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February 1929
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my Father in heaven,' the same is my brother and sister and mother.” You want pleasure: “I delight to do thy will, O God.” Then, when all is over, “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”—- Henry Drummond. —o— Feb. 16— “I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up” (Psa. 5:3). If we merely read our English version, and want an explanation of these') two sentences, we find it in the figure of an archer, “I m il direct my prayer unto Thee." I will put my prayer upon the bow, I will direct it toward heaven, and then when I have shot up my arrow I will look up to see where it has gone. But the Hebrew has a still fuller meaning than this—“I will direct my prayer.” It is the word that is used for the laying in order of the wood and the pieces of the victim upon the altar, and it is used also for put ting of the shewbread upon the table. It means just this: “I will arrange my prayer before Thee,” I will lay it out upon the altar in the morning, just as the priest lays out the morning sacrifice. “I will marshal up my prayers,” I will put them in order, call up all my powers, and bid them stand in their proper places, that I may pray with all my might and pray acceptably. “And will look up” or, as the Hebrew might better be translated, “ ‘I will look out,’ I will look out for the answer.”— C. H. Spurgeon. ■ — Q3— Feb. 17— “He hath said” (Heb. 13:5). If we can only grasp these words of faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt is there that will not be slain by this two-edged sword ? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God’s covenant? “He hath said!” Yes; whether for de light in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, “He hath said!” must be our daily resort. Since “He hath said” is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as “a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.” So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy, in the divine life.— Spurgeon. -—o— Feb. 18— “Thou hast shewed thy people hard things” (Psa. 60:3). I have always been glad that the Psalm ist said to God that some things were hard. There is no mistake about it ; there are hard things in life. Some beautiful pink flowers were given me this summer, and as I took them I said, “What are they?” And the answer came, “They are rock flowers; they grow and bloom only on rocks where you can see no soil.” Then I thought of God’s flowers growing in hard places; and I feel, somehow, that He may have a peculiar tenderness for His “rock flowers” that He may not have for His lilies and roses.— Margaret Bot- tome. “Heroes are forged on anvils hot with pain, And splendid courage comes but with the test.
Feb. 12— “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (Song of Sol. 8:5). Someone gained a good lesson from a Southern prayer meeting. A colored brother asked the Lord for various bless ings—as you and I do—and thanked the Lord for many already received—as you and I d o; but he closed with this un usual petition: “And, O Lord, support u s! Yes, support us, Lord, on every leanin’ side 1” Have you any leaning sides ? This humble man’s prayer pictures them in a new way and shows trie' Great 'Supporter in a new light also. H e1 is al ways walking by the Christian, ready to extend His mighty arm and steady the w e a k one on “every leanin’ side.”— Streams in the Desert. Asher’s portion would be rough and hilly. Common shoes of wood or leather would not last. The promise meant that Asher would have shoes that would en dure the wear and tear. As a compensa tion, too, for the roughness of his land, it would contain minerals, out of which he would get the shoes he should need. For us, the promise suggests that we shall have some hard climbing in our journey, or we should not need iron shoes. It as sures us also that we need not dread any hardness we may find in our life for the future, for it will be provided for. We shall have shoes of iron to wear, and then we shall not mind the steep paths. God leads us nowhere without providing for the special difficulties in the way. We have the same assurance in the words that fol low—“As thy days, so shall strength be.” For easy days we need less divine help and receive less. Then when the hard days come the help will increase accord ingly. There is not a step in all our jour ney for which the needed help is not wait ing, to be given when we come to the place.— J. R. Miller. If God gives faith He will surely try it, and if He leads us out into service and testimony for Him, He will surely try us and prove how far we are depending upon Him alone. He will not be mocked by a profession of faith, He will test it to prove whether it be real; and all that is divine will surely stand the trial. But let the tried one take courage. If the brook dries up, the widow awaits him with the cruse of oil, and the handful of meal, and if the widow’s son dies, the God of resur rection is there to make Himself known as the living God, a very present help in trouble.— J. R. Caldwell. —o— Feb. 15— “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). The definition of an ideal life : “A man after my own heart, who will fulfil all my law.” The object of life: “I come to do thy will, O God.” The first thing you need after life is food: “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.” The next is society: “He that doeth the will of Feb. 1 3—“Thy shoes shall be iron and brass” (Deut. 33 :25). Feb. 14— “The trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth" (1 Pet. 1 :7).
deaths of martyrs, to all that is most sacred and sweet ,in the history of the church and the experience of the children of God. And when, for us, the last con flict shall have passed, and the footstool of prayer shall have given place to the harp of praise, the spots of time that shall be gilded with the most celestial and eternal radiance shall be those, often link ed with deepest sorrow and darkest night, over which we have the inscription, “Je hovah-Shapimah : The Lord was there 1” — -A. B. Simpson. —o— Feb. 9— “His praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Psa. 34:1). Let not thy praises be transient—a fit of music, and then the instrument hung by the wall till another gaudy day of some remarkable providence makes thee take it down. God comes not guestwise to His saints’ house, but to dwell with them. David took this up for a life work: “As long as I live, I will praise thee.”— Gurnall. — o— Feb. 10—“ Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try •you, as though some strange thing hap pened unto you . . . . But rejoice” (1 Pet. 4:12-13). Sainthood springs out of suffering. It takes eleven tons of pressure' on a piano to tune it. God will tune you to har monize with heaven’s key-note if you can stand the strain. “Things that hurt and things that mar Shape the man for perfect praise; Shock and strain and ruin are Friendlier than the smiling days.” Jesus constrained them to g o ! One would think that if ever there was the certain promise of success in a mission, it was here. Surely, here, if anywhere, a triumphant issue might have been confi dently predicted; and yet here, more than anywhere, there was seeming failure. He sent them out on a voyage, and they met such a storm as they had never yet ex perienced. Let me ponder this, for it has been so with me, too. I have sometimes felt myself impelled to act by an influence which seemed above me—constrained to put to sea. The belief that I was con strained gave me confidence, and I was sure of a calm voyage. But the result was outward failure. The calm became a storm; the sea raged, the winds roared, the ship tossed in the midst of the waves, and my enterprise was wrecked ere it could reach the land. Was, then, my di vine command a delusion? Nay; nor yet was my mission a failure. He did send me on that voyage, but He did not send me for my purpose. He had one end and I had another. My end was the outward calm; His was my meeting with the storm. My end was to gain the harbor of a material rest; His was to teach me there is a rest even on the open sea.— George Matheson. — o — Feb. 11—' "Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship” (Matt. 14:22).
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