APRIL 11.
"Commit thy way unto the Lord" (Ps. x.x.xvii. 5).
Seldom have we heard a better definition of faith than was given once in one of our meetings by a dear old colored woman, as she answered the question of a young man how to take the Lord for needed help.
In her characteristic way, pointing her finger toward him, she said with great emphasis: "You"ve just got to believe that He"s done it, and it"s done." The great danger with most of us is, that after we ask Him to do it, we do not believe that it"s done, but we keep on helping Him, and getting others to help Him; superintending G.o.d and waiting to see how He is going to do it.
Faith adds its amen to G.o.d"s yea, and then takes its hands off, and leaves G.o.d to finish His work. Its language is, "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him; and He worketh."
Lord, I give up the struggle, To Thee commit my way, I trust Thy word forever, And settle it all to-day.
APRIL 12.
"They were as it were, complainers" (Num. xi. 1).
There is a very remarkable phrase in the book of Numbers, in the account of the murmuring of the children of Israel in the wilderness. It reads like this: "When the people, as it were, murmured." Like most marginal readings it is better than the text, and a great world of suggestive truth lies back of that little sentence.
In the distance we may see many a vivid picture rise before our imagination of people who do not dare to sin openly and unequivocally, but manage to do it "as it were" only. They do not lie straight, but they evade or equivocate, or imply enough falsehood to escape a real conviction of conscience. They do not openly accuse G.o.d of unkindness or unfaithfulness, but they strike at Him through somebody else. They find fault with circ.u.mstances and people and things that G.o.d has permitted to come into their lives, and, "As it were," murmur. They do not perhaps go any farther. They feel like doing it if they dared to "charge G.o.d foolishly."
These things were written for our warning.
APRIL 13.
"Rejoice evermore" (I. Thess. v. 16).
Do not lose your joy whatever else you lose. Keep the spirit of spring.
"Rejoice evermore," and "Again I say, rejoice."
The loss of Canaan began in the spirit of murmurings, "When the people, as it were, murmured, it displeased the Lord." The first break in their fellowship, the first falter in their advance, came when they began to doubt, and grieve, and fret.
Oh, keep the heart from the perforations of depression, discouragement, distrust and gloom, for Satan cannot crush a rejoicing and praiseful soul.
Look out for the beginning of sin. Don"t let the first touch of evil be harbored. It is the first step that loses all. Oh, to keep so encased in the Holy Ghost and in the very life of Jesus that the evil cannot reach us!
The little fly on the inside of the window-pane may be attacked by the little bird on the outside, and it may seem to him that he is lost, but the crystal pane between keeps him safely from all danger as certainly as if it were a mighty wall of iron.
APRIL 14.
"I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto Me" (John xii.
32).
A true and pure Christian life attracts the world. There are hundreds of men and women who find no inducements whatever in the lives of ordinary Christians to interest them in practical religion, but who are won at once by a true and victorious example. We believe that more men of the world step at a bound right into a life of entire consecration than into the intermediate state which is usually presented to them at the first stage.
In an audience once there was a man who for half a century or more had lived without Christ, and who was a very prominent citizen, a man in public life, of irreproachable character, lofty intellect, and a most winning spirit and manners, but utterly out of sympathy with the Christian life.
At the close of a service for the promotion of deeper spiritual life he rose to ask the prayers of the congregation, and before the end of the week he was himself a true and acknowledged follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, as he went home that night, "If that is the religion of Jesus Christ, I want it."
APRIL 15.
"Rooted and grounded in love" (Eph. iii. 17).
There is a very singular shrub, which grows abundantly in the west, and is to be found in all parts of Texas. It is no less than the "mosquito tree."
It is a very slim, and willowy looking shrub, and would seem to be of little use for any industrial purposes; but is has extraordinary roots growing like great timbers underground, and possessing such qualities of endurance in all situations that it is used and very highly valued for good pavements. The city of San Antonio is said to be paved with these roots. It reminds one of those Christians who make little show externally, but their growth is chiefly underground-out of sight, in the depth of G.o.d.
These are the men and women that G.o.d uses for the foundation of things, and for the pavements of that city of G.o.d which will stand when all earthly things have crumbled into ruin and dissolved into oblivion.
Deeper, deeper let the living waters flow; Blessed Holy Spirit! River of Salvation!
All Thy fulness let me know.
APRIL 16.
"Quit you like men" (I. Cor. xvi. 13).
Be brave. Cowards always get hurt. Brave men generally come out unharmed.
Jeremiah was a hero. He shrank from nothing. He faced his king and countrymen with dauntless bravery, and the result was he suffered no harm, but came through the siege of Jerusalem without a hair being injured.
Zedekiah, the cowardly king, was always afraid to obey G.o.d and be true, and the result was that he at last met the most cruel punishment that was ever inflicted on human heart.
The men and women that stand from the beginning true to their convictions have the fewest tests. When G.o.d gives to you a good trial, if you can stand the strain, He is not always repeating it. When Abraham offered up his son Isaac at Mount Moriah, it was a final testing for the rest of his life. Do not let Satan see that you are afraid of him, for he will pursue to the death if he thinks that he has a chance of getting you.
Be true, be true, Whether friends be false or few, Whatsoe"er betide, ever at His side, Let Him always find you true.