
works one of His marvels. The snow-patches lie
there, frozen with ice at their edge from the
strife of sunny days and frosty nights; and
through that ice-crust come, unscathed, flowers
that bloom.
Back in the days of the by-gone summer, the
little soldanelle plant spread its leaves wide
and flat on the ground, to drink in the sun-rays,
and it kept them stored in the root through the
winter. Then spring came, and stirred the pulses
even below the snow-shroud, and as it sprouted,
warmth was given out in such strange measure that
it thawed a little dome in the snow above its
head.
Higher and higher it grew and always above it
rose the bell of air, till the flower-bud formed
safely within it: and at last the icy covering of
the air-bell gave way and let the blossom through
into the sunshine, the crystalline texture of its
mauve petals sparkling like snow itself as if it
bore the traces of the flight through which it
had come.
And the fragile thing rings an echo in our hearts
that none of the jewel-like flowers nestled in
the warm turf on the slopes below could waken. We
love to see the impossible done. And so does God.
Face it out to the end, cast away every shadow of
hope on the human side as an absolute hindrance
to the Divine, heap up all the difficulties
together recklessly, and pile as many more on as
you can find; you cannot get beyond the blessed
climax of impossibility. Let faith swing out to
Him. He is the God of the impossible. --Selected
(10) Music of the Storm
"Nevertheless afterward" (Heb. 12:11).
There is a legend that tells of a German baron
who, at his castle on the Rhine, stretched wires
from tower to tower, that the winds might convert
them into an Aeolian harp. And the soft breezes
played about the castle, but no music was born.
But one night there arose a great tempest, and
hill and castle were smitten by the fury of the
mighty winds. The baron went to the threshold to
look out upon the terror of the storm, and the
Aeolian harp was filling the air with strains
that rang out even above the clamor of the
tempest. It needed the tempest to bring out the
music!
And have we not known men whose lives have not
given out any entrancing music in the day of a
calm prosperity, but who, when the tempest drove
against them have astonished their fellows by the
power and strength of their music?
"Rain, rain
Beating against the pane!
How endlessly it pours
Out of doors
From the blackened sky
I wonder why!
"Flowers, flowers,
Upspringing after showers,
Blossoming fresh and fair,
Everywhere!
Ah, God has explained
Why it rained!"
You can always count on God to make the
"afterward" of difficulties, if rightly overcome,
a thousand times richer and fairer than the
forward. "No chastening . . . seemeth joyous,
nevertheless afterward . . ." What a yield!
(11) In God, Not Out of Trouble
"And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek
them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all
flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give
unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou
goest" (Jer. 45:5).
A promise given for hard places, and a promise of
safety and life in the midst of tremendous
pressure, a life "for a prey." It may well adjust
itself to our own times, which are growing harder
as we near the end of the age, and the
Tribulation times.
What is the meaning of "a life for a prey"? It
means a life snatched out of the jaws of the
destroyer, as David snatched the lamb from the
lion. It means not removal from the noise of the
battle and the presence of our foes; but it means
a table in the midst of our enemies, a shelter
from the storm, a fortress amid the foe, a life
preserved in the face of continual pressure:
Paul's healing when pressed out of measure so
that he despaired of life; Paul's Divine help
when the thorn remained, but the power of Christ
rested upon him and the grace of Christ was
sufficient. Lord, give me my life for a prey, and
in the hardest places help me today to be
victorious. --Days of Heaven upon Earth
We often pray to be delivered from calamities; we
even trust that we shall be; but we do not pray
to be made what we should be, in the very
presence of the calamities; to live amid them, as
long as they last, in the consciousness that we
are, held and sheltered by the Lord, and can
therefore remain in the midst of them, so long as
they continue, without any hurt.
For forty days and nights, the Saviour was kept
in the presence of Satan in the wilderness, and
that, under circumstances of special trial,
His human nature being weakened by want of food
and rest. The furnace was heated seven times more
than it was wont to be heated, but the three Hebrew children
were kept a season amid its flames as calm and
composed in the presence of the tyrant's last
appliances of torture, as they were in the
presence of himself before their time of
deliverance came. And the livelong night did
Daniel sit among the lions, and when he was taken
up out of the den, "no manner of hurt was found
upon him, because he believed in his God." They
dwelt in the presence of the enemy, because they
dwelt in the presence of God.
(12) Devil's Burden
"There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people
of God" (Heb. 4:9).
The rest includes victory, "And the Lord gave
them rest round about; . . . the Lord delivered
all their enemies into their hand" (Joshua
21:44).
"He will beautify the meek with victory" (Ps.
149:4). (Rotherham, margin)
An eminent Christian worker tells of his mother
who was a very anxious and troubled Christian. He
would talk with her by the hour trying to
convince her of the sinfulness of fretting, but
to no avail. She was like the old lady who once
said she had suffered so much, especially from
the troubles that never came.
But one morning the mother came down to breakfast
wreathed in smiles. He asked her what had
happened, and she told him that in the night she
had a dream.
She was walking along a highway with a great
crowd of people who seemed so tired and burdened.
They were nearly all carrying little black
bundles, and she noticed that there were numerous
repulsive looking beings which she thought were
demons dropping these black bundles for the
people to pick up and carry.
Like the rest, she too had her needless load, and
was weighed down with the devil's bundles.
Looking up, after a while, she saw a Man with a
bright and loving face, passing hither and
thither through the crowd, and comforting the
people.
At last He came near her, and she saw that it was
her Saviour. She looked up and told Him how tired
she was, and He smiled sadly and said:
"My dear child, I did not give you these loads;
you have no need of them. They are the devil's
burdens and they are wearing out your life. Just
drop them; refuse to touch them with one of your
fingers and you will find the path easy and you
will be as if borne on eagle's wings."
He touched her hand, and lo, peace and joy
thrilled her frame and, flinging down her burden,
she was about to throw herself at His feet in
joyful thanksgiving, when suddenly she awoke and
found that all her cares were gone. From that day
to the close of her life she was the most
cheerful and happy member of the household.
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
--Longfellow
(13) Reaching Perfection
"Perfect through suffering" (Heb. 2:10).
Steel is iron plus fire. Soil is rock, plus heat,
or glacier crushing. Linen is flax plus the bath
that cleans, the comb that separates, and the
flail that pounds, and the shuttle that weaves.
Human character must have a plus attached to it.
The world does not forget great characters. But
great characters are not made of luxuries, they
are made by suffering.
I heard of a mother who brought into her home as
a companion to her own son, a crippled boy who
was also a hunchback. She had warned her boy to
be very careful in his relations to him, and not
to touch the sensitive part of his life but go
right on playing with him as if he were an
ordinary boy. She listened to her son as they
were playing; and after a few minutes he said to
his companion: "Do you know what you have got on
your back?" The little hunchback was embarrassed,
and he hesitated a moment. The boy said: "It is
the box in which your wings are; and some day God
is going to cut it open, and then you will fly
away and be an angel."
Some day, God is going to reveal the fact to
every Christian, that the very principles they
now rebel against, have been the instruments
which He used in perfecting their characters and
moulding them into perfection, polished stones
for His great building yonder. --Cortland Myers
Suffering is a wonderful fertilizer to the roots
of character. The great object of this life is
character. This is the only thing we can carry
with us into eternity. . . . To gain the most of
it and the best of it is the object of probation.
--Austin Phelps
"By the thorn road and no other is the mount of
vision won."
(14) Strong in Suffering
"Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the
child? And she answered, It is well"
(2 Kings 4:26).
"Be strong, my soul!
Thy loved ones go
Within the veil. God's thine, e'en so;
Be strong.
"Be strong, my soul!
Death looms in view.
Lo, here thy God! He'll bear thee through;
Be strong."
For sixty-two years and five months I had a
beloved wife, and now, in my ninety-second year I
am left alone. But I turn to the ever present
Jesus, as I walk up and down in my room, and say,
"Lord Jesus, I am alone, and yet not alone--Thou
art with me, Thou art my Friend. Now, Lord,
comfort me, strengthen me, give to Thy poor
servant everything Thou seest he needs." And we
should not be satisfied till we are brought to
this, that we know the Lord Jesus Christ
experimentally, habitually to be our Friend: at
all times, and under all circumstances, ready to
prove Himself to be our Friend. --George Mueller
Afflictions cannot injure when blended with
submission.
Ice breaks many a branch, and so I see a great
many persons bowed down and crushed by their
afflictions. But now and then I meet one that
sings in affliction, and then I thank God for my
own sake as well as his. There is no such sweet
singing as a song in the night. You recollect the
story of the woman who, when her only child died,
in rapture looking up, as with the face of an
angel, said, "I give you joy, my darling." That
single sentence has gone with me years and years
down through my life, quickening and comforting
me. --Henry Ward Beecher
"E'en for the dead I will not bind my soul to
grief;
Death cannot long divide.
For is it not as though the rose that climbed my
garden wall
Has blossomed on the other, side?
Death doth hide,
But not divide;
Thou art but on Christ's other side!
Thou art with Christ, and Christ with me;
In Christ united still are we."
(15) Set Apart
"He went up into a mountain apart" (Matt. 14:23).
One of the blessings of the old-time Sabbath was
its calm, its restfulness, its holy peace. There
is a strange strength conceived in solitude.
Crows go in flocks and wolves in packs, but the
lion and the eagle are solitaires.
Strength is not in bluster and noise. Strength is
in quietness. The lake must be calm if the
heavens are to be reflected on its surface. Our
Lord loved the people, but how often we read of
His going away from them for a brief season. He
tried every little while to withdraw from the
crowd. He was always stealing away at evening to
the hills. Most of His ministry was carried on in
the towns and cities by the seashore, but He
loved the hills the best, and oftentimes when
night fell He would plunge into their peaceful
depths.
The one thing needed above all others today is
that we shall go apart with our Lord, and sit at
His feet in the sacred privacy of His blessed
presence. Oh, for the lost art of meditation! Oh,
for the culture of the secret place! Oh, for the
tonic of waiting upon God! --Selected
"It is well to live in the valley sweet,
Where the work of the world is done,
Where the reapers sing in the fields of wheat,
As they toil till the set of sun.
But beyond the meadows, the hills I see
Where the noises of traffic cease,
And I follow a Voice that calleth to me
From the hilltop regions of peace.
"Aye, to live is sweet in the valley fair,
And to toil till the set of sun;
But my spirit yearns for the hilltop's air
When the day and its work are done.
For a Presence breathes o'er the silent hills,
And its sweetness is living yet;
The same deep calm all the hillside fills,
As breathed over Olivet."
"Every life that would be strong must have its
Holy of Holies into which only God enters."
(16) Who is Leading?
"O Lord , I know that the way of man is not in
himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps" (Jer. 10:23).
"Lead me in a plain path" (Ps. 27:14).
Many people want to direct God, instead of
resigning themselves to be directed by Him; to
show Him a way, instead of passively following
where He leads. --Madame Guyon
I said: "Let me walk in the field";
God said: 'Nay, walk in the town";
I said: "There are no flowers there";
He said: "No flowers, but a crown."
I said: "But the sky is black,
There is nothing but noise and din";
But He wept as He sent me back,
"There is more," He said, "there is sin
I said: "But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun";
He answered: "Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone."
I said: "I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say";
He answered me, "Choose tonight,
If I am to miss you, or they."
I pleaded for time to be given;
He said: "Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in Heaven
To have, followed the steps of your Guide."
I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said: "My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"
Then into His hand went mine,
And into my heart came He;
And I walk in a light Divine,
The path I had feared to see.
--George MacDonald
(17) The Second Coming
"Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which
thou hast, that no man take thy crown" (Rev.
3:11).
George Mueller bears this testimony, "When it
pleased God in July, 1829, to reveal to my heart
the truth of the personal return of the Lord
Jesus, and to show me that I had made a great
mistake in looking for the conversion of the
world, the effect that it produced upon me was
this: From my inmost soul I was stirred up to
feel compassion for perishing sinners, and for
the slumbering world around me lying in the
wicked one, and considered, 'Ought I not to do
what I can for the Lord Jesus while He tarries,
and to rouse a slumbering church?"'
There may be many hard years of hard work before
the consummation, but the signs are to me so
encouraging that I would not be unbelieving if I
saw the wing of the apocalyptic angel spread for
its last triumphal flight in this day's sunset;
or if tomorrow morning the ocean cables should
thrill us with the news that Christ the Lord had
alighted on Mount Olivet or Mount Calvary to
proclaim universal dominion. O you dead churches
wake up! O Christ, descend! Scarred temple, take
the crown! Bruised hand, take the sceptre!
Wounded foot, step the throne! Thine is the
kingdom. --Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.
"It may be in the evening,
When the work of the day is done,
And you have time to sit in the twilight,
And watch the sinking sun,
While the long bright day dies slowly
Over the sea,
And the hours grow quiet and holy
With thoughts of Me;
While you hear the village children
Passing along the street
Among those passing footsteps
May come the sound of My Feet.
Therefore I tell you, Watch!
By the light of the evening star
When the room is growing dusky
As the clouds afar,
Let the door be on the latch
In your home,
For it may be through the gloaming
I will come."
(18) Open the Trenches
"Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see
rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water,
that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and
your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the
sight of the Lord: he will deliver the Moabites
also into your hands" (2 Kings 3:16-18).
To human thinking it was simply impossible, but
nothing is hard for God.
Without a sound or sign, from sources invisible
and apparently impossible, the floods came
stealing in all night long; and when the morning
dawned, those ditches were flooded with the
crystal waters, and reflecting the rays of the
morning sun from the red hills of Edom.
Our unbelief is always wanting some outward sign.
The religion of many is largely sensational, and
they are not satisfied of its genuineness without
manifestations, etc.; but the greatest triumph of
faith is to be still and know that He is God.
The great victory of faith is to stand before
some impassable Red Sea, and hear the Master say,
"Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord,"
and "Go forward!" As we step out without any sign
or sound--not a wave-splash--and wetting our very
feet as we take the first step into its waters,
still marching on we shall see the sea divide and
the pathway open through the very midst of the
waters.
If we have seen the miraculous workings of God in
some marvelous case of healing or some
extraordinary providential deliverance, I am sure
the thing that has impressed us most has been the
quietness with which it was all done, the absence
of everything spectacular and sensational, and
the utter sense of nothingness which came to us
as we stood in the presence of this mighty God
and felt how easy, it was for Him to do it all
without the faintest effort on His part or the
slightest help on ours.
It is not the part of faith to question, but to
obey. The ditches were made, and the water came
pouring in from some supernatural source. What a
lesson for our faith!
Are you craving a spiritual blessing? Open the
trenches, and God will fill them. And this, too,
in the most unexpected places and in the most
unexpected ways.
Oh, for that faith that can act by faith and not
by sight, and expect God to work although we see
no wind or rain. --A. B. Simpson
(19) Show Love
"Put on as the elect of God, kindness" (Col.
3:12).
There is a story of an old man who carried a
little can of oil with him everywhere he went,
and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he
poured a little oil on the hinges. If a gate was
hard to open, he oiled the latch. And thus he
passed through life lubricating all hard places
and making it easier for those who came after
him.
People called him eccentric, queer, and cranky;
but the old man went steadily on refilling his
can of oil when it became empty, and oiled the
hard places he found.
There are many lives that creak and grate harshly
as they live day by day. Nothing goes right with
them. They need lubricating with the oil of
gladness, gentleness, or thoughtfulness. Have you
your own can of oil with you? Be ready with your
oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the
one nearest you. It may lubricate the whole day
for him. The oil, of good cheer to the
downhearted one--Oh, how much it may mean! The
word of courage to the despairing. Speak it.
Our lives touch others but once, perhaps, on the
road of life; and then, mayhap, our ways diverge,
never to meet again, The oil of kindness has worn
the sharp, hard edges off of many a sin-hardened
life and left it soft and pliable and ready for
the redeeming grace of the Saviour.
A word spoken pleasantly is a large spot of
sunshine on a sad heart. Therefore, "Give others
the sunshine, tell Jesus the rest."
"We cannot know the grief
That men may borrow;
We cannot see the souls
Storm-swept by sorrow;
But love can shine upon the way
Today, tomorrow;
Let us be kind.
Upon the wheel of pain so many weary lives are
broken,
We live in vain who give no tender token.
Let us be kind."
"Be kindly affectioned one to another with
brotherly love" (Rom. 12:10).
(20) Achieving the Victory
"For this our light and transitory burden of
suffering is achieving for us a weight of glory"
(2 Cor. 4:17). (Weymouth)
"Is achieving for us," mark. The question is
repeatedly asked--Why is the life of man drenched
with so much blood, and blistered with so many
tears? The answer is to be found in the word
"achieving"; these things are achieving for us
something precious. They are teaching us not only
the way to victory, but better still the laws of
victory. There is a compensation in every sorrow,
and the sorrow is working out the compensation.
It is the cry of the dear old hymn:
"Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee,
E'en tho' it be a cross that raiseth me."
Joy sometimes needs pain to give it birth. Fanny
Crosby could never have written her beautiful
hymn, "I shall see Him face to face," were it not
for the fact that she had never looked upon the
green fields nor the evening sunset nor the
kindly twinkle in her mother's eye. It was the
loss of her own vision that helped her to gain
her remarkable spiritual discernment.
It is the tree that suffers that is capable of
polish. When the woodman wants some curved lines
of beauty in the grain he cuts down some maple
that has been gashed by the axe and twisted by
the storm. In this way he secures the knots and
the hardness that take the gloss.
It is comforting to know that sorrow tarries only
for the night; it takes its leave in the morning.
A thunderstorm is very brief when put alongside
the long summer day. "Weeping may endure for the
night but joy cometh in the morning." --Songs in
the Night
"There is a peace that cometh after sorrow,
Of hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled;
A peace that looketh not upon tomorrow,
But calmly on a tempest that it stilled.
"A peace that lives not now in joy's excesses,
Nor in the happy life of love secure;
But in the unerring strength the heart possesses,
Of conflicts won while learning to endure.
"A peace there is, in sacrifice secluded,
A life subdued, from will and passion free;
'Tis not the peace that over Eden brooded,
But that which triumphed in Gethsemane."
(21) Learning From Suffering
"If I am in distress, it is in the interests of
your comfort, which is effective as it nerves you
to endure the same sufferings as I suffered
myself. Hence my hope for you is well-founded,
since I know that as you share the sufferings you
share the comfort also" (2 Cor. 1:6, 7).
Are there not some in your circle to whom you
naturally betake yourself in times of trial and
sorrow? They always seem to speak the right word,
to give the very counsel you are longing for; you
do not realize, however, the cost which they had
to pay ere they became so skillful in binding up
the gaping wounds and drying tears. But if you
were to investigate their past history you would
find that they have suffered more than most. They
have watched the slow untwisting of some silver
cord on which the lamp of life hung. They have
seen the golden bowl of joy dashed to their feet,
and its contents spilt. They have stood by ebbing
tides, and drooping gourds, and noon sunsets; but
all this has been necessary to make them the
nurses, the physicians, the priests of men. The
boxes that come from foreign climes are clumsy
enough; but they contain spices which scent the
air with the fragrance of the Orient. So
suffering is rough and hard to bear; but it hides
beneath it discipline, education, possibilities,
which not only leave us nobler, but perfect us to
help others. Do not fret, or set your teeth, or
wait doggedly for the suffering to pass; but get
out of it all you can, both for yourself and for
your service to your generation, according to the
will of God. --Selected
Once I heard a song of sweetness,
As it cleft the morning air,
Sounding in its blest completeness,
Like a tender, pleading prayer;
And I sought to find the singer,
Whence the wondrous song was borne;
And I found a bird, sore wounded,
Pinioned by a cruel thorn.
I have seen a soul in sadness,
While its wings with pain were furl'd,
Giving hope, and cheer and gladness
That should bless a weeping world;
And I knew that life of sweetness,
Was of pain and sorrow row borne,
And a stricken soul was singing,
With its heart against a thorn.
Ye are told of One who loved you,
Of a Saviour crucified,
Ye are told of nails that pinioned,
And a spear that pierced His side;
Ye are told of cruel scourging,
Of a Saviour bearing scorn,
And He died for your salvation,
With His brow against a thorn.
Ye "are not above the Master."
Will you breathe a sweet refrain?
And His grace will be sufficient,
When your heart is pierced with pain.
Will you live to bless His loved ones,
Tho' your life be bruised and torn,
Like the bird that sang so sweetly,
With its heart against a thorn?
--Selected
(22) Worship in the Night
"Ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in
the house of the Lord. The Lord that made heaven
and earth bless thee out of Zion" (Ps. 134:1, 3).
Strange time for adoration, you say, to stand in
God's house by night, to worship in the depth of
sorrow --it is indeed an arduous thing. Yes, and
therein lies the blessing; it is the test of
perfect faith. If I would know the love of my
friend I must see what it can do in the winter.
So with the Divine love. It is easy for me to
worship in the summer sunshine when the melodies
of life are in the air and the fruits of life are
on the tree. But let the song of the bird cease
and the fruit of the tree fall, and will my heart
still go on to sing? Will I stand in God's house
by night? Will I love Him in His own night? Will
I watch with Him even one hour in His Gethsemane?
Will I help to bear His cross up the dolorous
way? Will I stand beside Him in His dying moments
with Mary and the beloved disciple? Will I be
able with Nicodemus to take up the dead Christ?
Then is my worship complete and my blessing
glorious. My love has come to Him in His
humiliation. My faith has found Him in His
lowliness. My heart has recognized His majesty
through His mean disguise, and I know at last
that I desire not the gift but the Giver. When I
can stand in His house by night I have accepted
Him for Himself alone. --George Matheson
"My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;
'Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His
'At any cost, dear Lord, by any road!'
"So faith bounds forward to its goal in God,
And love can trust her Lord to lead her there;
'Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard
Till God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.
"No matter if the way be sometimes dark,
No matter though the cost be ofttimes great,
He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,
The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.
"One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;
My God my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my Great Reward."
(23) Fight the Good Fight
"The last drops of my sacrifice are falling; my
time to go has come. I have fought in the good
fight; I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:6, 7).
As soldiers show their scars and talk of battles
when they come at last to spend their old age in
the country at home, so shall we in the dear land
to which we are hastening, speak of the goodness
and faithfulness of God who brought us through
all the trials of the way. I would not like to
stand in the white-robed host and hear it said,
"These are they that came out of great
tribulation, all except one."
Would you like to be there and see yourself
pointed at as the one saint who never knew a
sorrow? Oh, no! for you would be an alien in the
midst of the sacred brotherhood. We will be
content to share the battle, for we shall soon
wear the crown and wave the palm. --C. H.
Spurgeon
"Where were you wounded?" asked the surgeon of a
soldier at Lookout Mountain. "Almost at the top,"
he answered. He forgot even his gaping wound--he
only remembered that he had won the heights. So
let us go forth to higher endeavors for Christ
and never rest till we can shout from the very
top, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept the faith."
"Finish thy work, then rest,
Till then rest never;
The rest for thee by God
Is rest forever."
"God will not look you over for medals, degrees
or diplomas but for scars."
Of an old hero the minstrel sang--
"With his Yemen sword for aid;
Ornament it carried none,
But the notches on the blade."
What nobler decoration of honor can any godly man
seek after than his scars of service, his losses
for the crown, his reproaches for Christ's sake,
his being worn out in his Master's service
(24) When we are in the dark
In the famous lace shops of Brussels, there are
certain rooms devoted to the spinning of the
finest and most delicate patterns. These rooms
are altogether darkened, save for a light from
one very small window, which falls directly upon
the pattern. There is only one spinner in the
room, and he sits where the narrow stream of
light falls upon the threads of his weaving.
"Thus," we are told by the guide, "do we secure
our choicest products. Lace is always more
delicately and beautifully woven when the worker
himself is in the dark and only his pattern is in
the light."
May it not be the same with us in our weaving?
Sometimes it is very dark. We cannot understand
what we are doing. We do not see the web we are
weaving. We are not able to discover any beauty,
any possible good in our experience. Yet if we
are faithful and fail not and faint not, we shall
some day know that the most exquisite work of all
our life was done in those days when it was so
dark.
If you are in the deep shadows because of some
strange, mysterious providence, do not be afraid.
Simply go on in faith and love, never doubting.
God is watching, and He will bring good and
beauty out of all your pain and tears. --J. R.
Miller
The shuttles of His purpose move
To carry out His own design;
Seek not too soon to disapprove
His work, nor yet assign
Dark motives, when, with silent tread,
You view some sombre fold;
For lo, within each darker thread
There twines a thread of gold.
Spin cheerfully,
Not tearfully,
He knows the way you plod;
Spin carefully,
Spin prayerfully,
But leave the thread with God.
--Canadian Home Journal
Christ's Business is Supreme
"His disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to
pray . . . and he said unto them, When ye pray,
say. . . Thy kingdom come" (Luke 11:1, 2).
When they said, "Teach us to pray," the Master
lifted His eyes and swept the far horizon of God.
He gathered up the ultimate dream of the
Eternal, and, rounding the sum of everything God
intends to do in the life of man, He packed it
all into these three terse pregnant phrases and
said, "When you pray, pray after this manner."
What a contrast between this and much praying we
have heard. When we follow the devices of our own
hearts, how runs it? "O Lord bless me, then My
family, My church, My city, My country," and away
on the far fringe as we close up, there is a
prayer for the extension of His Kingdom
throughout the wide parish of the world.
The Master begins where we leave off. The world
first, my personal needs second, is the order of
this prayer. Only after my prayer has crossed
every continent and every far-flung island of the
sea, after it has taken in the last man in the
last backward race, after it has covered the
entire wish and purpose, of God for the world,
only then am I taught to ask for a piece of bread
for myself.
When Jesus gave His all, Himself for us and to us
in the holy extravagance of the Cross, is it too
much if He asks us to do the same thing? No man
or woman amounts to anything in the kingdom, no
soul ever touches even the edge of the zone of
power, until this lesson is learned that Christ's
business is the supreme concern of life and that
all personal considerations, however dear or
important, are tributary thereto. --Dr. Francis
When Robert Moffat, the veteran African
missionary and explorer, was asked once to write
in a young lady's album, he penned these lines:
"My album is a savage breast,
Where tempests brood and shadows rest,
Without one ray of light;
To write the name of Jesus there,
And see that savage bow in prayer,
And point to worlds more bright and fair,
This is my soul's delight."
"And His Kingdom shall have no frontier" (Luke
1:33, the old Moravian version).
The missionary enterprise is not the Church's
afterthought; it is Christ's forethought;
--Henry van Dyke
(25) Trust and Rest
"Trust also in him" (Ps. 37:3).
The word trust is the heart word of faith. It is
the Old Testament word, the word given to the
early and infant stage of faith. The word faith
expresses more the act of the will, the word
belief the act of the mind or intellect, but
trust is the language of the heart. The other has
reference more to a truth believed or a thing
expected.
Trust implies more than this, it sees and feels,
and leans upon a person, a great, true, living
heart of love. So let us "trust also in him,"
through all the delays, in spite of all the
difficulties, in the face of all the denials,
notwithstanding all the seemings, even when we
cannot understand the way, and know not the
issue; still "trust also in him, and he will
bring it to pass." The way will open, the right
issue will come, the end will be peace, the cloud
will be lifted, and the light of an eternal
noonday shall shine at last.
"Trust and rest when all around thee
Puts thy faith to sorest test;
Let no fear or foe confound thee,
Wait for God and trust and rest.
"Trust and rest with heart abiding,
Like a birdling in its nest,
Underneath His feathers hiding,
Fold thy wings and trust and rest."
(26) Continue in Prayer
"And there was Anna, a prophetess . . . which
departed not from the temple, but served God with
fastings and prayers night and day" (Luke 2:36,
37).
No doubt by praying we learn to pray, and the
more we pray the oftener we can pray, and the
better we can pray. He who prays in fits and
starts is never likely to attain to that
effectual, fervent prayer which availeth much.
Great power in prayer is within our reach, but we
must go to work to obtain it. Let us never
imagine that Abraham could have interceded so
successfully for Sodom if he had not been all his
lifetime in the practice of communion with God.
Jacob's all-night at Peniel was not the first
occasion upon which he had met his God. We may
even look upon our Lord's most choice and
wonderful prayer with his disciples before His
Passion as the flower and fruit of His many
nights of devotion, and of His often rising up a
great while before day to pray.
If a man dreams that he can become mighty in
prayer just as he pleases, he labors under a
great mistake. The prayer of Elias which shut up
heaven and afterwards opened its floodgates, was
one of long series of mighty prevailings with
God. Oh, that Christian men would remember this!
Perseverance in prayer is necessary to prevalence
in prayer.
Those great intercessors, who are not so often
mentioned as they ought to be in connection with
confessors and martyrs, were nevertheless the
grandest benefactors of the Church; but it was
only by abiding at the mercy-seat that they
attained to be such channels of mercy to men. We
must pray to pray, and continue in prayer that
our prayers may continue. --G. H. Spurgeon
(27) Full Salvation
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that
calleth you who also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:23,
24).
Many years since I saw that "without holiness no
man shall see the Lord." I began by following
after it and inciting all with whom I had
intercourse to do the same. Ten years after, God
gave me a clearer view than I ever had before of
the way to obtain it; namely, by faith in the Son
of God. And immediately I declared to all, "We
are saved from sin, we are made holy by faith."
This I testified in private, in public, and in
print, and God confirmed it by a thousand
witnesses. I have continued to declare this for
above thirty years, and God has continued to
confirm my work.
--John Wesley in 1771
"I knew Jesus, and He was very precious to my
soul; but I found something in me that would not
keep sweet and patient and kind. I did what I
could to keep it down, but it was there. I
besought Jesus to do something for me, and, when
I gave Him my will, He came to my heart, and took
out all that would not be sweet, all that would
not be kind, all that would not be patient, and
then HE shut the door." --George Fox
My whole heart has not one single grain, this
moment, of thirst after approbation. I feel alone
with God; He fills the void; I have not one wish,
one will, one desire, but in Him; He hath set my
feet in a large room. I have wondered and stood
amazed that God should make a conquest of all
within me by love. --Lady Huntington
"All at once I felt as though a hand--not feeble,
but omnipotent; not of wrath, but of love--was
laid on my brow. I felt it not outwardly but
inwardly. It seemed to press upon my whole being,
and to diffuse all through me a holy,
sin-consuming energy. As it passed downward, my
heart as well as my head was conscious of the
presence of this soul-cleansing energy, under the
influence of which I fell to the floor, and in
the joyful surprise of the moment, cried out in a
loud voice. Still the hand of power wrought
without and within; and wherever it moved, it
seemed to leave the glorious influence of the
Saviour's image. For a few minutes the deep ocean
of God's love swallowed me up; all its waves and
billows rolled over me." --Bishop Hamline
Holiness--as I then wrote down some of my
contemplations on it--appeared to me to be of a
sweet, calm, pleasant, charming, serene nature,
which brought an inexpressible purity,
brightness, peacefulness, ravishment to the soul;
in other words, that it made the soul like a
field or garden of God, with all manner of
pleasant fruits and flowers, all delightful and
undisturbed, enjoying a sweet calm and the gentle
vivifying beams of the sun. --Jonathan Edwards
"Love's resistless current sweeping
All the regions deep within;
Thought and wish and senses keeping
Now, and every instant clean:
Full salvation! Full salvation!
From the guilt and power of sin."
(28) The Path to Blessing
"To him will I give the land that he hath trodden
upon because he hath wholly followed the Lord"
(Deut. 1:36).
Every hard duty that lies in your path, that you
would rather not do, that it will cost you pain
and struggle or sore effort to do, has a blessing
in it. Not to do it, at whatever cost, is to miss
the blessing.
Every hard piece of road on which you see the
Master's shoe-prints and along which He bids you
follow Him, surely leads to blessing, which you
cannot get if you cannot go over the steep,
thorny path.
Every point of battle to which you come, where
you must draw your sword and fight the enemy, has
a possible victory which will prove a rich
blessing to your life. Every heavy load that you
are called to lift hides in itself some strange
secret of strength. --J. R. Miller
"I cannot do it alone;
The waves run fast and high,
And the fogs close all around,
The light goes out in the sky;
But I know that we two
Shall win in the end, Jesus and I.
"Coward and wayward and weak,
I change with the changing sky;
Today so eager and bright,
Tomorrow too weak to try;
But He never gives in,
So we two shall win, Jesus and I.
"I could not guide it myself,
My boat on life's wild sea;
There's One who sits by my side,
Who pulls and steers with me.
And I know that we two
Shall safe enter port,
Jesus and I."
(29) God's Refreshment
"The journey is too great for thee" (1 King
19:7).
And what did God do with His tired servant? Gave
him something good to eat, and put him to
sleep. Elijah had done splendid work, and had run
alongside of the chariot in his excitement, and
it had been too much for his physical strength,
and the reaction had come on, and he was
depressed. The physical needed to be cared for.
What many people want is sleep, and the physical
ailment attended to. There are grand men and
women who get where Elijah was--under the juniper
tree! and it comes very soothingly to such to
hear the words of the Master: "The journey is too
great for thee, and I am going to refresh you."
Let us not confound physical weariness with
spiritual weakness.
"I'm too tired to trust and too tired to pray,
Said one, as the over-taxed strength gave way.
The one conscious thought by my mind possessed,
Is, oh, could I just drop it all and rest.
"Will God forgive me, do you suppose,
If I go right to sleep as a baby goes,
Without an asking if I may,
Without ever trying to trust and pray?
"Will God forgive you? why think, dear heart,
When language to you was an unknown art,
Did a mother deny you needed rest,
Or refuse to pillow your head on her breast?
"Did she let you want when you could not ask?
Did she set her child an unequal task?
Or did she cradle you in her arms,
And then guard your slumber against alarms?
"Ah, how quick was her mother love to see,
The unconscious yearnings of infancy.
When you've grown too tired to trust and pray,
When over-wrought nature has quite given way:
"Then just drop it all, and give up to rest,
As you used to do on a mother's breast,
He knows all about it--the dear Lord knows,
So just go to sleep as a baby goes;
"Without even asking if you may,
God knows when His child is too tired to pray.
He judges not solely by uttered prayer,
He knows when the yearnings of love are there.
"He knows you do pray, He knows you do trust,
And He knows, too, the limits' of poor weak dust.
Oh, the wonderful sympathy of Christ,
For His chosen ones in that midnight tryst,
"When He bade them sleep and take their rest,
While on Him the guilt of the whole world
pressed--
You've given your life up to Him to keep,
Then don't be afraid to go right to sleep."
(30) Quiet Time with God
"And Isaac went out to meditate in the fields at
eventide" (Gen. 24:63).
We should be better Christians if we were more
alone; we should do more if we attempted less,
and spent more time in retirement, and quiet
waiting upon God. The world is too much with us;
we are afflicted with the idea that we are doing
nothing unless we are fussily running to and fro;
we do not believe in "the calm retreat, the
silent shade." As a people, we are of a very
practical turn of mind; "we believe," as someone
has said, "in having all our irons in the fire,
and consider the time not spent between the anvil
and the fire as lost, or much the same as lost."
Yet no time is more profitably spent than that
which is set apart for quiet musing, for talking
with God, for looking up to Heaven. We cannot
have too many of these open spaces in life, hours
in which the soul is left accessible to any sweet
thought or influence it may please God to send.
"Reverie," it has been said, "is the Sunday of
the mind." Let us often in these days give our
mind a "Sunday," in which it will do no manner of
work but simply lie still, and look upward, and
spread itself out before the Lord like Gideon's
fleece, to be soaked and moistened with the dews
of Heaven. Let there be intervals when we shall
do nothing, think nothing, plan nothing, but just
lay ourselves on the green lap of nature and
"rest awhile."
Time so spent is not lost time. The fisherman
cannot be said to be losing time when he is
mending his nets, nor the mower when he takes a
few minutes to sharpen his scythe at the top of
the ridge. City men cannot do better than follow
the example of Isaac, and, as often as they can,
get away from the fret and fever of life into
fields. Wearied with the heat and din, the noise
and bustle, communion with nature is very
grateful; it will have a calming, healing
influence. A walk through the fields, a saunter
by the seashore or across the daisy-sprinkled
meadows, will purge your life from sordidness,
and make the heart beat with new joy and hope.
"The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday,
. . . Out in the fields with God."
(31) Night of Pure Faith
"Lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him"
(Gen. 15:12).
The sun at last went down, and the swift, eastern
night cast its heavy veil over the scene. Worn
out with the mental conflict, the watchings, and
the exertions of the day, Abraham fell into a
deep sleep, and in that sleep is soul was
oppressed with a dense and dreadful darkness,
such as almost stifled him, and lay like a
nightmare upon his heart. Do you understand
something of the horror of that darkness? When
some terrible sorrow which seems so hard to
reconcile with perfect love, crushes down upon
the soul, wringing from it all its peaceful rest
in the pitifulness of God, and launching it on a
sea unlit by a ray of hope; when unkindness, and
cruelty maltreat the trusting heart, till it
begins to doubt whether there be a God overhead
who can see and still permit--these know
something of the "horror of great darkness." It
is thus that human life is made up; brightness
and gloom; shadow and sun; long tracks of cloud,
succeeded by brilliant glints of light, and amid
all Divine justice is working out its own
schemes, affecting others equally with the
individual soul which seems the subject of
special discipline. O ye who are filled with the
horror of great darkness because of God's
dealings with mankind, learn to trust that
infallible wisdom, which is co-assessor with
immutable justice; and know that He who passed
through the horror of the darkness of Calvary,
with the cry of forsakenness, is ready to bear
you company through the valley of the shadow of
death till you see the sun shining upon its
further side. Let us, by our Forerunner, send
forward our anchor, Hope, within the veil that
parts us from the unseen; where it will grapple
in ground and will not yield, but hold until the
day dawns, and we follow it into the haven
guaranteed to us by God's immutable counsel.
--F. B. Meyer
The disciples thought that that angry sea
separated them from Jesus. Nay, some of them
thought worse than that; they thought that the
trouble that had come upon them was a sign that
Jesus had forgotten all about them, and did not
care for them. Oh, dear friend, that is when
troubles have a sting, when the devil whispers,
"God has forgotten you; God has forsaken you";
when your unbelieving heart cries as Gideon
cried, "If the Lord be with us, why then is all
this befallen us?" The evil has come upon you to
bring the Lord nearer to you. The evil has not
come upon you to separate you from Jesus, but to
make you cling to Him more faithfully, more
tenaciously, more simply. --F. S. Webster, M.A.
Never should we so abandon ourselves to God as
when He seems to have abandoned us. Let us enjoy
light and consolation when it is His pleasure to
give it to us, but let us not attach ourselves to
His gifts, but to Himself; and when He plunges us
into the night of pure faith, let us still press
on through the agonizing darkness.
Oh, for faith that brings the triumph
When defeat seems strangely near!
Oh, for faith that brings the triumph
Into victory's ringing cheer--
Faith triumphant; knowing not defeat or fear.
--Herbert Booth