And so we are bidden to be patient. "We must wait to the end of the Lord."

The Lord's ends are attained through very mysterious means. Sometimes the means are in contrast to the ends. He works toward the harvest through winter's frost and snow. The maker of chaste and delicate porcelain reaches his lovely ends through an awful mortar, where the raw material of bone and clay is pounded into a cream. In that mortar-chamber we have no hint of the finished ware. But be patient, even in this chamber of affliction the ware is on the way to glory!

And so it is with the ministries of our Lord. He leads us through discords into harmonies, through opposition into union, through adversities into peace. His means of grace are processes, sometimes gentle, sometimes severe; and our folly is to a.s.sume that we have reached His ends when we are only on the way to them. "The end of the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." "Be patient, therefore," until it shall be spoken of thee and me, "And G.o.d saw that it was good."

FEBRUARY The Twenty-fourth

_MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK_

"_He hath brought me into darkness, but not into light._"

--LAMENTATIONS iii. 1-9.

But a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in the darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was moving toward the light and fragrance of the open country. I entered into a tunnel in the Black Country in England, but the motion was continued, and we emerged amid fields of loveliness. And therefore the great thing to remember is that G.o.d's darknesses are not His goals; His tunnels are means to get somewhere else. Yes, His darknesses are appointed ways to His light. In G.o.d's keeping we are always moving, and we are moving towards Emmanuel's land, where the sun shines, and the birds sing night and day.

There is no stagnancy for the G.o.d-directed soul. He is ever guiding us, sometimes with the delicacy of a glance, sometimes with the firmer ministry of a grip, and He moves with us always, even through "the valley of the shadow of death." Therefore, be patient, my soul! The darkness is not thy bourn, the tunnel is not thy abiding home! He will bring thee out into a large place where thou shalt know "the liberty of the glory of the children of G.o.d."

FEBRUARY The Twenty-fifth

_THE FRESH EYE_

"_His compa.s.sions fail not: they are new every morning._"

--LAMENTATIONS iii. 22-33.

We have not to live on yesterday's manna; we can gather it fresh to-day.

Compa.s.sion becomes stale when it becomes thoughtless. It is new thought that keeps our pity strong. If our perception of need can remain vivid, as vivid as though we had never seen it before, our sympathies will never fail. The fresh eye insures the sensitive heart. And our G.o.d's compa.s.sions are so new because He never becomes accustomed to our need. He always sees it with an eye that is never dulled by the commonplace; He never becomes blind with much seeing! We can look at a thing so often that we cease to see it. G.o.d always sees a thing as though He were seeing it for the first time. "Thou, G.o.d, seest me," and "His compa.s.sions fail not."

And if my compa.s.sions are to be like a river that never knows drought, I must cultivate a freshness of sight. The horrible can lose its horrors.

The daily tragedy can become the daily commonplace. My neighbour's needs can become as familiar as my furniture, and I may never see either the one or the other. And therefore must I ask the Lord for the daily gift of discerning eyes. "Lord, that I may receive my sight." And with an always newly-awakened interest may I reveal "the compa.s.sions of the Lord!"

FEBRUARY The Twenty-sixth

_THE CELLARS OF AFFLICTION_

PSALM x.x.xiv. 9-22.

Samuel Rutherford used to say that whenever he found himself in the cellars of afflictions he used to look about for the King's wine. He would look for the wine-bottles of the promises and drink rich draughts of vitalizing grace. And surely that is the best deliverance in all affliction, to be made so spiritually exhilarant that we can rise above it. I might be taken out of affliction, and emerge a poor slave and weakling. I might remain in affliction, and yet be king in the seeming servitude, "more than conqueror" in Christ Jesus. It is a great thing to be led through green pastures and by still waters; I think it is a greater thing to have a "table prepared before me _in the presence of mine enemies_." It is good to be able to sing in the sunny noon; it is better still to be able to sing "songs in the night."

And this deliverance may always be ours in Christ Jesus. The Lord may not smooth out our circ.u.mstances, but we may have the regal right of peace. He may not save us from the sorrows of a newly-cut grave, but we may have the glorious strength of the immortal hope. G.o.d will enable us to be masters of all our circ.u.mstances, and none shall have a deadly hold upon us.

FEBRUARY The Twenty-seventh

_THE MIGHT OF FRAILTY_

PSALM cv. 23-36.

That is the wonder of wonders, that the Almighty G.o.d will use frail humanity as the vehicles of His power, and will make Moses and Aaron shine with reflected glory. Man can send an electric current into a fragile carbon film and make it incandescent. He can send his voice across a continent, and make it speak on a distant sh.o.r.e. And the Lord G.o.d can do wonders compared with which these are only as the dimmest dreams. He can send His holy power into human speech, and the words can wake the dead. He can send His virtue into the human will, and its strength can shake the thrones of iniquity. He can send His love into the human heart, and the power of its affection can capture the bitterest foe.

And so the word "impossible" becomes itself impossible when the soul of man is in fellowship with the Lord of Hosts. The pliant will becomes an iron pillar. The weak heart becomes "as a defended city" when it is the home of G.o.d. Dumb lips become the thrones of mysterious eloquence when touched with divine inspiration.

FEBRUARY The Twenty-eighth

_THE TEST OF FULNESS_

DEUTERONOMY viii. 1-10.

"And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the Lord thy G.o.d."

Fulness is surely a more searching test than want. Fulness induces sleep and forgetfulness. Many a man fights a good fight with Apollyon in the narrow way, who lapses into sleepy indifference on the Enchanted Ground.

Men often sit down to a full table without "grace." Pain cries out to G.o.d, while boisterous health strides along in heedlessness. Yes, it is our fulness that const.i.tutes our direst peril. "This was the iniquity of Sodom, _fulness_ of bread and abundance of idleness."

And so our tests may come on the sunny day. A nation's supreme tests may come in its prosperity. The sunshine may do more damage than the lightning. The soul may falter even in Beulah land, where "the sun shines night and day."

Prayer must not, therefore, tarry until sickness and adversity come. We must "pray without ceasing" in the cloudless noon, lest we are stricken with "the arrow that flieth by day." We must seek the eternal strength when no apparent enemy crouches at our gate, and when our easy road is lined with luxuriant flowers and fruit.

FEBRUARY The Twenty-ninth

_INVINCIBLE RELIANCE_

HEBREWS xi. 17-22.

"Accounting that G.o.d was able." That is the faith that makes moral heroes.

That is the faith that prompts mighty ventures and crusades. It is faith in G.o.d's willingness and ability to redeem His promises. It is faith that if I do my part He will most a.s.suredly do His. It is faith that He cannot possibly fail. It is faith that when He makes a promise the money is already in the bank. It is faith that when He sends me into the wilderness the secret harvest is already ripe from which He will give me "daily bread." It is faith that "all things are now ready," and in that faith I will face the apparently impossible task.

And thus the "impossible" leads me to the "prepared." The desert leads me to "fields white already." The hard call to sacrifice leads me to the "lamb in the thicket." "G.o.d is able," and He is never behind the time. The critical need unveils His grace.