Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 22

=September 24th.=

_And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Gen. xviii. 17._

Abraham, in communion with G.o.d, knew long before Lot, in Sodom, of the destruction of that city. Oh for more communion!--_Selected._

=September 25th.=

_The life which I now live in the flesh. Gal. ii. 20._

I expect to pa.s.s through this world but once--therefore, if there be any kindness I can show or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pa.s.s this way again.--_Marcus Aurelius._

=September 26th.=

_So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psa. xc. 12._

Every day is a little life; and our whole life is but a day repeated: whence it is that old Jacob numbers his life by days; and Moses desires to be taught this point of holy arithmetic--to number not his years, but his days. Those, therefore, that dare lose a day, are dangerously prodigal; those that dare misspend it, desperate.--_Bishop Hall._

=September 27th.=

_Christ in you the hope of glory. Col. i. 27._

Religion is not the simple fire-escape that you build in antic.i.p.ation of a possible danger, upon the outside of your dwelling, and leave there until danger comes. You go to it some morning when a fire breaks out in your house, and the poor old thing that you built up there, and thought that you could use some day, is so rusty and broken, and the weather has so beaten upon it and the sun so turned its hinges, that it will not work. That is the condition of a man who has built himself what seems a creed of faith, a trust in G.o.d in antic.i.p.ation of the day when danger is to overtake him, and has said to himself, I am safe, for I will take refuge in it then. But religion is the house in which we live, it is the table at which we sit, it is the fireside at which we draw near, the room that arches its graceful and familiar presence over us; it is the bed on which we lie and think of the past, and antic.i.p.ate the future, and gather our refreshment.--_Phillips Brooks._

=September 28th.=

_Wait for the promise of the Father. Acts i. 4._

Tarry at a promise till G.o.d meets you there. He always returns by way of His promises.--_Selected._

=September 29th.=

_This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John v. 4._

The world conquers me when it succeeds in hindering me from seeing, loving, holding communion with, and serving my Father, G.o.d. I conquer it when I lay my hand upon it and force it to help me to get nearer Him, to get more like Him, to think oftener of Him, to do His will more gladly and more constantly. The one victory over the world is to bend it to serve me in the highest things--the attainment of a clearer vision of the divine nature, the attainment of a deeper love to G.o.d Himself, and a more glad consecration and service to Him. That is the victory--when you can make the world a ladder to lift you to G.o.d. When the world comes between you and G.o.d as an obscuring screen, it has conquered you. When the world comes between you and G.o.d as a transparent medium you have conquered it. To win victory is to get it beneath your feet and stand upon it, and reach up thereby to G.o.d.--_Alex. McLaren._

=September 30th.=

_He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways. Psa. xci. 11._

Count no duty too little, no round of life too small, no work too low, if it come in thy way, since G.o.d thinks so much of it as to send His angels to guard thee in it.--_Mark Guy Pea.r.s.e._

[Ill.u.s.tration: October]

=October 1st.=

_At Jesus' feet. Luke x. 39._

At Jesus' feet--that is our place of privilege and of blessing, and here it is that we are to be educated and fitted for the practical duties of life. Here we are to renew our strength while we wait on Him, and to learn how to mount on wings as eagles; and here we are to become possessed of that true knowledge which is power. Here we are to learn how real work is to be done, and to be armed with the true motive power to do it. Here we are to find solace amidst both the trials of work--and they are not few--and the trials of life in general; and here we are to antic.i.p.ate something of the blessedness of heaven amidst the days of earth; for to sit at His feet is indeed to be in heavenly places, and to gaze upon His glory is to do what we shall never tire of doing yonder.--_W. Hay Aitken._

=October 2nd.=

_G.o.d is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in G.o.d, and G.o.d in him. 1 John iv. 16._

_G.o.d is love_; and it is good, as it is true, to think that every sun-ray that touches the earth has the sun at the other end of it; so every bit of love upon G.o.d's earth has G.o.d at the other end of it.--_Mark Guy Pea.r.s.e._

_October 3rd._

_They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Acts iv. 13._

A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently written, but the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of His people. If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we would be pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of Him that the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness": but they would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of Him; he is like Him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every day actions."--_Spurgeon._

=October 4th.=

_Be not afraid, only believe. Mark v. 36._

Be not downcast if difficulties and trials surround you in your heavenly life. They may be purposely placed there by G.o.d to train and discipline you for higher developments of faith. If He calls you to "toiling in rowing," it may be to make you the hardier seaman, to lead you to lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and, above all, to drive you to a holier trust in Him who has the vessel and its destinies in His hand, and who, amid gathering clouds and darkened horizon and crested billows is ever uttering the mild rebuke to our misgivings--"Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldst see the glory of G.o.d."--_Macduff._

=October 5th.=

_Happy is the man whom G.o.d correcteth. Job v. 17._

Happy, because the correction is designed to bring him into paths of blessedness and peace.

Happy, because there is no unnecessary severity in it.

Happy, because the chastis.e.m.e.nt is not so much against us, as against our most cruel enemies--our sins.

Happy, because we have abundant words of consolation.

Happy, because whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.

Happy, because our light affliction is but for a moment.--_George Bowen._