April
April
SAFE ALL THE WAY
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.
Psalm 119:117
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope.
Job 11:18
The path is not easy.
There are rough stones over which we may stumble, if we are not walking very carefully.
There are places which look quite smooth, but they are more dangerous than the rough ones, for they are slippery.
How are we to walk safely along such a path? We want a strong, kind hand to hold us up, and to hold us always; a hand that will hold ours so tightly and lovingly, that it will be as the old Scotchwoman said, "Not my grip of Christ, but Christ's grip of me !"
Yes, Christ's loving hand is "able to keep you from falling"; only let your hand be restfully in the hand of Jesus, and "then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble."
But do not say, "Hold Thou me up," and stop there, or add, "But all the same, I shall stumble and fall !"
Finish with the bright words of faith that He puts into your mouth, "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe!"
So you will, if you will trust Him to do just what you ask, and let Him hold you up.
We cannot see before us, but our all-seeing Friend Is always watching o'er us, and knows the very end.
What though we seem to stumble. He will not let us fall; And learning to be humble is not lost time at all.
April 2
WHERE ARE YOUR SINS?
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
Where are your sins?
Wherever they are, God's terrible punishment must fall.
Even if there were only one sin, and that one hidden away down in your heart, God's wrath must find it out, and punish it.
It could not escape.
But you know of many more than one; and God knows of more still.
And so the great question for you is. Where are they?
If He finds them on you. His wrath must fall on you.
But if they are put somewhere else, you are safe, for He loves you, and only hates your sins.
Where can that wonderful "somewhere else" be?
Our text tells you that God laid them on Jesus. Why did His
terrible wrath fall on His beloved, holy Son?
Because He had laid our sins on Jesus, and He took them, so that all the dreadful punishment might fall on Him instead of us.
Instead of you. When He hung by His pierced hands and feet upon the cross, alone in the great darkness of God's wrath, it was because He was bearing your punishment, because your sins were laid upon Him, so that they might not be found upon you, and punished upon you.
Satan will try to persuade you not to believe that you7sins w^ere laid upon Him, and will try to keep you always doubting it; but God says they were!
Which will you believe?
Again look at the solemn question, "Where are your sins?" and then look at Jesus, suffering and dying for you, and answer boldly, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
"Forgiven until now!" for Jesus died To take our sins away; His blood was shed, and still the infinite tide Flows full and deep today.
He paid the debt; we own it, and go free!
The cancelled bond is cast in love's unfathomed sea.
April 3
HIS HANDS FOR YOU
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl.
Song of Solomon 5:14
His hands "for thee."
Literal hands ; literally pierced, when the whole weight of His quivering frame hung from their torn muscles and bared nerves ; literally uplifted in parting blessing.
Consecrated, priestly hands; "filled" hands (Exodus 28:41; 29:
9; etc., margin)—filled once with His great offering, and now with gifts and blessings "for thee."
Tender hands, touching and healing, lifting and leading with gentlest care.
Strong hands, upholding and defending. Open hands, filling with good and satisfying desire (Psalm 104:28 and 145:16).
Faithful hands, restraining and sustaining.
"His left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth embrace me."
O waiting one, each moment's fall Is marked by Love that planned them all; Thy times, all ordered by His hand, In God's eternal covenant stand.
O feeble one, look up and see Strong consolation sworn for thee; Jehovah's glorious arm is shown.
His covenant strength is all thine own.
April 4
ENOUGH AND MORE
And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.
Luke 18:42
And that was enough, his prayer of faith, and Christ's answer of power, for "immediately he received his sight."
Was that all?
Did he go back to beg by the wayside?
No; he "followed Him, glorifying God."
What a change from the cry of only a few minutes before!
"And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God."
See what that first cry of "Have mercy on me," so quickly led to! Who would have expected a few minutes before to have seen him with his eyes open, following Jesus, glorifying God, and causing a whole crowd to give praise to God!
I think the Lord Jesus says to you, "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?"
What will you answer Him?
My Saviour died in darkness that I might live in light.
He closed His eyes in death that mine might have the heavenly sight; He gave up all His glory to bring it down to me.
And took the sinner's place that He the sinner's Friend might be.
And now my loving Jesus is my Light at eventide.
The welcome Guest that enters in forever to abide:
He never leaves me in the dark, but leads me all the way — So it is light at evening time, and soon it will be day.
April 5
AN ESTABLISHED HEART
It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.
Hebrews 13:9
And yet some of us go on as if it were not a good thing even to hope for it to be so. We should be ashamed to say that we had behaved treacherously to a friend ; that we had played him false again and again; that we had said scores of times what we did not really mean; that we had professed and promised what all the while we had no sort of purpose of performing.
We should be ready to go off by the next ship to New Zealand rather than calmly own to all this, or rather than ever face our friends again after we had owned it.
And yet we are not ashamed (some of us) to say that we are always dealing treacherously with our Lord; nay, more, we own it with an inexplicable complacency as if there were a kind of virtue in saying how fickle and faithless and desperately wicked our
hearts are. And we actually plume ourselves on the easy confession which we think proves our humility and which does not lower us in the eyes of others nor in our own eyes half so much as if we had to say, "I have told a story," or, "I have broken my promise."
Nay, more, we have not the slightest hope and therefore not the smallest intention of aiming at an utterly different state of things.
Well for us if we do not go a step farther and call those by hard and false names who do seek to have an established heart and who believe that as the Lord meant what He said when He promised, "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly," so He will not withhold this good thing.
Wholehearted!
Saviour, beloved and glorious.
Take Thy great power, and reign Thou alone, Over our wills and affections victorious.
Freely surrendered, and wholly Thine own.
Sisters, dear sisters, the call is resounding.
Will ye not echo the silver refrain, Mighty and sweet, and in gladness abounding "Truehearted, wholehearted!" ringing again.
April 6
CONFIDENCE IN GOD
And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation:
But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
2 Samuel 15:25-26 Here we see David, driven from his royal home by his own son, passing amid tears over the brook Kidron, going toward the way of the wilderness, weary and weak handed," the wisest head in the land giving counsel against him, and the hearts of the men of Israel going after the traitor, and now losing the visible token of the presence of God Himself!
I do not see how any of us could be brought to such a pass as all this!
And yet he said, "Let Him do to me as seemeth good unto Him."
But only a little while, and the Lord, whom He trusted so implicitly in such depths, restored to him all that seemed so nearly lost, and raised him again to royal heights of prosperity and praise.
Can we count redemption's treasure, scan the glory of God's love?
Such shall be the boundless measure of His blessings from above.
All we ask or think, and more. He will give in bounteous store He can fill and satisfy!
God shall all your need supply.
April 7
ETERNAL SECURITY
Who shall also confirm you unto the end.
1 Corinthians 1:8
Your life shall be one of continual defending and strengthening and blessing; He avouching you this day and every day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised, and establishing you an holy people unto Himself, and you avouching the Lord to be your God and to walk in His ways.
Not this day only, for we are confirmed to Him "to be a people unto Thee forever."
"Thine for ever!" "For I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever"
; so, having done this, it must be for ever!
Fling this at the enemy when he tempts you to doubt .vour complete and eternal redemption—"Unto Thee for ever!" when he tempts you to regret or tamper with your separation—"Unto Thee for ever!" when he tempts you to quiver about your confirmation to the end — "Unto Thee for ever I"
For "the Lord is faithful."
"And now, Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken , .
. establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast said."
My life I bring to Thee.
I would not be my own; Saviour, let me be Thine ever, Thine alone.
My heart, my life, my all 1 bring to Thee, my Saviour and my King!
April 8
BY SUBMISSION OR BY FORCE
And the vessel that he made of day was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jeremiah 18:4
Just let Him do what seemeth Him good, and tell Him so!
It may be you have been actually hindering deliverance and thwarting help, by not "letting" Him.
Do not say, "But what difference can that make?
He will do what He pleases, of course, whether I am willing or not."
Not exactly that.
Does it make no difference if the patient quietly lets the surgeon do what he thinks best? A remedy applied by force, or submitted to unwillingly, may be quite counteracted by fidget, or by feverishness induced or increased through setting one's self against what is prescribed or advised. The Lord's remedies do not have fair play, when we set ourselves against them.
Even
Omnipotence waits for the faith that will let it act.
If the "vessel made of clay," that was marred in the hand of the potter, could have resisted that skillful hand, how would he have been able to make it again another vessel, as it seemed good to him to make it?
The unresisting clay could not help letting the potter remold it, into a better and permanent form but we can hinder, simply by not "letting."
But will you do this? For "now, Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou our Potter." Whatever may be our Potter's mysterious moldings, or our Father's mysterious dealings (I do not mean abstract, or possible, or future ; but real, and present, and pressing) , let us give the one sweet answer which meets everything: "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight."
Hush! oh, hush! for the Father poitioneth as He will, To all His beloved children, and shall they not be still?
Is not His will the wisest, is not His choice the best?
And in perfect acquiescence is there not perfect rest?
April 9
HE LISTENS PATIENTLY
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things.
Mark 6:30
After the apostles had been away, they "gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught."
Can you not fancy the gentle, gracious Master listening to everything so kindly, so patiently, letting them tell Him all their mistakes and all their success, all that had made them glad and all that had made them sorry? And can you not fancy the disciples sitting at His feet, and looking up into His face, and seeing how interested
He was in all they had done, and not wishing to keep anything back from such a dear Master, and finding their own love to Him growing warmer and brighter for this sweet hour of talk with Him ! How different if they had just said a few cold words to Him, and never told Him anything! Try this yourself.
It will be such a help, such a comfort, and before long you will find it a great joy to tell Jesus everything.
1 came and communed with that mighty King, And told Him all my heart; I cannot say, In mortal ear. what communings were they.
But wouldst thou know, go too, and meekly bring All that is in thy heart, and thou shalt hear His voice of love and power. His answers sweet and clear.
April 10
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
Forget not all his benefits.
Psalm 103:2
"His benefits" means all the good things He has done for you. and all the good things He has given you.
Try to count up "His benefits" of this one day; and then think of those of yesterday, and last week, and all the year, and all your life.
You will soon find that there are more than you can count, and you will begin to see how very much you have to thank Him for.
And then recollect His still greater benefits — the great gift of Jesus Christ Himself to be your Saviour and Redeemer, and the great gift of salvation through Him, and all His promises of grace and glory !
David speaks of the multitude of His tender mercies, and Isaiah tells of "the multitude of His lovingkindnesses."
Are not these true and beautiful words?
Will you not turn them into a song of thanksgiving, and say, "Bless the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits :
. who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies!"
So shall the father's soul be glad tor him he holds so dear, A son whose heart is truly wise in God's most holy fear; And hallowed be our festal joy with gratitude and praise:
Forget not all His benefits, whose kindness crowns our days.
April 11
THE SPLENDOR OF HIS WILL
Now unto him that Is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory.
Ephesians 3:20-21 Perhaps there is no point in which expectation has been so limited by experience as this. We believe God is able to do for us just so much as He has already done, and no more. We take it for granted a line must be drawn somewhere; and so we choose to draw it where experience ends, and faith would have to begin.
Even if we have trusted and proved Him as to keeping our members and our minds, faith fails when we would go deeper and say, "Keep my will."
And yet the only reason we have to give is, that though we have asked Him to take our will, we do not exactly find that it is altogether His, but that self-will crops up again and again.
And whatever flaw there might be in this argument, we think the matter is quite settled
by the fact that some whom we rightly esteem, and who are far better than ourselves, have the same experience, and do not even seem to think it right to hope for anything better.
That is conclusive!
And the result of this, as of every other faithless conclusion, is either discouragement and depression, or, still worse, acquiescence in an unyielded will, as something that cannot be helped. Now let us turn from our thoughts to God's thoughts.
Verily, they are not as ours!
He says He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.
Apply this here. We ask Him to take our wills and make them His.
Does He or does He not mean what He says? And if He does, should we not trust Him to do this thing that we have asked and longed for, and not less but more?
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
"Hath He said, and shall He not do it?"
Her pencil, tracing feebly words that shall echo still, Perchance some unknown mission may joyously fulfill:
"I think I just begin to see the splendor of God's will!"
For her, God's will was suffering, just waiting, lying still; Days passing on in weariness, in shadows deep and chill; And yet she had begun to see the splendor of God's will.
April 12
A LOOK THAT TRANSFORMS
Behold your God!
Behold the man!
Isaiah 40:9; John 19:5
Look away from all "other things," look at the Crucified One, and, as you gaze, remember that He says, "Come unto Me."
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, that both from the depth of sorrow and from the height of glory this royal invitation comes to you?
For it is the call not only of Jesus the crucified, but of Jesus reigning, and Jesus coming.
"See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh," for He is coming to judge the quick and the dead. He is reigning now, and there are no neutrals in His kingdom.
All are either willing and loyal subjects, or actual rebels—those who have obeyed the King's call, and come, and those who have "made light of it," and not come.
Which are you?
Behold your King!
Is it nothing to you, That the crimson tokens of agony From the kingly brow must fall like dew.
Thro' the shuddering shades of Gethsemane?
Jesus Himself, the Prince of Life, Bows in mysterious mortal strife; Oh, think of His sorrow I that we may know The unknown love in the unknown woe!
April 13
IN STEP WITH THE MASTER
He will keep the feet of his saints.
1 Samuel 2:9
Do not smile at a very homely thought!
If our feet are not our own, ought we not to take care of them for Him whose they are?
Is it quite right to be reckless about "getting wet feet," which might be guarded against either by forethought or afterthought, when there is, at least, a risk of hindering our service thereby?
Does it please the Master when even in our zeal for His work we annoy anxious friends by carelessness in little things of this kind? May every step of our feet be more and more like those of our beloved Master.
Let us continually consider Him in this, and go where He would have gone, on the errands which He would have done, "following hard" after Him.
And let us look on to the time when our feet shall stand in the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, when holy feet shall tread the streets of the holy city; no longer pacing any lonely path, for He hath said, "They shall walk with Me in white."
A splendor that is shining upon His children's way.
That guides the willing footsteps that do not want to stray, And that leads them ever onward unto the perfect day.
April 14
MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO SEE HIM
Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon.
Song of Solomon 3:11
Perhaps we have dwelt more upon the promise, "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty," than upon the command, "Go forth and behold" Him. We are not to be content with languidly saying, "We would see Jesus."
If our eyes are too dim, let us pray, "Open Thou mine eyes"; if there is a veil upon our hearts, let us turn to the Lord, the Spirit, and it shall be taken away; if we are standing too far off to see, let us utter the cry and resolve, "Draw me, we will run after Thee"
; if we are sitting still in the house, let us arise quickly and go to meet Jesus.
This is neither an impossible nor a delusive command.
The eye that looks away up to Jesus will behold Him now. And what shall we behold?
The vision is all
of beauty and glory and coronation now.
The sorrow and the marred visage are past; and even when we behold Him as the Lamb of God, it is the Lamb in the midst of the throne now. daughters of Zion, who gaze by faith upon Jesus our King, what do you see?
Oh, the music of the answers!—"We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour!"
"Fairer than the children of men!"
"Beautiful and glorious!"
"How great is His beauty!"
"His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars," and "as the sun shineth in his strength!"
"Yea, He is altogether lovely."
Thine eyes shall see!
Not in a swift glance cast.
Gleaning one ray to brighten memory, But while a glad eternity shall last.
Thine eyes shall seel Thine eyes shall see the King!
The very same Whose love shone forth upon the curseful tree.
Who bore thy guilt, who calleth thee by name; Thine eyes shall see!
April D
MAKING ANOTHER'S DAY BRIGHTER
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind.
Acts 20:19
Perhaps you have never thought of the burdens of those around you.
Then if you want to fulfill this law of Christ, the first thing will be to find out who has any burdens, and which of them you could bear instead.
You will not have to watch long!
There are very few without any. And if, for a moment a burden that you have taken up does seem rather hard, and you are tempted to drop it again, think of what the Lord Jesus bore for you !
Think how He took up the heaviest burden of all for you, when He, His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree!
He did not drop that burden, but bore it till He died under it.
Think of that, and it will be easy then to bear something for His sake. Now be on the watch all day for burdens to bear for others.
See how many you can find out and pick up, and carry away!
Depend upon it, you will not only make it a brighter day for others, but for yourself too!
Then let it be The motto of our lives until we stand In the great freedom of eternity, Where we "shall serve Him" while we see His face.
For ever and for ever "Free to serve."
April 16
GIVE HIM THE KEY
If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in.
Revelation 3:20
It all hinges upon Jesus coming into the heart as His own house—altogether His own.
If there are some rooms of which we do not give up the key—some little sitting-room which we would like to keep as a little mental retreat, with a view from the window, which we do not quite want to give up — some lodger whom we would rather not send away just yet — some little dark closet which we have no resolution to open and set to rights—of course the King has not full possession
; it is not all and really His own ; and the very misgiving about it proves that He has therefore not yet come again in peace.
It is no use expecting perfect peace, while He has a secret controversy with us about any withholding of what is His own by purchase.
Only throw open all the doors, and the King of glory shall come in, and then there will be no craving for other guests.
He will fill this house with glory, and there will be no place left for gloom.
We cannot doubt our finding the very Key indeed.
When .Jesus fills up every void, responds to every need.
When all the secrets of our hearts before Him are revealed.
And all the mystery of life, alone with Him. unsealed.
April 17
PLEASED TO PLEASE
Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.
2 Samuel o:3G David had been giving a proof of his love for one who had long been his enemy, but whom he had received into friendship and he had been giving a proof of his tenderheartedness and sympathy with the people, by weeping with them at the grave of Abner.
"And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them ; as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people."
This was because they loved their king.
They watched him, not as the wicked Pharisees watched the Lord Jesus that they might find something against Him ; but with the watching of admiration and love, taking notice of the kind and gracious things he did and said. Do you thus take notice of what your King does?
Does it please you to hear and read of what He has done and is
doing? It must be so if He really is your King. But the "whatsoever" is a little harder ; and yet, if it is once really learnt, it makes everything easy.
For if we learn to be pleased with whatsoever our King Jesus does, nothing can come wrong to us.
Ask Him this day to make you so loving and loyal to Him, that ivhatsoever He does, all day long, may please you, because it has pleased Him to do it.
I think He loves us so much, that He always gives us as much happiness as He can possibly trust us with, and does what is pleasantest for His dear children whenever He sees it will not hurt them
; so, when He does something which at first does not seem so pleasant, we may still trust our Beloved King, and learn by His grace to be pleased with ivhatsoever He does.
Our yet unfinished story is tending all to this:
To God the greatest glory, to us the greatest bliss.
If all things work together tor ends so grand and blest, What need to wonder whether each in itself is best!
April 18
HELP OF THE HELPLESS
By thee have I been holden up.
Psalm 71:6
Is it not wonderful that God should help us at all?
Have we not wondered hundreds of times at the singular help He has given?
If we have not, what ungrateful blindness !
For He has been giving it ever since we were helpless babies.
"Through Thee have I been holden up ever since I was born." How much of His help has been forgotten or altogether unnoticed.
The very little things, the microscopic helpings, often seem most marvelous of all when we consider that it was Jehovah Himself who stooped to the tiny need of a moment.
And the greater matters prove themselves to be the Lord's doing, just because they are so marvelous in our eyes. Why should we fear being brought to some depth of perplexity and trouble when we know
He will be true to His name, and be our Help, so that we shall be even men wondered at because so marvelously helped Sovereign Lord and gracious Master, Thou didst freely choose Thine own, Thou hast called with mighty calling.
Thou wilt save, and keep from falling; Thine the glory. Thine alone I Yet Thy hand shall crown in heaven All the grace Thy love hath given; Just, though undeserved, reward From our glorious, gracious Lord.
April 19
A PROMISED PROMISE
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him:
I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
Psalm 91:15
This is the promise that he hath promised us.
1 John 2:25
Prayer must be based upon promise, but, thank God, His promises are always broader than our prayers.
No fear of building inverted pyramids here, for Jesus Christ is the foundation, and this and all the other "promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us."
So it shall be unto His glory to fulfill each one to us, and to answer our prayer for a "kept" or "established" heart. And its fulfillment shall work out His glory, not in spite of us, but "by us."
"Tempted and tried!"
There is One at thy side.
And never in vain shall His children confide!
He shall save and defend, For He loves to the end.
Adorable Master and glorious Friend!
"Tempted and tried!"
The Saviour who died Hath called thee to suffer and reign by His side.
His cross thou shalt bear.
And His crown thou shalt wear.
And forever and ever His glory shalt share.
April 20
OUR SOVEREIGN SAVIOUR
The Lord is our King; he will save us.
Isaiah 33:22
The thought of salvation is constantly connected with that of kingship.
Type, illustration, and prophecy combine them.
"Thou shalt anoint him .
. that he may save my people."
"By the hand of my servant David,
will save my people."
"The king saved us." "A King shall reign ; in His days, Judah shall be saved."
"Thy King cometh .
. having salvation."
Because Jesus is our Saviour, He has the right to be our King; but again, because He is King, He is qualified to be our Saviour; and we never know Him fully as Sa.iour till we have fully received Him as King.
His Kingship gives the strength to His priesthood.
It is as the Royal Priest of the order of Melchizedek that He is able to save.
Thus He is a Saviour, a great One, mighty to save.
Our King has not only
wrought and brought, and made known His salvation, but He Himself is our salvation.
The very names seem used interchangeably.
Isaiah says, "Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy Salvation cometh"; Zechariah bids her rejoice, for "Behold thy King cometh."
Again Isaiah says, "Mine eyes have seen the King"
; and Simeon echoes, "Mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation," as he looks upon the infant Jesus, the Light to lighten the Gentiles; reminding us again of David's words, "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation."
Worthy of adoration.
Is the Lamb that once was slain.
Cry, in raptured exultation, His redeemed from every nation; Angel myriads join the strain, Sounding from their sinless strings Glory to the King of kings; Harping, with their harps of gold, Praise which never can be told.
April 21 UNTO HIM Ye have done It unto me.
Matthew 25:40
Ye did it not to me.
Matthew 25:45
Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us opportunities of showing whether we love Him or not.
He tells us that what we try to do for any one who is poor, or hungry, or sick, or a lonely stranger, is just the same as doing it to Him. And when the King says, "Come, ye blessed,"
He remembers these little things, and says, "Ye have done it unto Me."
But He tells us that if we do nothing for them, it is just the same as if He were standing there and we would do nothing for Him. And He will say, "Ye did it not to Me."
One of these two words will be spoken to you in that coming day.
It seems to me so very kind of the Lord Jesus to have told us this.
For He knew that those who really love Him would ivant to do something for Him, and what could we do for the King of Glory in His glorious Heaven?
So it was wonderfully thoughtful of Him to give to us His poor people to care for, and to say, if we have only been kind to a sick old lady or hungry little child, "Ye have done it unto Me!"
Dear is the work He gives in many a varied way, Little enough in itself, yet something for every day Something by pen for the distant, by hand or voice for the near.
Whether to soothe or teach, whether to aid or cheer.
April 22
MORE LOVE TO THEE
I will love thee, O Lord.
Psalm 18:1
I will love Thee, Lord Jesus, because Thou hast loved me, and because Thou art loving me now, and wilt love me to the end.
How could I have helped loving Thee, when Thou wast waiting all the time for me, waiting patiently while
I did not care about Thee!
Oh, forgive me, and now I will love Thee always; for Thou wilt take my love, and fix it on Thyself, and keep it for Thyself.
I will love Thee, Lord Jesus; I will not listen to Satan, who tries to keep me from loving Thee;
I will not ask myself anything about it, lest I should begin to get puzzled about whether I do love Thee or not.
Thou knowest that I do want to love Thee; and now, blessed Lord Jesus, hear me say that I will love Thee, and that I will trust Thee to make me love Thee more and more, always more and more.
Thou hast heard me say it.
And I am so glad I have said it.
1 do not want ever to take it back, and Thou wilt not let me take it back.
Fill me so full of Thy love that it may run over into everything I do, and that I may love everybody, because I love Thee.
Yes, I will love Thee, blest Lord Jesus!
Jesus, Master, whose I am, purchased Thine alone to be.
By Thy blood, O spotless Lamb, shed so willingly for me; Let my heart be all Thine own. let me live to Thee alone.
April 23
ORACLES OF GOD
Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:24
Why ask a little when we may ask much? The very next time we want to speak or write a word for Jesus (and of course that ought to be today), let us ask Him to give us not merely a general idea what to say, but to give us literally every single word, and "they shall be withal fitted in thy lips."
For He will not say, "Thou hast asked a hard thing," though it is far more than asking for the mantle of any prophet.
He says, "Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth."
This was not for Jeremiah alone, for soon after we read, "He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully"
(for we must not overlook our responsibility in the matter) ; and then follows the grand dec-
laration of its power, even when spoken by feeble human lips "Is not My word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"
"Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire."
If we are not even sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, how much less to speak anything!
"Have I now any power at all to say anything? The word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall
I speak." We would rather have it so, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Our ascended Lord has said, "All power is given unto Me. Go ye therefore .
. and lo I am with you alway."
This is enough for me; and I trust His word.
He is with thee!
In thy service He is with thee "certainly,"
Filling with the Spirit's power.
Giving in the needing hour His own messages by thee.
He is with thee!
With thy spirit, with thy lips and with thy pen; In the quiet preparation.
In the heart-bowed congregation, nevermore alone again.
April 24
WHEN WEAK THEN STRONG
Beware .
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full .
. and all that thou hast Is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up.
Deuteronomy 8:11-14 The times of marvelous help are times of danger.
Unclasp the ivy from the elm and it is prostrate at once. Thank God if He keeps us realizing amid the busiest work and the pleasantest success that we have no power at all of ourselves to help ourselves. Then there will be nothing to hinder His continual help.
As long as we say quite unreservedly, "My help cometh from the Lord," the help will come. As long as we are saying, "Thou art my help," He is our help—a very present help.
Then we shall not be helped with a little help, which is too often all we really expect from our Omnipotent Helper, just because we do not feel that we have no might.
Peter was a good swimmer but he did not say, "Lord, help me to swim." He said, "Lord, save me." And so the Master's help was instant and complete. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
I am so weak, dear Lord, I cannot stand One moment without Thee!
But oh, the tenderness of Thine enfolding.
And oh! the faithfulness of Thine upholding.
And oh! the strength of Thy right hand!
That strength is enough for me.
April 2')
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUD
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.
Romans 6:13
Quick, angry motions of the heart will sometimes force themselves into expression by the hand, though the tongue may be restrained.
The very way in which we close a door or lay down a book may be a victory or a defeat, a witness to Christ's keeping or a witness that we are not truly being kept. How can we expect that God will use our hand as an instrument of righteousness unto Him, if we yield it thus as an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin?
Therefore, let us see to it, that it is at once yielded to Him whose right it is ; and let our sorrow that it should have been even for an instant desecrated to Satan's use, lead us to entrust it henceforth to our Lord, to be kept by the power of God through faith "for the Master's use."
For when the gentleness of Christ dwells in us, He can use the merest touch of a finger.
Have we not heard of one gentle touch on a wayward shoulder being the turning-point of a life?
I have known a case in which the Master made use of less than that— only the quiver of a little finger being made the means of touching a wayward heart.
Only a look and a motion!
Yes, but we little know How from each dwarf-like "only" a giant of power may grow;
The thundering avalanche crushes, loosened by only a breath, And only a colorless drop may be laden with sudden death.
April 26
"I WILL FORGIVE BUT
I CANT FORGET!"
First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Matthew 5:24
Someone may have somewhat against you—an old quarrel, or a fresh misunderstanding—and you are too proud to acknowledge your fault, or your share in it; or you are too timid, or even too idle to do so. When there are faults on both sides, it is pretty often the one most in fault who is the least ready to forgive. Now do look into the matter, and see if you are truly in love and charity with all men.
It is no use trying to explain away the words, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us," for Christ Himself has explained and emphasized them.
He said, "But if ye forgive
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
There is no evading this.
There is absolutely no forgiveness for you if you do not forgive ; for who can forgive sins but God only? And it is no use saying, "Well I will forgive but I can't forget!"
You know quite well in your heart that the very tone in which you say that, shows that you are not really forgiving, and God knows what is at the bottom of your "can't forget!"
Don't turn round fiercely, and say, "But if I can't, I can't!"
For the things which are impossible with men, are possible with God.
Our Father, forgive us for we have transgressed.
Have wounded Thy love, and forsaken Thy breast; In the peace of Thy pardon henceforth let us live.
That through Thy forgiveness we too may forgive.
The Son of Thy love, who hath taught us to pray.
For Thy treasures of mercy hath opened the way, And Thine is the power.
April 21
A CHANNEL FOR GOD'S POWER
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory In my Infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
When there are great natural gifts people give the credit to them instead of to the grace which alone did the real work, and thus God is defrauded of the glory.
So that, to say it reverently, God can get more glory out of a feeble instrument because then it is more obvious that the excellency of the power is of God and not of us.
Do you not really believe that the Holy Spirit is just as able to draw a soul to Jesus if He will by your whisper of the one word, "Come," as by an eloquent sermon an hour long?
I do.
At the same time, as it is evidently God's way to work through these intellects of ours, we have no more right to expect Him to use a mind which we are willfully neglecting and taking no pains whatever to fit for His use than I should have to expect you to write a beautiful inscription with my pen if I would not take the trouble to wipe it and mend it.
Oh, sometimes strangely I forget, and. learning o'er and o'er, A lesson all with tear-drops wet. which I had learnt before.
He chides me not, but waits awhile, then wipes my heavy eyes:
Oh, what a Teacher is our God, so patient and so wise!
If others sadly bring to me a lesson hard and new, I often find that helping them has made me learn it too.
Or, had I learnt it long before, my toil is overpaid.
If so one tearful eye may see one lesson plainer made.
April 28
A SWEET SAVOR OF CHRIST
And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him.
Leviticus 1:4
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.
Isaiah 26:3
After all this, their hands were filled with consecrations for a sweet savor, so, after laying the hand of our faith upon Christ, suffering and dying for us, we are to lay that very same hand of faith, and in the very same way, upon Him as consecrated for us, to be the source and life and power of our consecration.
And then our hands shall be filled with consecration, filled with Christ, and filled with all that is a sweet savor to God in Him.
Peace, peace!
Yea, peace to him that is near.
The crown is set on the Victor's brow.
For thy warfare is accomplished now And for thee eternal peace is made By the Lord on whom thy sins were laid:
Then why shouldst thou fear?
Peace, peace!
Wrought by the Spirit of Might.
In thy deepest sorrow and sorest strife.
In the changes and chances of mortal life.
It is thine, beloved!
Christ's own bequest.
Which vainly the tempter shall strive to wrest; It is now thy right.
April 29
A MIND AT PERFECT PEACE WITH GOD
Shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Isaiah 58:1
He does not merely show us; it is something more than that.
It is not merely an invisible hand drawing away a veil from hidden scenes, and a light brought to bear upon them, so that we can see them if we will ; it is more personal, more terrible, and yet more tender than that.
He tells us what we have done, and, if we listen, the telling will be very clear, very thorough, very unmistakable. At first we are tempted not to listen at all we shrink from the still, small voice which tells us so startlingly unwelcome things. Many feel what one expressed
: "Whenever I do think about it, I feel so horribly bad that I don't like to
think any more."
Ah, "if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day" that it was not mere thinking about it, but the voice of the Saviour beginning to tell thee what would have cleared the way for "the things which belong unto thy peace," what blessing might not the patient and willing listening have brought!
Oh, do not stifle the voice, do not fancy it is only uncomfortable thoughts which you will not encourage lest they should make you low-spirited.
Instead of that, ask Him to let His voice sound louder and clearer, and believe "that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."
Peace, peace!
The word of the Lord to thee.
Peace, for thy passion and restless pride.
For thy endless cravings all unsupplied.
Peace for thy weary and sinworn breast; He knows the need who has promised rest.
And the gift is free.
April 30
HIS THRONE BY RIGHT
He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne.
Zechariah 6:13
The heart that is established in Christ is also established for Christ.
It becomes His royal throne, no longer occupied by His foe, no longer tottering and unstable.
And then we see the beauty and preciousness of the promise, "He shall be a Priest upon His throne."
Not only reigning, but atoning.
Not only ruling, but cleansing.
Thus the throne is established in mercy but by righteousness.
I think we lose ground sometimes by parleying with the tempter. We have no business to parley with an usurper. The throne is no longer his when we have surrendered it to our Lord Jesus.
And why should we allow him to argue with us for one instant as if it were still an open question?
Do not listen ; simply tell him that Jesus Christ is on the long-disputed throne and no more about it, but turn at once to your King and claim the glorious protection of His sovereignty over you.
It is a splendid reality, and you will find it so.
He will not abdicate and leave you kingless and defenseless.
For verily, "The Lord is our king; He will save us"
(Isaiah 33:22).
Look to Him who ever liveth, interceding for His own:
Seek, yea, claim the grace He giveth freely from His priestly throne.
Will He not thy strength lenew with His Spirit's quickening dew?