June
June
WHEN
I OBSERVED
I WONDERED
He was marvellously helped.
2 Chronicles 26:15
The help with which God makes us to prosper is literally "marvelous." We do wonder at it, or ought to wonder at it.
Wonder is one of the God-given faculties which distinguishes us from the beasts that perish. And He gives us grand scope for its happy exercise not merely in His works in general, but in His dealings with us in particular.
But wonder is always founded upon observation. We do not wonder at that which we do not observe.
So, if we have not wondered very much at the help He has given us, it is because we have not noticed, nor considered very much, how great things He hath done for us.
The Lord hath done great things for thee!
All through the fleeted days Jehovah hath dealt wondrously; Lift up thy heart and praise!
For greater things thine eyes shall see, Child of His loving choice!
The Lord will do great things for thee; Fear not, be glad, rejoice!
June 2
WONDERFUL COMPANION
Lo, I am with you alway.
Matthew 28:20
Some of US think and say a good deal about a sense of His presence ; sometimes rejoicing in it, sometimes going mourning all the day long because we have it not ; praying for it, and not always seeming to receive what we ask; measuring our own position, and sometimes even that of others by it; now on the heights, now in the depths about it.
All our trouble and disappointment about it is met by His own simple word, and vanishes in the simple faith that grasps it. For if Jesus says simply and absolutely, "Lo, I am with you alway," what have we to do with feeling or "sense" about it? We have only to believe it, and to recollect it. And it is only by thus believing and recollecting that we can realize it.
He is with thee! — thine own Master, Leading, loving to the end; Brightening joy and lightening sorrow, All today, yet more tomorrow.
King and Saviour. Lord and Friend.
June 3
SAVIOUR OR JUDGE?
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain .
. doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it .
. and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Proverbs 24:11-12 When one has even a glimmer of the tremendous difference between having Christ and being without Christ; when one gets but one shuddering glimpse of what eternity is, and of what it must mean, as well as what it may mean, without Christ: when one gets but a flash of realization of the tremendous fact that all these neighbors of ours, rich and poor alike, will have to spend that eternity either with Him or without Him—it is hard, very hard indeed, to understand how a man or woman can believe these things at all, and make no effort for anything beyond the temporal elevation of those around, sometimes not even beyond their amusements
! "People must have entertainment," they urge.
I do not find that "must" in the Bible, but I do find, "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." And if you have any sort of belief in that, how can you care to use those lips of yours, which might be a fountain of life to the dying souls before you, merely to entertain them.
As you sow, so you reap.
Will you not sow that song?
Will you not drop that word Till the coldest heart be stirred From their slumber deep and long?
Then your harvest shall abound.
With rejoicing full and grand.
Where the heavenly summer-songs resound.
And the fruits of faithful work are found.
In the glorious Holy Land.
June 4
AS PRAYERS GO UP BLESSINGS COME DOWN
See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
1 Samuel 25:35
We must be accepted in the Beloved before we can expect to be answered through the Beloved.
Is there a doubt about this, and a sigh over the words?
There need not be; for now, at this moment, the old promise stands with its unchangeable welcome to the weary; "Him that cometh to Me
I will in no
wise cast out."
Then, if you come now, at this moment, on the strength of His word, you cannot be rejected, there is nothing but one blessed alternative—accepted.
Then come the answers!
As surely as the prayers go up from the accepted one, so surely will blessings come down.
When Esther had touched the golden scepter, then said the king unto her, "What wilt thou Queen Esther, and what is thy request? it shall be given thee to the half of the kingdom."
But there is no half in our King's promise.
He says, "All things," and "Whatsoever."
And He does do exceeding abundantly above all that M^e ask or think, and more than fulfills our little scanty requests. And then, bj^ every fresh fulfillment we should receive ever new assurance of our acceptance — then
(shall it not be today?) as we give thanks for each gracious answer, we may look up confidingly and joyfully, and say, "Thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in Thy sight"
(2 Samuel 14:22).
Accepted, perfect and complete.
For God's inheritance made meet!
How true, how glorious, and how sweet!
In the Beloved — by the King Accepted, though not anything But forfeit lives had we to bring.
June ^
UNDIVIDED ATTENTION
I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.
Song of Solomon 5:1
Hush!
Listen!
Believe! for the King speaks to you.
Do not miss the unspeakable blessing and joy of meeting Him and resting in His presence, by hurrying away to anything else, by listening to any outward call.
Stay noic, lay the little book aside, kneel down at your King's feet, doubt not His word, which is "more sure" than even the "excellent glory" that the apostles beheld, and thank Him for coming to you. Commune with Him now of all that is in your heart, and "rejoice greatly," for, "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee."
O Prince's daughter, whom I see in bridal garments, pure as light.
Betrothed forever unto Me, on thee My own new name I write, It is Humility, who sees herself unworthy of such grace, Who dares not hope her Lord to please, who dares not look upon His face?
Nay, where that mantle fleeting gleams, 'tis Unbelief who turns aside.
Who rather rests in self-spun dreams, than trust the love of Him who died.
Faith casts away the fair disguise, she will not doubt her Master's voice.
And droop when He hath bid her rise, or mourn when He hath said, "Rejoice!"
June 6
NOW OR NEVER
They that were ready went in .
. and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:10
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door ... he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not.
Luke 13:25
There are plenty of things besides immediate death which may just as effectually prevent your ever coming to Christ at all, if you do not come now.
This might be your last free hour for coming.
Tomorrow the call may be less urgent, and the other things entering in may deaden it, and the grieved Spirit may withdraw and cease to give you even your present inclination to listen to it, and so you may drift on and on, farther and farther from the haven of safety (into which you may enter now if you will), till it is out of sight on the horizon.
And then it may be too late to turn the helm, and the current may be too strong; and when the storm of mortal illness at last comes, you may find that you are too weak mentally or physically to rouse yourself even to hear, much less to come.
What can one do when fever or exhaustion are triumphing over mind and body?
Do not risk it.
Come now!
And "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
What will you do without Him, in the long and dreary day Of trouble and perplexity, when you do not know the way.
And no one else can help you, and no one guides you right.
And hope comes not with morning, and rest comes not with night?
June 7
GIVING DETERMINES VALUE
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord.
Exodus 35:29
And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated .
. and there was no more war.
2 Chronicles 15:18, 19 There is no bondage in consecration.
The two things are opposites and cannot co-exist, much less mingle. We should suspect our consecration and come afresh to our great Counselor about it directly we have any sense of bondage.
As long as we have an unacknowledged feeling of fidget about our ac-
count book and a smothered wondering what and how much we ought to give and a hushed-up wishing the thing had not been put quite so strongly before us, depend upon it we have not said unreservedly, "Take my silver and my gold."
And how can the Lord keep what He has not been sincerely asked to take?
Ah! if we had stood at the foot of the cross and watched the tremendous payment of our redemption with the precious blood of Christ — if we had seen that awful price told out, drop by drop, from His own dear patient brow and torn hands and feet until it was all paid and the central word of eternity was uttered, "It is finished," should we not have been ready to say, "Not a mite will I withhold !"
Halfhearted, falsehearted!
Heed we the warning!
Only the whole can be perfectly true; Bring the whole offering, all timid thought scorning, Truehearted only if wholehearted too.
Halfhearted:
Saviour, shall aught be withholden, Giving Thee part who hast given us all?
Blessings outpouring, and promises golden Pledging, with never reserve or recall.
June 8
WE SEE JESUS
As seeing him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27
If we were always doing everything just as if we saw Him, whom having not seen we love, how different our lives would be ! How much happier too !
These words were said of Moses and this seeing Him by faith had three effects.
(1) "He forsook Egypt"
; it made him ready to give up anything for his God, and God's people.
It made him true and loyal to God's cause.
What did he care for anything else, so long as he saw "Him who is invisible"?
(2) It took away all his fear. What was "the wrath of the king" to him, when Jehovah was by his side?
Of what should he be afraid?
(3) It enabled him to "endure," to wait patiently for forty years in the desert, and then to work patiently for forty years in the wilderness; and only think how strength-giving that sight of faith must be which enabled him to endure everything for eighty years!
Try for yourself today what was such great help to Moses.
"From glory unto glory!"
Though tribulation fall.
It cannot touch our treasure, when Christ is all in all!
Whatever lies before us, there can be nought to fear, For what are pain and sorrow when Jesus Christ is near?
June 9
WHERE NO ANXIETY EXISTS
Under his wings shalt thou trust.
Psalm 91:4
When the little eaglets, that have not yet a feather to fly with, are under the great wings of the parent eagle, how safe they are!
Who would dare touch them?
If a bold climber put his hand into the nest, then those powerful wings would beat him in a minute from his hold, and he would fall down the rocks and be dashed to pieces. So safe shall you be under His wings, nothing shall by any means hurt you there.
When the wild snowstorms rage around the eyrie, that is death to an unprotected sleeper, how warm the little eaglets are kept!
Not an arrow of the keen blast reaches them, poor little featherless things, not a snowflake touches them.
So warm shall you be kept under His wings when any cold and dark day of trouble comes, or even any sudden little blast of unkindness or loneliness. Under His wings shalt thou trust!
Not shalt thou see!
If one of the eaglets wanted to see for itself what was going on, and thought it could take care of itself for a little while, and hopped from under the shadow of the wings, it would be neither safe nor warm.
The sharp wind would chill it, and the cruel hand might seize it then.
So you are to trust, rest quietly and peacefully under His wings; stay there, not be peeping out and wondering whether God really is taking care of you!
You may be always safe and happy there.
Safe, for in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.
Happy, for "in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice."
Upon Thy word I rest, so strong, so sure; So full of comfort blest, so sweet, so pure.
The word that changeth not, that faileth never!
My King!
I rest upon Thy word forever.
June 10
THE UNKEPT PLEDGE
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Revelation 3:19
But have you found out that it is one of the secrets of the Lord, that when any of His dear children turn aside a little bit after having once entered the blessed path of true and conscious consecration. He is sure to send them some little
punishment? He will not let us go back without a sharp, even if quite secret, reminder. Go and spend ever such a little without reference to Him after you have once pledged the silver and gold entirely to Him, and see if you are not in some way rebuked for it!
Very often by being permitted to find that you have made a mistake in your purchase, or that in some way it does not prosper.
If you observe these things, you will find that the more closely we are walking with our Lord, the more immediate and unmistakable will be His gracious rebukes when we swerve in any detail of the full consecration to which He has called us.
And if you have already experienced and recognized this part of His personal dealing with us, you will know also how we love and bless Him for it.
Yes! there is tribulation, but Thy power Can blend it with rejoicing.
There are thorns, But they have kept us in the narrow way.
The King's highway of holiness and peace.
And there is chastening, but the Father's love Flows through it; and would any trusting heart Forego the chastening and forego the love?
And every step leads on to "more and more,"
From strength to strength Thy pilgrims pass and sing The praise of Him who leads them on and on.
From glory unto glory, even here!
June 11
NOT PROMISED BUT GIVEN
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 10:11
Oh, wonderful gift! not promised, but given; not to friends, but to enemies.
Given without condition, without reserve, without return.
Himself unknown and unloved, His gift unsought and unasked. He gave His life for thee; a more than royal bounty—the greatest gift that Deity could devise. Oh, grandeur of love !
"I lay down My life for the sheep !" And we for whom He gave it have held back, and hesitated to give our lives, not even for Him (He has not asked us to do that), but to Him!
But that is past, and He has tenderly pardoned the unloving, ungrateful reserve, and has graciously accepted the poor little fleeting breath and speck of dust which was all we had to offer.
And now His precious death and His glorious life are all "for thee."
Look to Him, the Lord of Glory, tasting death to win thy life; Gazing on that wondrous story, canst thou falter in the strife?
Is it not new life to know that the Lord hath loved thee so?
June 12
TOO WEAK TO SPEAK
Rest in [margin, Be silent to] the Lord.
Psalm 37:7
An invalid was left alone one evening for a little while.
After many days of acute pain there was a lull. "Now," she thought, "I shall be able to pray a little."
But she was too wearied out and exhausted for this ; feeling that utter weakness of mind and body which cannot be realized without actual experience, when the very lips shrink from the exertion of a whisper, and it seems too much effort of thought to shape even unspoken words.
Only one whisper came:
"Lord Jesus, I am so tired!"
She prayed no more; she could not frame even a petition that, as she could not speak to Him, He would speak to her.
But the Lord Jesus knew all the rest ; He knew how she had waited for and wanted the sweet conscious communing with Him, the literal talking to Him and telling Him all that was in her heart.
And He knew that, although a quiet and comparatively painless hour had come, she was "so tired" that she could not think.
Very tenderly did He, who knows how to speak a word in season to the weary, choose a message in reply to that little whisper.
"Be silent to the Lord!"
It came like a mother's "hush" to one whom his mother comforteth.
It was quite enough, as every Spirit-given word is; and the acquiescent silence was filled with perfect peace.
Only real friends understand silence.
I am too weak for effort, so let me rest.
In hush of sweet submission, on Thine own breast.
I take this pain. Lord Jesus, as Thine own gift; And true through tremulous praises I now uplift.
I am too weak to sing them, but Thou dost hear The whisper from the pillow. Thou art so near I June 13
UNSPOILED AMONG THE SPOILED
Thy holy child Jesus.
Acts 4:30
God's Word has only told us this one thing about the early years in the life of the Lord—He was a Iwly child.
What is holy?
It is everything that is perfectly beautiful and good and lovable, without anything to spoil it.
This is what He was as a child.
He was gentle and brave, considerate and unselfish, noble and truthful, obedient and loving, kind and forgiving
everything you can think of that you ever admired or loved in any one else was all found together in Him, and all this not only outside but inside, for He was holy. And all His goodness and holiness may be reckoned to you, for you have none of your own.
God desires to smile on you for His sake, just as if you had been perfectly obedient and truthful and unselfish and good and to give you Jesus Christ's reward, which you never deserved at all, but which He deserved for you.
On the cross He took your sins, and now He gives you His righteousness; He took your punishment and gives you His reward; it is just changed over, if you will accept the exchange!
Thine was the chastisement with no release, That mine might be the peace; The bruising and the tiuel stripes were Thine That healing might be mine; Thine was the sentence and the condemnation.
Mine the acquittal and the full salvation.
For Thee revilings, and a mocking throng.
For me the angel-song; For Thee the frown, the hiding of God's face.
For me the smile of grace; Sorrows of hell and bitterest death for Thee, And heaven and everlasting life for me.
June 14
TREASURES RARE AW^AIT YOU
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:3
And the Lord shall open these treasures unto thee.
Riches of goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering shall be meted out in infinitely gracious proportion to our sins, and provocations and repeated waywardness
; exceeding riches of grace for all our poverty now, and riches in glory enough and to spare for all the needs of glorified capacities through all eternity.
"All are yours" in Him.
Faith is the key to this infinite treasury, and in giving us faith He gives us treasure for treasure.
He is ready to make us "rich in faith," and then still to "increase our faith" "unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding."
Ask for this golden key, and then put it into the Lord's hand, that He may turn it in the lock.
As the key is to the lock, when it enters quick and true.
Fitting all the complex wards that are hidden from the view.
Moving all the secret springs that no other finds or moves.
So is Jesus to the soul, when His saving power He proves.
June U
THE WAY OF ESCAPE
And Noah went .
. into the ark.
Genesis 7:7
By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.
John 10:9
Noah did not put it off.
He and his family entered the selfsame day into the ark.
I wonder if any of Noah's acquaintances were thinking about coming when the flood overtook them, and even coming gradually nearer! We are told that Noah onlij remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Then, come thou into the Ark, that when the great and terrible day comes, you may be found of Him in peace, found in Him.
The risinp tempest siveeps the sky, The rain descends, the winds are high; The ivaters swell and death and fear Beset thy path, no refuge near:
Haste, traveler, haste!
Oh, haste! a shelter you may gain, A covert from the ivind and rain, A hiding-place, a rest, a home, A refuge from the wrath to come:
Haste, traveler, haste! —w.
B. COLLYER
He who brings the flood has provided the Ark. And the door is open.
It will be shut some day—it may be shut tomorrow.
What will you do if you find yourself not shut in, but shut out?
Whose fault is it if you do not enter in and be saved?
Will you not come to Him for life?
Why will ye die, oh why?
He gave His life for you, for you!
The gift is free, the word is true!
Will you not come? oh, why will you die?
June 16
THE MAGNET OF LOVE
Draw me, we will run after thee.
Song of Solomon 1:4
There is no love so deep and wide as that which is kept for Jesus.
It flows both fuller and farther when it flows only through Him.
Then, too, it will be a power for Him.
It will always be unconsciously working for Him.
In drawing others to ourselves by it, we shall be necessarily drawing them nearer
to the fountain of our love, never drawing them away from it.
It is the great magnet of His love which alone can draw any heart to Him; but when our own are thoroughly yielded to its mighty influence, they will be so magnetized that He will condescend to use them in this way.
Is it not wonderful to think that the Lord Jesus will not only accept and keep, but actually use our love?
"Of Thine own have we given Thee," for "we love Him because He first loved us."
Set apart to love Him, and His love to know!
Not to waste affection on a passing show.
Called to give Him life and heart.
Called to pour the hidden, treasure.
That none other claims to measure.
Into His beloved hand! thrice-blessed "set apart!"
June 11
LOVE SO AMAZING
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.
Thessalonians 5:9-10 Died for us? Who else did as much for you? Who else ever loved you so much?
Only think now what it really means, because it is really true; and surely it is most ungrateful, when one for whom such a great thing has been done does not even think about it.
It was the very most He could do to show His exceeding love to you. He was not obliged to go through with it; He might have come down from the cross any moment.
The nails could not have kept Him there an instant longer than He chose; His love and pity were the real nails that nailed Him fast to the cross till the very end, till He could say, "It is finished," till He "died for us."
It was not only because He loved His Father that He did it, but because He loved us ; for the text goes on, "Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we might live together with Him."
So He loved us so much that He wanted us to live together with Him ; and as no sin can enter His heavenly Home,
He knew our sins must be taken away before we could go there.
And only His blood could take sin away, only death could atone for it; and so He bled that we might be washed in His most precious blood; He died, "that, whether we wake or sleep, we might live together with Him."
Then glory in the highest be to Him, our Strength and Song; May every heart uplift its part, in blessings deep and long.
Thro' Him who died that we might live, our thanks to God ascend, The King of kings and Lord of lords, our Saviour and our Friend.
June 18
DRESSED IN BEAUTY NOT OUR OWN
Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.
Psalm 90:17
"How great is His beauty!" said Zechariah.
How can His beauty be upon us?
In two ways; try to understand them, and then ask that in both ways the beauty of the Lord our God may be upon you.
One way is by His covering you with the robe of Jesus Christ's righteousness, looking upon you not as you are in yourself, all sinful and unholy, but as if all the Saviour's beautiful and holy life were yours, reckoning it to you for His sake.
In this way He can call us "perfect through My comeliness which I had put upon thee."
The other way is by giving you the beauty of holiness, for that is His own beauty ; and though we never can be quite like Him till we see Him as He is. He can begin to make us like Him even now.
Shall not longsuffering in thee be wrought, To mirror back His own?
His gentleness shall mellow every thought.
And look and tone.
And all around shall praise Him as they see The meekness of Thy Lord; Thus, even here and now, how blest shall be Thy sure reward I June 19
THE TOUCH OF HIS HAND
And he touched her hand, and the fever left her.
Matthew 8:15
What must the touch of the Master's own hand have been ! One imagines it very gentle, though so full of power.
Can He not communicate both the power and the gentleness?
When He touched the hand of Peter's wife's mother, she arose and ministered unto them. Do you not think the hand which Jesus had just touched must have ministered very excellently? As we ask
Him to touch our lips with living fire, so that they may speak effectively for Him, may we not ask Him to touch our hands, that they may minister effectively, and excel in all that they find to do for Him?
Then our hands shall be made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.
It is very pleasant to feel that if our hands are indeed our Lord's, we may ask Him to guide them, and strengthen them, and teach them.
I do not mean figuratively, but quite literally.
In everything they do for Him (and that should be everything we ever undertake) we want to do it well — better and better.
"Seek that ye may excel." We are too apt to think that He has given us certain natural gifts, but has nothing practically to do with the improvement of them, and leaves us to ourselves for that. Why not ask Him to make these hands of ours more handy for His service, more skillful in what is indicated as the "next thynge" they are to do?
The "kept" hands need not be clumsy hands.
If the Lord taught David's hands to war and his fingers to fight, will He not teach our hands, and fingers too, to do what He would have them do?
The Spirit of God must have taught Bezaleel's hands as well as his head, for he was filled with it not only that he might devise cunning works, but also in cutting of stones and carving of timber.
And when all the women that were wisehearted did spin with their hands, the hands must have been made skillful as well as the hearts made wise to prepare the beautiful garments and curtains.
Master, to do great work for Thee, my hand Is far too weak!
Thou givest what may suit Some little chips to cut with care minute.
Or tint, or grave, or polish.
Others stand Before their quarried marble fair and grand.
And make a life work of the great design Wh'ch Thou hast traced; or, many-skilled, combine To build vast temples, gloriously planned.
Yet take the tiny stones which I have wrought.
Just one by one, as they were given by Thee, Not knowing what came next in Thy wise thought.
Set each stone by Thy master-hand of grace.
Form the mosaic as Thou wilt for me.
And in Thy temple-pavement give it place.
June 20
MAGNIFICENTLY PRECIOUS
For God so loved the world.
John 3:16
Which is the more wonderful—the love that devised such a gift, or the gift that was devised by such love!
Oh, to realize the glorious value of it!
May we, who by His grace know something of God's gift of His Son as our Saviour, learn day by day more of the magnificent preciousness of His gift of His anointed One as our King!
But with Him—oh! with Jesus!
Are any words so blest?
With Jesus, everlasting joy and everlasting rest!
With Jesus— all the empty heart filled with His perfect love; With Jesus—perfect peace below, and perfect bliss above.
June 21
HE DINES WITH US
This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Luke 15:2
When we feel that "we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under His table," how precious are these words
When we remember that we were dead in trespasses and sins, we may recollect that Lazarus, the raised one, "was one of them that sat at the table with Him." When we come back from the battlefield, weary yet victorious, we may look for our
King of Peace coming to meet us with bread and wine and His own priestly blessing, that we may be strengthened and refreshed by Himself.
Who shall tell our untold need, Deeply felt, though scarcely known!
Who the hungering soul can feed, Guard and guide, but God alone?
Blessed promise! while we see Earthly friends must powerless be, Earthly fountains quickly dry:
"God" shall all your need supply.
June 22
PUT YOUR CASE IN YOUR FATHER'S HAND
Let him do what seemeth him good.
1 Samuel 3:18
Eli spoke these words under the terrible certainty of heavy judgments upon his house, because the Lord had spoken it.
But how often God's dear children tremble to say an unreserved "Let Him do what seemeth Him good," though they are under no such shadow of certainly coming events!
It is almost easier to say it when a crushing blow has actually fallen, than when there is suspense and uncertainty as to what the Lord may be going to do.
There is always more or less of this element of suspense and uncertainty.
One can hardly imagine a life in which there are no clouds, little or great, within the horizon, even when the sky is clearest overhead.
We hold not a treasure on earth which we are sure of keeping; and we never know whether gain or loss, failure or success, ease or pain, lies before us. And if we were allowed to put our finger on the balance of uncertainties and turn it as we chose, we should be sure to defeat some ultimate aim by securing a nearer one, and prevent some greater good by
{^rasping a lesser.
I think if we were permitted to try such an experiment, we should soon grow utterly puzzled and weary, and find ourselves landed in complications of mistakes; and if we had any sense left, we should want to put it all back into our Father's hands, and say, "Let Him do w^hat seemeth Him good," then we should feel relieved and at rest.
Then why not be relieved and at rest at once?
For "It is the Lord," who is going to do, we know not what.
That is a volume in itself — the Lord who loves you, the Lord who thinks about you and cares for you, the Lord who understands you, the Lord who never makes a mistake, the Lord who spared not His own Son but gave Him up for you!
Will you not let Him do what seemeth Him good?
Then think what it is you are to let Him do.
Something out of your sight, perhaps, but not out of His sight.
For the original word in every case is "what is good in His eyes."
Those eyes see through and through, and all around and beyond everything.
So what is good in His eyes must be absolutely and entirely good, a vast deal better than our best!
There is great rest in knowing that He will do what is right, but He crowns the rightness with the goodness; and when we see this, the rest is crowned with gladness.
Ought it, then, to be so very hard to say, "Let Him do what seemeth Him good"?
Yet we often vainly plead for a fancied good denied, What we deemed a pressing need still remaining unsupplied.
Yet from dangers all concealed, thus our wisest Friend doth shield; No good thing will He deny, God shall all your need supply.
June 23
SIGNED—SEALED—HELD—CONFIRMED
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
2 Corinthians 1:20
Where?
In Him, the Son of God. He holds these stars in His right hand; He has held the great promise of eternal life for us since God gave it to Him for us before the world began, and every other is subincluded. And it is one of His offices to confirm the promises.
Signed, sealed, held, and confirmed thus, should not "It is written" be enough for our present "light, and gladness, and joy, and honor"?
Then let our hearts he surely fixed where truest joys are found, And let our burning, loving praise, yet more and more abound;
And, gazing on the "things not seen," eternal in the skies, "From glory unto glory," O Saviour, let us rise!
June 24
THANK HIM FOR THE GIFT
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psalm 100:4
Will you not now prove your acceptance of the great gift of eternal life by pouring out your thanks at once for it, and prove your trust in the finished work by praising the Saviour who died to finish it for you?
Rest, by His sorrow!
Bruised for our sin.
Behold the Lamb of God!
His death our life.
Now lift your heads, ye gates!
He entereth in.
Christ risen indeed, and Conqueror in the strife.
Thanks, thanks to Him who won, and Him who gave Such victory of love, such triumph o'er the grave.
June 23
CHERISHED AND PILLOWED TO REST
Cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.
Ephesians 5:29
The Church is not only "one body," but also "many members"
"for the body is not one member, but many."
And what is true for the whole is true also for the smallest part.
Lest any one should think the individual is rather lost in the great whole, the gracious word of our God comes down to meet the possible or passing tremor, and saj^s: "Ye are," not only the body of Christ, but "members in particular." Do not hesitate to take all the revelation of love that shines softly through this one word "cherisheth," for your own self; for the more you feel yourself to be the weakest imaginable member of Christ, unworthy to be a member at all of His glorious body, the more closely and sweetly will it apply to you.
For it necessarily implies, on the one side, weakness and inferiority and need.
It would be nothing to us if we felt extremely strong and capable and self-contained.
The Lord would never have taken the trouble to cause it to be written for such people.
They would neither want it nor thank Him for it. We do not talk about "cherishing" an oak tree, or an athlete, or even a "strong-minded woman." Our heart-welcome to this beautiful word, and our sense of its preciousness, will be just in proportion to our sense of being among the Lord's
little ones, or weak ones, no matter what others suppose us to be.
After all, are not even those who are chasing thousands, but little ones; and those who are slaying Goliaths, but weak ones; in their real and hidden relationship to their own great and mighty Saviour and Lord?
Even a father in Christ, or a mother in Israel may turn with the heart of a little child, lovingly and gratefully, and perhaps very wearily too, to their cherishing Lord, to be comforted afresh with the old comforts, and hushed to rest on the little pillow of some very familiar text.
I never thought it could be thus—month after month to know The river of Thy peace without one ripple in its flow; Without one quiver in the trust, one flicker in its glow. hme 26
THIS SAME JESUS
Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.
Ephesians 5:2
Yes, Himself!
What is the Bride's true and central treasure?
What calls forth the deepest, brightest, sweetest thrill of love and praise?
Not the Bridegroom's priceless gifts, not the robe of His resplendent righteousness, not the dowry of unsearchable riches, not the magnificence of the palace home to which He is bringing her, not the glory which she shall share with Him, but Himself! Jesus Christ, "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree"
; "this same Jesus," "whom having not seen, ye love"
; the Son of God, and the Man of Sorrows; my Saviour, my Friend, my Master, my King, my
Priest, my Lord and my God — He says, "I also for thee !"
What an "I"!
What power and sweetness we feel in it, so different from any human "I," for all His Godhead and all His manhood are concentrated in it, and all "for thee!" And not only "all" but "ever" for thee!
His unchangeableness is the seal upon every attribute; He will be "this same Jesus" for ever. How can mortal mind estimate this enormous promise? How can mortal heart conceive what is enfolded in these words, "I also for thee"?
"This same Jesus I"
Oh! how sweetly fall these words upon the ear, Like a swell of far-off music, in a nightwatch still and drear!
He who gently called the weary, "Come and I will give you rest!"
He who loved the little children, took them in His arms and blest; He, the lonely Man of Sorrows, 'neath our sin-curse bending low; By His faithless friends forsaken in the darkest hours of woe.
June 27
OURSELVES ESTABLISHED
The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, at he hath sworn unto thee.
Deuteronomy 28:9
Can there be a stronger promise?
Just obey and trust His word now, and yield yourselves now unto God, "that He may establish thee today for a people unto Himself."
Commit the keeping of your souls to Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator, being persuaded that He is ABLE TO KEEP that which you commit to Him.
Now, Lord, I give myself to Thee; I would be wholly Thine, As Thou hast given Thyself to me.
And Thou art wholly mine.
Oh, take me, seal me as Thine own.
Thine altogether — Thine alone I June 28
OUR LIPS FOR HIM
The lips of the righteous feed many.
. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable.
Proverbs 10:21,32 The days are past forever when we said, "Our lips are our own."
Now we know that they are not our own.
And yet how many of my readers often have the miserable consciousness that they have "spoken unadvisedly with their lips!"
How many pray, "Keep the door of my lips," when the very last thing they think of expecting is that they will be kept!
They deliberately make up their minds that hasty words, or foolish words, or exaggerated words, according to their respective temptations, must and will slip out of that door, and that it can't be helped.
The extent of the real meaning of their prayer was merely that not quite so many might slip out.
As their faith went no farther, the answer went no farther, and so the door was not kept.
Do let us look the matter straight in the face.
Either we have committed our lips to our Lord, or we have not.
This question must be settled first.
If not, oh, do not let another hour pass!
Take them to Jesus, and ask Him to take them.
But when you have committed them to Him, it comes to this—is He able or is He not able to keep that which you have committed to Him?
If He is not able, of course you may as well give up at once, for
your own experience has abundantly proved that you are not able, so there is no help for you. But if He is able—nay, thank
God there is no if on this side!—say, rather, as He is able, where was this inevitable necessity of perpetual failure?
You have been fancying yourself virtually doomed and fated to it, and therefore you have gone on in it, while all the time His arm was not shortened that it could not save, but you have been limiting the Holy One of Israel.
Honestly, now, have you trusted Him to keep your lips this day?
Trust necessarily implies expectation that what we have intrusted will be kept.
If you have not expected Him to keep, you have not trusted.
You may have tried and tried very hard, but you have not trusted, and therefore you have not been kept and your lips have been the snare of your soul (Proverbs 18:7).
Read to him, Connie!
Read of the One W^ho loves him most, yes more than you I Read ot that love, so great, so true.
Love everlasting, yet ever new; For who can tell but his heart may be won!
Read to him, Connie.
For it may be That your Sunday book, like a silver bar Of steady light from a guiding star.
May gleam in memoiy. clear and far.
Across the waves of a wintry sea.
June 29
HIS FEET FOR YOU
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold.
Song of Solomon 5:15
His feet for thee!
They were weary very often, they were wounded and bleeding once.
They made clear footprints as He went about doing good and as He went up to Jerusalem to suffer; and these "blessed steps of His most holy life," both as substitution and example, were for thee. Our place of waiting and learning, of resting and loving, is at His feet.
And still those blessed feet are, and shall be, for thee, until He comes again to receive us unto Himself, until and when the word is fulfilled, "They shall walk with Me in white."
O Saviour, fix my wayward, wandering heart Upon Thyself, that I may closely cling To Thy blest side, and never more depart From Thee, my loved Redeemer, Thee, my heart's own King.
And grant me daily grace to follow Thee Through joy and pleasure, or through grief and sadness.
Until an entrance is vouchsafed to me In Thy bright home of holiness and gladness.
June 30
THE LESS INCLUDES THE GREATER
But this I say, brethren, the time Is short.
1 Corinthians 7:29
See then that ye walk circumspectly .
, redeeming the time.
Ephesians 5:15, 16 When we take a wide sweep, we are so apt to be vague. When we are aiming at generalities we do not hit the practicalities.
We forget that faithfulness to principle is only proved by faithfulness in detail.
Has not this vagueness had something to do with the constant ineffecti^ eness of our feeble desire that our time should be devoted to God?
In things spiritual, the greater does not always include the less, but, paradoxically, the less more often includes the greater.
So in this case, time is entrusted to us to be traded with for our Lord.
But we cannot grasp it as a whole. We instinctively break it up ere we can deal with it for any purpose.
So when a new year comes round, we commit it with special earnestness to the Lord.
But as we do so, are we not conscious of a feeling that even a year is too much for us to deal with?
And does not this feeling, that we are dealing with a larger thing than we can grasp, take away from the sense of reality?
Thus we are brought to a more manageable measure; and as the Sunday mornings or the Monday mornings come round, we thankfully commit the opening week to Him and the sense of help and rest is renewed and strengthened.
But not even the six or seven days are close enough to our hand ; even tomorrow exceeds our tiny grasp, and even tomorrow's grace is therefore not given to us.
So we find the need of considering our lives as a matter of day by day, and that any more general committal and consecration of our time does not meet the case so truly.
Here we have found much comfort and help, and if results have not been entirely satisfactory, they have, at least, been more so than before we reached this point of subdivision.
But if we have found help and blessing by going a certain distance in one direction, is it not probable we shall find more if we go farther in the same? And so, if we may commit the days to our Lord, why not the hours, and why not the moments? And may we not expect a fresh and special blessing in so doing?
Make Thy members every hour For Thy blessed service meet; Earnest tongues, and arms of power.
Skillful hands, and hastening feet.
Ever ready to fulfill All Thy word and all Thy will.