“Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.” Job 10:2Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in
“Whereas the Lord was there.” Ezekiel 35:10Edom’s princes saw the whole country left desolate, and counted upon its easy conquest; but there was one great difficulty in their way-quite unknown to them-”The Lord was there”; and in his presence lay the special security of the chosen land. Whatever may
“Isaac dwelt by the well Lahai-roi.” Genesis 25:11Hagar had once found deliverance there and Ishmael had drank from the water so graciously revealed by the God who liveth and seeth the sons of men; but this was a merely casual visit, such as worldlings pay to the Lord in times of need, when it serve
“Thy good Spirit.” Nehemiah 9:20Common, too common is the sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit. This is folly and ingratitude. He deserves well at our hands, for he is good, supremely good. As God, he is good essentially. He shares in the threefold ascription of Holy, holy, holy, which ascends to the T
“I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” Philippians 4:11These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. “Ill weeds grow apace.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and br
“Whereby they have made thee glad.” Psalm 45:8And who are thus privileged to make the Saviour glad? His church-his people. But is it possible? He makes us glad, but how can we make him glad? By our love. Ah! we think it so cold, so faint; and so, indeed, we must sorrowfully confess it to be, but it
“To him be glory both now and forever.” 2 Peter 3:18Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus. Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting course, but forever and for ever, “to him be glory.” Is he not a “Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”? “To him be glor
“She was healed immediately.” Luke 8:47One of the most touching and teaching of the Saviour’s miracles is before us to-night. The woman was very ignorant. She imagined that virtue came out of Christ by a law of necessity, without his knowledge or direct will. Moreover, she was a stranger to the gene
“And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.” 2 Kings 25:30Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king’s palace with a store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures
“There is therefore now no condemnation.” Romans 8:1Come, my soul, think thou of this. Believing in Jesus, thou art actually and effectually cleared from guilt; thou art led out of thy prison. Thou art no more in fetters as a bond-slave; thou art delivered now from the bondage of the law; thou art f
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.” 1 John 3:1,2“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.” Consider who we were
“He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” John 14:16Great Father revealed himself to believers of old before the coming of his Son, and was known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God Almighty. Then Jesus came, and the ever-blessed Son in his own proper person, wa
“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:5There is a blessed proportion. The Ruler of Providence bears a pair of scales-in this side he puts his people’s trials, and in that he puts their consolations. When the scale of trial is nea
“Thou hast left thy first love.” Revelation 2:4Ever to be remembered is that best and brightest of hours, when first we saw the Lord, lost our burden, received the roll of promise, rejoiced in full salvation, and went on our way in peace. It was spring time in the soul; the winter was past; the mutt
“And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography, written out in the words and actions of his pe
