_THE STEADFASTNESS OF THE LORD_

"_My covenant shall stand fast._"

--PSALM lx.x.xix. 19-29.

Such a divine a.s.surance ought to make me perfectly quiet in spirit.

Restlessness in a Christian always spells disloyalty. The uncertainty is born of suspicion. There is a rift in the faith, and the disturbing breath of the devil blows through, and destroys my peace. If I am sure of my great Ally, my heart will not be troubled, neither will it be afraid.

And such a divine a.s.surance ought to make me bold in will and majestic in labour. I ought to be inventive in chivalrous enterprise, and I ought to covet the hardest parts of the field. If the mighty Ally will never fail, I should never be afraid of the marshalled hosts of wickedness. "One with G.o.d is in a majority." "He always wins who sides with G.o.d." "The Lord is on my side, whom shall I fear?"

And such a divine a.s.surance ought to give me a kingly demeanour. The members of the Court acquire a certain stateliness by their lofty fellowship. And, surely, one who walks with G.o.d should be characterized by something of the Divine glory, and men should know that his acquaintances are found in the courts of heaven.

SEPTEMBER The Seventeenth

_THE NEVER-WITHERING LEAF_

JEREMIAH xvii. 5-11.

Let me look at "the blessed man" in the interpreting symbol of this healthy and graceful tree.

The blessed life is a life of vast resource. "_As a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river._" It is not watered by an occasional shower, it is unceasingly bathed by the vitalizing flood.

Its rootlets are always drinking the nutritious waters of grace. The blessed life is planted on the banks of that wonderful river which takes its rise in the great white throne.

And just because of these boundless supplies, the blessed life is undisturbed in times of grave crisis and emergency. "_He shall not see when heat cometh._" He shall be cool when the unblessed are hot and fever-stricken. He shall "keep his head" in times of general panic. His powers of endurance shall make the world wonder! He shall "hold out" when everybody else is faint.

So shall there be nothing "sere and yellow" about him. "_His leaf shall be green._" His faith, and hope, and love shall remain fresh and beautiful even in "the dark and cloudy day."

SEPTEMBER The Eighteenth

_THE ALL-ROUND DEFENCE_

"_Thou hast beset me behind._"

--PSALM cx.x.xix. 1-12.

And that is a defence against the enemies which would attack me in the rear. There is yesterday's sin, and the guilt which is the companion of yesterday's sin. They pursue my soul like fierce hounds, but my gracious Lord will come between my pursuers and me. His mighty grace intervenes, and my security is complete.

"Thou hast beset me ... _before_." And that is a defence against the enemies which would impede my advance and frighten me out of the heavenly way. There is fear--fear of the morrow, fear of consequences, fear of death! And my Lord will come between me and them, and their menace shall be destroyed. The fiery darts shall be quenched before they reach my soul.

"_And laid Thine hand upon me._" And that is a defence against the enemies which may lie in ambush in present and immediate circ.u.mstances: the sudden temptation to pa.s.sion, or the temptation to panic, or the temptation which would snare me to criminal ease. But my Lord's hand is all-sufficient! And so on every side my defence standeth; "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him."

SEPTEMBER The Nineteenth

_THE NEEDS OF THE BODY_

JOHN vi. 1-21.

The Lord who came to save His people was sensitive to His people's hunger.

In the presence of the supreme need the smaller need was not forgotten. He honoured the body as well as the soul. He ministered to the transient as well as the eternal. And that is ever the characteristic of true kingliness; it has a kingly way of doing the smaller things. I can measure my own progress toward the throne by my sovereign attention to scruples.

"He that is faithful in that which is least, the same also is great."

The Lord is not oppressed by the mult.i.tude of His guests. "He Himself knew what He would do." We need not jostle one another for His bounty. We shall not crowd one another out. "There is bread enough and to spare." Even in the material realm this is true, and everybody would have his daily bread if the will of the Lord were done. There is no straitness in the gracious Host! It is the greed of the guests which mars the satisfaction of the feast.

And how careful the Lord of Glory was to "gather up the fragments"! Our infinitely wealthy Lord is not wealthy enough to "throw things away." He cannot afford to waste bread. Can He afford to lose a soul? "He goeth out after that which is lost until He find it"!

SEPTEMBER The Twentieth

_THE PATHETIC MULt.i.tUDE_

MARK viii. 1-9.

My Lord has "_compa.s.sion upon the mult.i.tude_." And (shall I reverently say it?) His compa.s.sion was part of His pa.s.sion. His pity was always costly.

It culminated upon Calvary, but it was bleeding all along the road! It was a fellow-feeling with all the pangs and sorrows of the race. And a pity that bleeds is a pity that heals. "In His love and in His pity He redeemed us."

And the mult.i.tude is round about us still, and the people are in peril of fainting by the way. There is the mult.i.tude of misfortune, the children of disadvantage, who never seem to have come to their own. And there is the mult.i.tude of outcasts, the vast army of publicans and sinners. And there are the bewildering mult.i.tudes of Africa, and India, and China, and they have "nothing to eat"!

How do I regard them? Do I share the compa.s.sion of the Lord? Do I exercise a sensitive and sanctified imagination, and enter somewhat into the pangs of their cravings? My Lord calls for my help. "How many loaves have ye?"

"Bring out all you have! Consecrate your entire resources! Put your all upon the altar of sacrifice!" And in reply to the call can I humbly and trustfully say, "O, Lamb of G.o.d, I come!"

SEPTEMBER The Twenty-first

_LIFE AS BREAD_

MARK viii. 10-21.

It is gracious to know that my Lord is "the Bread of Life," and that I can feed on Him. It is fearful to know that I, too, am bread, and that others are feeding on me. Am I the nutriment of vice or the sustenance of virtue?

Am I an evil leaven, like the Pharisees, or a holy leaven like the Lord?

When little children feed on my presence do they grow in strength and beauty? Or do they become relaxed and demoralized? Who will feed upon me to-day, and what will be the end of it?