October 23 to 31
Streams in the Desert
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24.
Cast down
26.
Strong composure
27.
Go forward
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29.
Specialize in the impossible
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"He turned the sea into dry land; they went
through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice
in him" (Ps. 66:6).
It is a striking assertion, "through the
floods"
(the place where we might have
expected nothing
but trembling and terror, anguish and dismay)
"there," says the
Psalmist, "did we rejoice in
him!"
How many there are who can endorse this as their
experience: that "there," in their very seasons
of distress and sadness, they have been enabled,
as they never did before, to triumph and rejoice.
How near their God in covenant is brought! How
brightly shine His promises! In the day of our
prosperity we cannot see the brilliancy of these.
Like the sun at
sight, they are indiscernible; but when night
overtakes, the deep, dark night of sorrow, out
come these clustering stars--blessed
constellations of Bible hope and promise of
consolation.
Like Jacob at Jabbok, it is
when our earthly sun
goes down that the Divine Angel comes forth, and
we wrestle with Him and prevail.
It was at night, "in the evening," Aaron lit
the
sanctuary lamps. It is in the night of trouble
the brightest lamps of the believer are often
kindled.
It was in his loneliness and exile John had the
glorious vision of his Redeemer. There is many a
remembrances are those of God's presence and
upholding grace and love in solitude and sadness.
How many pilgrims, still passing through these
be enabled in the retrospect of eternity to
say--full of the memories of God's great
goodness--"We went through the flood on foot,
there--there, in these dark experiences, with the
surging waves on every side, deep calling to
deep,
time of the overflowing' (flood), yet, 'there did
we rejoice in Him!'" --Dr. Macduff
"And I will give her her
vineyards from thence,
and the door of trouble for a door of hope: and
she shall sing THERE" (Hosea
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul" (Ps. 43:5).
Is there ever any ground to be cast down? There
are two reasons, but only two. If we are as yet
unconverted, we have ground to be cast down; or
if we have been converted and live in sin, then
we are rightly cast down.
But except for these two things there is no
ground to be cast down, for all else may be
brought before God in prayer with supplication
and thanksgiving. And regarding all our
necessities, all our difficulties, all our
trials, we may exercise faith in the power of
God, and in the love of God.
"Hope thou in God." Oh, remember this: There is
never a time when we may not hope in God.
Whatever our necessities, however great our
difficulties, and though to all appearance help
is impossible, yet our business is to hope in
God, and it will be found that it is not in vain.
In the Lord's own time help will come.
Oh, the hundreds, yea, the thousands of times
that I have found it thus within the past seventy
years and four months!
When it seemed impossible that help could come,
help did come; for God has His own resources. He
is not confined. In ten thousand different ways,
and at ten thousand different times God may help
us.
Our business is to spread our cases before the
Lord, in childlike simplicity to pour out all our
heart before God, saying,
"I do not deserve that Thou shouldst
hear me and
answer my requests, but for the sake of my
precious Lord Jesus; for His sake answer my
prayer, and give me grace quietly to wait till it
please Thee to answer my prayer. For I believe
Thou wilt do it in Thine own
time and way."
"For I shall yet praise him." More prayer, more
exercise of faith, more patient waiting, and the
result will be blessing, abundant blessing. Thus
I have found it many hundreds of times, and
therefore I continually say to myself, "Hope thou
in God." --George Mueller
(25)
Trust
Amid the Silence
"He answered her not a word" (Matt.
"He will be silent in his love" (Zeph.
It may be a child of God is reading these words
who has had some great crushing sorrow, some
bitter disappointment, some heart-breaking blow
from a totally unexpected quarter. You are
longing for your Master's voice bidding you "Be
of good cheer," but only silence and a sense of
mystery and misery meet you --"He answered her
not a word."
God's tender heart must often ache listening to
all the sad, complaining cries which arise from
our weak, impatient hearts, because we do not see
that for our own sakes He answers not at all or
otherwise than seems best to our tear-blinded,
short-sighted eyes.
The silences of Jesus are as eloquent as His
speech and may be a sign, not of His disapproval,
but of His approval and of a deep purpose of
blessing for you.
"Why art thou cast down, O…soul?" Thou shalt yet
praise Him, yes, even for His silence. Listen to
an old and beautiful story of how one Christian
dreamed that she saw three others at prayer. As
they knelt the Master drew near to them.
As He approached the first of the three, He bent
over her in tenderness and grace, with smiles
full of radiant love and spoke to her in accents
of purest, sweetest music.
Leaving her, He came to the next, but only placed
His hand upon her bowed bead, and gave her one
look of loving approval.
The third woman He passed almost abruptly without
stopping for a word or glance. The woman in her
dream said to herself, "How greatly He must love
the first one, to the second He gave His
approval, but none of the special demonstrations
of love He gave the first; and the third must
have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word
at all and not even a passing look.
"I wonder what she has done,
and why He made so
much difference between them?" As she tried to
account for the action of her Lord, He Himself
stood by her and said: "O woman! how wrongly hast
thou interpreted Me. The first kneeling woman
needs all the weight of My tenderness and care to
keep her feet in My narrow way. She needs My
love, thought and help every moment of the day.
Without it she would fail and fall.
"The second has stronger faith and deeper love,
and I can trust her to trust Me however things
may go and whatever people do.
"The third, whom I seemed
not to notice, and even
to neglect, has faith and love of the finest
quality, and her I am training by quick and
drastic processes for the highest and holiest
service.
"She knows Me so
intimately, and trusts Me so
utterly, that she is independent of words or
looks or any outward intimation of My approval.
She is not dismayed nor
discouraged by any
circumstances through which I arrange that she
shall pass; she trusts Me when sense and reason
and every finer instinct of the natural heart
would rebel;--because she knows that I am working
in her for eternity, and that what I do, though
she knows not the explanation now, she will
understand hereafter.
"I am silent in My love
because I love beyond the
power of words to express, or of human hearts to
understand, and also for your sakes that you may
learn to love and trust Me in Spirit-taught,
spontaneous response to My love, without the spur
of anything outward to call it forth."
He "will do marvels" if you will learn the
mystery of His silence, and praise Him, for every
time He withdraws His gifts that you may better
know and love the Giver. --Selected
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves" (Rom.
There are seasons when to be still demands
immeasurably higher strength than to act.
Composure is often the highest result of power.
To the vilest and most deadly charges Jesus
responded with deep, unbroken silence, such as
excited the wonder of the judge and the
spectators. To the grossest insults, the most
violent ill-treatment and mockery that might well
bring indignation into the feeblest heart, He
responded with voiceless complacent calmness.
Those who are unjustly accused, and causelessly
ill-treated know what tremendous strength is
necessary to keep silence to God.
"Men may misjudge thy aim,
Think they have cause to blame,
Say, thou art wrong;
Keep on thy quiet way,
Christ is the Judge, not they,
Fear not, be strong."
He did not say, none of these
things hurt me. It
is one thing to be hurt, and quite another to be
moved.
not read of any apostle who cried as
did. It takes a strong man to cry. Jesus wept,
and He was the manliest Man that ever lived. So
it does not say, none of these things hurt me.
But the apostle had determined not to move from
what he believed was right. He did not count as
we are apt to count; he did not care for ease; he
did not care for this mortal life. He cared for
only one thing, and that was to be loyal to
Christ, to have His smile. To
to any other man, His work was wages, His smile
was Heaven.
--Margaret Bottome
"As soon as the soles of the feet of the
priests...shall rest in the waters…the waters
shall be cut off" (Joshua
The people were not to wait in their camps until
the way was opened, they were to walk by faith.
They were to break camp, pack up their goods,
form in line to march, and move down to the very
banks before the river would be opened.
If they had come down to the edge of the river
and then had stopped for the stream to divide
before they stepped into it, they would have
waited in vain. They must take one step into the
water before the river would be cut off.
We must learn to take God at His Word, and go
straight on in duty, although we see no way in
which we can go forward. The reason we are so
often balked by difficulties is that we expect to
see them removed before we try to pass through
them.
If we would move straight on in faith, the path
would be opened for us. We stand still, waiting
for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to
go forward as if there were no obstacles.
--Evening Thoughts
What a lesson
perseverance in the face of tremendous
difficulties!
Behind him lay the gray
Behind the gates of Hercules;
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless
seas.
The good Mate said: "Now we must pray,
For lo! the very stars are gone.
Brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say?"
"Why, say, 'Sail on! sail
on! and on!'"
"My men grow mutinous day by day;
My men grow ghastly wan and weak!"
The stout Mate thought of home; a spray
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"
"Why, you shall say at break of day,
'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"
They sailed. They sailed. Then spake
the Mate:
"This mad sea shows its teeth tonight.
He curls his lip, he lies in wait,
With lifted teeth, as if to bite!
Brave Admiral, say but one good word;
What shall we do when hope is gone?"
The words leapt like a leaping sword:
"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"
Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck
And peered through darkness. Ah! that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck--
A light! A light! A light! A light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: "On! sail
on!"
--Joaquin Miller
Faith that goes forward triumphs.
"Your heavenly Father knoweth"
(Matt.
A visitor at a school for the deaf and dumb was
writing questions on the blackboard for the
children. By and by he wrote this sentence: "Why
has God made me to hear and speak, and made you
deaf and dumb?"
The awful sentence fell upon the little ones like
a
fierce blow in the face. They sat palsied
before that dreadful "Why?" And then a little
girl arose.
Her lip was trembling. Her eyes were swimming
with tears. Straight to the board she walked,
and, picking up the crayon, wrote with firm hand
these precious words: "Even so, Father, for so it
seemed good in thy sight!" What a reply! It
reaches up and lays hold of an eternal truth upon
which the maturest believer as well as the
youngest child of God may alike securely
rest--the truth that God is your Father.
Do you mean that? Do you really and fully believe
that? When you do, then your dove of faith will
no longer wander in weary unrest, but will settle
down forever in its eternal resting place of
peace. "Your Father!"
I can still believe that a day comes for all of
us, however far off it may be, when we shall
understand; when these tragedies, that now
blacken and darken the very air of heaven for us,
will sink into their places in a scheme so
august, so magnificent, so joyful, that we shall
laugh for wonder and delight. --Arthur
Christopher Bacon
No chance hath brought this ill to me;
'Tis God's own hand, so let it
be,
He seeth what I cannot see.
There is a need-be for each pain,
And He one day will make it plain
That earthly loss is heavenly gain.
Like as a piece of tapestry
Viewed from the back appears to be
Naught but threads tangled hopelessly;
But in the front a picture f air
Rewards the worker for his care,
Proving his skill and patience rare.
Thou art the Workman, I the frame.
Lord, for the glory of Thy Name,
Perfect Thine image on the
same.
--Selected
(29)
Specialize in the Impossible
"The hill country shall be thine"
(Josh.
RV).
There is always room higher up. When the valleys
are full of Canaanites, whose iron chariots
withstand your progress, get up into the hills,
occupy the upper spaces. If you can no longer
work for God, pray for those who can. If you
cannot move earth by your speech, you may move
Heaven. If the development of life on the lower
slopes is impossible, through limitations of
service, the necessity of maintaining others, and
such-like restrictions, let it break out toward
the unseen, the eternal, the Divine.
Faith can fell forests. Even if the tribes had
realized what treasures lay above them, they
would hardly have dared to suppose it possible to
rid the hills of their dense forest-growth. But
as God indicated their task, He reminded them
that they had power enough. The visions of things
that seem impossible are presented to us, like
these forest-covered steeps, not to mock us, but
to incite us to spiritual exploits which would be
impossible unless God had stored within us the
great strength of His own indwelling.
Difficulty is sent to reveal to us what God can
do in answer to the faith that prays and works.
Are you straitened in the valleys? Get away to
the hills, live there; get honey out of the rock,
and wealth out of the terraced slopes now hidden
by forest. --Daily Devotional
Commentary
Got any rivers they say are uncrossable,
Got any mountains they say 'can't tunnel
through'?
We specialize in the wholly impossible,
Doing the things they say you can't do.
--Song of the
"And again I say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).
It is a good thing to rejoice in the Lord.
Perhaps you have tried this, and the first time
seemed to fail. Never mind, keep right on and
when you cannot feel any joy, when there is no
spring, and no seeming comfort and encouragement,
still rejoice, and count it all joy. Even when
you fall into divers temptations, reckon it joy
and delight and God will make your reckoning
good. Do you suppose your Father will let you
carry the banner of His victory and His gladness
on to the front of the battle, and then coolly
stand back and see you captured or beaten back by
the enemy? NEVER! The Holy Spirit will sustain
you in your bold advance, and fill your heart
with gladness and praise, and you will find your
heart all exhilarated and refreshed by the
fullness within. Lord teach me to rejoice in
Thee, and to "rejoice evermore." --Selected
"The weakest saint may Satan rout,
Who meets him with a praiseful shout."
"Be filled with the Spirit...singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord" (Eph.
Here the Apostle urges the use of singing as one
of the inspiring helps in the spiritual life. He
counsels his readers not to seek their stimulus
through the body, but through the spirit; not by
the quickening of the flesh, but by the
exaltation of the soul.
"Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings."
Let us sing even when we do not feel like it, for
thus we may give wings to leaden feet and turn
weariness into strength.
--J. H. Jowett
"At
praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them"
(Acts
Oh, Paul, thou wondrous example to the flock, who
could thus glory, bearing in the body as thou
didst "the marks of the Lord Jesus"! Marks from
stoning almost to the death, from thrice beating
with rods, from those hundred and ninety-five
stripes laid on thee by the Jews, and from
stripes received in that Philippian
jail, which
had they not drawn blood would not have called
for washing! Surely the grace which enabled thee
to sing praises under such suffering is
all-sufficient grace. --J. Roach
"Oh, let us rejoice in the Lord, evermore,
When darts of the tempter are flying,
For Satan still dreads, as he oft did of yore,
Our singing much more than our
sighing."
"Fret not thyself" (Ps. 37:1).
Do not get into a perilous heat about things. If
ever heat were justified, it was surely justified
in the circumstances outlined in the Psalm.
Evil-doers were moving about clothed in purple
and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day.
"Workers of iniquity" were climbing into the
supreme places of power, and were tyrannizing
their less fortunate brethren. Sinful men and
women were stalking through the land in the pride
of life and basking in the light and comfort of
great prosperity, and good men were becoming
heated and fretful.
"Fret not thyself." Do not get unduly heated!
Keep cool! Even in a good cause, fretfulness is
not a wise help-meet. Fretting only heats the
bearings; it does not generate the steam. It is
no help to a train for the axles to get hot;
their heat is only a hindrance. When the axles
get heated, it is because of unnecessary
friction; dry surfaces are grinding together,
which ought to be kept in smooth co-operation by
a
delicate cushion of oil.
And is it not a suggestive fact that this word
"fret" is closely akin
to the word "friction,"
and is an indication of absence of the anointing
oil of the grace of God?
In fretfulness, a little bit of grit gets into
the bearings--some slight disappointment, some
ingratitude, some discourtesy--and the smooth
working of the life is checked. Friction begets
heat; and with the heat, most dangerous
conditions are created.
Do not let thy bearings get hot. Let the oil of
the Lord keep thee cool, lest by reason of an
unholy heat thou be reckoned among the
evil-doers. --The Silver
Lining
Dear restless heart, be still; don't fret and
worry so;
God has a thousand ways His love and help to
show;
Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will
you know.
Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God's
own smile,
His love can every wrong and
sorrow reconcile;
Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait
awhile.
Dear restless heart, be brave; don't moan and
sorrow so,
He hath a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow;
Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver
grow.
Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this
hour,
His grace is strength and life, His love is bloom
and flower;
Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender
power.
Dear restless heart, be still! Don't struggle to
be free;
God's life is in your life, from Him you may not
flee;
Just pray, and pray, and pray, till you have
faith to see.
--Edith Willis Linn
Weeping May Last
For a Night
"Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict
thee no more" (Nah.
There is a limit to affliction. God sends it, and
removes it. Do you sigh and say, "When will the
end be?" Let us quietly wait and patiently endure
the will of the Lord till He cometh. Our Father
takes away the rod when His design in using it is
fully served.
If the affliction is sent for testing us, that
our graces may glorify God, it will end when the
Lord has made us bear witness to His praise.
We would not wish the affliction to depart until
God has gotten out of us all the honor which we
can possibly yield Him.
There may be today "a great calm." Who knows how
soon those raging billows will give place to a
sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle
waves?
After long tribulation, the flail is hung up, and
the wheat rests in the garner. We may, before
many hours are past, be just as happy as now we
are sorrowful.
It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into
day. He that sends the clouds can as easily clear
the skies. Let us be of good cheer. It is better
farther on. Let us sing Hallelujah by
anticipation.
--C. H. Spurgeon.
The great Husbandman is not always threshing.
Trial is only for a season. The showers soon
pass. Weeping may tarry only for the few hours of
the short summer night; it must be gone at
daybreak. Our light affliction is but for a
moment. Trial is for a purpose, "If needs be."
The very fact of trial proves that there is
something in us very precious to our Lord; else
He would not spend so much pains and time on us.
Christ would not test us if He did not see the
precious ore of faith mingled in the rocky matrix
of our nature; and it is to bring this out into
purity and beauty that He forces us through the
fiery ordeal.
Be patient, O sufferer! The result will more than
compensate for all our trials, when we see how
they wrought out the far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. To have one word of
God's commendation; to be honored before the holy
angels; to be glorified in Christ, so as to be
better able to flash His glory on Himself--ah!
that will more than repay for all. --Tried
by
Fire
As the weights of the clock, or the ballast in
the vessel, are necessary for their right
ordering, so is trouble in the soul-life. The
sweetest scents are only obtained by tremendous
pressure; the fairest flowers grow amid Alpine
snow-solitudes; the fairest gems have suffered
longest from the lapidary's wheel; the noblest
statues have borne most blows of the chisel. All,
however, are under law. Nothing happens that has
not been appointed with consummate care and
foresight. --Daily
Devotional Commentary
"The land which I do give them, even the children
of
God here speaks in the immediate present. It is
not something He is going to do, but something He
does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So
God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in
the present moment. This is the test of faith. So
long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for
it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may
be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not
faith; for "faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The
command in regard to believing prayer is the
present tense. "When ye pray, believe that ye
receive the things that ye desire, and ye shall
have them." Have we come to that moment? Have we
met God in His everlasting NOW?
--Joshua, by
Simpson
True faith counts on God, and believes before it
sees. Naturally, we want some evidence that our
petition is granted before we believe; but when
we walk by faith we need no other evidence than
God's Word. He has spoken, and according to our
faith it shall be done unto us. We shall see
because we have believed, and this faith sustains
us in the most trying places, when everything
around us seems to contradict God's Word.
The Psalmist says, "I had fainted, unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of living" (Ps. 27:13). He did not see as
yet the Lord's answer to his prayers, but he
believed to see; and this kept him from fainting.
If we have the faith that believes to see, it
will keep us from growing discouraged. We shall
"laugh at
impossibilities," we shall watch with
delight to see how God is going to open up a path
through the
out of our difficulty. It is just in such places
of severe testing that our faith grows and
strengthens.
Have you been waiting upon God, dear troubled
one, during long nights and weary days, and have
feared that you were forgotten? Nay, lift up your
head, and begin to praise Him even now for the
deliverance which is on its way to you. --Life
of Praise
"Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer
is already granted you, and you will find that it
will be" (Mark
When my little son was about ten years of age,
his grandmother promised him a stamp album for
Christmas. Christmas came, but no stamp album,
and no word from grandmother. The matter,
however, was not mentioned; but when his
playmates came to see his Christmas presents, I
was astonished, after he had named over this and
that as gifts received, to hear him add,
"And a stamp album from grandmother."
I had heard it several times, when I called him
to me, and said, "But, Georgie, you did not
get
an album from your grandmother. Why do you say
so?"
There was a wondering look on his face, as if he
thought it strange that I should ask such a
question, and he replied, "Well, mamma, grandma
said, so it is the same as." I could not say a
word to check his faith.
A month went by, and nothing was heard from the
album. Finally, one day, I said, to test his
faith, and really wondering in my heart why the
album had not been sent,
"Well, Georgie, I think
grandma has forgotten her
promise."
"Oh, no, mamma," he quickly and firmly said,
"she
hasn't."
I watched the dear, trusting face, which, for a
while, looked very sober, as if debating the
possibilities I had suggested. Finally a bright
light passed over it, and he said,
"Mamma, do you think it would do any good if I
should write to her thanking her for the album?"
"I do not know," I said, "but you might
try it."
A rich spiritual truth began to dawn upon me. In
a few
minutes a letter was prepared and committed
to the mail, and he went off whistling his
confidence in his grandma. In just a short time a
letter came, saying:
"My dear Georgie: I have
not forgotten my promise
to you, of an album. I tried to get such a book
as you desired, but could not get the sort you
wanted; so I sent on to
here till after Christmas, and it was still not
right, so I sent for another, and as it has not
come as yet, I send you three dollars to get one
in
"As he read the letter, his face was the face of
a
victor. "Now, mamma, didn't I tell you?" came
from the depths of a heart that never doubted,
that, "against hope, believed in hope" that the
stamp album would come. While he was trusting,
grandma was working, and in due season faith
became sight.
It is so human to want sight when we step out on
the promises of God, but our Savior said to
Thomas, and to the long roll of doubters who have
ever since followed him: "Blessed are they who
have not seen, and yet have believed."--Mrs.
Rounds.