Streams in the Desert

(By Charles E Cowman)

 

 

 

(1) Pruned to Yield Fruit

 

"And every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth

it, that it may bring forth more fruit"

(John 15:2).

 

A child of God was dazed by the variety of

afflictions which seemed to make her their

target. Walking past a vineyard in the rich

autumnal glow she noticed the untrimmed

appearance and the luxuriant wealth of leaves on

the vines, that the ground was given over to a

tangle of weeds and grass, and that the whole

place looked utterly uncared for; and as she

pondered, the Heavenly Gardener whispered so

precious a message that she would fain pass it

on:

 

"My dear child, are you wondering at the sequence

of trials in your life? Behold that vineyard and

learn of it. The gardener ceases to prune, to

trim, to harrow, or to pluck the ripe fruit only

when he expects nothing more from the vine during

that season. It is left to itself, because the

season of fruit is past and further effort for

the present would yield no profit. Comparative

uselessness is the condition of freedom from

suffering. Do you then wish me to cease pruning

your life? Shall I leave you alone?" And the

comforted heart cried, "No!"

--Homera Homer-Dixon

 

It is the branch that bears the fruit,

That feels the knife,

To prune it for a larger growth,

A fuller life.

 

Though every budding twig be lopped,

And every grace

Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,

Be lost a space.

 

O thou whose life of joy seems reft,

Of beauty shorn;

Whose aspirations lie in dust,

All bruised and torn,

 

Rejoice, tho' each desire, each dream,

Each hope of thine

Shall fall and fade; it is the hand

Of Love Divine

 

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks

With tenderest touch,

That thou, whose life has borne some fruit

May'st now bear much.

--Annie Johnson Flint

 

(2) Victorious Living is Possible

 

"Nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matt.

17:20).

 

It is possible, for those who really are willing

to reckon on the power of the Lord for keeping

and victory, to lead a life in which His promises

are taken as they stand and are found to be true.

 

 

It is possible to cast all our care upon Him

daily and to enjoy deep peace in doing it.

 

It is possible to have the thoughts and

imaginations of our hearts purified, in the

deepest meaning of the word.

 

It is possible to see the will of God in

everything, and to receive it, not with sighing,

but with singing.

 

It is possible by taking complete refuge in

Divine power to become strong through and

through; and, where previously our greatest

weakness lay, to find that things which formerly

upset all our resolves to be patient, or pure, or

humble, furnish today an opportunity--through Him

who loved us, and works in us an agreement with

His will and a blessed sense of His presence and

His power--to make sin powerless over us.

 

These things are DIVINE POSSIBILITIES, and

because they are His work, the true experience of

them will always cause us to bow lower at His

feet and to learn to thirst and long for more.

 

We cannot possibly be satisfied with anything

less--each day, each hour, each moment, in

Christ, through the power of the Holy

Spirit--than to WALK WITH GOD. --H. C. G. Moule

 

We may have as much of God as we will. Christ

puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our

hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man

is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank, and

told to help himself, and comes out with one

cent, whose fault is it that he is poor? Whose

fault is it that Christian people generally have

such scanty portions of the free riches of God?

--McLaren.

 

(3) Wait With Patience

 

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him"

(Ps. 37:7).

 

Have you prayed and prayed and waited and waited,

and still there is no manifestation?

 

Are you tired of seeing nothing move? Are you

just at the point of giving it all up? Perhaps

you have not waited in the right way? This would

take you out of the right place the place where

He can meet you.

 

"With patience wait" (Rom. 8:25). Patience takes

away worry. He said He would come, and His

promise is equal to His presence. Patience takes

away your weeping. Why feel sad and despondent?

He knows your need better than you do, and His

purpose in waiting is to bring more glory out of

it all. Patience takes away self-works. The work

He desires is that you "believe" (John 6:29), and

when you believe, you may then know that all is

well. Patience takes away all want. Your desire

for the thing you wish is perhaps stronger than

your desire for the will of God to be fulfilled

in its arrival.

 

Patience takes away all weakening. Instead of

having the delaying time, a time of letting go,

know that God is getting a larger supply ready

and must get you ready too. Patience takes away

all wobbling. "Make me stand upon my standing"

(Daniel 8:18, margin). God's foundations are

steady; and when His patience is within, we are

steady while we wait. Patience gives worship. A

praiseful patience sometimes "long-suffering with

joyfulness" (Col. 1:11) is the best part of it

all. "Let (all these phases of) patience have her

perfect work" (James 1:4), while you wait, and

you will find great enrichment.  --C. H. P.

 

Hold steady when the fires burn,

When inner lessons come to learn,

And from this path there seems no turn

"Let patience have her perfect work."

--L.S.P.

 

(4) Active Faith

 

"If thou canst believe, all things are possible.

to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23).

 

Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith

than was given once in one of our meetings, by a

dear old colored woman, as she answered the

question of a young man how to take the Lord for

needed help.

 

In her characteristic way, pointing her finger

toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You've

just got to believe that He's done it and it's

done." The great danger with most of us is that,

after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that

it is done, but we keep on helping Him, and

getting others to help Him; and waiting to see

how He is going to do it.

 

Faith adds its "Amen" to God's "Yea," and then

takes its hands off, and leaves God to finish His

work. Its language is, "Commit thy way unto the

Lord, trust also in him; and he worketh.'  --Days

of Heaven upon Earth

 

"I simply take Him at His word,

I praise Him that my prayer is heard,

And claim my answer from the Lord;

I take, He undertakes."

 

An active faith can give thanks for a promise,

though it be not as yet performed; knowing that

God's bonds are as good as ready money.

--Matthew Henry

 

Passive faith accepts the word as true

But never moves.

Active faith begins the work to do,

And thereby proves.

 

Passive faith says, "I believe it! every word of

God is true.

Well I know He hath not spoken what He cannot,

will not, do.

He hath bidden me, 'Go forward!' but a closed-up

way I see,

When the waters are divided, soon in Canaan's

land I'll be.

Lo! I hear His voice commanding, 'Rise and walk:

take up thy bed';

And, 'Stretch forth thy withered member!' which

for so long has been dead.

When I am a little stronger, then, I know I'll

surely stand:

When there comes a thrill of heating, I will use

with ease My other hand.

Yes, I know that 'God is able' and full willing

all to do:

I believe that every promise, sometime, will to

me come true."

 

Active faith says, "I believe it! and the promise

now I take,

Knowing well, as I receive it, God, each promise,

real will make.

So I step into the waters, finding there an open

way;

Onward press, the land possessing; nothing can my

progress stay.

Yea, I rise at His commanding, walk straightway,

and joyfully:

This, my hand, so sadly shrivelled, as I reach,

restored shall be.

What beyond His faithful promise, would I wish or

do I need?

Looking not for 'signs or wonders,' I'll no

contradiction heed.

Well I know that 'God is able,' and full willing

all to do:

I believe that every promise, at this moment can

come true."

 

Passive faith but praises in the light,

When sun doth shine.

Active faith will praise in darkest night--

Which faith is thine?

--Selected

 

(5) The Blessing of the Lion

 

"And there came a lion" (1 Sam. 17:34).

 

It is a source of inspiration and strength to

come in touch with the youthful David, trusting

God. Through faith in God he conquered a lion and

a bear, and afterwards overthrew the mighty

Goliath. When that lion came to despoil that

flock, it came as a wondrous opportunity to

David. If he had failed or faltered he would have

missed God's opportunity for him and probably

would never have come to be God's chosen king of

Israel. "And there came a lion."

 

One would not think that a lion was a special

blessing from God; one would think that only an

occasion of alarm. The lion was God's opportunity

in disguise. Every difficulty that presents

itself to us, if we receive it in the right way,

is God's opportunity. Every temptation that comes

is God's opportunity.

 

When the "lion" comes, recognize it as God's

opportunity no matter how rough the exterior. The

very tabernacle of God was covered with badgers'

skins and goats' hair; one would not think there

would be any glory there. The Shekinah of God was

manifest under that kind of covering. May God

open our eyes to see Him, whether in temptations,

trials, dangers, or misfortunes. 

--C. H. P.

 

(6) Hidden Workers

 

"John did no miracle: but all things that John

spake of this man were true" (John 10:41).

 

You may be very discontented with yourself. You

are no genius, have no brilliant gifts, and are

inconspicuous for any special faculty. Mediocrity

is the law of your existence. Your days are

remarkable for nothing but sameness and

insipidity. Yet you may live a great life.

 

John did no miracle, but Jesus said that among

those born of women there had not appeared a

greater than he.

 

John's main business was to bear witness to the

Light, and this may be yours and mine. John was

content to be only a voice, if men would think of

Christ.

 

Be willing to be only a voice, heard but not

seen; a mirror whose surface is lost to view,

because it reflects the dazzling glory of the

sun; a breeze that springs up just before

daylight, and says, "The dawn! the dawn!" and

then dies away.

 

Do the commonest and smallest things as beneath

His eye. If you must live with uncongenial

people, set to their conquest by love. If you

have made a great mistake in your life, do not

let it becloud all of it; but, locking the secret

in your breast, compel it to yield strength and

sweetness.

 

We are doing more good than we know, sowing

seeds, starting streamlets, giving men true

thoughts of Christ, to which they will refer one

day as the first things that started them

thinking of Him; and, of my part, I shall be

satisfied if no great mausoleum is raised over my

grave, but that simple souls shall gather there

when I am gone, and say,

 

"He was a good man; he wrought no miracles, but

he spake words about Christ, which led me to know

Him for myself."  --George Matheson

 

"THY HIDDEN ONES" (Psa. 83:3)

 

"Thick green leaves from the soft brown earth,

Happy springtime hath called them forth;

First faint promise of summer bloom

Breathes from the fragrant, sweet perfume,

Under the leaves.

 

"Lift them! what marvelous beauty lies

Hidden beneath, from our thoughtless eyes!

Mayflowers, rosy or purest white,

Lift their cups to the sudden light,

Under the leaves.

 

"Are there no lives whose holy deeds--

Seen by no eye save His who reads

Motive and action--in silence grow

Into rare beauty, and bud and blow

Under the leaves?

 

"Fair white flowers of faith and trust,

Springing from spirits bruised and crushed;

Blossoms of love, rose-tinted and bright,

Touched and painted with Heaven's own light

Under the leaves.

 

"Full fresh clusters of duty borne,

Fairest of all in that shadow grown;

Wondrous the fragrance that sweet and rare

Comes from the flower-cups hidden there

Under the leaves.

 

"Though unseen by our vision dim,

Bud and blossom are known to Him;

Wait we content for His heavenly ray--

Wait till our Master Himself one day

Lifteth the leaves."

 

"God calls many of His most valued workers from

the unknown multitude" (Luke 14:23).

 

Enter Into Your Inheritance

 

"Every place that the sole of your foot shall

tread upon, that have I given unto you" (Joshua

1:3).

 

Beside the literal ground, unoccupied for Christ,

there is the unclaimed, untrodden territory of

Divine promises. What did God say to Joshua?

"Every place that the sole of your foot shall

tread upon, that have I given unto you," and then

He draws the outlines of the Land of Promise--all

theirs on one condition: that they shall march

through the length and breadth of it, and measure

it off with their own feet.

 

They never did that to more than one-third of the

property, and consequently they never had more

than one-third; they had just what they measured

off, and no more.

 

In 2 Peter, we read of the "land of promise" that

is opened up to us, and it is God's will that we

should, as it were, measure off that territory by

the feet of obedient faith and believing

obedience, thus claiming and appropriating it for

our own.

 

How many of us have ever taken possession of the

promises of God in the name of Christ?

 

Here is a magnificent territory for faith to lay

hold on and march through the length and breadth

of, and faith has never done it yet.

 

Let us enter into all our inheritance. Let us

lift up our eyes to the north and to the south,

to the east and to the west, and hear Him say,

"All the land that thou seest will I give to

thee."  --A. T. Pierson

 

Wherever Judah should set his foot that should be

his; wherever Benjamin should set his foot, that

should be his. Each should get his inheritance by

setting his foot upon it. Now, think you not,

when either had set his foot upon a given

territory, he did not instantly and instinctively

feel, "This is mine"?

 

An old colored man, who had a marvelous

experience in grace, was asked: "Daniel, why is

it that you have so much peace and joy in

religion?" "O Massa!" he replied, "I just fall

flat on the exceeding great and precious

promises, and I have all that is in them. Glory!

Glory!" He who falls flat on the promises feels

that all the riches embraced in them are his.

--Faith Papers

 

The Marquis of Salisbury was criticized for his

Colonial policies and replied: "Gentlemen, get

larger maps."

More Than Sufficient

 

"My grace is sufficient for thee" (2 Cor. 12:9).

 

The other evening I was riding home after a heavy

day's work. I felt very wearied, and sore

depressed, when swiftly, and suddenly as a

lightning flash, that text came to me, "My grace

is sufficient for thee." I reached home and

looked it up in the original, and at last it came

to me in this way, "MY grace is sufficient for

thee"; and I said, "I should think it is, Lord,"

and burst out laughing. I never fully understood

what the holy laughter of Abraham was until then.

It seemed to make unbelief so absurd. It was as

though some little fish, being very thirsty, was

troubled about drinking the river dry, and Father

Thames said, "Drink away, little fish, my stream

is sufficient for thee." Or, it seemed after the

seven years of plenty, a mouse feared it might

die of famine; and Joseph might say, "Cheer up,

little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for

thee." Again, I imagined a man away up yonder, in

a lofty mountain, saying to himself, "I breathe

so many cubic feet of air every year, I fear I

shall exhaust the oxygen in the atmosphere," but

the earth might say, "Breathe away, O man, and

fill the lungs ever, my atmosphere is sufficient

for thee." Oh, brethren, be great believers!

Little faith will bring your souls to Heaven, but

great faith will bring Heaven to your souls.

--C. H. Spurgeon

 

His grace is great enough to meet the great

things

The crashing waves that overwhelm the soul,

The roaring winds that leave us stunned and

breathless,

The sudden storm beyond our life's control.

 

His grace is great enough to meet the small

things

The little pin-prick troubles that annoy,

The insect worries, buzzing and persistent,

The squeaking wheels that grate upon our joy.

--Annie Johnson Flint

 

There is always a large balance to our credit in

the bank of Heaven waiting for our exercise of

faith in drawing it. Draw heavily upon His

resources.

 

(7) Alone With God

 

"And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a

man with him until the breaking of the day" (Gen.

32:24).

 

Left alone! What different sensations those words

conjure up to each of us. To some they spell

loneliness and desolation, to others rest and

quiet. To be left alone without God, would be too

awful for words, but to be left alone with Him is

a foretaste of Heaven! If His followers spent

more time alone with Him, we should have

spiritual giants again.

 

The Master set us an example. Note how often He

went to be alone with God; and He had a mighty

purpose behind the command, "When thou prayest,

enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut

thy door, pray."

 

The greatest miracles of Elijah and Elisha took

place when they were alone with God. It was alone

with God that Jacob became a prince; and just

there that we, too, may become princes--"men

(aye, and women too!) wondered at" (Zech. 3:8).

Joshua was alone when the Lord came to him.

(Josh. 1:1) Gideon and Jephthah were by

themselves when commissioned to save Israel.

(Judges 6:11 and 11:29) Moses was by himself at

the wilderness bush. (Exodus 3:1-5) Cornelius was

praying by himself when the angel came to him.

(Acts 10:2) No one was with Peter on the house

top, when he was instructed to go to the

Gentiles. (Acts 10:9) John the Baptist was alone

in the wilderness (Luke 1:90), and John the

Beloved alone in Patmos, when nearest God. (Rev.

1:9)

 

Covet to get alone with God. If we neglect it, we

not only rob ourselves, but others too, of

blessing, since when we are blessed we are able

to pass on blessing to others. It may mean less

outside work; it must mean more depth and power,

and the consequence, too, will be "they saw no

man save Jesus only."

 

To be alone with God in prayer cannot be

over-emphasized.

 

"If chosen men had never been alone,

In deepest silence open-doored to God,

No greatness ever had been dreamed or done."

 

(8) Praise in the Midst of Trouble

 

"Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God

continually" (Heb. 13:15).

 

A city missionary, stumbling through the dirt of

a dark entry, heard a voice say, "Who's there,

Honey?" Striking a match, he caught a vision of

earthly want and suffering, of saintly trust and

peace, "cut in ebony"--calm, appealing eyes set

amid the wrinkles of a pinched, black face that

lay on a tattered bed. It was a bitter night in

February, and she had no fire, no fuel, no light.

She had had no supper, no dinner, no breakfast.

She seemed to have nothing at all but rheumatism

and faith in God. One could not well be more

completely exiled from all pleasantness of

circumstances, yet the favorite song of this old

creature ran:

 

"Nobody knows de trouble I see,

Nobody knows but Jesus;

Nobody knows de trouble I see--

Sing Glory Hallelu!

 

"Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down,

Sometimes I'm level on the groun',

Sometimes the glory shines aroun'

Sing Glory Hallelu!"

 

And so it went on: "Nobody knows de work I does,

Nobody knows de griefs I has," the constant

refrain being the "Glory Hallelu!" until the last

verse rose:

 

"Nobody knows de joys I has,

Nobody knows but Jesus!"

 

"Troubled on every side, yet not distressed;

perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but

not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." It

takes great Bible words to tell the cheer of that

old negro auntie.

 

Remember Luther on his sick-bed. Between his

groans he managed to preach on this wise: "These

pains and trouble here are like the type which

the printers set; as they look now, we have to

read them backwards, and they seem to have no

sense or meaning in them; but up yonder, when the

Lord God prints us off in the life to come, we

shall find they make brave reading." Only we do

not need to wait till then. Remember Paul walking

the hurricane deck amid a boiling sea, bidding

the frightened crew "Be of good cheer," Luther,

the old negro auntie--all of them human

sun-flowers.  --Wm. G. Garnett

 

(9) Into the Deep

 

"Launch out into the deep" (Luke 5:4).

 

How deep He does not say. The depth into which we

launch will depend upon how perfectly we have

given up the shore, and the greatness of our

need, and the apprehension of our possibilities.

The fish were to be found in the deep, not in the

shallow water.

 

So with us; our needs are to be met in the deep

things of God. We are to launch out into the deep

of God's Word, which the Spirit can open up to us

in such crystal fathomless meaning that the same

words we have accepted in times past will have an

ocean meaning in them, which renders their first

meaning to us very shallow.

 

Into the deep of the Atonement, until Christ's

precious blood is so illuminated by the Spirit

that it becomes an omnipotent balm, and food and

medicine for the soul and body.

 

Into the deep of the Father's will, until we

apprehend it in its infinite minuteness and

goodness, and its far-sweeping provision and care

for us.

 

Into the deep of the Holy Spirit, until He

becomes a bright, dazzling, sweet, fathomless

summer sea, in which we bathe and bask and

breathe, and lose ourselves and our sorrows in

the calmness and peace of His everlasting

presence.

 

Into the deep of the Holy Spirit, until He

becomes a bright, marvelous answer to prayer, the

most careful and tender guidance, the most

thoughtful anticipation of our needs, the most

accurate and supernatural shaping of our events.

 

Into the deep of God's purposes and coming

kingdom, until the Lord's coming and His

millennial reign are opened up to us; and beyond

these the bright entrancing ages on ages unfold

themselves, until the mental eye is dazed with

light, and the heart flutters with inexpressible

anticipations of its joy with Jesus and the glory

to be revealed.

 

Into all these things, Jesus bids us launch. He

made us and He made the deep, and to its

fathomless depths He has fitted our longings and

capabilities.  --Soul Food

 

"Its streams the whole creation reach,

So plenteous is the store;

Enough for all, enough for each;

Enough forevermore."

 

The deep waters of the Holy Spirit are always

accessible, because they are always proceeding.

Will you not this day claim afresh to be immersed

and drenched in these waters of life? The waters

in Ezekiel's vision first of all oozed from under

the doors of the temple. Then the man with the

measuring line measured and found the waters to

the ankles. Still further measurement, and they

were waters to the knees. Once again they were

measured and the waters were to the loins. Then

they became waters to swim in--a river that could

not be passed over. (Read Ezekiel 47). How far

have we advanced into this river of life? The

Holy Spirit would have a complete self

effacement. Not merely ankle-deep, knee-deep,

loin-deep, but self-deep. We ourselves hidden out

of sight and bathed in this life-giving stream.

Let go the shore-lines and launch out into the

deep. Never forget, the Man with the measuring

line is with us today. --J.G.M.

 

(10) Making Straight the Crooked

 

"Consider the work of God: for who can make that

straight, which he hath made crooked"  (Eccles.

7:13).

 

Often God seems to place His children in

positions of profound difficulty, leading them

into a wedge from which there is no escape;

contriving a situation which no human judgment

would have permitted, had it been previously

consulted. The very cloud conducts them thither.

You may be thus involved at this very hour.

 

It does seem perplexing and very serious to the

last degree, but it is perfectly right. The issue

will more than justify Him who has brought you

hither. It is a platform for the display of His

almighty grace and power.

 

He will not only deliver you; but in doing so, He

will give you a lesson that you will never

forget, and to which, in many a psalm and song,

in after days, you will revert. You will never be

able to thank God enough for having done just as

He has.  --Selected

 

"We may wait till He explains,

Because we know that Jesus reigns."

 

It puzzles me; but, Lord, Thou understandest,

And wilt one day explain this crooked thing.

Meanwhile, I know that it has worked out Thy

best--

Its very crookedness taught me to cling.

 

Thou hast fenced up my ways, made my paths

crooked,

To keep my wand'ring eyes fixed on Thee;

To make me what I was not, humble, patient;

To draw my heart from earthly love to Thee.

 

So I will thank and praise Thee for this puzzle,

And trust where I cannot understand.

Rejoicing Thou dost hold me worth such testing,

I cling the closer to Thy guiding hand.

--F.E.M.I.

 

(11) Meet Him in the Morning

 

"Be ready in the morning, and come u ...present

thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And

no man shall come up with thee"  (Exod. 34:2-3).

 

The morning watch is essential. You must not face

the day until you have faced God, nor look into

the face of others until you have looked into

His.

 

You cannot expect to be victorious, if the day

begins only in your own strength. Face the work

of every day with the influence of a few

thoughtful, quiet moments with your heart and

God. Do not meet other people, even those of your

own home, until you have first met the great

Guest and honored Companion of your life--Jesus

Christ.

 

Meet Him alone. Meet Him regularly. Meet Him with

His open Book of counsel before you; and face the

regular and the irregular duties of each day with

the influence of His personality definitely

controlling your every act.

 

Begin the day with God!

He is thy Sun and Day!

His is the radiance of thy dawn;

To Him address thy lay.

 

Sing a new song at morn!

Join the glad woods and hills;

Join the fresh winds and seas and plains,

Join the bright flowers and rills.

 

Sing thy first song to God!

Not to thy fellow men;

Not to the creatures of His hand,

But to the glorious One.

 

Take thy first walk with God!

Let Him go forth with thee;

By stream, or sea, or mountain path,

Seek still His company.

 

Thy first transaction be

With God Himself above;

So shall thy business prosper well,

And all the day be love.

--Horatius Bonar

 

The men who have done the most for God in this

world have been early upon their knees.

 

Matthew Henry used to be in his study at four,

and remain there till eight; then, after

breakfast and family prayer, he used to be there

again till noon; after dinner, he resumed his

book or pen till four, and spent the rest of the

day in visiting his friends.

 

Doddridge himself alludes to his "Family

Expositor" as an example of the difference of

rising between five and seven, which, in forty

years, is nearly equivalent to ten years more of

life.

 

Dr. Adam Clark's "Commentary" was chiefly

prepared very early in the morning.

 

Barnes' popular and useful "Commentary" has been

also the fruit of "early morning hours."

 

Simeon's "Sketches" were chiefly worked out

between four and eight.

 

(12) The Price of Freedom

 

"And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and

came out of him" (Mark 9:26).

 

Evil never surrenders its hold without a sore

fight. We never pass into any spiritual

inheritance through the delightful exercises of a

picnic, but always through the grim contentions

of the battle field. It is so in the secret realm

of the soul. Every faculty which wins its

spiritual freedom does so at the price of blood.

Apollyon is not put to flight by a courteous

request; he straddles across the full breadth of

the way, and our progress has to be registered in

blood and tears. This we must remember or we

shall add to all the other burdens of life the

gall of misinterpretation. We are not "born

again" into soft and protected nurseries, but in

the open country where we suck strength from the

very terror of the tempest. "We must through much

tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."  Dr.

J. H. Jowett

 

"Faith of our Fathers! living still,

In spite of dungeon, fire and sword:

O how our hearts beat high with joy

Whene'er we hear that glorious word.

Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!

We will be true to Thee till death!

 

"Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free;

How sweet would be their children's fate,

 

(13) Tempered and Tried

 

"Followers of them who through faith and patience

inherit the promises" (Heb. 6:12).

 

They (heroes of faith) are calling to us from the

heights that they have won, and telling us that

what man once did man can do again. Not only do

they remind us of the necessity of faith, but

also of that patience by which faith has its

perfect work. Let us fear to take ourselves out

of the hands of our heavenly Guide or to miss a

single lesson of His loving discipline by

discouragement or doubt.

 

"There is only one thing," said a village

blacksmith, "that I fear, and that is to be

thrown on the scrap heap.

 

"When I am tempering a piece of steel, I first

beat it, hammer it, and then suddenly plunge it

into this bucket of cold water. I very soon find

whether it will take temper or go to pieces in

the process. When I discover after one or two

tests that it is not going to allow itself to be

tempered, I throw it on the scrap heap and sell

it for a cent a pound when the junk man comes

around.

 

"So I find the Lord tests me, too, by fire and

water and heavy blows of His heavy hammer, and if

I am not willing to stand the test, or am not

going to prove a fit subject for His tempering

process, I am afraid He may throw me on the scrap

heap."

 

When the fire is hottest, hold still, for there

will be a blessed "afterward"; and with Job we

may be able to say, "When he hath tried me I

shall come forth as gold."  --Selected

 

Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes

eleven tons of pressure on a piano to tune it.

God will tune you to harmonize with Heaven's

key-note if you can stand the strain.

 

"Things that hurt and things that mar

Shape the man for perfect praise;

Shock and strain and ruin are

Friendlier than the smiling days."

 

(14) Hold on Until the End

 

"We are made partaker of Christ, if we hold the

beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the

end"   (Heb. 3:14).

 

It is the last step that wins; and there is no

place in the pilgrim's progress where so many

dangers lurk as the region that lies hard by the

portals of the Celestial City. It was there that

Doubting Castle stood. It was there that the

enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to

fatal slumber. It is when Heaven's heights are

full in view that hell's gate is most persistent

and full of deadly peril. "Let us not be weary in

well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if

we faint not." "So run, that ye may obtain."

 

In the bitter waves of woe

Beaten and tossed about

By the sullen winds that blow

From the desolate shores of doubt,

Where the anchors that faith has cast

Are dragging in the gale,

I am quietly holding fast

To the things that cannot fail.

 

And fierce though the fiends may fight,

And long though the angels hide,

I know that truth and right

Have the universe on their side;

And that somewhere beyond the stars

Is a love that is better than fate.

When the night unlocks her bars

I shall see Him--and I will wait.

--Washington Gladden

 

The problem of getting great things from God is

being able to hold on for the last half hour.

--Selected

 

(15) Our Dependency on Christ

 

"We are troubled on every side" (2 Cor. 7:5).

 

Why should God have to lead us thus, and allow

the pressure to be so hard and constant? Well, in

the first place, it shows His all-sufficient

strength and grace much better than if we were

exempt from pressure and trial. "The treasure is

in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the

power may be of God, and not of us."

 

It makes us more conscious of our dependence upon

Him. God is constantly trying to teach us our

dependence, and to hold us absolutely in His hand

and hanging upon His care.

 

This was the place where Jesus Himself stood and

where He wants us to stand, not with

self-constituted strength, but with a hand ever

leaning upon His, and a trust that dare not take

one step alone. It teaches us trust.

 

There is no way of learning faith except by

trial. It is God's school of faith, and it is far

better for us to learn to trust God than to enjoy

life.

 

The lesson of faith once learned, is an

everlasting acquisition and an eternal fortune

made; and without trust even riches will leave us

poor.  --Days of Heaven upon Earth

 

"Why must I weep when others sing?

'To test the deeps of suffering.'

Why must I work while others rest?

'To spend my strength at God's request.'

Why must I lose while others gain?

'To understand defeat's sharp pain.'

Why must this lot of life be mine

When that which fairer seems is thine?

'Because God knows what plans for me

Shall blossom in eternity.'"

 

(16) Be Sure of His Promises

 

"Do as thou hast said, that thy name may be

magnified forever" (1 Chron. 17:23-24).

 

This is a most blessed phase of true prayer. Many

a time we ask for things which are not absolutely

promised. We are not sure therefore until we have

persevered for some time whether our petitions

are in the line of God's purpose or no. There are

other occasions, and in the life of David this

was one, when we are fully persuaded that what we

ask is according to God's will. We feel led to

take up and plead some promise from the page of

Scripture, under the special impression that it

contains a message for us. At such times, in

confident faith, we say, "Do as Thou hast said."

There is hardly any position more utterly

beautiful, strong, or safe, than to put the

finger upon some promise of the Divine word, and

claim it. There need be no anguish, or struggle,

or wrestling; we simply present the check and ask

for cash, produce the promise, and claim its

fulfillment; nor can there be any doubt as to the

issue. It would give much interest to prayer, if

we were more definite. It is far better to claim

a few things specifically than a score vaguely.

--F. B. Meyer

 

Every promise of Scripture is a writing of God,

which may be pleaded before Him with this

reasonable request: "Do as Thou hast said." The

Creator will not cheat His creature who depends

upon His truth; and far more, the Heavenly Father

will not break His word to His own child.

 

"Remember the word unto thy servant, on which

thou hast caused me to hope," is most prevalent

pleading. It is a double argument: it is Thy

Word. Wilt Thou not keep it? Why hast thou spoken

of it, if Thou wilt not make it good. Thou hast

caused me to hope in it, wilt Thou disappoint the

hope which Thou has Thyself begotten in me?  --C.

H. Spurgeon

 

"Being absolutely certain that whatever promise

he is bound by, he is able also to make good"

(Rom. 4:21, Weymouth's Translation).

 

It is the everlasting faithfulness of God that

makes a Bible promise "exceeding great and

precious." Human promises are often worthless.

Many a broken promise has left a broken heart.

But since the world was made, God has never

broken a single promise made to one of His

trusting children.

 

Oh, it is sad for a poor Christian to stand at

the door of the promise, in the dark night of

affliction, afraid to draw the latch, whereas he

should then come boldly for shelter as a child

into his father's house.  --Gurnal

 

Every promise is built upon four pillars: God's

justice and holiness, which will not suffer Him

to deceive; His grace or goodness, which will not

suffer Him to forget; His truth, which will not

suffer Him to change, which makes Him able to

accomplish.  --Selected

 

(17) Cast Your Burdens Upon God

 

"Look from the top" (Song of Solomon 4:8).

 

Crushing weights give the Christian wings. It

seems like a contradiction in terms, but it is a

blessed truth. David out of some bitter

experience cried: "Oh, that I had wings like a

dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest" (Ps.

55:6). But before he finished this meditation he

seems to have realized that his wish for wings

was a realizable one. For he says, "Cast thy

burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee."

 

The word "burden" is translated in the Bible

margin, "what he (Jehovah) hath given thee." The

saints' burdens are God-given; they lead him to

"wait upon Jehovah," and when that is done, in

the magic of trust, the "burden" is metamorphosed

into a pair of wings, and the weighted one

"mounts up with wings as eagles.  --Sunday School

Times

 

One day when walking down the street,

On business bent, while thinking hard

About the "hundred cares" which seemed

Like thunder clouds about to break

In torrents, Self-pity said to me:

"You poor, poor thing, you have too much

To do. Your life is far too hard.

This heavy load will crush you soon."

A swift response of sympathy

Welled up within. The burning sun

Seemed more intense. The dust and noise

Of puffing motors flying past

With rasping blast of blowing horn

Incensed still more the whining nerves,

The fabled last back-breaking straw

To weary, troubled, fretting mind.

"Ah, yes, 'twill break and crush my life;

I cannot bear this constant strain

Of endless, aggravating cares;

They are too great for such as I."

So thus my heart condoled itself,

"Enjoying misery," when lo!

A "still small voice" distinctly said,

"Twas sent to lift you--not to crush."

I saw at once my great mistake.

My place was not beneath the load

But on the top! God meant it not

That I should carry it. He sent

It here to carry me. Full well

He knew my incapacity

Before the plan was made. He saw

A child of His in need of grace

And power to serve; a puny twig

Requiring sun and rain to grow;

An undeveloped chrysalis;

A weak soul lacking faith in God.

He could not help but see all this

And more. And then, with tender thought

He placed it where it had to grow--

Or die. To lie and cringe beneath

One's load means death, but life and power

Await all those who dare to rise above.

Our burdens are our wings; on them

We soar to higher realms of grace;

Without them we must roam for aye

On planes of undeveloped faith,

(For faith grows but by exercise in circumstance

impossible).

 

Oh, paradox of Heaven. The load

We think will crush was sent to lift us

Up to God! Then, soul of mine,

Climb up! for naught can e'er be crushed

Save what is underneath the weight.

How may we climb! By what ascent

Shall we surmount the carping cares

Of life! Within His word is found

The key which opes His secret stairs;

Alone with Christ, secluded there,

We mount our loads, and rest in Him.

--Miss Mary Butterfield

 

(18) The Just Shall Live by Faith

 

"The just shall live by faith." (Heb. 10:38).

 

Seemings and feelings are often substituted for

faith. Pleasurable emotions and deep satisfying

experiences are part of the Christian life, but

they are not all of it. Trials, conflicts,

battles and testings lie along the way, and are

not to be counted as misfortunes, but rather as

part of our necessary discipline.

 

In all these varying experiences we are to reckon

on Christ as dwelling in the heart, regardless of

our feelings if we are walking obediently before

Him. Here is where many get into trouble; they

try to walk by feeling rather than faith.

 

One of the saints tells us that it seemed as

though God had withdrawn Himself from her. His

mercy seemed clean gone. For six weeks her

desolation lasted, and then the Heavenly Lover

seemed to say:

 

"Catherine, thou hast looked for Me without in

the world of sense, but all the while I have been

within waiting for thee; meet Me in the inner

chamber of thy spirit, for I am there."

 

Distinguish between the fact of God's presence,

and the emotion of the fact. It is a happy thing

when the soul seems desolate and deserted, if our

faith can say, "I see Thee not. I feel Thee not,

but Thou art certainly and graciously here, where

I am as I am." Say it again and again: "Thou art

here: though the bush does not seem to burn with

fire, it does burn. I will take the shoes from

off my feet, for the place on which I stand is

holy ground."  --London Christian

 

Believe God's word and power more than you

believe your own feelings and experiences. Your

Rock is Christ, and it is not the Rock which ebbs

and flows, but your sea.  --Samuel Rutherford

 

Keep your eye steadily fixed on the infinite

grandeur of Christ's finished work and

righteousness. Look to Jesus and believe, look to

Jesus and live! Nay, more; as you look to him,

hoist your sails and buffet manfully the sea of

life. Do not remain in the haven of distrust, or

sleeping on your shadows in inactive repose, or

suffering your frames and feelings to pitch and

toss on one another like vessels idly moored in a

harbor. The religious life is not a brooding over

emotions, grazing the keel of faith in the

shallows, or dragging the anchor of hope through

the oozy tide mud as if afraid of encountering

the healthy breeze. Away! With your canvas spread

to the gale, trusting in Him, who rules the

raging of the waters. The safety of the tinted

bird is to be on the wing. If its haunt be near

the ground--if it fly low--it exposes itself to

the fowler's net or snare. If we remain

grovelling on the low ground of feeling and

emotion, we shall find ourselves entangled in a

thousand meshes of doubt and despondency,

temptation and unbelief. "But surely in vain the

net is spread in the sight of THAT WHICH HATH A

WING" (marginal reading Prov. 1:17). Hope thou in

God.  --J. R. Macduff

 

When I cannot enjoy the faith of assurance, I

live by the faith of adherence.  Matthew Henry

 

(19) Strength From the Sorrow

 

"Now it came to pass after the death of Moses,

the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto

Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

Moses my servant is dead; now, therefore arise,

go over this Jordan, thou and all this people"

(Joshua 1:1-2).

 

Sorrow came to you yesterday, and emptied your

home. Your first impulse now is to give up, and

sit down in despair amid the wrecks of your

hopes. But you dare not do it. You are in the

line of battle, and the crisis is at hand. To

falter a moment would be to imperil some holy

interest. Other lives would be harmed by your

pausing, holy interests would suffer, should your

hands be folded. You must not linger even to

indulge your grief.

 

A distinguished general related this pathetic

incident of his own experience in time of war.

The general's son was a lieutenant of battery. An

assault was in progress. The father was leading

his division in a charge; as he pressed on in the

field, suddenly his eye was caught by the sight

of a dead battery-officer lying just before him.

One glance showed him it was his own son. His

fatherly impulse was to stop beside the loved

form and give vent to his grief, but the duty of

the moment demanded that he should press on in

the charge; so, quickly snatching one hot kiss

from the dead lips, he hastened away, leading his

command in the assault.

 

Weeping inconsolably beside a grave can never

give back love's banished treasure, nor can any

blessing come out of such sadness. Sorrow makes

deep scars; it writes its record ineffaceably on

the heart which suffers. We really never get over

our great griefs; we are never altogether the

same after we have passed through them as we were

before. Yet there is a humanizing and fertilizing

influence in sorrow which has been rightly

accepted and cheerfully borne. Indeed, they are

poor who have never suffered, and have none of

sorrow's marks upon them. The joy set before us

should shine upon our grief as the sun shines

through the clouds, glorifying them. God has so

ordered, that in pressing on in duty we shall

find the truest, richest comfort for ourselves.

Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the

darkness deepens about us and creeps into our

heart, and our strength changes to weakness. But,

if we turn away from the gloom, and take up the

tasks and duties to which God calls us, the light

will come again, and we shall grow stronger.

--J. R. Miller

 

Thou knowest that through our tears

Of hasty, selfish weeping

Comes surer sin, and for our petty fears

Of loss thou hast in keeping

A greater gain than all of which we dreamed;

Thou knowest that in grasping

The bright possessions which so precious seemed

We lose them; but if, clasping

Thy faithful hand, we tread with steadfast feet

The path of thy appointing,

There waits for us a treasury of sweet

Delight, royal anointing

With oil of gladness and of strength.

--Helen Hunt Jackson

 

(20) Deliverance in the Stormy Winds

 

"The Lord brought an east wind upon the land all

that day, and all that night; and when it was

morning, the cast wind brought the

locusts....Then Pharaoh called for Moses and

Aaron in haste....And the Lord turned a mighty

strong west wind, which took away the locusts,

and cast them into the Red sea; there remained

not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt"

(Exod. 10:13, 19).

 

See how in the olden times, when the Lord fought

for Israel against the cruel Pharaoh, the stormy

winds wrought out their deliverance; and yet

again, in that grandest display of power--the

last blow that God struck at the proud defiance

of Egypt. A strange, almost cruel thing it must

have seemed to Israel to he hemmed in by such a

host of dangers--in front the wild sea defying

them, on either hand the rocky heights cutting

off all hope of escape, the night of hurricane

gathering over them. It was as if that first

deliverance had come only to hand them over to

more certain death. Completing the terror there

rang out the cry: "The Egyptians are upon us!"

 

When it seemed they were trapped for the foe,

then came the glorious triumph. Forth swept the

stormy wind and beat back the waves, and the

hosts of Israel marched forward, down into the

path of the great deep--a way arched over with

God's protecting love.

 

On either hand were the crystal walls glowing in

the light of the glory of the Lord; and high

above them swept the thunder of the storm. So on

through all that night; and when, at dawn of the

next day, the last of Israel's host set foot upon

the other shore, the work of the stormy wind was

done.

 

Then sang Israel unto the Lord the song of the

"stormy wind fulfilling his word."

 

"The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil...Thou didst blow with

thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead

in the mighty waters."

 

One day, by God's great mercy, we, too, shall

stand upon the sea of glass, having the harps of

God. Then we shall sing the song of Moses, the

servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: "Just

and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." We

shall know then how the stormy winds have wrought

out our deliverance.

 

Now you see only the mystery of this great

sorrow; then you shall see how the threatening

enemy was swept away in the wild night of fear

and grief.

 

Now you look only at the loss; then you shall see

how it struck at the evil that had begun to rivet

its fetters upon you.

 

Now you shrink from the howling winds and

muttering thunders; then you shall see how they

beat back the waters of destruction, and opened

up your way to the goodly land of promise. 

--Mark Guy Pearse

 

"Though winds are wild,

And the gale unleashed,

My trusting heart still sings:

I know that they mean

No harm to me,

He rideth on their wings."

 

(21) Songs of Praise Rise From Affliction

 

"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints"

 (Rev. 15:3).

 

The following incident is related by Mrs. Charles

Spurgeon, who was a great sufferer for more than

a quarter of a century:

 

"At the close of a dark and gloomy day, I lay

resting on my couch as the deeper night drew on;

and though all was bright within my cozy room,

some of the external darkness seemed to have

entered into my soul and obscured its spiritual

vision. Vainly I tried to see the Hand which I

knew held mine, and guided my fog-enveloped feet

along a steep and slippery path of suffering. In

sorrow of heart I asked,

 

"'Why does my Lord thus deal with His child? Why

does He so often send sharp and bitter pain to

visit me? Why does He permit lingering weakness

to hinder the sweet service I long to render to

His poor servants?'

 

"These fretful questions were quickly answered,

and through a strange language; no interpreter

was needed save the conscious whisper of my

heart.

 

"For a while silence reigned in the little room,

broken only by the crackling of the oak log

burning in the fireplace. Suddenly I heard a

sweet, soft sound, a little, clear, musical note,

like the tender trill of a robin beneath my

window.

 

"'What can it be? surely no bird can be singing

out there at this time of the year and night.'

 

"Again came the faint, plaintive notes, so sweet,

so melodious, yet mysterious enough to provoke

our wonder. My friend exclaimed,

 

"'It comes from the log on the fire!' The fire

was letting loose the imprisoned music from the

old oak's inmost heart!

 

"Perchance he had garnered up this song in the

days when all was well with him, when birds

twittered merrily on his branches, and the soft

sunlight flecked his tender leaves with gold. But

he had grown old since then, and hardened; ring

after ring of knotty growth had sealed up the

long-forgotten melody, until the fierce tongues

of the flames came to consume his callousness,

and the vehement heart of the fire wrung from him

at once a song and a sacrifice. 'Ah,' thought I,

'when the fire of affliction draws songs of

praise from us, then indeed we are purified, and

our God is glorified!'

 

"Perhaps some of us are like this old oak log,

cold, hard, insensible; we should give forth no

melodious sounds, were it not for the fire which

kindles around us, and releases notes of trust in

Him, and cheerful compliance with His will.

 

"'As I mused the fire burned,' and my soul found

sweet comfort in the parable so strangely set

forth before me.

 

"Singing in the fire! Yes, God helping us, if

that is the only way to get harmony out of these

hard apathetic hearts, let the furnace be heated

seven times hotter than before."

 

(22) Treasures in the Darkness

 

"Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where

God was" (Exod. 20:21).

 

God has still His hidden secrets, hidden from the

wise and prudent. Do not fear them; be content to

accept things that you cannot understand; wait

patiently. Presently He will reveal to you the

treasures of darkness, the riches of the glory of

the mystery. Mystery is only the veil of God's

face.

 

Do not be afraid to enter the cloud that is

settling down on your life. God is in it. The

other side is radiant with His glory. "Think it

not strange concerning the fiery trial which is

to try you, as though some strange thing happened

unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are

partakers of Christ's sufferings." When you seem

loneliest and most forsaken, God is nigh. He is

in the dark cloud. Plunge into the blackness of

its darkness without flinching; under the

shrouding curtain of His pavilion you will find

God awaiting you.  --Selected

 

"Hast thou a cloud?

Something that is dark and full of dread;

A messenger of tempest overhead?

A something that is darkening the sky;

A something growing darker bye and bye;

A something that thou fear'st will burst at last;

 

A cloud that doth a deep, long shadow cast,

God cometh in that cloud.

 

Hast thou a cloud?

It is Jehovah's triumph car: in this

He rideth to thee, o'er the wide abyss.

It is the robe in which He wraps His form;

For He doth gird Him with the flashing storm.

It is the veil in which He hides the light

Of His fair face, too dazzling for thy sight.

God cometh in that cloud.

 

Hast thou a cloud?

A trial that is terrible to thee?

A black temptation threatening to see?

A loss of some dear one long thine own?

A mist, a veiling, bringing the unknown?

A mystery that unsubstantial seems:

A cloud between thee and the sun's bright beams?

 

God cometh in that cloud.

 

Hast thou a cloud?

A sickness--weak old age--distress and death?

These clouds will scatter at thy last faint

breath.

Fear not the clouds that hover o'er thy barque,

Making the harbour's entrance dire and dark;

The cloud of death, though misty, chill and cold,

 

Will yet grow radiant with a fringe of gold.

GOD cometh in that cloud."

 

As Dr. C. stood on a high peak of the Rocky

Mountains watching a storm raging below him, an

eagle came up through the clouds, and soared away

towards the sun and the water upon him glistened

in the sunlight like diamonds. Had it not been

for the storm he might have remained in the

valley. The sorrows of life cause us to rise

towards God.

 

(23) Earth's Broken Things

 

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob...I will make thee a

threshing instrument with teeth" (Isa. 41:14-15).

 

 

Could any two things be in greater contrast than

a worm and an instrument with teeth? The worm is

delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath the

passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break

and not be broken; it can grave its mark upon the

rock. And the mighty God can convert the one into

the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has

all the impotence of the worm, and by the

invigoration of His own Spirit, He can endow with

strength by which a noble mark is left upon the

history of the time.

 

And so the "worm" may take heart. The mighty God

can make us stronger than our circumstances. He

can bend them all to our good. In God's strength

we can make them all pay tribute to our souls. We

can even take hold of a black disappointment,

break it open, and extract some jewel of grace.

When God gives us wills like iron, we can drive

through difficulties as the iron share cuts

through the toughest soil. "I will make thee,"

and shall He not do it?  --Dr. Jowett

 

Christ is building His kingdom with earth's

broken things. Men want only the strong, the

successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in

building their kingdoms; but God is the God of

the unsuccessful, of those who have failed.

Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and

there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take

and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty.

He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow

and make it into a harp whose music shall be all

praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure up to

heaven's glory.  --J. R. Miller

 

"Follow Me, and I will make you"

Make you speak My words with power,

Make you channels of My mercy,

Make you helpful every hour.

 

"Follow Me, and I will make you"

Make you what you cannot be

Make you loving, trustful, godly,

Make you even like to Me.

--L. S. P.

 

(24) Flowers in the Canyon

 

"For our profit" (Heb. 12:10).

 

In one of Ralph Connor's books he tells a story

of Gwen. Gwen was a wild, wilful lassie and one

who had always been accustomed to having her own

way. Then one day she met with a terrible

accident which crippled her for life. She became

very rebellious and in the murmuring state she

was visited by the Sky Pilot, as the missionary

among the mountaineers was termed.

 

He told her the parable of the canyon. "At first

there were no canyons, but only the broad, open

prairie. One day the Master of the Prairie,

walking over his great lawns, where were only

grasses, asked the Prairie, 'Where are your

flowers?' and the Prairie said, 'Master I have no

seeds.'

 

"Then he spoke to the birds, and they carried

seeds of every kind of flower and strewed them

far and wide, and soon the prairie bloomed with

crocuses and roses and buffalo beans and the

yellow crowfoot and the wild sunflowers and the

red lilies all summer long. Then the Master came

and was well pleased; but he missed the flowers

he loved best of all, and he said to the Prairie:

'Where are the clematis and the columbine, the

sweet violets and wind-flowers, and all the ferns

and flowering shrubs?'

 

"And again he spoke to the birds, and again they

carried all the seeds and scattered them far and

wide. But, again, when the Master came he could

not find the flowers he loved best of all, and he

said:

 

"'Where are those my sweetest flowers?' and the

Prairie cried sorrowfully:

 

"'Oh, Master, I cannot keep the flowers, for the

winds sweep fiercely, and the sun beats upon my

breast, and they wither up and fly away.'

 

"Then the Master spoke to the Lightning, and with

one swift blow the Lightning cleft the Prairie to

the heart. And the Prairie rocked and groaned in

agony, and for many a day moaned bitterly over

the black, jagged, gaping wound.

 

"But the river poured its waters through the

cleft, and carried down deep black mould, and

once more the birds carried seeds and strewed

them in the canyon. And after a long time the

rough rocks were decked out with soft mosses and

trailing vines, and all the nooks were hung with

clematis and columbine, and great elms lifted

their huge tops high up into the sunlight, and

down about their feet clustered the low cedars

and balsams, and everywhere the violets and

wind-flower and maiden-hair grew and bloomed,

till the canyon became the Master's favorite

place for rest and peace and joy."

 

Then the Sky Pilot read to her: "The fruit--I'll

read 'flowers'--of the Spirit are love, joy,

peace, longsuffering, gentleness--and some of

these grow only in the canyon."

 

"Which are the canyon flowers?" asked Gwen

softly, and the Pilot answered: "Gentleness,

meekness, longsuffering; but though the others,

love, joy, peace, bloom in the open, yet never

with so rich a bloom and so sweet a perfume as in

the canyon."

 

For a long time Gwen lay quite still, and then

said wistfully, while her lips trembled: "There

are no flowers in my canyon, but only ragged

rocks."

 

"Some day they will bloom, Gwen dear; the Master

will find them, and we, too, shall see them."

 

Beloved, when you come to your canyon, remember!

 

(25) Patience in the Routine

 

"Be thou there till I bring thee word" (Matt.

2:13).

 

"I'll stay where You've put me;

I will, dear Lord, Though I wanted so badly to

go;

I was eager to march with the 'rank and file,'

Yes, I wanted to lead them, You know.

I planned to keep step to the music loud,

To cheer when the banner unfurled,

To stand in the midst of the fight straight and

proud,

But I'll stay where You've put me.

 

"I'll stay where You've put me; I'll work, dear

Lord,

Though the field be narrow and small,

And the ground be fallow, and the stones lie

thick,

And there seems to be no life at all.

The field is Thine own, only give me the seed,

I'll sow it with never a fear;

I'll till the dry soil while I wait for the rain,

 

And rejoice when the green blades appear;

I'll work where You've put me.

 

"I'll stay where You've put me; I will, dear

Lord;

I'll bear the day's burden and heat,

Always trusting Thee fully; when even has come

I'll lay heavy sheaves at Thy feet.

And then, when my earth work is ended and done,

In the light of eternity's glow,

Life's record all closed, I surely shall find

It was better to stay than to go;

I'll stay where You've put me."

 

"Oh restless heart, that beat against your prison

bars of circumstances, yearning for a wider

sphere of usefulness, leave God to order all your

days. Patience and trust, in the dullness of the

routine of life, will be the best preparation for

a courageous bearing of the tug and strain of the

larger opportunity which God may some time send

you."

 

(26) He Answered Nothing

 

"He answered nothing" (Mark 15:3).

 

There is no spectacle in all the Bible so sublime

as the silent Savior answering not a word to the

men who were maligning Him, and whom He could

have laid prostrate at His feet by one look of

Divine power, or one word of fiery rebuke. But He

let them say and do their worst, and He stood in

THE POWER OF STILLNESS--God's holy silent Lamb.

 

There is a stillness that lets God work for us,

and holds our peace; the stillness that ceases

from its contriving and its self-vindication, and

its expedients of wisdom and forethought, and

lets God provide and answer the cruel blow, in

His own unfailing, faithful love.

 

How often we lose God's interposition by taking

up our own cause, and striking for our defense.

God give to us this silent power, this conquered

spirit! And after the heat and strife of earth

are over, men will remember us as we remember the

morning dew, the gentle light and sunshine, the

evening breeze, the Lamb of Calvary, and the

gentle, holy heavenly Dove.  --A. B. Simpson

 

The day when Jesus stood alone

And felt the hearts of men like stone,

And knew He came but to atone

That day "He held His peace."

 

They witnessed falsely to His word,

They bound Him with a cruel cord,

And mockingly proclaimed Him Lord;

"But Jesus held His peace."

 

They spat upon Him in the face,

They dragged Him on from place to place,

They heaped upon Him all disgrace;

"But Jesus held His peace."

 

My friend, have you for far much less,

With rage, which you called righteousness,

Resented slights with great distress?

Your Saviour "held His peace."

--L. S. P.

 

I remember once hearing Bishop Whipple, of

Minnesota, so well known as "The Apostle of the

Indians," utter these beautiful words: "For

thirty years I have tried to see the face of

Christ in those with whom I differed." When this

spirit actuates us we shall be preserved at once

from a narrow bigotry and an easy-going

tolerance, from passionate vindictiveness and

everything that would mar or injure our testimony

for Him who came not to destroy men's lives, but

to save them. --W. H. Griffith Thomas

 

(27) Preparation For Praise

 

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the ordeal that

has come to test you…you are sharing what Christ

suffered; so rejoice in it" (1 Peter 4:12).

 

Many a waiting hour was needful to enrich the

harp of David, and many a waiting hour in the

wilderness will gather for us a psalm of

"thanksgiving, and the voice of melody," to cheer

the hearts of fainting ones here below, and to

make glad our Father's house on high.

 

What was the preparation of the son of Jesse for

the songs like unto which none other have ever

sounded on this earth?

 

The outrage of the wicked, which brought forth

cries for God's help. Then the faint hope in

God's goodness blossomed into a song of rejoicing

for His mighty deliverances and manifold mercies.

Every sorrow was another string to his harp;

every deliverance another theme for praise.

 

One thrill of anguish spared, one blessing

unmarked or unprized, one difficulty or danger

evaded, how great would have been our loss in

that thrilling Psalmody in which God's people

today find the expression of their grief or

praise!

 

To wait for God, and to suffer His will, is to

know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings, and

to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. So

now, if the vessel is to be enlarged for

spiritual understanding, be not affrighted at the

wider sphere of suffering that awaits you. The

Divine capacity of sympathy will have a more

extended sphere, for the breathing of the Holy

Ghost in the new creation never made a stoic, but

left the heart's affection tender and true.

--Anna Shipton

 

"He tested me ere He entrusted me" (1 Tim. 1:12,

Way's Trans.).

 

(28) Sorrowful, Yet Rejoicing

 

"As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Cor.

6:10).

 

The stoic scorns to shed a tear; the Christian is

not forbidden to weep. The soul may be dumb with

excessive grief, as the shearer's scissors pass

over the quivering flesh; or, when the heart is

on the point of breaking beneath the meeting

surges of trial, the sufferer may seek relief by

crying out with a loud voice. But there is

something even better.

 

They say that springs of sweet fresh water well

up amid the brine of salt seas; that the fairest

Alpine flowers bloom in the wildest and most

rugged mountain passes; that the noblest psalms

were the outcome of the profoundest agony of

soul.

 

Be it so. And thus amid manifold trials, souls

which love God will find reasons for bounding,

leaping joy. Though deep call to deep, yet the

Lord's song will be heard in silver cadence

through the night. And it is possible in the

darkest hour that ever swept a human life to

bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus

Christ. Have you learned this lesson yet? Not

simply to endure God's will, nor only to choose

it; but to rejoice in it with joy unspeakable and

full of glory. --Tried as by F ire

 

I will be still, my bruised heart faintly

murmured,

As o'er me rolled a crushing load of woe;

The cry, the call, e'en the low moan was stifled;

 

I pressed my lips; I barred the tear drop's flow.

 

 

I will be still, although I cannot see it,

The love that bares a soul and fans pain's fire;

That takes away the last sweet drop of solace,

Breaks the lone harp string, hides Thy precious

lyre.

 

But God is love, so I will bide me, bide me--

We'll doubt not, Soul, we will be very still;

We'll wait till after while, when He shall lift

us

Yes, after while, when it shall be His will.

 

And I did listen to my heart's brave promise;

And I did quiver, struggling to be still;

And I did lift my tearless eyes to Heaven,

Repeating ever, "Yea, Christ, have Thy will."

 

But soon my heart upspake from 'neath our burden,

 

Reproved my tight-drawn lips, my visage sad:

"We can do more than this, O Soul," it whispered.

 

"We can be more than still, we can be glad!"

 

And now my heart and I are sweetly singing--

Singing without the sound of tuneful strings;

Drinking abundant waters in the desert,

Crushed, and yet soaring as on eagle's wings.

--S. P. W.

 

(29) According to Our Faith

 

"According to your faith be it unto you" (Matt.

9:29).

 

"Praying through" might be defined as praying

one's way into full faith, emerging while yet

praying into the assurance that one has been

accepted and heard, so that one becomes actually

aware of receiving, by firmest anticipation and

in advance of the event, the thing for which he

asks.

 

Let us remember that no earthly circumstances can

hinder the fulfillment of His Word if we look

steadfastly at the immutability of that Word and

not at the uncertainty of this ever-changing

world. God would have us believe His Word without

other confirmation, and then He is ready to give

us "according to our faith."

 

"When once His Word is past,

When He hath said , 'I will,' (Heb. 13:5)

The thing shall come at last;

God keeps His promise still." (2 Cor. 1:20)

 

The prayer of the Pentecostal age was like a

cheque to be paid in coin over the counter.

--Sir R. Anderson

 

"And God said…and it was so." (Gen. 1:9.)

 

(30) God's Timing

 

"And when forty years were expired, there

appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai

an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a

bush…saying…I have seen the affliction of my

people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their

groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And

now come, I will send thee into Egypt" (Acts

7:30, 32, 34).

 

That was a long wait in preparation for a great

mission. When God delays, He is not inactive. He

is getting ready His instruments, He is ripening

our powers; and at the appointed moment we shall

arise equal to our task. Even Jesus of Nazareth

was thirty years in privacy, growing in wisdom

before He began His work.  --Dr. Jowett

 

God is never in a hurry but spends years with

those He expects to greatly use. He never thinks

the days of preparation too long or too dull.

 

The hardest ingredient in suffering is often

time. A short, sharp pang is easily borne, but

when a sorrow drags its weary way through long,

monotonous years, and day after day returns with

the same dull routine of hopeless agony, the

heart loses its strength, and without the grace

of God, is sure to sink into the very sullenness

of despair. Joseph's was a long trial, and God

often has to burn His lessons into the depths of

our being by the fires of protracted pain. "He

shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,"

but He knows how long, and like a true goldsmith

He stops the fires the moment He sees His image

in the glowing metal. We may not see now the

outcome of the beautiful plan which God is hiding

in the shadow of His hand; it yet may be long

concealed; but faith may be sure that He is

sitting on the throne, calmly waiting the hour

when, with adoring rapture, we shall say, "All

things have worked together for good." Like

Joseph, let us be more careful to learn all the

lessons in the school of sorrow than we are

anxious for the hour of deliverance. There is a

"need-be" for every lesson, and when we are

ready, our deliverance will surely come, and we

shall find that we could not have stood in our

place of higher service without the very things

that were taught us in the ordeal. God is

educating us for the future, for higher service

and nobler blessings; and if we have the

qualities that fit us for a throne, nothing can

keep us from it when God's time has come. Don't

steal tomorrow out of God's hands. Give God time

to speak to you and reveal His will. He is never

too late; learn to wait.  --Selected

 

"He never comes too late; He knoweth what is

best;

Vex not thyself in vain; until He cometh--REST."

 

Do not run impetuously before the Lord; learn to

wait His time: the minute-hand as well as the

hour-hand must point the exact moment for

action.

 

(31) Victorious Suffering

 

"Out of the spoils won in battle did they

dedicate to maintain the house of the Lord" (1

Chron. 26:27).

 

Physical force is stored in the bowels of the

earth, in the coal mines, which came from the

fiery heat that burned up great forests in

ancient ages; and so spiritual force is stored in

the depths of our being, through the very pain

which we cannot understand.

 

Some day we shall find that the spoils we have

won from our trials were just preparing us to

become true "Great Hearts" in the Pilgrim's

Progress, and to lead our fellow pilgrims

triumphantly through trial to the city of the

King.

 

But let us never forget that the source of

helping other people must be victorious

suffering. The whining, murmuring pang never does

anybody any good.

 

Paul did not carry a cemetery with him, but a

chorus of victorious praise; and the harder the

trial, the more he trusted and rejoiced, shouting

from the very altar of sacrifice. He said, "Yea,

and if I be offered upon the service and

sacrifice of your faith, I joy and rejoice with

you all." Lord, help me this day to draw strength

from all that comes to me!  --Days of Heaven upon

Earth

 

"He placed me in a little cage,

Away from gardens fair;

But I must sing the sweetest songs

Because He placed me there.

Not beat my wings against the cage

If it's my Maker's will,

But raise my voice to heaven's gate

And sing the louder still!"