October 1927
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O c t o b e r 7
O c t o b e r 5 . “I shall go to hiin.”- —2 Sam. 12:23.
"As one whom his mother comforteth."- —Isa. 66:13.
THIS is the Christian hope as regards thè loved ones we have lost. They are not dead, but sleeping Jpnot lost, but gone before.” We have not laid them in a charnel house and said to them: “Farewell, farewell, for evermore farewell.” “Our faith, while weeping o’er the tombs,
WHAT condescension on the part of God to reveal Him self to us in the tender relationship of Motherhood! For to be “mothered” is one of the inherent longings of the human heart. Much as we mourn the loss of .a father, we miss our mothers mores For there is no love like a mother’s; none so tender, none so patient, none so enduring as hers. Nor can her self-sacrifice for the good of her child be equaled upon earth; it is unstinting and limitless. And who shall fathom the well of forgiveness in the maternal heart,1boundless and:bottom less as the sea;'a forgiveness which no sin, no neglect, no of fense seems able to exhaust? All these things we may'find in yet greater .fullness in Him who has loved us with an ever lasting love, sacrificed for us His Well-Beloved Son, and is ready to blot out our transgressions as a cloud. But, perhaps, we think of the mother most often as the comforter. To her we can run with our cut fingers and our- aching hearts. Upon her breast we lay our weary heads ; into her ears we pour the tale of our disappointments and our fears. So, today, we can run to God with our troubles, be they never so great, never so trifling. Into His ears we can tell out the story of our difficul ties and our griefs. And He shall gather us into His tender arms, and “as one whom his mother comforteth, so will He comfort us, and we shall be comforted,” indeed. We should not have dared to use such imagery of Him, had He not used it of Himself. LIFE is more or less a pilgrimage through the desert. There are long stretches of barren sand to be traversed beneath the blazing, sun. What wonder that men grow weary, that their spirits droop, that their energies grow stale? Such a condition is to be deplored when it affects only the mental and physical side of our nature; , it is far worse when it extends to our religious life. Yet the tendency is inevitable. Apart from God we are sure to lose the freshness of our love, the vigor of our devotion. Our spiritual faculties will wilt and wither in the burning heat unless they are fed and renewed by hidden springs of energy and life. Such springs are to be found in God. From Him flows that river of the water of life, which alone can save us from the scorching effects of the noonday glare. ' The jaded soul leaps up into fresh vigor when the Holy Ghost flows in, a cooling, cleansing,' revivifying tide. What a joy to know that these waters, like their Source, are eternal, and that they are freely at the disposal of every one of us. To ask is to have. There need' be no feebleness, no barrenness; no lassitude, no death, since He—Who is the Giver of life—waits but our request for His presence and His grace. How foolish,' then, are they who limp on—flaccid, thirsty, impotent—a misery to themselves, and a discouragement to their fellows, while the secret springs of joy and vivacity offer them refreshment and power. Kfl H? O c t o b e r 8 “All my fresh springs shall be in Thee." —Psa. 87:7 (P. B. V.).
■Sees Easter symbols in the clod, Hills that go climbing up to God, A fragrant wealth of heavenly blooms, And, far beyond, the glory of the golden domes.”
Beneath those domes we are to meet once more the dear de parted; there, with them, we are to tread the golden streets; there we are to be re-united in a sweet communion which shall be broken nevermore. Meanwhile they reposé in peace. De livered from the burden of the flesh, earth’s pains and sorrows, its sadness and its sighing, trouble them no longer. The bondage of sin is forever broken ; the heartache and the mystery of life lie all behind them—“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord . . . they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.” Surely these thoughts, should deprive the mourn er’s tears of their bitterness. We ought not to “sorrow as men without hope.” The desire to recall them would be an emotion of selfishness, and though we miss them sorely, yet the separation is “only till He come.” This is heaven’s glory flashing through the Redeemer’s empty tomb. vM/y Which is, being interpreted, “The LORD, thy healer.” He is “the Great Physician,” the God “Who healeth all thy dis eases.” This is true both of body and of soul.“ How ready we are to sing the praises of the doctor who has been instrumental in restoring us to health, but how slow to remember that all healing is in reality the gift of God. Of how much unrecognized healing are we the subjects; how often does the Almighty ward . off from us threatened attacks of disease of which we are supremely unconscious? How little we value the blessing of health, which is His continual gift. We should do well to put a fuller trust in His restoring power, and to give Him a greater meed of praise fer His preserving care. To Him alone, more over, can we look for deliverance from spiritual maladies. Only His touch can cure the leprosy of the soul. Only His power can strengthen the infirmity of will. He alone can open our blind eyes that we may see, and unstop our deaf ears that we' may hear. He also “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” He is the sole Source of that true consola tion which delivers from disease (i. e., lack of ease), and fills our troubled hearts with peace and joy. And all this relief is at our disposition without fee or reward. There is but one condition, namely, that we. should be obedient. We must “hearken and do’.’ His commandments if we would know the fullness of His healing power. Yet, so wide is His mercy, that if we fail in this, He will heal our backslidings (so we be peni tent) and restore us to His favor and His grace. A marvelous Healer, He! O c t o b e r 6 . . “JEHOVAH—Rophi.’’— Ex. 15:26.
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