February
February
CHRIST
"IS" THE ANSWER
My sout, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
Psalm 62:5
Do not let us reserve God's promises for some far future time.
In connection with chastening the Lord did not say, "a long while afterward" and do not let us gratuitously insert it.
It rather implies that as soon as the chastening is over, the peaceable fruit shall appear "unto the glory and praise of God."
So let us look out for the afterward as soon as the pressure is past.
This immediate expectation will bring its own blessing if we can say, "My expectation is from Him," and not from any fruit-bearing qualities of our own, for only
"from Me is thy fruit found."
Fruit from Him will also be fruit unto Him.
What shall Thine "afterward" be, O Lord?
I wonder, and wait to see, (While to Thy chastening hand I bow,) What peaceable fruit may be ripening now.
Ripening fast for me!
February 2
NOW AND AFTERWARD
My glory was fresh in me.
Job 29:20
Who does not know the longing for freshness?
Fresh air, fresh water, fresh flowers, the freshness of children, and of some people's conversation and writings—all illustrate or lead up to that spiritual freshness which is both pleasure and power.
For it was when Job's glory was fresh in him, that his bow was renewed in his hand.
Freshness and glory! and yet the brilliant music of such words is brought down to a minor strain by one little touch—it "was," not it "is"
; a melancholy past instead of a bright present.
Now, instead of saddening ourselves unnecessarily by sighing, "Ah, yes! that is always the way," let us see how we may personally prove that it is not always the way, and that Job's confessedly exceptional experience need not, and ought not, to be ours.
If our glory is to be fresh in us, it all depends upon what the glory in us is.
If it is any sort of our own — anything connected with that which decayeth and waxeth old in us or passeth away around us—of course, it cannot be always fresh,
any more than the freshness of dawn or of springtime can last.
Neither material nor mental states can retain their exquisite and subtle charm, and spiritual states are no better off; "frames and feelings" have an inherent tendency to subside into flatness, dullness, staleness, or whatever else expresses the want of freshness.
There is only one unfailing source of unfailing freshness—Christ Himself.
"Thou hast the dew of Thy youth" — the only dew that never dries up through any heat or dust.
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Thy reign shall still increase!
I claim Thy word, Let righteousness and peace And joy in the Holy Ghost be found, And more and more abound In me, through Thee, O Christ my Lord; Take unto Thee Thy power, who art My Sovereign, many crowned!
Stablish Thy kingdom in my heart.
February 3
LET GOD GUIDE YOUR SPENDING
The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.
Haggai 2:8
When we have asked the Lord to take, and continually trust Him to keep our money, shopping becomes a different thing.
We look up to our Lord for guidance to lay out His money prudently and rightly, and as He would have us lay it out. The gift or garment is selected consciously under His eye, and with conscious reference to Him as our own dear Master, for whose sake we shall give it, or in whose service we shall wear it, and with whose own silver or gold we shall pay for it, and then it is all right.
What though the eastern monarch's robes are gleaming With gold and orient gems, each gorgeous hue With more than rainbow brightness in them beaming; The robes of Heaven are woven light, and ever new.
All these are beautiful; and we may love them As His good gifts; but oh! they pass away:
Then cling not to them; seek, far, far above them The joys ineffable, which fade not, nor decay.
To see, and know, and love, and praise forever The Saviour who hath died that we might live, Where sorrow, pain, and death may enter never!
And ever learn new cause, new songs of praise to give!
Oh, what a prospect!
How, how can we cling To earth's dark dream, when such a hope is given?
Oh, may we from this hour, on faith-plumed wing.
No longer cling to earth, but soar to yon bright Heaven!
February 4
FILLED TO OVERFLOWING
Go your way, tell .
. and she went and told.
Mark 16:7,10 Bear witness, tell it out, you with whom the King dwells in peace!
Life is filled with bright interests, time is filled with happy work or peaceful waiting, the mind is filled with His beautiful words and thoughts, the heart is filled with His presence, and you abide satisfied with Him!
Yes, tell it out!
There were strange soul-depths, restless, vast and broad, Unfathomed as the sea; An infinite craving tor some infinite stilling; But now Thy perfect love is perfect filling!
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God, Thou, Thou art enough for me!
February 5
LIFE AND "LIPS" FOR THE MASTER
O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
Psalm 51:15
When our lips are opened, oh, how much one does want to have them so kept for Jesus that He may be free to make the most of them, not letting them render second-rate and indirect service when they might be doing direct and first-rate service to His cause and kingdom !
It is terrible how much less is done for Him than might be done, in consequence of the specious notion that if what we are doing or saying is not bad, we are doing good in a certain way, and therefore may be quite easy about it.
Do we not take a lower standard, and spend our strength in just making ourselves agreeable and pleasant, creating a general good impression in favor of religion, showing that we can be all things to all men, and that one who is supposed to be a citizen of the other world can be very well up in all that concerns this world?
This may be good, but is there nothing better?
What does it profit if we do make this favorable impression on an outsider, if we go no farther and do not use the influence gained to bring him right inside the fold, inside the only Ark of Safety?
People are not converted by this sort of work, at any rate I never met or heard of any one.
"He thinks it better for his quiet influence to tell !" said an aff"ectionately excusing relative of one who had plenty of special opportunities of soul winning, if he had only
used his lips as well as his life for his Master.
"And how many souls have been converted to God by his quiet influence all these years?" was my reply.
And to that there was no answer!
For the silent shining was all very beautiful in theory, but not one of the many souls placed specially under his influence had been known to be brought out of darkness into marvelous light.
If they had, they must have been known, for such light can't help being seen.
O teach me.
Lord, that I may teach The precious things Thou dost impart; And wing my words, that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart.
O fill me with Thy fullness.
Lord, Until my very heart oerflow In kindling thought and glowing word.
Thy love to tell. Thy praise to show.
O use me.
Lord, use even me, .lust as Thou wilt, and when, and where; Until Thy blessed face I see, Thy rest. Thy joy. Thy glory share.
February 6
NOT SPIRED BUT INSPIRED
All this .
. the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.
1 Chronicles 28:19
This cannot mean that the Lord gave David a miraculously written scroll, because a few verses before, it says that he had it all by the Spirit.
So what else can it mean but that as David wrote, the hand of the Lord was upon his hand, impelling him to trace, letter by letter, the right words of description for all the details of the temple that Solomon should build with its courts and chambers, its treasuries and vessels? Have we not sometimes sat down to write, feeling perplexed and ignorant, and wishing someone were there to tell us what to say?
At such a moment, whether it were a mere note for post, or a sheet for press, it is a great comfort to recollect this mighty laying of a divine hand upon a human one, and ask for the same help from the same Lord.
It is sure to be given What shall be our word for Jesus?
Master, give it day by day; Ever as the need arises, teach Thy children what to say.
Give us holy love and patience; grant us deep humility.
That of self we may be emptied, and our hearts be full of Thee; Give us zeal and faith and fervor, make us winning, make us wise,
Single-hearted, strong and fearless—Thou hast called us, we will rise!
Let the might of Thy good Spirit go with every loving word; And by hearts prepared and opened be our message always heard!
February 7
MANIFOLD PLEASURES UNENDING
At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11
You never had a pleasure that lasted.
You look forward to a great pleasure, and it comes, and then, very soon it is gone, and you can only look back upon it.
The very longest and pleasantest day you ever had came to an end.
How different are the pleasures at God's right hand!
They are for evermore, and you cannot get to the end or see to the end of evermore, for there is no end to it. And it is not one pleasure only, but pleasures, as manifold as they are unending. We can only tell a few things about them. They will be holy pleasures, never mingled with any sin.
They will be perfect pleasures, with nothing whatever to spoil them.
They will be lasting pleasures, for our text says so. They will be abundant pleasures for David says, "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures."
They will be always freshly-flowing pleasures, for they are a river, not a pool.
They will be pleasures given by God Himself to us, for it does not say, "They shall drink," but "Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures."
Infinite the ocean-joy Opening to His children's view; Infinite their varied treasure, Meted not by mortal measure — Holy knowledge, holy pleasure.
Through Eternity's great leisure, Like its praises, ever new.
February 8
DISGUISED SWEETNESS
Thou holdest mine eyes waking.
Psalm 77:4
If we could always say, night after night, "I will both lay me down in peace and sleep," receiving in full measure the Lord's quiet gift to His beloved, we should not learn the disguised sweetness of this special word for the wakeful ones. When the wearisome nights come, it is hushing to know that they are appointed.
But this is something nearer and closer-bringing, something individual and personal; not only an appointment.
but an act of our Father: "Thou holdest mine eyes waking."
It is not that He is merely not giving us sleep; it is not a denial, but a different dealing.
Every moment that the tired eyes are sleepless, it is because our Father is holding them waking.
It seems so natural to say, "How I wish I could go to sleep!"
Yet even that restless wish may be soothed by the happy confidence in our Father's hand, which will not relax its hold upon the weary eyelids until the right moment has come to let them fall in slumber.
He hath spoken in the darkness, in the silence of the night.
Spoken sweetly of the Father, words of life and love and light.
Floating thro' the sombre stillness came the loved and loving Voice, Speaking peace and solemn gladness, that His children might rejoice.
What He tells thee in the darkness, songs He giveth in the night Rise and speak it in the morning, rise and sing them in the light!
February 9
ARE YOU PLEASING GOD?
Thy will be done In earth, as it Is In heaven.
Matthew 6:10
Teach me to do thy will.
Psalm 143:10
When you see someone doing with veiy great delight some beautiful and pleasant piece of work, have you not thought,
"I should like to be able to do that!" and perhaps you have said, "Please teach me how to do it."
Can you think of anything more pleasant to do than what the very angels are full of delight in doing? Can you think of anything more beautiful to do than what is done in the pleasant land, the beautiful home above?
Can you fancy anything more interesting to do than what the dwellers there will never get tired of doing for thousands of millions of years ? One version of this verse says,
"Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee." So doing God's will is just doing the things, one by one, that please Him.
Why did David ask this? He goes on to say why—"For Thou art my God."
If God is really our God, we too shall wish to do the thing that pleaseth Him. David did not think he could do it of himself, for he says, "Let Thy loving Spirit lead me."
That loving Spirit will lead you too, so that even on earth you may begin to do what the angels are doing in Heaven.
It is but very little for Him that I can do.
Then let me seek to serve Him, my earthly journey through; And without sigh or murmur, to do His holy will; And in my daily duties His wise commands fulfill.
February 10
AN IDEAL FRIEND
I have called you friends.
John 15:15
Who has not longed for an ideal and yet a real friend—one who should exactly understand us, to whom we could tell everything, and in whom we could altogether confide—one who should be very wise and very true—one of whose love and unfailing interest we could be certain?
There are other points for which we could not hope—that this friend should be very far above us, and yet the very nearest and dearest, always with us, always thinking of us; always doing kind and wonderful things for us; undertaking and managing everything; forgetting nothing, failing in nothing; quite certain never to change and never to die—so that this one grand friendship should fill our lives, and that we never need trouble about anything for ourselves any more.
Such is our Royal Friend, and more; for no human possibilities of friendship can illustrate what He is to those to whom He says, "Ye are my friends."
We, even we, may look up to our glorious King, our Lord and our God, and say, "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" And then we, even we, may claim the privilege of being the King's companion and the King's friend.
I could not do without Thee, O Jesus, Saviour dear!
E'en when my eyes are holden, I know that Thou art near.
How dreary and how lonely this changeful life would be.
Without the sweet communion, the secret rest with Thee!
February 11
REDEEMED — SEPARATED — CONFIRMED
What one nation In the earth Is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from ^Qyptf from the nations and their gods?
For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, Lord, art become their God.
2 Samuel 7:23-24 One thought containing three thoughts seems to pervade this epitome of the history of God's people.
The one thought is "Unto Thee."
The three thoughts contained in it are:
Redeemed, Separated, Confirmed unto Thee.
(1) God went to redeem His people.
It was no easy sitting still, no costless fiat:
"Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even for salvation with Thine Anointed." These "goings forth have been from .
. the days of eternity," and we have seen by faith these "goings of my God, my King." He did it because He would do for you great things and terrible—great things in mercy, terrible things in righteousness—bringing all His sublimely balanced attributes to bear on His great work for you.
"Before His people," that we might see and know and believe and praise.
(2) This redemption to Himself necessarily involved separation from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. We cannot have the "to" without the "from" any more than we could go to the Equator and not come away from the Arctic regions. And the test and proof of the "to Thee" lies in the "from Egypt."
(3) How magnificently God seals all His transactions!
So He has not only redeemed and separated us unto Himself but "Thou hast confirmed to Thyself Thy people Israel."
He, not we.
His hands laid the foundation and His hands shall also finish it. He stablisheth us in Christ and He "hath also sealed us." He shall also "confirm you unto the end."
O Thou chosen church of Jesus, glorious, blessed and secure.
Founded on the one foundation, which forever shall endure; Not thy holiness or beauty can thy strength and safety be.
But the everlasting love wherewith Jehovah loveth thee.
February 12
FIRST LEARN — THEN TELL
Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear.
1 Samuel 9:15
What ye hear in the ear, preach ye.
Matthew 10:27
It is a specially sweet part of the Lord's dealings with His messengers that He always gives us the message for ourselves first.
It is what He has first told us in the darkness — that is, in the secrecy of our own rooms, or at least of our own hearts — that He bids us speak in light. And so the more we sit at His feet and watch to see what He has to say to ourselves, the more we shall have to tell to others.
He does not send us out with sealed dispatches, which we know nothing about, and with which we have no concern.
He hath spoken in the darkness, in the silence of thy grief.
Sympathy so deep and tender, mighty for thy heart relief; Speaking in thy night of sorrow words of comfort and of calm, Gently on thy wounded spirit pouring true and healing balm.
What He tells thee in the darkness, weary watcher for the day.
Grateful lip and life should utter when the shadows flee away.
February 13
YOU — A PURCHASED POSSESSION
I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
Isaiah 43:1
It was not only to purchase them out of bondage and death as one might buy a captive thrush on a winter evening and let it loose into the hungry cold and think no more about it; it was to redeem them unto Himself, to be His own portion and inheritance and treasure and delight, to be a "people near unto Him," to be the objects on which all His divine love might be poured out to be the very opportunity of His joy. His glory and our good were inseparably joined in it. He did it "to make Him a name," and we may reverently say that even the very
Name which is above every name could not have been the c)"own of the exaltation of the Son of God but for this.
O mystery of grace.
That rhooseth us to stand before Thy face, To be Thy special treasure.
Thy portion, Thy delight, Thine own; That taketh pleasure In them that fear Thy Name, that hope alone In Thy sweet mercy's boundless measure.
February 14
ALTOGETHER LOVELY
Yea, he is altogether lovely.
Song of Solomon 5:16
We do not need to ask, "Who?" for these words could only be said of One, the Beloved One, the Holy One, the Blessed One, the Glorious One ! Only of Jesus, whom having not seen we love, whom we shall see one day in all His beauty, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe I Oh! H we could see Him now, as He is at this very moment, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on High, Himself the very brightness of God's glory, the splendor would be too great, we should fall at His feet as dead, as John did. But if He laid His right hand upon us, saying, "Fear not," and we looked again, what should we see?
Oh, what loveliness!
Oh, what unspeakable beauty!
Fairer than the children of men, and "the chiefest among ten thousand," is our Lord Jesus
And in all the glory He is "this same Jesus"; although His
countenance is now as the sun shineth in His strength, there is the gentle smile for His children, and the tender kindness for the weary, and the wonderful look of mighty love that would bring the whole world to His feet if they could only see it. And there are scars too, which make His very beauty more beautiful, for they are scars of love. He did not lose the print of the nails when He rose from the grave, and the angels and redeemed ones around Him can see them even now; for even in the midst of the throne He is the Lamb as it had been slain.
So the love has overflowed the glory, and our Lord Jesus is altogether lovely.
Our Lord Jesus!
Yes, for the Altogether Lovely One has given Himself to us; so that the least of His saints may look up and say, "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend."
Saviour, precious Saviour, my heart is at Thy feet;
bless Thee, and I love Thee, and Thee I long to meet.
To see Thee in Thy beauty, to see Thee face to face.
To see Thee in Thy glory, and reap Thy smile of grace!
February D
INSTRUMENTS FOR GOD'S USE
Yield .
. your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:13
What are your members?
Hands, feet, lips, eyes, ears, and so on. What are we to do with them?
"Yield" them, that is, give them up altogether, hand them over to God. What for?
That He may use them as instruments of righteousness.
That is, just as we should take an instrument of music, to make music with it, so He may take our hands and feet and all our members, and use them to do right and good things with.
If we have given ourselves to God, every part of our body is to be God's servant, an intrument for Him to use.
All our members will leave off serving Satan, and find something to do for God, for if we yield them to God, He will really take them and use them. We will be surprised to find in how many ways He will use our members, if we give them and our whole self to Him. We will never be miserable again with "nothing to do!"
"Not your own!" but His ye are, who hath paid a price untold For your life, exceeding far all earth's store of gems and gold.
With the precious blood of Christ, ransom treasure all unpriced, Full redemption is procured, full salvation is assured.
February 16
GOD WAITS TO SPEAK TO YOU
I .
. will watch to see what he will say unto me.
Habakkuk 2:1
When the Lord Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee, "Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee," he answered, "Master, say on !" When God was going to speak to Samuel, he said, "Speak,
Lord, for Thy servant heareth." Has the Lord Jesus said anything like this for us?
He says, "I have yet many things to say unto you." What things? They will be strong, helpful, lifegiving words, for He says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
They will be loving words, for He says, "I will speak comfortably to her" (margin, "I will speak to her heart"). And they will be very kind and tender words, and spoken just at the right moment, for He says He knows "how to speak a word in season to him that is weary."
But will He really speak to me?
Yes, if you will only watch to see what He will say unto you.
For it will be a still, small voice, and you will not hear it at all if you do not listen for it.
Master, speak!
I kneel before Thee, listening, longing, waiting still; Oh, how long shall I implore Thee this petition to fulfill!
Hast Thou not one word for me?
Must my prayer unanswered be?
February 17
FREED FROM LAW — BOUND BY LOVE
If .
. the Lord deliver .
. shall I be your head?
Judges 11:9
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour.
Acts 5:;{1 When we came to Him first of all, with the intolerable burden of our sins, there was no help for it but to come with them to Him, and take His word for it that He would not and did not cast us out.
And so coming, so believing, we found rest to our souls; we found that His word was true, and that His taking away our sins was a reality.
Some give their lives to Him then and there, and go forth to live henceforth not at all unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them.
This is as it should be, for conversion and consecration ought to be simultaneous.
But practically it is not very often so, except with those in whom the bringing out of darkness into marvelous light has been sudden and dazzling
and full of deepest contrasts.
More frequently the work resembles the case of the Hebrew servant described in Exodus
21, who, after six years' experience of a good master's service, dedicates himself voluntarily, unreservedly, and irrevocably to it, saying, "I love my master; I will not go out free"; the master then accepting and sealing him to a lifelong service, free in law yet bound in love.
This seems to be a figure of later consecration founded on experience and love.
I love, I love my Master, I will not go out free, For He is my Redeemer, He paid the price for me.
I would not leave His service, it is so sweet and blest; And in the weariest moments. He gives the truest rest.
For He hath met my longing with word of golden tone.
That I shall serve for ever Himself, Himself, alone.
February 18
DRAWN BY IRRESISTIBLE LOVE
No man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
John 6:65
Do not shrink from the words; do not dare to explain them away ; the faithful and true Witness spoke them, the Holy Ghost has recorded them forever.
There it stands; reiterated and strengthened instead of softened, because many even of His disciples murmured at it.
So our coming to Jesus was not out of ourselves; it was the gift of God. How did this gift operate?
Not by driving but by drawing. "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." Here comes in the great "whosoever will."
For unless and until the Father draw us, no mortal born of Adam ever wanted to come to Jesus.
There was nothing else for it. He had to draw us or we never should have thought of wishing to come; nay, we should have gone on distinctly willing not to come, remaining aliens and enemies.
Oh, the terrible depth of depravity revealed by that keen sword-word, "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life."
Settle it then that you never wanted to come till He drew you, and praise Him for thus beginning at the very beginning with you.
Return!
O chosen of My love!
Fear not to meet thy beckoning Saviour's view; Long ere I called thee by thy name, I knew That very treacherously thou wouldst deal; Now I have seen thy ways, yet I will heal.
Return!
Wilt thou yet linger far from Me?
My wrath is turned away, I have redeemed thee.
February 19
GOD'S IMMUTABLE WORD
Hath he said, and shall he not do It? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
Numbers 23:19-20 "The word of our God shall stand for ever," and the hoarse recoil of every furious wave that is shattered into foam against this everlasting rock only murmurs, "I cannot reverse it." And is it not a most blessed and comforting thought that we ourselves cannot reverse it, though this is the quarter from which we are practically most tempted to dread its reversal?
For, "if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful."
All the earthborn or devil-breathed fogs and clouds of doubt, from the Fall till this hour, have not been able to touch the splendor of one star that He has set in the unassailable firmament of His eternal truth.
God Almighty I King of nations! earth Thy footstool, Heaven Thy throne!
Thine the greatness, power, and glory. Thine the kingdom. Lord, alone!
Life and death are in Thy keeping, and Thy will ordaineth all:
From the armies of Thv heavens to an unseen insect's fall.
February 20
"WHATEVER YOUR "THIS" MAY BE
The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.
Chronicles 2.5:9
Amaziah, king of Judah, was going to war against the Edomites.
He thought he would make sure of victory by hiring a hundred thousand soldiers from the king of Israel, and he paid them beforehand a hundred talents which was nearly two hundred thousand dollars of our money.
But a man of God warned him not to let the army of Israel go with him, for Israel had forsaken the Lord, and so He was not with them.
It seemed a great pity to waste all that money, and so Amaziah said, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?
And the man of God answered.
The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."
So Amaziah simply obeyed, and sent the soliders away, and trusted God to help him to do without them. Was it any wonder that he gained a great victory over the Edom-
ites?
Does not this teach us that we should simply do the right thing, and trust God at any cost?
When you do this, you will find that, in hundreds of ways which you never thought of, "the Lord is able to give thee much more."
The trial comes in many different ways.
One may be tempted to hurry over prayer and Bible reading, because there is something else that she very much wants to get done before breakfast, and she is afraid of not having time enough.
Another shuts up the purse when a call comes to give something for God's work, because she is afraid she will not have enough left for another purpose.
Another is tempted not to tell the exact truth, or to conceal something which he ought to tell, because he would lose something by it.
Oh, resist the devil, and do what you know is right, and trust God for all the rest!
For the Lord is able to give thee much more than this, whatever your this may be. And His smile and His blessing will always be more than this, more than anything else.
Oh, Thou hast done far more for me Than I had asked or thought!
I stand and marvel to behohl What Thou, my Lord, hast wrought, And wonder what glad lessons yet I shall be daily taught.
February 21
GODS SUFFICIENCY MORE THAN ADEQUATE
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.
2 Corinthians 3:5
Of ourselves we may have but little weight, no particular talents or position or anything else; but let us remember that again and again God has shown that the influence of a very average life when once really consecrated to Him may outweigh that of almost any number of merely professing Christians.
Such lives are like Gideon's three hundred, carrying not even the ordinary weapons of war, but only trumpets and lamps and empty pitchers by whom the Lord wrought great deliverance while He did not use the others at all.
For He hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
Distrust thyself, but trust His grace: it is enough for thee!
In every trial thou shalt trace its all-sufficiency.
Distrust thyself, but trust His love; rest in its changeless glow:
And life or death shall only prove its everlasting flow.
February 22
TEMPTATION DEFEATED
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.
Matthew 26:41
None of His commands clash with or supersede one another.
Trusting does not supersede watching; it does but complete and effectuate it.
Unwatchful trust is a delusion, and untrustful watching is in vain.
Therefore let us not either willfully or carelessly enter into temptation, whether of place, or person, or topic, which has any tendency to endanger the keeping of our lips for Jesus.
Let us pray that grace may be more and more poured into our lips as it was into His, so that our speech may be alway with grace. May they be pure, and sweet, and lovely, even as "His lips, like lilies, dropping sweetsmelling myrrh."
Jesus, Master!
I am Thine; keep me faithful, keep me near; Let Thy presence in me shine, all my homeward way to cheer.
Jesus I at Thy feet I fall, oh, be Thou my All-in-all.
Febniary 23
ALL FOR JESUS
But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.
Psalm 4:3
It is not what we say or do, so much as what we are, that influences others. We have heard this and very likely repeated it again and again, but I do not know anything which, thoughtfully considered, makes us realize more vividly the need and the importance of our whole selves being kept for Jesus. Any part not wholly committed and not wholly kept must hinder and neutralize the real influence for Him of all the rest.
If we ourselves are kept all for Jesus, then our influence will be all kept for Him, too.
If not, then, however much we may wish and talk and try we cannot throw our full weight into the right scale.
And just insofar as it is not in the one scale, it must be in the other; weighing against the little which we have tried to put in the right one and making the short weight still shorter.
So large a proportion of it is entirely involuntary while yet the responsibility of it is so enormous that our helplessness comes out in exceptionally strong relief while our past debt in this matter is simply incalculable.
Are we feeling this a little?— getting just a glimpse, down the misty defiles of memory, of the neutral influence, the wasted influence, the mistaken influence, the actually wrong influence which has marked the ineff"aceable although untraceable course?
And all the while we owed Him all that influence.
It ought to have been all for Him. We have nothing to say.
But what has our Lord to say?
"I forgave thee all that debt."
True-hearted I Saviour, Thou knowest our story; Weak are the hearts that we lay at Thy feet, Sinful and treacherous! yet for Thy glory, Heal them, and cleanse them from sin and deceit.
Half-hearted!
Master, shall any who know Thee Grudge Thee their lives, who hast laid down Thine own?
Nay; we would offer the hearts that we owe Thee Live for Thy love and Thy glory alone.
February 24
GREAT GLADNESS IN WHATSOEVER YOU DO
Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly.
1 Chronicles 29:9
See what came of offering willingly to the Lord — they rejoiced, and everything they did, even eating and drinking, was with great gladness.
Never is any one so happy as those who offer their own selves willingly to the Lord.
He gives them a thousandfold return for the worthless little self and weak little members which they have offered to Him. He gives them peace, and gladness, and blessing beyond what they ever expected to have. But this was not all
; it was not only the people who had such a glad day, but King David also rejoiced with great joy.
Those who loved their king, and recollected how much sorrow he had gone through, and how many battles he had fought for them, must have been glad indeed to see him rejoicing because they had offered willingly. And I think our King rejoices over us when He has made us able
(verse 14) to offer ourselves willingly to Him.
Is not this best of all? Jesus, who suffez'ed for us, and who fought the great battle of our salvation for us. He, our own beloved King, will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.
In full and glad surrender I give myself to Thee, Thine utterly, and only, and evermore to be!
O Son of God, who lovest me.
I will be Thine alone; And all I have, and all I am. shall henceforth be Thine own.
February 23
RIGHTEOUS ALONE IN HIM
Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power .
. and in much assurance.
1 Thessalonians 1:5
Do not let us be content with theoretically understanding and correctly holding the doctrine of justification by faith.
Turn from the words to the reality, from the theory to the Person, and as a little, glad, wondering child, look at the simple, wonderful truth.
That the righteousness of God (how magnificent!) is unto all and upon all them that believe; therefore, at this very moment, unto and upon you and me, instead of our filthy rags, so that we stand clothed and beautiful in the very sight of God, now ; and Jesus can say, "Thou art all fair, my love, now !"
That is not any finite righteousness, which might not quite cover the whole — might not be quite enough to satisfy God's all-searching eye ; not a righteousness, but the righteousness of God; and this no abstract attribute, but a Person, real, living, loving— covering us with His own glorious apparel, representing us before His Father, Christ Jesus Himself made unto us righteousness!
This today, and this forever, for His name shall endure forever.
Holiness by faith in Jesus, not by effort of thine own.
Sin's dominion crushed and broVcen by the power of grare alone, God's own holiness within thee. His own beauty on thy brow.
This shall be thy pilgrim brightness, this thy blessed portion now.
February 26
HE WAS LED — NOT GENTLY
He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead.
Isaiah 40:11
One sees at a glance, by referring to a concordance, the touching fact that our Leader Himself experienced a very different leading.
Never once was He gently led.
He was led into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (Matthew 4:1) ; He was led by men filled with wrath to the brow of the hill, that they might cast Him down headlong (Luke 4:29)
; He was led away to Annas, led away to Caiaphas (John 18:13, Matthew 26:57) ; led into the council of the elders and chief priests and scribes (Luke 22:66); led to Pontius Pilate (Matthew 27:2), and into the hall of judgment (John 18:28).
And then He,
our Lord Jesus Christ, was led as a sheep to the slaughter (Acts 8:32) ; led away to be crucified!
(John 19:16).
Verily, "His way was much rougher and darker than mine."
That is how Jesus was led.
But as for His people. He "guided them in the wilderness like a flock. And He led them on safely, so that they feared not"
(Psalm 78:52-53).
Lord Jesus, Thou hast trodden once for all The Via Dolorosa — and for us!
No artist-power or minstrel-gift may tell The cost to Thee of each unfaltering step, Where love that passeth knowledge led Thee on.
Faithful and true to God, and true to us.
Thy ways are ways of pleasantness, and all Thy paths are peace; and that the path of him Who wears Thy perfect robe of righteousness, Is as the light that shineth more and more Unto the perfect day.
And Thou hast given An olden promise, rarely quoted now.
Because it is too bright for our weak faith:
"If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend Days in prosperity, and they shall spend Their years in pleasures."
All because Thy days Were full of sorrow, and Thy lonely years Were passed in grief's acquaintance — all for us!
February 21
"WONDER WORKING POWER IN THE BLOOD"
Whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:7
But snow is whiter than anything else!
Especially if you saw it glittering in the sunshine on the top of a high mountain, where no dust can ever reach it.
Mortal eyes have seen something as white as snow, for the raiment of the angel of the Resurrection was "white as snow"
; and the shining raiment of the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was "exceeding white as snow."
But what can be made "whiter than snow"?
"Wash mv and / shall be whiter than snow" if God washes me.
But water will not do this, and tears will not do it.
Only one thing can do it, but that does it surely and thoroughly.
"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
This is the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness; and ever since the precious blood was shed, it has always been open.
Yes, "even until now!"
Then let us press With free and willing feet Along the King's highway of holiness, Until we gain the street O golden crystal, praising purely when We see our pardoning Lord; forgiven until then!
February 28
SATISFIED
As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king's sons.
2 Samuel 9:11
In every thought connected with the King's table we see Jesus only. He prepares the feast — "Thou preparest a table before me." He gives the invitation—"Come thou over with Me, and I will feed thee with Me."
He gives the qualifying position of adoption, receiving us as the King's sons. He brings us into His banqueting house.
He bids us partake, saying, "Eat, friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, Beloved."
He is with us at the feast, for the King sitteth at His table.
He Himself is the heavenly food, the bread and the meat of His table; for He says, "The bread that I will give is My flesh"
; and "My flesh is meat indeed."
He Himself!
Nothing less is offered to us, for nothing less can truly satisfy.
His righteousness all glorious, thy festal robe shall be; And love that passeth knowledge His banner over thee.
A little while, though parted, remember, wait, and love.
Until He comes in gloiy. until we meet above.
Till in the Father's kingdom the heavenly feast is spread, And we behold His beauty, whose blood for us was shed!
February 29
SIGNED AND SEALED
Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring.
Esther 8:8
Does not this remind us of another writing of our King:
"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
He places His own name and His own signet at the disposal of His abiding ones and says, "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me."
"Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee."
Should not this encourage us in intercession?
Perhaps we are saying, like Esther, "How can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"
Have we as yet fully availed ourselves of the King's name, and the King's ring?
For He hath given us a changeless writing.
Royal decrees that light and gladness bring, Signed with His name in glorious inditing.
Sealed on our hearts with His own signet ring.
March
OPPORTUNITIES GONE FOREVER
These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Luke 11:42
Grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word.
Acts 4:29
During a summer visit just after I had left school, a class of girls about my own age came to me a few times for an hour's singing.
It was very pleasant indeed, and the girls were delighted with the hymns. They listened to all
I had to say about time and expression, and not with less attention to the more shyly-ventured remarks about the words.
Sometimes I accompanied them afterwards down the avenue ; and whenever I met any of them I had smiles and plenty of kindly words for each, which they seemed to appreciate immensely. A few years afterwards I sat by the bedside of one of these girls—the most gifted of them all with both heart and head.
She had been led by a wonderful way, and through long and deep suffering, into far clearer light than I enjoyed, and had witnessed for Christ in more ways than one, and far more brightly than I had ever done.
She told me how sorrowfully and eagerly she was seeking Jesus at the time of those singing classes.
And 1 never knew it, because I never asked, and she was too shy to speak first ! But she told me more, and every word was a pang to me how she used to linger in the avenue on those summer evenings, longing that I would speak to her about the Saviour; how she hoped, week after week, that I would just stretch out a hand to help her; just say one little word that might be God's message of peace to her, instead of the pleasant, general remarks about the nice hymns and tunes.
And I never did !
And she went on for months, I think for years, after, without the light and gladness which it might have been my privilege to bring to her life.
God chose other means, for the souls that He has given to Christ cannot be lost because of the unfaithfulness of a human instrument.
But she said, and the words often ring in my ears when I am tempted to let an opportunity slip, "Ah,
Miss Frances, I ought to have been yours!"
Yours may be the joy and honor His redeemed ones to bring.
Jewels for the coronation of your coming Lord and King.
Will you cast away the gladness thus your Master's joys to share.
All because a word for Jesus seems too much for you to dare?