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Lord delights to give His revelations. He seeks a man who is on the ordinary road, and the divine fire leaps out at his feet. The mystic ladder can rise from the mar ket-place to heaven. It can connect the realm of drudgery with the realms of grace.— Sel. — o — July 13— “I will give thee the treasures of darkness” (Isa. 45:3). Our Lord is constantly taking us into the dark, that He may tell us things. Into the dark of the shadowed home, where bereavement has drawn the blinds; into the dark of the lonely, desolate life, where some infirmity closes us in from the light and stir of life; into the dark of some crushing sorrow and disappoint ment. Then He tells us His secrets, great and wonderful, eternal and infinite; He causes the eye which has become dazzled by the glare of earth to behold the heavenly con stellations, and the ear to detect the un dertones of His voice, which are often drowned amid the tumult of earth’s strident cries.— F. B. Meyer. — o — - July 14— “The Spirit of the Lord clothed himself with Gideon" (Judges 6 :34 R. V.). So Gideon became the garments of the Spirit, and was moved, not by his own wisdom, but by the august Spirit who had chosen him for His clothing. It is an amazing thought that such a thing can be a reality. Dr. Timothy Richards once asked a literary gentleman in China who had twice read through the New Testa ment, what he considered the most strik ing thing in it, and he answered that the thing that seemed to him surpassingly wonderful was that men might be tem ples of the Holy Ghost. Truly this is so, and if the thought were not so familiar, it would evoke our wonder too, and if we really believed it, our praise. But the idea of a man being His temple, for it gives a more intimate suggestion of the relation between us, gives greater prominence to the Holy Spirit and less glory to the man. It is the Spirit’s delight to choose an un likely garment. He does not follow the fashions of the hour. Gideon said, “My family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” So the Spirit often chooses “the nobodies” and makes them “somebodies.” Then the timid be come strong, and they become courageous who before were fearful. Think, for in stance, of Gideon as he was before the Spirit chose him and as he was after wards., This was a new Gideon, was not, in fact, Gideon at all, but the Spirit clothed with Gideon.— Rev. W. Y. Fuller ton. July 15— “Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth” (Gen. 29:10). When God is mine, hope is mine. Jacob went on his journey. In the/ margin it reads, “Jacob lifted up his feet.” In the one case the man walks and does not faint; in the other he runs and is not weary. Let God meet me in my solitude and sorrow, let Him promise to be my Friend and Guide, and I become nimble and lightsome, I tread on air, I set for ward to the unknown future with a merry heart. Life is now a lifting up of
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Daily Devotional Readings Ij A Message for Every Day of the Month IL____________________________________________________ __ ______ July 7— “They are bread for us” (Num bers 14:9).
the winds howl and rage around thy frail bark, the sea rises, and lashes thy groan ing, shivering vessel till every timber q u i v e r s , and every joint starts. The laughter of devils seems to mingle with the shriek of the storm. And thou dost think that thou art alone, fighting alone, struggling alone, and that thy ship must go down. Oh, no, the ship won’t go down! Jesus is on the mount of prayer. He sees thee down there in the hollow of the trough of the sea. He sees thee again on the treacherous crest of the wave. He sees thy vain toil and struggle, and forth from Him, has come the power of salvation, “saving to the uttermost,” and in the gray dawn before the morning comes, He will come to thee, in the om nipotence of power—the power of prayer —which is thine as well as His, thine be cause H is; He will shed peace and calm about thee; and thy weary panting heart shall grow reposeful and restful, for He will come into thy shattered bark, and steer it to shore. — o — July 11— “We know that all t h i n g s work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8 :28). You say, “I do not understand the de vious paths by which God is leading me. There are so many things in God’s deal ings with me I cannot understand.” Friend, you do not have to understand all God’s ways with you. God does not ex pect you to understand them. You do not expect your child to understand, but to believe. And some day you will see the glory of God in the things you do not understand. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. And the glory comes from believing, not from understanding. Re member this—the things we do not un derstand are all working together for good to them that trust. All things are not good, nor does God say that. For sin is not good. And sorrow is not good. Nor is suffering good, in itself. But all things work together for good. And God does say that. And the things you do not un derstand, the things which all seem to be working against you, all these are really working together to turn out from God’s workshop His one perfect, finished product—a man or woman conformed to the image of His Son. And concerning these “all things” come Christ’s sweet words to us, “Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God?” Whate’er is best for me, my God will bring to me, If I do only wait, and trust, and pray; Whate’er seems dark to me, shall end in light for me; ’Tis but the gloaming which foreruns the day. — Rev. James H. McConkey. July 12— "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him” (Ex. 3:2). The vision came to Moses in the midst of common toil, and that is where the
Difficulties and hindrances never inter fere with true service for Christ if they are met in the right spirit and manner. They cast the soul upon God, call forth much prayer, stimulate faith, and bring our all-conquering God upon the scene. And we come to learn with Paul, to “take pleasure” in “infirmities” and “necessities,” because they shut us up to the “power of Christ.” Conference with our fellow workers cannot for a moment take the place of intercourse with our Master. We run in many directions for aid and coun sel, instead of turning habitually to our omnipotent Lord and Leader. So that even in so-called Christian service, we are in peril of bringing upon ourselves the cursq threatened against him who “trust- eth in man” (Jeremiah 17:5). Beloved, take your difficulties to the throne of grace. Consider them in the light of God’s Word. Ask your delivering God to meet you in them, and show you His salvation. So will you come to know Him in a fash ion that will fill your heart with joy un speakable. The worth of your service is fixed by the measure of fellowship' with Christ that it represents. Urgencies that drive you to God are among life’s best blessings.— Rev. C. G. Moore. —o— ,• July 8— “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellow ship of his sufferings, being made con formable unto his death” (Phil. 3:10). I am so glad that Jesus Christ offers to us the deepest thing in His heart; not only to share His glory and His joy forever; not only to sit down with Him upon His throne and share all that eter nity will mean when He shall reign and we shall live and reign with Him for ever. He does offer us that—the fellow ship of His joy, the share in His glory— and we accept that, and rejoice in it; but there is something deeper in the heart of Christ than that. He offers to us the fel lowship of His sufferings.— -Geraldine Guinness Taylor. July 9— “Alive to God ” (Rom. 6:11). To one who asked him the secret of his service, George Muller said: “There was a day when I died, ‘utterly died’ ” ; as he spoke he bent lower, until he almost touched the floor; “died to George Mul ler, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure; died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends; and since then I have- studied only to show myself approved unto God.” —o— July 10 —“He saw them toiling in row ing" (Mark 6:48). O tempest-tossed worker! Thou, too, art toiling with the rowing, the sky has gathered blackness! the night is dark,
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