In Prayer...

In prayer, I must wrestle like Jacob, and pant like David, and hope like Elijah, and be persistent like Bartimeus, and cry with tears like my blessed Lord! Prayer must be of the right sort: very humble very expectant very persevering. Lord, teach me to pray!

[Alexander Smellie] 

James 5:16 ... Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

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"Acsah"

That word of Acsah ( עַכְסָה), "also" is the commonest of words in the hungering and thirsting heart, and on the praying lips of the Christian. God has done much for me. He has given me a south land, where the sun shines, where the fields are broad and rich, where grape-vines and olive trees and fig trees may flourish and yield their harvests. But I am not yet at the end of my needs or of His resources. He must give me springs of water also to quicken and revive everything. I have not attained. I am not fully satisfied. As liberal as He has been, He is not wearied in bestowing, nor is His treasury depleted! 

I shall come to Him over and over with new entreaties and new desires. He will return to me over and over with new endowments and new love. Suppose that I am forgiven I would have Him also add to His forgiveness, the peace and assurance which it should beget. Suppose that I am justified in His sight by the infinite meritoriousness of my Lord Jesus Christ I would also know now what it is to be sanctified and made holy by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Suppose that I am His redeemed and adopted child, dwelling in the atmosphere of His favor I would also be His consecrated servant and commissioned ambassador, employed to advance His Kingdom. Suppose that He has given me the south land of His mercifulness and grace He must also give me the springs of water, that through the whole of the encircling year I may bear much fruit to His glory. 

Lord, give me springs of water also! 

[Alexander Smellie]

Judges 1:15 ... And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. ❤

"Fear Not."

I have many agitations and misgivings. But when heart and flesh faint and fail, my Lord has three whispers for me that banish fear and alarm. 

 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you!" Isaiah 43:1 

My PAST brings me trouble the sins I have committed, the duties I have neglected, the guilt I am chargeable with, the penalty I merit these make the retrospect of my days and years sad in the extreme. I have wrecked my own life. I have injured others. I have sinned against God. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by self-contempt. But there is redemption there is forgiveness. God concerns Himself with the locust-eaten yesterday. He forgives it through the might of Christ's Cross. He may transmute my very sins and errors and falls into means of grace as nature can convert the battlefield that was strewn with the dead, into the greenest of pastures. He redeems me from my past! 

"Fear not, for I am with you!" Isaiah 41:10

My PRESENT stirs in me great disquietude. Apart from my Savior, I am still as weak as water before temptation, an easy prey to the enemy, the willing servant of sin. But then God remains with me, to preserve my soul from death and my feet from falling and my eyes from tears. By His providence, His Gospel, His Spirit, He sanctifies and makes me holy. I know not which to marvel at more: His suffering for me on the cruel Tree or His long-suffering with me always. 

"Fear not, I will help you!" Isaiah 41:13 

The FUTURE has its distresses. Peering ahead, what do I see? Many perplexities, many trials and afflictions, much weariness and struggle. But my Lord will go before me. As feeble as I am in myself, I shall be more than a conqueror over all the contingencies of the future, when the Lord helps and strengthens me. 

To His thrice-repeated "Fear not!" I reply, "I will not fear, for You have redeemed me, You are with me, and You will help me!" 

[Alexander Smellie]

2 Timothy 1:7 .... For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. ❤

Cling to The Cross!!

This is how I am justified and forgiven. Not by the hopeless endeavor to win and fight my way to the favor of God and the Celestial City but by looking to Jesus alone, and by leaning on Him absolutely. "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Your cross I cling!" 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

Hebrews 12:2 ...  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ❤

Our Arabian Wilderness!

Paul went away from all human contact for several years, in order to spend time alone with God in the Arabian wilderness. 

The newborn soul needs solitude, that, apart from the strife of tongues and the din of the world, it may meditate on those marvelous things which God has done for it. That it may frame a larger, deeper, more adequate conception of what salvation really is. That its gratitude may become more precise and more profound. That, with nothing and no one to distract, it may dedicate itself quietly and fully to its Lord. 

The Bible teacher needs solitude, that he may apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of that great, majestic, illimitable Book he is to proclaim. That he may seize hold of the truth of God and that the truth of God may seize hold of him. That the truths of Scripture may become more than ever, his own possession and exceeding joy. And then, out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth will speak. 

Every saint needs solitude, that he may shake off the dust and grime of worldliness and sin. That, waiting on the Lord, he may renew his strength. That a fresh unction from the Holy One may make him spiritually wise and strong. 

In Arabia, as he came forth from the cloud, the face of Moses shone. In Arabia, the soul of Paul duly took and strongly kept the print of Heaven. Ah, there are none of us who can venture to dispense with our Arabian wilderness! 

[Alexander Smellie] 

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Galatians 1:15-17 ...  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Mark 6:31-32 ...  And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.❤

My Salvation!

I see many wonders in God's salvation. It is as many-sided as the ocean with its moods and waves. There is the wonder of its origin. From HIM it takes its rise and source, oh pregnant pronoun! From the King against whom I have revolted. From the Friend whose wishes I have opposed. From the thrice holy One, to whom the smallest of my sins is absolutely hateful. From the Father on whom I have turned my back. It is He who approaches me with the white flag of peace. It is He who sacrifices Himself to accomplish my deliverance! 

And there is the wonder of its continuousness. Salvation keeps coming, it does not cease. It flows, and deepens, and broadens. God does not weary, though there are ten thousand reasons why He should. The Savior does not lose His sympathy and grace. The Holy Spirit goes on performing His good work. It is an "eternal salvation". And there is the wonder of its object. It is MY salvation, mine, incredible as that may seem. 

It is a miracle to me that my past guilt should be pardoned such a terrible criminality there was in my heart. It is a miracle to me that my present imperfections should be borne with and overcome. Such a forbearing, conquering patience I need for I am the chief of sinners! And there is the wonder of its abundance. 

It is SALVATION which comes to me. Salvation is a palace with many rooms in it. It is a landscape in which many different elements of beauty are found, mountain, and river, and lush pasture-ground, and darker forest, and the silver streak of the sea. I think of salvation from the divine side and how much it cost God! I think of salvation from the human side and how much it brings to me! 

[Alexander Smellie] 

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 2 Corinthians 9:15 ... Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Hebrews 5:9 ... And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

John 14:2 ...  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  ❤

Christ's Sword

Not peace, but a sword! Lord Jesus, this is a hard saying! Teach me to believe it, and to submit to the ordeal sharp and piercing and painful though it may be. Between me and my world, Christ's sword may pierce with its remorseless edge. He separates me from old sinful habits, from old sinful employments, from old sinful pleasures, from old sinful friendships. He divides me from the society in which I was accustomed to move. 

"Your home is no longer there!" He speaks. And I go out from the familiar surroundings, into an untrodden region and realm. Between me and my nearest and dearest, Christ's sword may pierce pitilessly. Perhaps the loved ones of my own house will have nothing to do with my Redeemer and Lord. Perhaps they see no beauty in Him, that they should desire Him. Then, in the deepest and noblest things, they and I will stand apart, a sundering tide rolling between us. And how immeasurably sad that will be! 

Between me and I, Christ's sword is sure to pierce with a blade that does not spare! The I, the self, which used to be so vain, so confident, so proud must be slain outright! Its days of pride, pleasure and selfishness must end until I can say, "It is no more I who live, but He, my Prophet, my Priest, my King, who lives in me!" What a change that is! What a martyrdom! 

It is painful, this stroke of Christ's sword. But the old confessor was right: "The nearer the sword, the nearer Heaven!" If I am victim, I am victor too. Smitten down by Jesus. I am not destroyed but crowned! 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

Matthew 10:34 ... Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

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Only Two!!

There are only two GATES: One of them wide. Its name is Self. My own desires, my own proud thoughts, my own righteousness, my own beloved and darling sins, my own plans and pleasures. The other gate is narrow. Its name is Christ: Christ sought with repentance and godly sorrow; Christ followed at any hazard. It is the gate of the crucifixion of Self! 

There are only two WAYS: One of them is broad, easy, pleasant, comfortable, pleasing to the flesh, thronged with multitudes, a primrose path, but always trending downward, and bringing disastrous consequences. The other way is difficult and narrow, as it were through a gorge between craggy cliffs which nearly meet, haunted by dangers and enemies, chosen by comparatively few.  The Christian's toilsome pilgrimage and dangerous journey, ah, how the road climbs up and up! 

There are only two ENDS: One of them is destruction, dark, hopeless, irretrievable, the death of peace, the death of hope, the death of every good impulse, the death of the soul! The other end is life.  Life at its fullest, sublimest, sweetest, life without sin and without sorrow, life in the land of life and glory, life in the presence of Christ to all eternity! 

Consciously, deliberately, unequivocally, may I seek the narrow gate, the difficult way, the end which is everlasting life! 

[Alexander Smellie] 

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Matthew 7:13-14 ...  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 25:46 ... And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.❤

Let Me Not Worry!!

Let me not worry, the birds and lilies teach me better. God spreads a table for the sparrows, and clothes the wayside anemones with their exquisite beauty. And I am dearer to Him by far. I, who am made in His image, and for whom His Son has died, and whom He means to dwell with Him in His Heaven, I occupy a larger place in His heart of hearts. 

Let me not worry, it serves no good purpose to fret and worry. I cannot, with all my solicitude, add a cubit either to my stature or to my age. Anxiousness will only plunge me into mental distress and annoyance and sorrow, without bringing me any compensating advantage whatever. It knows how to wound; but ah! it does not know how to heal. 

Let me not worry, a child should have more confidence in his father's wisdom and watchfulness and love. It may be excusable for worldly men and women to worry but not a son in the royal and wealthy family of the King of kings! 

There is no justification for him if he goes worried and burdened during the day and lies down to hours of sleeplessness at night. 

 [Alexander Smellie]

Matthew 6:26  ...  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

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What Does the Lord Require of You?

Simplicity and comprehensiveness mark the requirements of my God. He can abbreviate His demands into the fewest words; but they are words which embrace the inward and outward, the present and future, the earthly and the heavenly. I may fall into serious error regarding His will for me: It is not a religion of ritual observances which He requires. How easily I attach an undue importance to ceremonies and forms, rites and penances and fasts! 

Nor does He solicit primarily a religion of external moralities. God looks on my heart. Nor is it a religion of emotions of which He is in quest. I must not put excitement and tears, in the place of saving grace and childlike obedience. But see, my soul, God asks us to act justly. I cannot be His, unless I do justly. Everything that takes an improper advantage of another, and all that departs from the straightest line of absolute rectitude I must hate and abjure. It is a demand which pierces deeper than it seems. For the integrity of conduct He desires is the outcome only of a conscience He has quickened, and a will He has bent into submission to His law. 

The ethics of the Gospel are preceded and rendered possible, by the redemption and regeneration of the Gospel. And God asks tenderness. He counsels me to love mercy. The world is full of sorrow, and I am to move through it as a good physician, befriending and uplifting those in need. It is what He does Himself. Every glorious quality has its fountain in Him, but pre-eminently the quality of mercy. He is the great Forgiver and the great Helper; no earthly father loves like Him, and no mother is half so mild. So, my feeble torch is but kindled at His altar. 

My charities and philanthropies must be learned in His school, who pardons my ten thousand transgressions! And God asks humility. He commands me to lay my hand in His, and to walk humbly in His company. Nothing is so essential as poverty of spirit. It is the source and spring from which alone runs the fertilizing river of a holy life. The humble heart is where the flowers of Heaven find their congenial soil and grow into beauty and fragrance. I only begin to be a disciple, when my proud heart is brought low, and my Savior is lifted high. 

Now, my Father, if these are to be the features of my soul then it is manifest that none, but You can create them, and can nurture them, and can lead them to their perfection. Do the work Lord and have the glory! 

[Alexander Smellie] 

Micah 6:8 ... He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?❤

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The Great Wilderness!

If I were not a pilgrim journeying through the wilderness, I could not know the refreshment of Elim. If I did not taste the bitterness of Marah, the pleasanter waters of Elim would lose half of their delightfulness. Therefore, I should thank God for the difficult wilderness journey, and the keen afflictions along the way. 

Elim brings supply. The oasis has its twelve springs of water one for each of the tribes in Israel. And if I am journeying under God's leadership, in fellowship with His people, towards His promised land, how many are the aids, and how varied is the provision, with which the King of the way furnishes me! Sunday worship comes week after week. The Word of life and peace is in my hands. I have the Throne of Grace, to which I can resort in all my times of need. There are golden days of peculiar privileges, and sweet fellowship with Christian friends. Never should I be without the living water. 

Elim brings shade. Above the twelve springs of water, rise straight and stately palm trees seventy of them, as many as the seventy years of man's life on earth. They come between me, and the remorseless blaze of the sun. They secure for me a welcome coolness and refreshment. Jesus, our adorable redeemer, is a shade from the blazing heat of divine justice. He is shelter from the just condemnation of my sin, shelter from the cruel onslaught of temptation, shelter from the hardening effects of sorrow, mercy to pardon, and grace to help! 

Elim also brings rest. "They camped there beside the water" and I should do likewise. It may be that the wilderness stretches on every hand, that tomorrow I shall be in the desert sun once more, that the end of my pilgrim's journey is far off. Yet, I have the cheering memory of God's supply and God's shadow to solace me. In my pilgrim journey through this wilderness, hardship cannot be avoided. Yet, I can take my Elim with me through the great wilderness, and I need never lack the "twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees." 

There is something much amiss, if ever my heart ceases to be quiet and confident, and if I ever forget to raise the song that tells of rest beneath the palm-trees and joy beside the springs of water. 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

 Exodus 15:27 ... And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

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His Omnipotent Hand

One writes of Robert Louis Stevenson that, "it was part of his genius that he never seemed to grow old like the rest of us but was a child, a boy, a young man, and an old man all at once." Just so, Jesus bids me to keep the young lamb's tender heart amid the full-grown flocks. I look into the face of the child. There are no hard and haughty lines of pride; there is no blatant self-importance in the features. Humility is written there. 

Can I get back my vanished humility? I can. God the Spirit creates it when, in my conversion, He shows my sinfulness, and teaches me to abhor my vile self! And He fosters meekness more and more, as He confirms in me the conviction that not for a moment dare, I dispense with my Savior and Keeper and Friend. I survey the mind of the child. It is teachable. It is well aware of its ignorance, and it hungers and thirsts for knowledge of every description. And is there a mind anywhere, that God has touched, which does not feel itself in the presence of problems still to be disentangled, mysteries waiting to be unfolded, great tracts of truth of which it knows little?

I have parted with the delusion of my own wisdom. I sit as a child at the feet of my great Prophet, Christ! I peer into the imagination of the child. It lives in a realm of marvels. But as I grow older, I pass out of the magical country. But when I experience the miracles of saving grace, they are more extraordinary than the marvels I have left behind in childhood. My sense of wonder and astonishment are reborn! I remember the affections of the child. They are the shrine of love unbounded and enthusiastic and outspoken love. 

But by and by, I am less frank and more reticent. Convention, if not cynicism, has frozen the love-look in the eyes, and the love-speech on the tongue. Is there anything that will break the ice? Yes, the sight of God's love and grace in Christ will! That brings me back to the spring. That makes my heart grateful, devoted, and affectionate. I note the hand of the child. It is not tremulous and worried. It trusts. It lies in the father's hand, certain that the father will lead it aright. 

Just so, to the same peace and unruffled faith, the new birth should conduct me. Confiding in my adorable Redeemer and Heavenly Father, I ought to have no gloomy fears about either my temporal or my eternal well-being. My feeble hand lies in His; His omnipotent hand is clasped round mine! 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

Romans 8:28 ... And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

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The Antidote For Fear!

God is intensely desirous to rid me of my needless fears. Does He not give me reason after reason for peacefulness, calmness and hope? 

 1. "Fear not," He says, "for I have redeemed you!" What a work it was! What a price it demanded! What a sorrow it involved! It meant the surrender and sacrifice of His Son, His Only Begotten, His Well-Beloved. It meant for the King of Glory, to be born in a lowly stable, with the ox and donkey and camel. After a life of suffering, it meant a stark and dreadful Cross on the Hill of Shame! A Scottish professor, who retained to the last a childlike heart, speaking to his students one day about the atoning sacrifice of Calvary, said, with the tears running down his cheeks, "Ay, ay, do you know what it was? Do you know what it was? It was damnation and He took it lovingly!" It was my damnation, and He took it lovingly! And since God gave all this for me, then how can He ever abandon me? Let my heart be confident and strong. 

 2. There is His understanding of my case. "Fear not," He continues, "for I have called you by name!" He has such multitudes to remember, and yet He knows me individually and intimately! The stars lie along the face of the sky like bright unnumbered dust; but He knows star from star. The flowers spring up in battalions; but not a single flower is "born to blush unseen" He knows it and rejoices in it. There are billions of people in the world today, and I cannot grasp the tremendous aggregate; but He is familiar with each beating soul. Just so, He comprehends my special needs and circumstances, my overbearing duties, my sore temptations, my herculean difficulties, my subtle and persevering foes. Should I not be strong and courageous, when the Lord of Heaven has such perfect acquaintance with me? 

 3. And there is His ownership of my soul. "Fear not," He commands once more, "for you are Mine!" In a sense I was always His possession; but since He purchased me with Christ's blood, I am among His jewels, His trophies, His special possessions, His redeemed children! Why should I be afraid? I am Christ's redeemed child, and He owns and keeps me! 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

Isaiah 43:1 ...But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

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Unspeakable!!

Saved by His mercy, I possess this unspeakable gift, unspeakable on account of its dimensions. Jesus baffles computation, He is so far-reaching and so wide. 

I cannot describe His breadth: He meets all the requirements of my many-sided nature, body, mind, memory, imagination, conscience, will, heart. 

I cannot estimate His length: from eternity past He loved me and through eternity future His love will last, without end, without change! 

I cannot fathom His depth: He fathoms my sharpest sorrow, my bitterest agony, my fiercest temptation, my foulest sin. 

I cannot scale His height: He transforms me into His own holy likeness and will soon bring me to His own presence up and up to the heart and the house of the Father! 

 

Christ is an inexpressible gift which cannot be set forth in detail! 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

 2 Corinthians 9:15 ... Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

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The Print of The Creator's Finger!

Let me walk through the world, so various, so beautiful, so pleasing with an open eye. It is strange that there are many who have no discernment of its wondrousness. They are dwellers in a palace, which has a variety and a magnificence that India's Taj Mahal never possessed, and they are blind to its marvels!  But I would ask for a purged and illuminated vision and then Your works in nature will astonish me. 

Let me walk through the world, which is the many-colored vesture of the Lord, with a believing mind. It is both strange and sad, that men should be atheists in a universe which carries the print of the Creator's finger on each grain of sand, each blade of grass, each beam of light! They are as senseless as one who would go through a large factory, with its complicated mechanisms and machinery, and would say, "I do not believe man exists!"  But I would be wiser than they. 

I would subscribe to William Law's sentiment, "Nature is what it is for this end only that the hidden riches, the invisible powers, the blessings, the glory, and the love of the unsearchable God may become visible, sensible, and manifest in it and by it!" This is a saner conclusion than the atheists. 

And let me walk through the world with a joyous soul. No doubt, there is much in it to fill the heart with painfulness; and pessimism has turned to the strife's and sorrows of creation for proof of its dismal creed. But the goodness of God is written, too, in letters of gold on hill and lake and mountain and forest and stream. Not a sunrise but speaks of His patient and enduring grace! Not a sunset, but stirs the conscience of the sinner, and opens Heaven itself to the saint!  So much of His divine glory, the Almighty Maker conveys by His sunrise and sunset touches, by His flowers and woodland trees, by His vast ocean and starry sky. 

Therefore, let me be strong and of good courage He remembers me, His redeemed child! The sights and sounds of the landscape ought to be preachers and trumpets of the glory of God. In the cool of the day, when I pass through the country fields, or climb to the summit of the hill, or sit and gaze across the sea God and my soul should meet and talk.

[Alexander Smellie] 

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Psalm 19:1-3 ... The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

Psalm 104:24 ... O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. ❤

A New Man in A New World

There is a similar quietness and calm and steadiness as He deals with my soul. So, it is when He first saves me. For the most part, there is no stir when Christ revolutionizes my heart. Yet, as quiet and inexplicable as the work is, it is thoroughly done. 

My mind is illuminated. My conscience convinces me of my sin. My heart is enlivened. My will is subdued. I awake, a new man in a new world of light and love, from which I shall never leave! In the same way, my practical sanctification progresses gradually, rather than by leaps and bounds. 

My ascent up the straight and narrow way to the Celestial City is slower and more agonizing than I had dreamed. My day has cold in it, and tempest, and tears as well as sunshine and warmth. Yet He is ruling within me as the Teacher of my ignorance, the Finisher of my faith, the Gardener who matures my spiritual life, even if my growth takes time and my lot is troubled. 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

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Mark 4:28 ...  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

Proverbs 4:18 ...  But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Psalm 37:23-24 ... The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.

 Philippians 1:6 ... Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: ❤

I See a Cross On the Hill of Reproach!

It is a little flower which I pluck from the garden of John's letter this fragrant definition of God. Yet it suggests mysteries and miracles for which my intellect has no solution. For it carries me away into the dateless years of eternity. Always Love has been God's name; always Love has summarized and crowned God's nature. Deep in His heart it lay through these far-off years. But, even then, it cared for me, and foresaw my sin and bitterness and death and damnation. 

Long before my world was made, God, who is Love, was busy devising my salvation! I look again at John's rose-blossom, and I see a Cross on the Hill of Reproach. Love could not remain pent up in the bosom of God. It broke the confining barriers. "The God of love," Plato said with unconscious prophecy, "would be found one day lying on the city streets, shoeless, penniless, homeless." It is true of my God. 

He gave Himself for me! He became, in this apostle's phrase, the atoning sacrifice for my sins! Again, I lift John's flower, and it awakens in me a glowing hope for myself. There is none so wondrous and powerful as this God of love. I welcome Him and my heart is transfigured, my life is sublimed, I am changed into His image, I dwell myself in love, love becomes my atmosphere and my universe. 

God is Love, Love indwelling me, Love sacrificing and suffering for me, Love melting and conquering me, and making all things new.

 [Alexander Smellie]

1 John 4:8 ... He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.   ❤

The Thief.

"Twas a thief," Robert Browning writes, "who said the last kind word to Christ." 

In the morning the thief was OUT of Christ: far from God and far from righteousness, the helpless captive of sin, the child of despair and death. At noon the thief was IN Christ: remembered graciously by the Savior of the lost, redeemed with an everlasting redemption, endowed with the new heart, and freely and perfectly justified. In the evening the thief was WITH Christ: gazing on the glories of paradise, safe at home with his good Shepherd and adorable Redeemer. 

What a crowded and memorable day this was in his history! So much was pressed into these few hours. Such a glorious and unprecedented transition they brought, from the cruel cross to Heaven's glory! 

OUT of Christ, then IN Christ, then WITH Christ! Nature, then grace, then glory! Hopelessly lost in the far country, then safe under the Savior's wings, then beside the Lord on His glorious throne! Are these the three stages in my spiritual biography? 

I know the first only too well. Am I growing more and more familiar with the second? Is it my joy to look forward to the third? "I ask not the favor given to Paul," Copernicus said, "I seek not the grace bestowed upon Peter but I beg the mercy granted to the thief on the cross!" 

 [Alexander Smellie] 

 Luke 23:42-43 ... And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

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With Me Always

The path in front of me may be full of flowers or full of thorns. Or, as is more probable, flower and thorn may be mingled together. The sky may be light or dark. The weather may be glorious summer or bleakest winter. But I go safely and happily, if the Lord Jesus, who can and will supply my every need, is with me all the days.

Some of the days will be days of discipline of the pruning knife and the cleansing fire. But when He is with me, the discipline is a blessing, and not a curse. It teaches me to grasp His strong right hand with a tighter hold, to pray more earnestly, to find heights and depths of meaning in the promises of God, to feel for others who are in tribulation. Mind and heart and character are bettered by the endurance of affliction.

Many of the days, too, will be days of monotony. They must be spent in little things household labors, common concerns, unnoticed toil. I may long for a more striking and interesting experience. But when He is with me, I know that He makes my life like His own the blessed life He lived among carpenters' tools, and village streets, and peasant people. The drudgery is a love-message, it is Jesus Christ in disguise!

Every day will be a day of temptation. In the home, in the business, in company, in loneliness--I shall encounter the devil's subtle snares. But let my Lord be with me, and temptation will but reveal the closeness and blessedness of the tie. It will be an instrument which He uses to impart more maturity to my graces more courage, more patience, more trust.

Perhaps one of the days will be the day of death. But if He does not leave or forsake me, then death will be an ingredient in the training that fits me for the glorious inheritance! As John Bunyan pictures it--I must cross the 'River of Death' to reach the 'Celestial City'. Jesus did it Himself, and the disciple is not above the Master. His Everlasting Arms will sustain me in the flood; and, on the other side, I shall enter the 'Beautiful Gate' and see His face!

ALL the days He is with me to the end, and through the end, and beyond the end forever and ever! Whether I live, therefore, or whether I die, I am His and He is mine!

[Alexander Smellie]

Matthew 28:20 … Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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God Deals Mysteriously With Me!

Just so, God deals mysteriously with me. His footsteps, His judgments, His methods, are often untraceable, like the untried sea. What though I cannot comprehend all His winding mazes? It is enough that He comprehends. I rest in His wise-heartedness and love.

I know that if He surrounds me with change, He gives me a hold on what is permanent and stable. Every breath of wind, every passing shadow, every ray of sun, alters the sea. And, meanwhile, by God's will, nothing in my life continues unchangeable. The very mutable-ness of things, drives me into closer communion with Himself. Standing on the Rock of Ages, I am rooted in an element that is indestructible.

I know that if He permits me to be assailed by storm, He can keep my heart in peace. It is His decree that I am driven hither and thither over moonless waters by contrary winds. But the certainty is mine, that He makes all things to work together for my good.

He is my holy Father, my unerring Father, my Father of immeasurable grace. He makes no mistakes now, and, by and by He will bring me to His house not made with hands, where I will sing with everlasting joy!

[Alexander Smellie]

Psalm 77:19 … Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

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