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January 1927
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D a i l y M e d i t a t i o n s f o r t h e Year B y W i l f r e d M . H o p k i n s
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sence be purposeless. For each different experience there will be appropriate grace: “Tears for all woes, a heart for ev’ry plea;” a shadow in the burning heat; a light in the densest darkness; a smile of sympathy to crown our every joy, a hand to guide through the enwrapping and bewildering mist;' a voice to encour age when the spirit faints. All the days? what of those days most dread and terrible, the seasons of our failure and our sin? W h a t of the days spoiled and made dark by our own perversity and shortcoming? Surely we cannot expect Him to be with us then! Yea, the ■promise is definite, unconditional, unqualified: “I am with you ALL the days.” : Love never forsakes, even when the loved one falls? In our worst hours He will be there; to chide, it may be, but certainly to pity, to strengthen, to forgive, to save. IT is not the question which we should have asked under similar circumstances. But our Lord is wiser than we, and He knew that it was the question of questions; indeed, the only question, for the moment, that needed to be asked. Peter’s tears, his repentance, his remorse, his shame, his good resolutions for the future—these were minor matters, and could be left, at any rate for the present; the prime consideration was, did he love? If so, he had but stumbled,, grievous as his failure had been; if not, he had fallen indeed. The soul that can say: “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee,” may have cause for deepest humiliation and for bitterest tears, but it can have no real justification for despair. Christ can re-build any ruin, can heal any b r o k e n heart, can re-hallow and re beautify any desecrated life, so there be at His disposal the material of love to Himself. What we need, and should seek for, when we have sinned, is not a flood of penitential tears, nor an access of shame (nor a burden of gnawing remorse, but a renewal of our heart’s true affection towards-God: for our sin. is after all but a manifestation of our having failed to love. HUMAN nature in its perversity always desires to be Some thing other than God has appointed. Sowing the seed is man’s al lotted task; reaping has been reserved for the angels. We are al ways trying to extract something from men ; a promise, a con fession, an amendment; and we mourn our failures and become disheartened and despondent. Let us remember that our duty is to put something into men; we* are to sow the seed of the Kingdom. The sower is not expected to take home sheaves ; he flings the seed into the ■ cold earth and leaves it there, in “Sure and cetain hope of résurrection,” but not to-day. The question of when, and by whom, the golden grain shall be gathered is one for the Lord of the harvest. The desire to see results is both natural and lawful, but it is not right to fret after them : they concern not us, but God. True He sometimes permits His servants to do a little reaping—-appointing them His angels (i.e. Messengers) for the pupose; but oftelier not. We ought never to be discouraged. That the sower does not see the growth of the seed, is no evidence that it has been sown in vain. “The reapers are the angels;” much fruit that no man has gathered upon earth will be garnered by and by. There is a great “Harvest Home” awaiting God’s servants, when the sower and the reaper shall rej oice together : for that day let us be content to wait; in its blessed anticipation let us be content to sow. , J anuary 4. “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?’B Jno. 21:16. J anuary 5. “The reapers are the angels.”—Matt. 13:39.
J anuary 1. “Ye have not passed this way heretofore^— Josh. 3:4. ANOTHER New Year’s day; a fresh milestone on life’s jour ney, set right on the crest of the hill! Behind us, all the open panorama of the road that our feet have trod; just over the brow, the onward track, hidden from our gaze. What awaits us we know not. Will the way he rough or smooth, sunlit or shadow laden? Shall we tread wearily across an arid desert, or walk blithely through a “well watered garden,” decked with fruit and flowers? Will “life blossom into song,” or shall we taste, in some valley of Baca, the bitteness of tears?' “We may not know, we cannot tell;” nor is it wise, nor ought we, per chance, to ask. Heaven, in pity -for our weakness, wraps the hiding veil about the days to come, and curiosity may soon be come distrust. Meanwhile let this assurance suffice: the path way is not hidden from our Father’s eyes. “He knoweth the way,” though we know it not. Let us put our hands afresh, with childlike confidence, into that which has guided us thus far “And leave the future in His care Whose love hath ordered all the past.” Let us renew our vows of consecration on the borders of the opening year; let us gird up our loins to walk in new fellow ship with God. This done, come weal or woe, come gain or loss, come pain or pleasure, come life or death, “all MUST be well.” “Ebenezer.”—I Sam. 7:12. SHALL we not look back for a moment, from this new vantage ground, over the days t h a t are n o more ?. And, as memory weaves the story of the past, how can we best sum up its history? Surely in the words of the ancient' Seer, “Hitherto the LORD hath helped us,” Dotted at intervals along life’s pathway do we not see stones.of help? Are not echoes of the songs of deliver ance which we have sung wafted to us upon the breeze?- May we not well plant another pillar where we stand?? :; “Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither, by thy help I’ve come.” Could we have gotten her by any help save His? Surely not! How then shall we fear, or tremble at the thought of the way that lies ahead? “E’en let the unknown to-morrow Bring with it what it may.” God is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He changeth not, and we are dear;” “His compassions fail not;” His wisdom and His power are immutable. He Who hath led us safely hitherto will guide and protect us while the journey lasts. “Goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life.” Having loved., He will love us to the end: directed, en folded, shielded by that love, we have nought to fear. J anuary 3. “Lo, I am with you all the days.”— Matt. 28:20. (R. V. Marg.) GOD’S presence and providence are not only general, but partic ular. If we go far upon life’s onward pilgrimage how varied will be our days. Days of summer heat and winter frost; June days, ablaze with golden glory, and November days, laden with impenetrable fog; April days of mingled sunshine and shower; May days full of laughter and of flowers ; February days,' Sod den with sorrow’s tears, and January days, dark, leaden, and depressing. Yet for each -and every one of them the promise abides: “Lo, I am with you all the days.” Nor will His pre J anuary 2.
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