September 1
Shaped Stones
"I will lay thy stones with fair colors" (Isa. 54:11).
The stones from the wall said, "We come from the mountains far
away, from the sides of the craggy hills. Fire and water have
worked on us for ages, but made us only crags. Human hands have
made us into a dwelling where the children of your immortal race
are born, and suffer, and rejoice, and find rest and shelter,
and learn the lessons set them by our Maker and yours. But we
have passed through much to fit us for this. Gunpowder has rent
our very heart; pickaxes have cleaved and broken us, it seemed
to us often with out design or meaning, as we lay misshapen
stones in the quarry; but gradually we were cut into blocks, and
some of us were chiseled with finer instruments to a sharper
edge. But we are complete now, and are in our places, and are of
service.
You are in the quarry still, and not complete, and therefore to
you, as once to us, much is inexplicable. But you are destined
for a higher building, and one day you will be placed in it by
hands not human, a living stone in a heavenly temple.
"In the still air the music lies unheard;
In the rough marble beauty hides unseen;
To make the music and the beauty needs
The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen.
"Great Master, touch us with Thy skillful hands;
Let not the music that is in us die!
Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let,
Hidden and lost, thy form within us lie!"
September 2
Fashioned In The Fire
"Unto you it is given . . .to suffer" (Phil. 1:29).
God keeps a costly school. Many of its lessons are spelled out
through tears. Richard Baxter said, "O God, I thank Thee for a
bodily discipline of eight and fifty years"; and he is not the
only man who has turned a trouble into triumph.
This school of our Heavenly Father will soon close for us; the
term time is shortening every day. Let us not shrink from a hard
lesson or wince under any rod of chastisement. The richer will
be the crown, and the sweeter will be Heaven, if we endure
cheerfully to the end and graduate in glory.--Theodore L. Cuyler
The finest china in the world is burned at least three times,
some of it more than three times. Dresden china is always burned
three times. Why does it go through that intense fire? Once
ought to be enough; twice ought to be enough. No, three times
are necessary to burn that china so that the gold and the
crimson are brought out more beautiful and then fastened there
to stay.
We are fashioned after the same principle in human life. Our
trials are burned into us once, twice, thrice; and by God's
grace these beautiful colors are there and they are there to
stay forever.--Cortland Myers
Earth's fairest flowers grow not on sunny plain,
But where some vast upheaval rent in twain The smiling land . .
. .
After the whirlwinds devastating blast,
After the molten fire and ashen pall,
God's still small voice breathes healing over all.
From riven rocks and fern-clad chasms deep,
Flow living waters as from hearts that weep,
There in the afterglow soft dews distill
And angels tend God's plants when night falls still,
And the Beloved passing by that way
Will gather lilies at the break of day.--J.H.D.
September 3
Walk Without Strain
"And he saw them toiling in rowing" (Mark 6:48).
Straining, driving effort does not accomplish the work God gives
man to do. Only God Himself, who always works without strain,
and who never overworks, can do the work that He assigns to His
children. When they restfully trust Him to do it, it will be
well done and completely done. The way to let Him do His work
through us is to partake of Christ so fully, by faith, that He
more than fills our life.
A man who had learned this secret once said: "I came to Jesus
and I drank, and I do not think that I shall ever be thirsty
again. I have taken for my motto, 'Not overwork, but overflow';
and already it has made all the difference in my life."
There is no effort in overflow. It is quietly irresistible. It
is the normal life of omnipotent and ceaseless accomplishment
into which Christ invites us today and always.--Sunday School
Times
Be all at rest, my soul, O blessed secret,
Of the true life that glorifies thy Lord:
Not always doth the busiest soul best serve Him,
But he that resteth on His faithful Word.
Be all at rest, let not your heart be rippled,
For tiny wavelets mar the image fair,
Which the still pool reflects of heaven's glory--
And thus the image He would have thee bear.
Be all at rest, my soul, for rest is service,
To the still heart God doth His secrets tell;
Thus shalt thou learn to wait, and watch, and labor,
Strengthened to bear, since Christ in thee doth dwell.
For what is service but the life of Jesus,
Lived through a vessel of earth's fragile clay,
Loving and giving and poured forth for others,
A living sacrifice from day to day.
Be all at rest, so shalt thou be an answer
To those who question, "Who is God and where?"
For God is rest, and where He dwells is stillness,
And they who dwell in Him, His rest shalt share.
And what shall meet the deep unrest around thee,
But the calm peace of God that filled His breast?
For still a living Voice calls to the weary,
From Him who said, "Come unto Me and rest."
--Freda Hanbury Allen
"In resurrection stillness there is resurrection power."
September 4
Shout of Faith
"And when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people
shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall
fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man
straight before him" (Joshua 6:5).
The shout of steadfast faith is in direct contrast to the moans
of wavering faith, and to the wails of discouraged hearts. Among
the many "secrets of the Lord," I do not know of any that is
more valuable than the secret of this shout of faith. The Lord
said to Joshua, "See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and
the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour." He had not
said, "I will give," but "I have given." It belonged to them
already; and now they were called to take possession of it. But
the great question was, How? It looked impossible, but the Lord
declared His plan.
Now, no one can suppose for a moment that this shout caused the
walls to fall. And yet the secret of their victory lay in just
this shout, for it was the shout of a faith which dared, on the
authority of God's Word alone, to claim a promised victory,
while as yet there were no signs of this victory being
accomplished. And according to their faith God did unto them; so
that, when they shouted, He made the walls to fall.
God had declared that He had given them the city, and faith
reckoned this to be true. And long centuries afterwards the Holy
Ghost recorded this triumph of faith in Hebrews:
"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were
compassed about seven days."--Hannah Whitall Smith.
"Faith can never reach its consummation,
Till the victor's thankful song we raise:
In the glorious city of salvation,
God has told us all the gates are praise."
September 5
When We Are Ready
"Blessed are all they that wait for him" (Isa 30:18).
We hear a great deal about waiting on God. There is, however,
another side. When we wait on God, He is waiting till we are
ready; when we wait for God, we are waiting till He is ready.
There are some people who say, and many more who believe, that
as soon as we meet all the conditions, God will answer our
prayers. They say that God lives in an eternal now; with Him
there is no past nor future; and that if we could fulfill all
that He requires in the way of obedience to His will,
immediately our needs would be supplied, our desires fulfilled,
our prayers answered.
There is much truth in this belief, and yet it expresses only
one side of the truth. While God lives in an eternal now, yet He
works out His purposes in time. A petition presented before God
is like a seed dropped in the ground. Forces above and beyond
our control must work upon it, till the true fruition of the
answer is given.--The Still Small Voice
I longed to walk along an easy road,
And leave behind the dull routine of home,
Thinking in other fields to serve my God;
But Jesus said, "My time has not yet come."
I longed to sow the seed in other soil,
To be unfettered in the work, and free,
To join with other laborers in their toil;
But Jesus said, "'Tis not My choice for thee."
I longed to leave the desert, and be led
To work where souls were sunk in sin and shame,
That I might win them; but the Master said,
"I have not called thee, publish here My name."
I longed to fight the battles of my King,
Lift high His standards in the thickest strife;
But my great Captain bade me wait and sing
Songs of His conquests in my quiet life.
I longed to leave the uncongenial sphere,
Where all alone I seemed to stand and wait,
To feel I had some human helper near,
But Jesus bade me guard one lonely gate.
I longed to leave the round of daily toil,
Where no one seemed to understand or care;
But Jesus said, "I choose for thee this soil,
That thou might'st raise for Me some blossoms rare."
And now I have no longing but to do
At home, or else afar, His blessed will,
To work amid the many or the few;
Thus, "choosing not to choose," my heart is still.
--Selected
"And Patience was willing to wait."--Pilgrim's Progress
September 6
He Remains
"Thou remainest" (Heb. 1:11).
There are always lone hearth-fires; so many! And those who sit
beside them, with the empty chair, cannot restrain the tears
that will come. One sits alone so much. There is some One
unseen, just here within reach. But somehow we don't realize His
presence. Realizing is blessed, but--rare. It belongs to the
mood, to the feelings. It is dependent on weather conditions and
bodily conditions. The rain, the heavy fog outside, the poor
sleep, the twinging pain, these make one's mood so much, they
seem to blur out the realizing. But there is something a little
higher up than realizing. It is yet more blessed. It is
independent of these outer conditions, it is something that
abides. It is this: recognizing that Presence unseen, so
wondrous and quieting, so soothing and calming and warming.
Recognize His presence--the Master's own. He is here, close by;
His presence is real. Recognizing will help realizing, too, but
it never depends on it. Aye, more, immensely more, the Truth is
a Presence, not a thing, a fact, a statement. Some One is
present, a warm-hearted Friend, an all-powerful Lord. And this
is the joyful truth for weeping hearts everywhere, whatever be
the hand that has drawn the tears; by whatever stream it be that
your weeping willow is planted. --S. D. Gordon
When from my life the old-time joys have vanished,
Treasures once mine, I may no longer claim,
This truth may feed my hungry heart, and famished:
Lord, THOU REMAINEST THOU art still the same!
When streams have dried, those streams of glad refreshing--
Friendships so blest, so rich, so free;
When sun-kissed skies give place to clouds depressing,
Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Still my heart hath THEE.
When strength hath failed, and feet, now worn and weary,
On gladsome errands may no longer go,
Why should I sigh, or let the days be dreary?
Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Could'st Thou more bestow?
Thus through life's days--whoe'er or what may fail me,
Friends, friendships, joys, in small or great degree,
Songs may be mine, no sadness need assail me,
Lord, THOU REMAINEST! Still my heart hath THEE. --J. D. Smith
September 7
Trouble Teaches
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble"
(Ps. 46:1).
The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner?" It is
not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause
you to learn your lesson from it. His promise is, "I will be
with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." He must
be with you in the trouble first all day and all night. Then He
will take you out of it. This will not come till you have
stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm and
quiet. Then He will say, "It is enough."
God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They
are intended to educate us. When their good work is done, a
glorious recompense will come to us through them. There is a
sweet joy and a real value in them. He does not regard them as
difficulties but as opportunities.
--Selected.
Not always OUT of our troublous times,
And the struggles fierce and grim,
But IN--deeper IN--to our one sure rest,
The place of our peace, in Him.
--Annie Johnson Flint
We once heard a simple old colored man say something that we
have never forgotten: "When God tests you, it is a good time for
you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and
claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered
necessary."
There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply
try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over.
The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to
claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it
with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of
Divine grace. Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and
the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the
furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than
conquerors through Him who loved us.
--A. B. Simpson
September 8
Free Through Suffering
"Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Ps. 4:1).
This is one of the grandest testimonies ever given by man to the
moral government of God. It is not a man's thanksgiving that he
has been set free from suffering. It is a thanksgiving that he
has been set free through suffering: "Thou hast enlarged me when
I was in distress." He declares the sorrows of life to have been
themselves the source of life's enlargement.
And have not you and I a thousand times felt this to be true? It
is written of Joseph in the dungeon that "the iron entered into
his soul." We all feel that what Joseph needed for his soul was
just the iron. He had seen only the glitter of the gold. He had
been rejoicing in youthful dreams; and dreaming hardens the
heart. He who sheds tears over a romance will not be most apt to
help reality; real sorrow will be too unpoetic for him. We need
the iron to enlarge our nature. The gold is but a vision; the
iron is an experience. The chain which unites me to humanity
must be an iron chain. That touch of nature which makes the
world akin is not joy, but sorrow; gold is partial, but iron is
universal.
My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou
must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph's
dungeon is the road to Joseph's throne. Thou canst not lift the
iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee.
It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of
thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory.
Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy
dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have
fettered thee; thy fetters are wings--wings of flight into the
bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into
the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding
of sorrow's chain.--George Matheson
If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he had never been
Egypt's governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the
golden chain about his neck.--Selected
September 9
Deeper
"Not much earth" (Matt. 13:5).
Shallow! It would seem from the teaching of this parable that we
have something to do with the soil. The fruitful seed fell into
"good and honest hearts." I suppose the shallow people are the
soil without much earth--those who have no real purpose, are
moved by a tender appeal, a good sermon, a pathetic melody, and
at first it looks as if they would amount to something; but not
much earth--no depth, no deep, honest purpose, no earnest desire
to know duty in order to do it. Let us look after the soil of
our hearts.
When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted
on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal, he
answered, "It is necessary for me to go; it is not necessary for
me to live."
This was depth. When we are convicted something like that we
shall come to something. The shallow nature lives in its
impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and
very largely its surroundings. The profound character looks
beyond all these, and moves steadily on, sailing past all storms
and clouds into the clear sunshine which is always on the other
side, and waiting for the afterwards which always brings the
reversion of sorrow, seeming defeat and failure.
When God has deepened us, then He can give us His deeper truths,
His profoundest secrets, and His mightier trusts. Lord, lead me
into the depths of Thy life and save me from a shallow
experience!
On to broader fields of holy vision;
On to loftier heights of faith and love;
Onward, upward, apprehending wholly,
All for which He calls thee from above.
--A. B. Simpson
September
10
Perfection of Suffering
"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" (Ps. 138:8).
There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and
supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the
human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of
soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the
suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can
inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God
to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed
ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the
crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.
It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy
Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls. In such a
condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand
of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last
subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole
being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it
stops asking God questions; it stops crying, "Why hast thou
forsaken me?"
The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on
foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are
annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of
God. The affections are weaned from all creatures and all
things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can
offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way;
for, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for
God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making
everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work
together for its good.
Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! of losing our
own strength, and wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being
where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the
omnipotent feet of our Jesus. --Soul Food
The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged.
--Fenelon
"The heart that serves, and loves, and clings,
Hears everywhere the rush of angel wings."
September
11
Wait Quietly
"And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the
promise" (Heb. 6:15).
Abraham was long tried, but he was richly rewarded. The Lord
tried him by delaying to fulfill His promise. Satan tried him by
temptation; men tried him by jealousy, distrust, and opposition;
Sarah tried him by her peevishness. But he patiently endured. He
did not question God's veracity, nor limit His power, nor doubt
His faithfulness, nor grieve His love; but he bowed to Divine
Sovereignty, submitted to Infinite Wisdom, and was silent under
delays, waiting the Lord's time. And so, having patiently
endured, he obtained the promise.
God's promises cannot fail of their accomplishment. Patient
waiters cannot be disappointed. Believing expectation shall be
realized.
Beloved, Abraham's conduct condemns a hasty spirit, reproves a
murmuring one, commends a patient one, and encourages quiet
submission to God's will and way. Remember, Abraham was tried;
he patiently waited; he received the promise, and was satisfied.
Imitate his example, and you will share the same
blessing.--Selected
September 12
Leanin' Sides
"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon
her beloved?" (Song of Sol. 8:5).
Some one gained a good lesson from a Southern prayer meeting. A
brother asked the Lord for various blessings--as you and I do,
and thanked the Lord for many already received--as you and I do;
but he closed with this unusual petition: "And, O Lord, support
us! Yes support us Lord on every leanin' side!" Have you any
leaning sides? This humble man's prayer pictures them in a new
way and shows the Great Supporter in a new light also. He is
always walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm
and steady the weak one on "every leanin' side."
"Child of My love, lean hard,
And let Me feel the pressure of thy care;
I know thy burden, child. I shaped it;
Poised it in Mine Own hand; made no proportion
In its weight to thine unaided strength,
For even as I laid it on, I said,
'I shall be near, and while she leans on Me,
This burden shall be Mine, not hers;
So shall I keep My child within the circling arms
Of My Own love.' Here lay it down, nor fear
To impose it on a shoulder which upholds
the government of worlds. Yet closer come:
Thou art not near enough. I would embrace thy care;
So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.
Thou lovest Me? I knew it. Doubt not then;
But Loving Me, lean hard."
September
13
Grace in the Morning
"Come up in the morning . . . and present thyself unto me in the
top of the mount" (Exod. 34:2).
The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. The very
word morning is as a cluster of rich grapes. Let us crush them,
and drink the sacred wine. In the morning! Then God means me to
be at my best in strength and hope. I have not to climb in my
weakness. In the night I have buried yesterday's fatigue, and in
the morning take a new lease of energy. Blessed is the day whose
morning is sanctified! Successful is the day whose first victory
was won in prayer! Holy is the day whose dawn finds thee on the
top of the mount!
My Father, I am coming. Nothing on the mean plain shall keep me
away from the holy heights. At Thy bidding I come, so Thou wilt
meet me. Morning on the mount! It will make me strong and glad
all the rest of the day so well begun. --Joseph Parker.
Still, still with Thee, when purple morning breaketh,
When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee;
Fairer than morning, lovelier than daylight,
Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee.
Alone with Thee, amid the mystic shadows,
The solemn hush of nature newly born;
Alone with Thee in breathless adoration,
In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.
As in the dawning o'er the waveless ocean,
The image of the morning-star doth rest,
So in this stillness, Thou beholdest only
Thine image in the waters of my breast.
When sinks the soul, subdued by toil, to slumber,
Its closing eyes look up to Thee in prayer;
Sweet the repose, beneath Thy wings o'er shadowing,
But sweeter still to wake and find Thee there. --Harriet Beecher
Stowe
My mother's habit was every day, immediately after breakfast, to
withdraw for an hour to her own room, and to spend that hour in
reading the Bible, in meditation and prayer. From that hour, as
from a pure fountain, she drew the strength and sweetness which
enabled her to fulfill all her duties, and to remain unruffled
by the worries and pettinesses which are so often the trial of
narrow neighborhoods. As I think of her life, and all it had to
bear, I see the absolute triumph of Christian grace in the
lovely ideal of a Christian lady. I never saw her temper
disturbed; I never heard her speak one word of anger, of
calumny, or of idle gossip; I never observed in her any sign of
a single sentiment unbecoming to a soul which had drunk of the
river of the water of life, and which had fed upon manna in the
barren wilderness.--Farrar
Give God the blossom of the day. Do not put Him off with faded
leaves.
September 14
Carry Your Cross
"Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up
his cross, and follow me" (Mark 8:34).
The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry may assume
different shapes. I may have to content myself with a lowly and
narrow sphere, when I feel that I have capacities for much
higher work. I may have to go on cultivating year after year, a
field which seems to yield me no harvests whatsoever. I may be
bidden to cherish kind and loving thoughts about someone who has
wronged me--be bidden speak to him tenderly, and take his part
against all who oppose him, and crown him with sympathy and
succor. I may have to confess my Master amongst those who do not
wish to be reminded of Him and His claims. I may be called to
"move among my race, and show a glorious morning face," when my
heart is breaking.
There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy.
None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord.
But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay
it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a
patient and unmurmuring spirit.
He draws close, to ripen my wisdom, to deepen my peace, to
increase my courage, to augment my power to be of use to others,
through the very experience which is so grievous and
distressing, and then--as I read on the seal of one of those
Scottish Covenanters whom Claverhouse imprisoned on the lonely
Bass, with the sea surging and sobbing round--I grow under the
load.--Alexander Smellie.
"Use your cross as a crutch to help you on, and not as a
stumblingblock to cast you down."
"You may others from sadness to gladness beguile,
If you carry your cross with a smile."
September 15
Scent of the Rose
"Blow upon my garden that the spices may flow out" (Song of Sol.
4:16).
Some of the spices mentioned in this chapter are quite
suggestive. The aloe was a bitter spice, and it tells of the
sweetness of bitter things, the bitter-sweet, which has its own
fine application that only those can understand who have felt
it. The myrrh was used to embalm the dead, and it tells of death
to something. It is the sweetness which comes to the heart after
it has died to its self-will and pride and sin.
Oh, the inexpressible charm that hovers about some Christians
simply because they bear upon the chastened countenance and
mellow spirit the impress of the cross, the holy evidence of
having died to something that was once proud and strong, but is
now forever at the feet of Jesus. It is the heavenly charm of a
broken spirit and a contrite heart, the music that springs from
the minor key, the sweetness that comes from the touch of the
frost upon the ripened fruit.
And then the frankincense was a fragrance that came from the
touch of the fire. It was the burning powder that rose in clouds
of sweetness from the bosom of the flames. It tells of
the heart whose sweetness has been called forth, perhaps by the
flames of affliction, until the holy place of the soul is filled
with clouds of praise and prayer. Beloved, are we giving out the
spices, the perfumes, the sweet odors of the heart? --The
Love-Life of Our Lord.
"A Persian fable says: One day
A wanderer found a lump of clay
So redolent of sweet perfume
Its odors scented all the room.
'What are thou? was his quick demand,
'Art thou some gem from Samarcand,
Or spikenard in this rude disguise,
Or other costly merchandise?'
'Nay: I am but a lump of clay.'
"'Then whence this wondrous perfume--say!'
'Friend, if the secret I disclose,
I have been dwelling with the rose.'
Sweet parable! and will not those
'Who love to dwell with Sharon's rose,
Distil sweet odors all around,
Though low and mean themselves are found?
Dear Lord, abide with us that we
May draw our perfume fresh from Thee."
September
16
Hiding Place
"Hide thyself by the brook Cherith" (1 Kings 17:3).
God's servants must be taught the value of the hidden life. The
man who is to take a high place before his fellows must take a
low place before his God. We must not be surprised if sometimes
our Father says: "There, child, thou hast had enough of this
hurry, and publicity, and excitement; get thee hence, and hide
thyself b the brook--hide thyself in the Cherith of the sick
chamber, or in the Cherith of bereavement, or in some solitude
from which the crowds have ebbed away."
Happy is he who can reply, "This Thy will is also mine; I flee
unto Thee to hide me. Hide me in the secret of Thy tabernacle,
and beneath the covert of Thy wings!"
Every saintly soul that would wield great power with men must
win it in some hidden Cherith. The acquisition of spiritual
power is impossible, unless we can hide ourselves from men and
from ourselves in some deep gorge where we may absorb the power
of the eternal God; as vegetation through long ages absorbed
these qualities of sunshine, which it now gives back through
burning coal.
Bishop Andrews had his Cherith, in which he spent five hours
every day in prayer and devotion. John Welsh had it--who thought
the day ill spent which did not witness eight or ten hours of
closet communion. David Brainerd had it in the woods of North
America. Christmas Evans had it in his long and lonely journeys
amid the hills of Wales.
Or, passing back to the blessed age from which we date the
centuries: Patmos, the seclusion of the Roman prisons, the
Arabian desert, the hills and vales of Palestine, are forever
memorable as the Cheriths of those who have made our modern
world.
Our Lord found His Cherith at Nazareth, and in the wilderness of
Judea; amid the olives of Bethany, and the solitude of Gadara.
None of us, therefore, can dispense with some Cherith where the
sounds of human voices are exchanged for the waters of quietness
which are fed from the throne; and where we may taste the sweets
and imbibe the power of a life hidden with Christ.--Elijah, by
Meyer.
September 17
God in Everything
"It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good". (1 Sam.
3:18).
See God in everything, and God will calm and color all that thou
dost see!" It may be that the circumstances of our sorrows will
not be removed, their condition will remain unchanged; but if
Christ, as Lord and Master of our life, is brought into our
grief and gloom, "HE will compass us about with songs of
deliverance." To see HIM, and to be sure that His wisdom cannot
err, His power cannot fail, His love can never change; to know
that even His direst dealings with us are for our deepest
spiritual gain, is to be able to say, in the midst of
bereavement, sorrow, pain, and loss, "The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath, taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
Nothing else but seeing God in everything will make us loving
and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will be to
us then only instruments for accomplishing His tender and wise
purposes toward us, and we shall even find ourselves at last
inwardly thanking them for the blessings they bring us. Nothing
else will completely put an end to all murmuring or rebelling
thoughts.--H. W. Smith.
"Give me a new idea," I said,
While musing on a sleepless bed;
"A new idea that'll bring to earth
A balm for souls of priceless worth;
That'll give men thoughts of things above,
And teach them how to serve and love,
That'll banish every selfish thought,
And rid men of the sins they've fought."
The new thought came, just how, I'll tell:
'Twas when on bended knee I fell,
And sought from HIM who knows full well
The way our sorrow to expel.
SEE GOD IN ALL THINGS, great and small,
And give HIM praise whate'er befall,
In life or death, in pain or woe,
See God, and overcome thy foe.
I saw HIM in the morning light,
HE made the day shine clear and bright;
I saw HIM in the noontide hour,
And gained from HIM refreshing shower.
At eventide, when worn and sad,
HE gave me help, and made me glad.
At midnight, when on tossing bed
My weary soul to sleep HE led.
I saw HIM when great losses came,
And found HE loved me just the same.
When heavy loads I had to bear,
I found HE lightened every care.
By sickness, sorrow, sore distress,
HE calmed my mind and gave me rest.
HE'S filled my heart with gladsome praise
Since I gave HIM the upward gaze.
'Twas new to me, yet old to some,
This thought that to me has become
A revelation of the way
We all should live throughout the day;
For as each day unfolds its light,
We'll walk by faith and not by sight.
Life will, indeed, a blessing bring,
If we SEE GOD IN EVERYTHING."
--A. E. Finn
September 18
Listening Hard for God
"Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29 :18).
Waiting upon God is necessary in order to see Him, to have a
vision of Him. The time element in vision is essential. Our
hearts are like a sensitive photographer's plate; and in order
to have God revealed there, we must sit at His feet a long time.
The troubled surface of a lake will not reflect an object.
Our lives must be quiet and restful if we would see God. There
is power in the sight of some things to affect one's life. A
quiet sunset will bring peace to a troubled heart. Thus the
vision of God always transforms human life.
Jacob saw God at Jabbok's ford, and became Israel. The vision of
God transformed Gideon from a coward into a valiant soldier. The
vision of Christ changed Thomas from a doubting follower into a
loyal, devout disciple.
But men have had visions of God since Bible times. William Carey
saw God, and left his shoemaker's bench and went to India. David
Livingstone saw God, and left all to follow Him through the
jungles of dark Africa. Scores and hundreds have had visions of
God, and are today in the uttermost parts of the earth working
for the speedy evangelization of the heathen.
--Dr. Pardington
There is hardly ever a complete silence in the soul. God is
whispering to us well-nigh incessantly. Whenever the sounds of
the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear the
whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do
not hear, because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which
life causes as it rushes on. --F. W. Faber
"Speak, Lord, in the stillness,
While I wait on Thee;
Hushed my heart to listen
In expectancy.
"Speak, O blessed Master,
In this quiet hour;
Let me see Thy face, Lord,
Feet Thy touch of power.
"For the words Thou speakest,
'They are life,' indeed;
Living bread from Heaven,
Now my spirit feed!
"Speak, Thy servant heareth!
Be not silent, Lord;
Waits my soul upon Thee
For the quickening word!"
September
19
Trouble is a Messenger
"My Father is the husbandman" (John 15:1).
It is comforting to think of trouble, in whatever form it may
come to, us, as a heavenly messenger, bringing us something from
God. In its earthly aspect it may seem hurtful, even
destructive; but in its spiritual out-working it yields
blessing. Many of the richest blessings which have come down to
us from the past are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should
never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing, is
the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow. In every time of sharp
pruning, when the knife is deep and the pain is sore, it is an
unspeakable comfort to read, "My Father is the husbandman."
Doctor Vincent tells of being in a great hothouse where luscious
clusters of grapes were hanging on every side. The owner said,
"When my new gardener came, he said he would have nothing to do
with these vines unless he could cut them clean down to the
stalk; and he did, and we had no grapes for two years, but this
is the result."
There is rich suggestiveness in this interpretation of the
pruning process, as we apply it to the Christian life. Pruning
seems to be destroying the vine, the gardener appears to be
cutting it all away; but he looks on into the future and knows
that the final outcome will be the enrichment of its life and
greater abundance of fruit.
There are blessings we can never have unless we are ready to pay
the price of pain. There is no way to reach them save through
suffering. --Dr. Miller.
"I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
"I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When sorrow walked with me."
September 20
Belief, Not Understanding
"Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldest see the glory of God?" (John 11:40).
Mary and Martha could not understand what their Lord was doing.
Both of them said to Him, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my
brother had not died." Back of it all, we seem to read their
thought: "Lord, we do not understand why you have stayed away so
long. We do not understand how you could let death come to the
man whom you loved. We do not understand how you could let
sorrow and suffering ravage our lives when your presence might
have stayed it all. Why did you not come? It is too late now,
for already he has been dead four days!"
And to it all Jesus had but one great truth: "You may not
understand; but I tell you if you believe, you will see."
Abraham could not understand why God should ask the sacrifice of
the boy; but he trusted. And he saw the glory of God in his
restoration to his love. Moses could not understand why God
should keep him forty years in the wilderness, but he trusted;
and he saw when God called him to lead forth Israel from
bondage.
Joseph could not understand the cruelty of his brethren, the
false witness of a perfidious woman, and the long years of an
unjust imprisonment; but he trusted, and he saw at last the
glory of God in it all.
Jacob could not understand the strange providence which
permitted the same Joseph to be torn from his father's love, but
he saw the glory of God when he looked into the face of that
same Joseph as the viceroy of a great king, and the preserver of
his own life and the lives of a great nation.
And so, perhaps in your life. You say, "I do not understand why
God let my dear one be taken. I do not understand why affliction
has been permitted to smite me. I do not understand the devious
paths by which the Lord is leading me. I do not understand why
plans and purposes that seemed good to my eyes should be
baffled. I do not understand why blessings I so much need are so
long delayed.
Friend, you do not have to understand all God's ways with you.
God does not expect you to understand them. You do not expect
your child to understand, only believe. Some day you will see
the glory of God in the things which you do not understand.--J.
H. McC
"If we could push ajar the gates of life,
And stand within, and all God's working see,
We might interpret all this doubt and strife,
And for each mystery could find a key.
"But not today. Then be content, poor heart;
God's plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold.
We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart--
Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.
"And if, through patient toil, we reach the land
Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,
When we shall clearly know and understand,
I think that we shall say, 'God knew best."'
September 21
Counting the Cost
"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Phil. 3:8).
This is the happy season of ripening cornfields, of the merry
song of the reapers, of the secured and garnered grain. But let
me hearken to the sermon of the field. This is its solemn word
to me. You must die in order to live. You must refuse to consult
your own case and well-being. You must be crucified, not only in
desires and habits which are sinful, but in many more which
appear innocent and right.
If you would save others, you cannot save yourself. If you would
bear much fruit, you must be buried in darkness and solitude.
My heart fails me as I listen. But, when Jesus asks it, let me
tell myself that it is my high dignity to enter into the
fellowship of His sufferings; and thus I am in the best of
company. And let me tell myself again that it is all meant to
make me a vessel meet for His use. His own Calvary has blossomed
into fertility; and so shall mine. Plenty out of pain, life out
of death: is it not the law of the Kingdom? --In the Hour of
Silence
Do we call it dying when the bud bursts into flower? --Selected
"Finding, following, keeping, struggling,
Is He sure to bless?
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Answer, 'Yes."'
September
22
Faith is a Target
"And the Lord said . . . Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not" (Luke 22:31, 32).
Our faith is the center of the target at which God doth shoot
when He tries us; and if any other grace shall escape untried,
certainly faith shall not. There is no way of piercing faith to
its very marrow like the sticking of the arrow of desertion into
it; this finds it out whether it be of the immortals or no.
Strip it of its armor of conscious enjoyment, and suffer the
terrors of the Lord to set themselves in array against it; and
that is faith indeed which can escape unhurt from the midst of
the attack. Faith must be tried, and seeming desertion is the
furnace, heated seven times, into which it might be thrust.
Blest the man who can endure the ordeal!--C. H. Spurgeon.
Paul said, "I have kept the faith," but he lost his head! They
cut that off, but it didn't touch his faith. He rejoiced in
three things--this great Apostle to the Gentiles; he had "fought
a good fight," he had "finished his course," he had "kept the
faith." What did all the rest amount to? St. Paul won the race;
he gained the prize, and he has not only the admiration of earth
today, but the admiration of Heaven. Why do we not act as if it
paid to lose all to win Christ? Why are we not loyal to truth as
he was? Ah, we haven't his arithmetic. He counted differently
from us; we count the things gain that he counted loss. We must
have his faith, and keep it if we would wear the same crown.
September
23
Give Out The Blessing
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
inner being shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38).
Some of us are shivering and wondering why the Holy Spirit does
not fill us. We have plenty coming in, but we do not give it
out. Give out the blessing that you have, start larger plans for
service and blessing, and you will soon find that the Holy Ghost
is before you, and He will present you with blessings for
service, and give you all that He can trust you to give away to
others.
There is a beautiful fact in nature which has its spiritual
parallels. There is no music so heavenly as an Aeolian harp, and
the Aeolian harp is nothing but a set of musical chords arranged
in harmony, and then left to be touched by the unseen fingers of
the wandering winds. And as the breath of heaven floats over the
chords, it is said that notes almost Divine float out upon the
air, as if a choir of angels were wandering around and touching
the strings.
And so it is possible to keep our hearts so open to the touch of
the Holy Spirit that He can play upon them at will, as we
quietly wait in the pathway of His service.--Days of Heaven upon
Earth
When the apostles received the baptism with the Holy Ghost they
did not rent the upper room and stay there to hold holiness
meetings, but went everywhere preaching the gospel. --Will Huff
"If I have eaten my morsel alone,"
The patriarch spoke with scorn;
What would he think of the Church were he shown
Heathendom-huge, forlorn,
Godless, Christless, with soul unfed,
While the Church's ailment is fullness of bread,
Eating her morsel alone?
"Freely ye have received, so give,"
He bade, who hath given us all.
How shall the soul in us longer live
Deaf to their starving call,
For whom the blood of the Lord was shed,
And His body broken to give them. bread,
If we eat our morsel alone!"
--Archbishop Alexander
"Where is Abel thy brother?" (Gen. 4:9).
September
24
Service of Waiting
"After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithyma:
but the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts 16:7).
What a strange prohibition! These men were going into Bithynia
just to do Christ's work, and the door is shut against them by
Christ's own Spirit. I, too, have experienced this in certain
moments. I have sometimes found myself interrupted in what
seemed to me a career of usefulness. Opposition came and forced
me to go back, or sickness came and compelled me to retire into
a desert apart.
It was hard at such times to leave my work undone when I
believed that work to be the service of the Spirit. But I came
to remember that the Spirit has not only a service of work, but
a service of waiting. I came to see that in the Kingdom of
Christ there are not only times for action, but times in which
to forbear acting. I came to learn that the desert place apart
is often the most useful spot in the varied life of man--more
rich in harvest than the seasons in which the corn and wine
abounded. I have been taught to thank the blessed Spirit that
many a darling Bithynia had to be left unvisited by me.
And so, Thou Divine Spirit, would I still be led by Thee. Still
there come to me disappointed prospects of usefulness. Today the
door seems to open into life and work for Thee; tomorrow it
closes before me just as I am about to enter.
Teach me to see another door in the very inaction of the hour.
Help me to find in the very prohibition thus to serve Thee, a
new opening into Thy service. Inspire me with the knowledge that
a man may at times be called to do his duty by doing nothing, to
work by keeping still, to serve by waiting. When I remember the
power of the "still small voice," I shall not murmur that
sometimes the Spirit suffers me not to go. --George Matheson
"When I cannot understand my Father's leading,
And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate,
I Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading,
God is working, God is faithful, ONLY WAIT."
September 25
After The Frost
"Why go I mourning?" (Psalm 42:9).
Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why
thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to
gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never
end in day? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent
would proceed from frost to frost, from snow and ice, and hail,
to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest
thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb,
that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou
ever! for God fails thee not. --C. H. Spurgeon
"He was better to me than all my hopes;
He was better than all my fears;
He made a bridge of my broken works,
And a rainbow of my tears.
"The billows that guarded my sea-girt path,
But carried my Lord on their crest;
When I dwell on the days of my wilderness march
I can lean on His love for the rest.
"He emptied my hands of my treasured store,
And His covenant love revealed,
There was not a wound in my aching heart,
But the balm of His breath hath healed.
Oh, tender and true was the chastening sore,
In wisdom, that taught and tried,
Till the soul that He sought was trusting in Him,
And nothing on earth beside.
"He guided by paths that I could not see,
By ways that I have not known;
The crooked was straight, and the rough was plain
As I followed the Lord alone.
I praise Him still for the pleasant palms,
And the water-springs by the way,
For the glowing pillar of flame by night,
And the sheltering cloud by day.
"Never a watch on the dreariest halt,
But some promise of love endears;
I read from the past, that my future shall be
Far better than all my fears.
Like the golden pot, of the wilderness bread,
Laid up with the blossoming rod,
All safe in the ark, with the law of the Lord,
Is the, covenant care of my God."
September
26
Facts vs. Feelings
"We walk by faith, not by appearance" (2 Cor. 5:7, RV).
By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our
feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God
wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of
His finished and perfect work for us.
When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God
says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings.
God never gives feeling to enable us to trust Him; God never
gives feeling to encourage us to trust Him; God never gives
feeling to show that we have already and utterly trusted Him.
God gives feeling only when He sees that we trust Him apart from
all feeling, resting on His own Word, and on His own
faithfulness to His promise.
Never until then can the feeling which is from God. possibly
come; and God will give the feeling in such a measure and at
such a time as His love sees best for the individual case.
We must choose between facing toward our feelings and facing
toward God's facts. Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea
or the shifting sands. God's facts are as certain as the Rock of
Ages, even Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and
forever.
"When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil."
September 27
Members of His Body
"I have found an atonement" (Job 33:24, margin).
Divine healing is just divine life. It is the headship of Christ
over the body. It is the life of Christ in the frame. It is the
union of our members with the very body of Christ and the
inflowing life of Christ in our living members. It is as real as
His risen and glorified body. It is as reasonable as the fact
that He was raised from the dead and is a living Man with a true
body and a rational soul today at God's right hand.
That living Christ belongs to us in all His attributes and
powers. We are members of His body, His flesh and His bones, and
if we can only believe and receive it, we may live upon the very
life of the Son of God. Lord, help me to know "the Lord for the
body and the body for the Lord.'
--A. B. Simpson
"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." (Zeph. 3:17).
This was the text that first flashed the truth of Divine healing
into my mind and worn-out body nearly a quarter century ago. It
is still the door, wide open more than ever, through which the
living Christ passes moment by moment into my redeemed body,
filling, energizing, vitalizing it with the presence and power
of His own personality, turning my whole being into a "new
heaven and new earth." "The Lord, thy God." Thy God. My God.
Then all that is in God Almighty is mine and in me just as far
as I am able and willing to appropriate Him and all that belongs
to Him. This God, "Mighty," ALL Mighty God, is our INSIDE God.
He is, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the midst of me, just
as really as the sun is in the center of the heavens, or like
the great dynamo in the center of the power-house of my
three-fold being. He is in the midst, at the center of my
physical being. He is in the midst of my brain. He is in the
midst of my nerve centers.
For twenty-one years it has been not only a living reality to
me, but a reality growing deeper and richer, until now at the
age of seventy years, I am in every sense a younger, fresher man
than I was at thirty. At this present time I am in the strength
of God, doing full twice as much work, mental and physical, as I
have ever done in the best days of the past, and this observe,
with less than half the effort then necessary. My life,
physical, mental and spiritual, is like an artesian well--always
full, overflowing. To speak, teach, travel by night and day in
all weather and through all the sudden and violent changes of
our variable climate, is no more effort to me than it is for the
mill-wheel to turn when the stream is full or for the pipe to
let the water run through.
My body, soul and spirit thus redeemed,
Sanctified and healed I give, O Lord, to Thee,
A consecrated offering Thine ever more to be.
That all my powers with all their might
In Thy sole glory may unite.--Hallelujah!
--Dr. Henry Wilson
September 28
In Me
"In me . . . peace" (John 16:33).
There is a vast difference between happiness and blessedness.
Paul had imprisonments and pains, sacrifice and suffering up to
the very limit; but in the midst of it all, he was blessed. All
the beatitudes came into his heart and life in the midst of
those very conditions.
Paganini, the great violinist, came out before his audience one
day and made the discovery just as they ended their applause
that there was something wrong with his violin. He looked at it
a second and then saw that it was not his famous and valuable
one.
He felt paralyzed for a moment, then turned to his audience and
told them there had been some mistake and he did not have his
own violin. He stepped back behind the curtain thinking that it
was still where he had left it, but discovered that some one had
stolen his and left that old second-hand one in its place. He
remained back of the curtain a moment, then came out before his
audience and said:
"Ladies and Gentlemen: I will show you that the music is not in
the instrument, but in the soul." And he played as he had never
played before; and out of that second-hand instrument, the music
poured forth until the audience was enraptured with enthusiasm
and the applause almost lifted the ceiling of the building,
because the man had revealed to them that music was not in the
machine but in his own soul.
It is your mission, tested and tried one, to walk out on the
stage of this world and reveal to all earth and Heaven that the
music is not in conditions, not in the things, not in externals,
but the music of life is in your own soul.
If peace be in the heart,
The wildest winter storm is full of solemn beauty,
The midnight flash but shows the path of duty,
Each living creature tells some new and joyous story,
The very trees and stones all catch a ray of glory,
If peace be in the heart.
--Charles Francis Richardson
September 29
Long Hours
"I will give myself unto prayer" (Ps. 109:4).
We are often in a religious hurry in our devotions. How much
time do we spend in them daily? Can it not be easily reckoned in
minutes? Who ever knew an eminently holy man who did not spend
much of his time in prayer? Did ever a man exhibit much of the
spirit of prayer, who did not devote much time in his closet?
Whitefield says, "Whole days and weeks have I spent prostrate on
the ground, in silent or vocal prayer." "Fall upon your knees
and grow there," is the language of another, who knew whereof he
affirmed.
It has been said that no great work in literature or science was
ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude. We may lay it
down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth
in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be
often, and long, alone with God.
--The Still Hour
"'Come, come,' He saith, 'O soul oppressed and weary,
Come to the shadows of my desert rest;
Come walk with Me far from life's babbling discords,
And peace shall breathe like music in thy breast.'"
September 30
Grow in His Strength
"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her
wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange
God with him" (Deut. 32:11, 12).
Our Almighty Parent delights to conduct the tender nestlings of
His care to the very edge of the precipice, and even to thrust
them off into the steeps of air, that they may learn their
possession of unrealized power of flight, to be forever a
luxury; and if, in the attempt, they be exposed to unwonted
peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them, and to bear them
upward on His mighty pinions. When God brings any of His
children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may
always count upon Him to deliver them. --The Song of Victory
"When God puts a burden upon you He puts His own arm
underneath."
There is a little plant, small and stunted, growing under the
shade of a broad-spreading oak; and this little plant values the
shade which covers it, and greatly does it esteem the quiet rest
which its noble friend affords. But a blessing is designed for
this little plant.
Once upon a time there comes along the woodman, and with his
sharp axe he fells the oak. The plant weeps and cries, "My
shelter is departed; every rough wind will blow upon me, and
every storm will seek to uproot me!"
"No, no," saith the angel of that flower; "now will the sun get
at thee; now will the shower fall on thee in more copious
abundance than before; now thy stunted form shall spring up into
loveliness, and thy flower, which could never have expanded
itself to perfection shall now laugh in the sunshine, and men
shall say, 'How greatly hath that plant increased! How glorious
hath become its beauty, through the removal of that which was
its shade and its delight!'"
See you not, then, that God may take away your comforts and your
privileges, to make you the better Christians? Why, the Lord
always trains His soldiers, not by letting them lie on
feather-beds, but by turning them out, and using them to forced
marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams,
and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a
long march with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. This
is the way in which He makes them soldiers--not by dressing them
up in fine uniforms, to swagger at the barrack gates, and to be
fine gentlemen in the eyes of the loungers in the park. God
knows that soldiers are only to be made in battle; they are not
to be grown in peaceful times. We may grow the stuff of which
soldiers are made; but warriors are really educated by the smell
of powder, in the midst of whizzing bullets and roaring
cannonades, not in soft and peaceful times. Well, Christian, may
not this account for it all? Is not thy Lord bringing out thy
graces and making them grow? Is He not developing in you the
qualities of the soldier by throwing you into the heat of
battle, and should you not use every appliance to come off
conqueror? --Spurgeon.
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