MARCH The Eighteenth

_SERENITY IN THE TEMPEST_

JOB xix. 23-27.

Perhaps I am akin to Job in having experienced the pressure of calamity. I have felt the shock of adverse circ.u.mstances, and the house of my life has trembled in the convulsion. Or death has been to my door and has returned again and again, and every time he has left me weeping! All G.o.d's billows have gone over me! Verily, I can take my place by the patriarch Job.

But can I share his witness, "_I know that my Redeemer liveth_"? Have I a calm a.s.surance that my ruler is not caprice, and that my comings and goings are not determined by unfeeling chance? When death knocked at my door, did I know that the King had sent him? When some cherished scheme toppled into ruin, had I any thought that the Lord's hand was concerned in the shaking? Even when my circ.u.mstances are dubious, and I cannot trace a gracious purpose, do I know that my Vindicator liveth, and that some day He will justify all the happenings of the troubled road?

I will pay for this gracious confidence. I would have a firm step even among disappointments; yea, I would "sing songs in the night!"

MARCH The Nineteenth

_DEATH AS MY SERVANT_

REVELATION xx. 1-6.

Even now I would rise from the dead. Even now I would know "the power of His resurrection." Even now I would taste the rapture of the deathless life. And this is my glorious prerogative in grace. Yes, even now I can be "risen with Christ," and "death shall no more have dominion over me!"

And yet I must die! Yes, but the old enemy shall now be my friend. He will not be my master, but my servant. He shall just be the porter, to open the door into my Father's house, into the home of unspeakable blessedness and glory. Death shall not hurt me!

I have seen a little child fall asleep while out in the streets of the city, and the kind nurse has taken charge of the sleeper, and when the little one awaked she was at home, and she opened her eyes upon her mother's face.

So shall it be with all who are alive in Christ, and who have risen from a spiritual grave. They shall just fall into a brief sweet sleep, and gentle death shall usher them into the glory of the endless day.

MARCH The Twentieth

_THE LORD IS AT HAND!_

"_Ye know not what hour your Lord doth come._"

--MATTHEW xxiv. 42-51.

Then let me always live as though my Lord were at the gate! Let me arrange my affairs on the a.s.sumption that the next to lift the latch will be the King. When I am out with my friend, walking and talking, let me a.s.sume that just round the corner I may meet the Lord.

And so let me practise meeting Him! Said a mother to me one day concerning her long-absent boy: "I lay a place for him at every meal! His seat is always ready!" May I not do this for my Lord? May I not make a place for Him in all my affairs--my choices, my pleasures, my times of business, my season of rest? He may come just now; let His place be ready!

If He delay, I must not become careless. If He give me further liberty, I must not take liberties with it. Here is the golden principle, ever to live, ever to think, ever to work as though the Lord had already arrived.

For indeed, He has, and when the veil is rent I shall find Him at my side.

MARCH The Twenty-first

_IN THE GOLDEN CITY_

ISAIAH lii. 1-12.

And so these are the glories of the golden city. There is _wakefulness_.

"Awake! awake!" In the golden city none will be asleep. Everybody will be bright-eyed, clear-minded, looking upon all beautiful things with fresh and ready receptiveness. "The eyes of them that see shall not be dim."

There is _strength_. "Put on thy strength!" There will be no broken wills in the golden city, and no broken hearts. No one will walk with a limp!

Everybody will go with a brave stride as to the strains of a band. And no one will tire of living, and the inhabitant never says, "I am sick."

And there is _beauty_. "Put on thy beautiful garments." Bare strength might not be attractive. But strength clothed in beauty is a very gracious thing. The tender mosses on the granite make it winsome. Strength is companionable when it is united with grace. In the golden city there will be tender sentiment as well as rigid conviction.

And these glories will be our defence. A positive virtue is our best rampart against vice. A robust health is the best protection against the epidemic. "The prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me."

MARCH The Twenty-second

_COUNSEL AND MIGHT_

PSALM cxix. 33-40.

The psalmist prays for an _illumined understanding_. "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes." We are so p.r.o.ne to be children of the twilight, and to see things out of their true proportions. Therefore do we need to be daily taught. I must go into the school of the Lord, and in docility of spirit I must sit at His feet. "O, teach me, Lord, teach even me!"

And the psalmist prays for _rectified inclinations_. "Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies." We so often have the wrong bias, the fatal taste, and our desires are all against the will of the Lord. If only my leanings were toward the Lord how swift my progress would be! I strive to walk after holiness, while my inclinations are in the realm of sin. And so I need a clean mouth, with an appet.i.te for the beautiful and the true.

"Blessed are they that hunger after righteousness."

And the psalmist prays for _a strenuous will_. "Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments." He is praying for "go," for moral persistence, for power to crash through all obstacles which may impede his heavenly progress. And such is my need. Good Lord, endow me with a will like "an iron pillar," and help me to "stand in the evil day."

MARCH The Twenty-third

_THE DARK BETRAYAL_

JOHN xviii. 1-14.

Our Master was betrayed by a disciple, "one of the twelve." The blow came from one of "His own household." The world employed a "friend" to execute its dark design. And so our intimacy with Christ may be our peril; our very a.s.sociation may be made our temptation. The devil would rather gain _one_ belonging to the inner circle than a thousand who stand confessed as the friends of the world. What am I doing in the kingdom? Can I be trusted? Or am I in the pay of the evil one?

And our Master was betrayed in the garden of prayer. In the most hallowed place the betrayer gave the most unholy kiss. He brought his defilement into the most awe-inspiring sanctuary the world has ever known. And so may it be with me. I can kindle the unclean fire in the church. I can stab my Lord when I am on my knees. While I am in apparent devotion I can be in league with the powers of darkness.