Sure Possession!!

They are seated on the highest throne of joy, and revel in the sweetest sunshine of delight, who know that God is their sure possession. They who hold Him as their own by the hand of faith have greater riches than earth can give, and surer property than this world can amass. 

[Henry Law]

2 Samuel 22:36 ... Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.

Ecclesiastes 5:19 ... Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

Psalm 34:10 ... The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. ❤

When a Lost Man Dies ...

When a lost man dies: his relatives scramble for his money; the worms scramble for his body; and the demons scramble for his soul! What a fearful and sobering picture this is! The world may dress death in velvet and flowers, but God reveals its true horror for the unregenerate soul. The instant a man without Christ breathes his last, everything he loved is torn from him. His money is left behind, becoming a point of contention and greed among his relatives. The body he once adorned and pampered, is claimed by corruption and decay. And his soul the most precious part of his being is cast into eternal Hell. 

The world's goods, its riches, its pleasures, its pomp, its fame what are all these without Jesus? They are a painted pageantry to go to Hell in! They are a mockery to an immortal spirit. They are like a mirage in the desert, deluding the traveler, but not yielding one substantial drop of joy. "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind!" (Ecclesiastes 1:14) 

Yes! This poor world is a heap of chaff; the only enduring treasure is to be found in Jesus. If you neglect Him, you neglect all that is worth having. For the lost, death is not an escape it is the doorway to everlasting punishment. Jesus spoke more often of Hell than of Heaven, warning us with great compassion: "Fear Him who, after killing the body, has power to throw you into Hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:5) 

The man who lives for himself and dies without Jesus, does not rest in peace. He awakens to eternal torment, where hope never dawns, and mercy is no longer offered. Dear reader, do not be deceived. Life is short! Death is certain! Eternity is near! 

A golden coffin will be a poor compensation for a damned soul! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Hebrews 9:27 ... And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Mark 8:36 ... For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ❤

Opening Flowers

Have you ever watched the development of a rose from the tiny bud to the open flower? The bud held little more promise of beauty, than the foliage about it; but day by day it grew until it was full and round. One day you saw a thread of color promise of the rose to be, peeping through the covering of green. Each morning you saw the thread of color widening until the bud burst asunder and the flower was revealed. 

You looked upon this bursting bud with admiration and delight, though yet you did not see the rose in its full size and beauty. You had to wait until it was full grown and fully open, until it had reached its maturity, before you could behold the complete flower. But in the opening blossom you had the beauty of the mature rose blended with the grace and charm of the bud. Girlhood is the opening flower of womanhood. It has charmed all its own. 

The wonderful change from the child to the woman, the marvelous blossoming of young, healthy girlhood will ever be God's great miracle in life's garden. Like a half-open rose is girlhood. We are charmed, both by the beauty of the bud, and by the wonderful coloring of the rose. We behold the familiar traits of childhood that have always charmed us and held our affections but blended with these in ever-changing variety are the graces and powers of womanhood. 

Do you, dear girls, appreciate the golden days in which you are living? You have your perplexities and vexations, of course yet you are enjoying the merry, carefree days of youth, which are generally the happiest days of the whole life. You are standing "where the brook and river meet," where childhood's days and childhood's toys are put aside, for the greater things of womanhood. 

[Mabel Hale]

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Ecclesiastes 11:9 ...  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

Proverbs 31:30 ... Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

1 Peter 3:3-4 ... Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. ❤

Swept Off

Dear Friend, 

We shall both very soon, I anticipate, be called away from seeing all things through a glass darkly to meeting God face to face and shall have to answer to Him for the deeds done in the body. 

We would certainly exhibit the most inordinate vanity, if we thought that the great mass of our fellowmen would be losers by our being swept off the great chessboard of this world. This board, indeed, is always so crowded that, with the exception of our attached relations and a few friends, the greater number of our neighbors will be glad to know that our being cleared away has left more elbowroom for them. 

Think how soon the world gets over the death of an eminent minister and let us be content that the place that knew us once, shall know us no more. 

[George Wilson]

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Psalm 103:15-16 ... As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.  For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

Ecclesiastes 1:11 ... There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

Ecclesiastes 2:16 ...  For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

Psalm 90:10 ... The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. ❤

Absolute Sovereignty!!

One has stated, "God does not permit things to happen. He purposed all that comes to pass in time, before time began. And all that He ordained from eternity and performs in time, is good." 

Sadly, many in Christendom do not accept the teaching of God's absolute Sovereignty over His world. I offer the following Scriptures without comment, for your perusal: 

"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" Exodus 4:11 

"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand." Deuteronomy 32:39 

"The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts." 1 Samuel 2:6-7

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" Job 2:10 

"For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground." Job 5:6 

"For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal." Job 5:18 "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other." Ecclesiastes 7:14 

"This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them." Jeremiah 32:42 

"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" Lamentations 3:38 

"When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" Amos 3:6

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Tenacious Upon The Mad Pursuit!

Worldly men imagine that there is true excellence and true happiness in those worldly things that they so arduously pursue. They imagine that if they could but obtain them, they would be happy. But when they procure them and cannot find happiness in that then they change their course and look for happiness in some other earthly vanity. 

Hence, they spend their life tenacious upon the mad pursuit! "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" (Ecclesiastes 12:8) But Christ Jesus has true excellence, and so great excellence that when they come to know Him, they look no further, but the mind rests there! "Yes, He is altogether lovely! This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!" (Song of Solomon 5:16)  

A saving knowledge of Christ is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to Heaven, fully to enjoy Him, is the fullness of bliss! He who has Christ, has all that he needs, and needs no more. 

[Jonathan Edwards] 

Matthew 13:44-46 ... Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:  Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

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Lump of Vanity

In reality . . . riches are but dust, honors are but shadows, pleasures are but bubbles, and man is but a lump of vanity, composed of sin and misery. 

[John Mason]

Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 ... Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

Ephesians 4:17-19 ...  This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Psalm 39:11 ... When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. ❤

A Time For Everything ...

A Time to Think: We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thought.

A Time to Act: Express your gratitude for something good that has come your way.

A Time to Pray: Lord, help me to see the blessings that might come from my difficulties. Amen.

[A.W Tozer]

Ephesians 5:16 ... Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 ... To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Philippians 4:8 ... Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ❤

Beliefs...

You are free to believe whatever you want to believe. 

 

But the Scriptures say ... 

 Life is short. 

 Death is real. 

 Hell is hot. 

 Eternity is long. 

 Only Jesus saves.

James 4:14 ... Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Hebrews 9:27 ... And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Revelation 20:15 ...  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 ...  I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

Acts 4:12 ... Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

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Timing ...

God has this supernatural thing called timing. 

 

We may not understand it, but we can trust it. 

 [Toby Mac]

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 ... To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. ❤

Not The Doll or The Rattle

Worldly portions can never satisfy the souls of men. Absalom's beauty could not satisfy him. Haman's honor could not satisfy him. Ahab's kingdom could not satisfy him. Balaam's gold could not satisfy him. Ahithophel's wisdom could not satisfy him. The pharisees' learning could not satisfy them.  Dives's riches could not satisfy him. 

All the world cannot fill the soul; nor can all the creatures in the world fill up the soul with complete satisfaction. Nothing can be the satisfaction of the soul but He who made it. All earthly portions are dissatisfying portions. They do but vex and fret, gall and grieve, tear and torment the souls of men. 

The world is a circle, and the heart of man is a triangle, and no triangle can fill a circle. Some good or other will be always lacking to that man who has only outward good to live upon. The soul can never be at rest, until it comes to rest and center in God. God Himself is the soul's only home. No good but the chief Good, can suffice an immortal soul.

It is the breast and not the doll nor the rattle which will satisfy the hungry babe. And it is God, and not this or that creature which will satisfy the soul of man. 

[Thomas Brooks] 

Ecclesiastes 5:10 ... He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

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All Below is Vanity.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes gives us his experience of the unsatisfying nature of all worldly honors and pleasures. Everything that could please the eye, charm the ear, gratify the taste, or amuse and enrich the mind, was by him, sought and enjoyed. The whole circle of earth's pleasures was tested. But in the end, all is pronounced "vanity and a striving after wind." 

The disappointment results from the very nature of the soul. Its capacity being illimitable no finite enjoyment can fully meet its enlarged desires. Nothing but a faithful discharge of duty and the approving smile of God can make the soul happy. Give the soul whatever you will, gratify every earthly wish, it will still be wretched if it is without God. All below is vanity. 

The consideration that all worldly good must so soon be relinquished, is of itself enough to cast a shadow over its enjoyment. The heart must feel that there is nothing permanent here in this poor world. "Life is but a vapor." All earth-born pleasures are transitory. Death withers every flower as soon as it blooms. Man is too hurried to the tomb, and then forgotten. If then all below is stamped with vanity, then O, let us seek our all in God. Let us relinquish in desire, what we have been accustomed so much to value that the soul may start anew in the race for a prize worthy of her struggles, and which when obtained will amply reward her toils. 

Let us fix our eye on the "unfading crown of glory!" Let us deliberately renounce this vain world and take God for our only and all-sufficient portion! Whether on earth we are known or unknown, honored or despised; let us seek after this one thing: to secure the favor of God, to enjoy His presence, and at last to be with Him and inherit His glorious kingdom! 

[Jared Waterbury] 

Ecclesiastes 2:11 ... Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

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Together.

 If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together.

[African Proverb]

Ecclesiastes 4:9 ... Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. ❤

Nothing On Earth Can Satisfy the Soul!

The senses are but servants to the soul. The soul desires to look and sets the eye to see. The soul desires to hear and sets the ear to hearken. The soul is never wearied. It listens to sweet music, and lingers, longing still for more. When had the soul enough of a sweet flower? When was it ever filled to overflowing with viewing the masterpieces of nature? Nothing on earth can satisfy the soul! It leaves its pleasures with a craving for more. It sighs to increase its satisfactions. It grieves to think how limited all its joys are. 

Oh, there is a longing in the soul; a restless appetite to see and hear, to grasp, to understand; a stretching forth of thought; a yearning principle which spurns the restrictions of the senses. And yet (such is the tribute due to sinful human nature) sense, in its feebleness, keeps down the soul. The soul, with all its energy, cannot overpower sense! How sad, how humbling the condition of fallen man! Yet, child of God, you have no cause to mourn. 

Gifted by grace with higher faculties, you have that with which to fill your soul to the full. By faith you see, hear, and taste better things you see Jesus on the throne of God. By faith you see the "sea of glass," and hear "the voice of harpers harping with their harps." You see Heavenly and eternal realities by faith! My soul, why linger after the things of time when better sights, and better sounds invite you? Or why lament your straitened means, with heavenly powers so unlimited? Then let your eye repose on Jesus! The more you look at Him the longer will you look. The more you look the more will be your power to gaze upon Him. The more you commune with Him the sweeter shall you find His company. Speak much to Jesus you shall not speak in vain. The name of Jesus shall be to you "as beds of spices, and sweet flowers." (Song of Solomon 6:2) 

The whispers of the Spirit, telling of grace and peace, shall ever and always refresh your ear! My soul, these pleasures shall never fail you! Not like the music, that was, and is not with no hand to sweep the chords! Not like the feast of yesterday which is now gone forever! Not like the flowers that once were fragrant and now are fragrant no longer! Not like the beautiful landscape which you have left behind! Your Savior, Friend, and Comforter is ever with you now and to all eternity the same!

[George Mylne]

Ecclesiastes 1:8 ...  All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ❤

Idiots Catching Flies!

Most people are not seeking to escape from the wrath to come; they are busy in worldly things, while Hell is near them. They are like idiots catching flies on board a ship which is in the very act of sinking! 

We see many people busy about their bodies, decorating themselves, when their soul is in ruin. They are like a man painting the front door, when the house is in flames! Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction in earthly things. They will greedily hunt the phantom of wealth, they will travel the pathways of fame, they will dig into the mines of knowledge, they will exhaust themselves in the deceitful delights of sin. And finding them all to be vanity and emptiness, they will become very perplexed and disappointed. But they will still continue their fruitless search! 

Though wearied, they still stagger forward under the influence of spiritual madness, and though there is no result to be reached except that of everlasting disappointment, yet they press forward with much ardor. Living for today is enough for them. That they are still alive, that they possess present comforts and present enjoyments this contents the many. As for the future, they say, "Let it take care of itself." 

As for eternity, they leave others to care for its realities; the present life is enough for them. Their motto is, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" They have no forethought for their eternal state; the present hour absorbs them. Carnal minds pursue with all their might, earth's vanities; and when they are wearied in their pursuit, they but change their direction and continue the idle chase. They turn to another and another of earth's broken cisterns hoping to find water, where not a drop was ever discovered yet! 

[Charles H. Spurgeon] 

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Ecclesiastes 1:2 ... Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 ... Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Mark 8:36 ... For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? ❤

"Go"

 If you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together.

[African Proverb]

Ecclesiastes 4:9 ... Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

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Judgment!!

God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world. Respecting this day several things are noticeable. All shall be judged. Saints, and sinners; great, and small; living, and dead, the servant, and his master; the prisoner, at the bar and the judge who sat on his trial; the assassin, and the assassinated; the seducer, and his victim; the invader, and the invaded; the hireling, and his oppressor; the king, and his subjects; the fool, and the wise man; the persecutor, and the persecuted; the apostate; the hypocrite; the child of God and the child of the devil, shall all be there! 

No one shall be so mighty, and no one shall be so lowly as to elude the eye or the sentence of Him who shall sit upon the throne of judgment! What a massive multitude will this be when prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, saints of all ages; when sinners, liars, infidels, blasphemers, moralists, and murderers shall all be there; when the sea and the dry land shall give up their dead; when death and hell shall deliver up the dead who are in them; when all who lived before the flood, all who have lived since the flood, and all who shall have lived to the end of time, shall stand before God!  This will be the first and the last assembly, in which are found every person whom God ever made. 

To God, it is a certain and fixed day. He has appointed it. (Acts 17:31) Nothing can hasten it; nothing can retard it. The purpose of God concerning it is fixed, unalterable. To all creatures it is an unknown day, "Of that day and hour knows no man; no, not the angels of heaven." (Mark 13:32)   The day of judgment will be THE great day. 

It will be the greatest day in the annals of the universe! It is the day for which all other days were made. This day is so well known to inspired men, that they call it the day, that day as preeminent over all others. It will be the LAST day. After it, time will be no more; time will cease to exist. Duration will no more be measured by seconds, minutes, days, months, years, centuries, cycles; but all will be boundless, shoreless, fathomless, unmeasured eternity! It will be a day of astounding exposures. Villainy will be covered up no more. Every disguise will be taken away. There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hidden, that shall not be known.  It will be a day of intense excitement. There will be no listless spectators of those scenes. Every faculty of the intellect and of emotion will be aroused to the highest possible exercise. 

Men may sleep under sermons concerning the judgment, but they will not be dull when they go to judgment! It will also be a day of final separation. The precious, and the vile; the wheat, and the tares; the sheep, and the goats; saints, and sinners shall no longer mingle together. The separations of this day will be final. The righteous and the wicked shall part that day, to meet no more. It shall be a day of despair to all the unregenerate. Everywhere sinners will be crying to the rocks and the mountains: "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb!" Was ever despair more dreadful than this? This will be a day full of surprise. Not only will it come unexpectedly, but its awards will fill both saints and sinners with astonishment.  So, Christ teaches at length in Matthew 25. 

The wicked will be amazed that they are lost. They will be especially surprised that God sets no value on their self-righteousness. The sons of God will receive more honor than they ever asked or thought of. The sons of Belial will receive more wrath than they ever feared. Christians will marvel why they are saved. Sinners will wonder why they are not saved. Many will be lost, contrary to the opinions formed of them by their neighbors. Many will be lost, contrary to the opinions they had formed of themselves! "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:14)  

The judgment is coming! The Judge stands at the door! The time is short! 

 [William S. Plumer] 

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Meditate!!

We live in stirring days, when deeds are everything when closet work is often neglected for active business, and little time is given to meditation. Yet, with more thought and prayer wholesome activity would be greater in the end, and all our actions more successful.  Time is not lost, which is spent in meditation, in searching wisdom's ways, and seeking out profound realities. There is one who often meditate and yet accomplishes much. There is another who hastens and yet does little. 

None works so heartily, nor reaps so fully as he whose wits are sharpened by prayer and meditation. Reading either Scripture or Christian books, apart from meditation, does little good. It is much the same as not digesting what you eat, this only starves the soul. How many read the Bible thus! 

The art of meditation may be learned by dint of effort. You say, "I am quite unused to meditate. How shall I begin?" Deal gently with yourself at first. Select your subject, some passage from the Word. Then fix the time you choose to give; say, five minutes at a time. Begin, and think aloud. This makes it easier, and saves the mind from distracted thoughts, the hardest task of all. The sound even of your own voice will help you; it is like speaking to a friend.   And what is meditation, but communing with self, that self may be a constant hearer. 

But, more than all, make it a time of prayer of communing with God. This helps the matter greatly. Take the words of Scripture, and ask Jesus what they mean. In doing this, the mind is exercised. A glow of thought attends the effort. You honor Jesus; and He will honor you, by pouring out a largeness of capacity, a quicker mind. The interchange of thought between you and Jesus goes on apace, and you are surprised to find how long the exercise has lasted. Thus meditation grows, the more it is exercised. It feeds the soul, expands the mind, increases thought, and, best of all, it brings you into fellowship with Jesus. This is the very life and soul of meditation. 

 [George Mylne] 

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 Ecclesiastes 7:25 ... I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

 Joshua 1:8 ... his book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

 Psalm 1:2 ... But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

 Psalm 77:12 ...  I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.❤

Do Not Ask.

What are the times, my friend? Who made, who ordered them? Out of whose bosom did they come? Who holds them in His hand? To quarrel with the times, is to find fault with God! He has made them all beautiful in their seasons. (Ecclesiastes 3:11.) 

If they do not please you, whose fault is it? Could you have made them better? Examine well the links which interweave time present with time past, the mysterious chain of providential dealings. Look at the ordering of events, one hanging on the other, in perfect order, though mysterious. Survey the wonders of God's providence, the wondrous workings of His sovereign power. These are the sum and substance of the times: times past, times present, and times future; your times and my times; the times of all men in all ages! 

To change the times, were to derange the ordering of Providence from first to last; to break the golden chain of divine events; to mar the beauty of God's structure. God's dispensations revolve in fixed and sure orbits, all moving, acting, following, in perfect order. To pluck one adverse event away: to change sunshine for rain, or rain for sunshine; sorrow for joy, or joy for sorrow; easy for hard, or hard for easy would be as foolish as to arrest the planets in their course, or sweep a constellation from the skies! 

You say, "Times past were better than the present." Is God less present now than then? Are His paths more difficult? Are His ways less sure? Has His grace, then, changed its character? Is Jesus not the same? Is man less wicked now than then? Does he deserve a milder treatment? Do not compare old times against present times; or your hard lot against the "fortune" of your forefathers. 

Compare your "lot" with your deserts; and say which best befits you: to thank God, or complain of His providential dealings with you! 

[George Mylne] 

Ecclesiastes 7:10 ...  Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.

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Thank God that He has Veiled the Future!

God's purposes have all their seasons of fulfillment. His judgments each have their time of visitation. Mapped out in clear perspective, your every dispensation was fixed from everlasting in the eternal mind of God. Your sunny seasons, and your cloudy days; sorrow and pain, anxiety and lack, your every loss of property or friends all was designed before you ever saw the light. Trials may be in store for you, the thoughts of which would harrow up your soul if you knew they were coming! 

All this is known and ordained by God. What it will be, or when it is to come.  He never tells to His creatures. As lightning strikes for quickness; as wave comes after wave for frequency; so may trials visit you. They are as uncertain as the wind. Yet fixed in divine purpose, and in performance sure they come. From day to day, from hour to hour, who can foretell his future? "Therefore, the misery of man is great upon him!" 

Reader, is this your feeling? Is "therefore" misery great on you? Does it make you brood over possibilities alarmed at the contingency of woes? Would you rather, that all were known before, that you might be prepared for whatever trials and tribulations come? Rather, thank God that He has veiled the future, and deals out His dispensations one by one. The time, the way, the kind, the circumstances are all fixed by unerring wisdom, and by boundless love. It is thus that God is glorified; His power felt; His sovereignty known, free from the trammels of His creatures' will. Matchless in skill; unfailing in resources He thus proclaims His sovereign Godhead. 

The world may murmur, but the saints submit to God's sovereign plan. The world may tremble, but the saints are glad. In all their woes, they see a Father's hand, and a Savior's sympathy. They would not alter it if they could! They meekly leave the future to their God. The times and seasons; the "what," the "when," the "how," the "why" they would not, dare not, know! But these things they do know: that as their days so their strength shall be; that He who counts the stars and calls them by their names will heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds; that divine comforts shall keep pace with worldly sorrows, and that God's grace will be sufficient for every time of need! 

[George Mylne] 

Ecclesiastes 8:7 ... For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

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