Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 8

_Each one resembled the children of a king. Judg.

viii. 18._

Frances Ridley Havergal says: "If the King is indeed near of kin to us, the royal likeness will be recognizable."

=April 9th.=

_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. Psa. xxiii. 2._

This suggests the rest into which our Good Shepherd leads His flock.

Life is not all toil. G.o.d gives us many quiet resting-places in our pilgrim way.

Night is one of these, when, after the day's toil, struggle, and exhaustion, we are led aside, and the curtains are drawn to shut out the noise, and He giveth His beloved sleep, in sleep giving the wonderful blessings of renewal. The Sabbath is another of these quiet resting-places. G.o.d would have us drop our worldly tasks, and have a day for the refres.h.i.+ng of both body and soul. . . . Friends.h.i.+p's trysts are also quiet resting-places, where heart may commune with heart, where Jesus comes, too, unseen, and gives His blessing. All ordinances of Christian wors.h.i.+p--seasons of prayer and devotion, hours of communion with G.o.d--are quiet resting-places.

Far more than we are apt to realize do we need these silent times in our busy life, needing them all the more the busier the life may be.--_J. R.

Miller._

=April 10th.=

_A daily rate for every day. 2 Kings xxv. 30._

One staff aids a traveler, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden.--_Spurgeon._

=April 11th.=

_Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Gal. vi. 2._

However perplexed you may at any hour become about some question of truth, one refuge and resource is always at hand: you can do something for some one beside yourself. At the times when you cannot see G.o.d, there is still open to you this sacred possibility, to _show_ G.o.d: for it is the love and kindness of human hearts through which the divine reality comes home to men, whether they name it or not. Let this thought, then, stay with you: there may be times when you cannot _find_ help, but there is no time when you cannot _give_ help.--_George Merriam._

=April 12th.=

_Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling: for it is G.o.d which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Phil. ii. 12, 13._

It is not your business and mine to study whether we shall get to heaven, or even to study whether we shall be good men; it is our business to study how we shall come into the midst of the purposes of G.o.d and have the unspeakable privilege in these few years of doing something of His work.--_Phillips Brooks._

=April 13th.=

_G.o.d . . . hath s.h.i.+ned in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of G.o.d in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. iv. 6._

Christian! rest not until thou knowest the full, the unbroken s.h.i.+ning of G.o.d in thy heart. To this end, yield to every stirring of it that shows thee some unconquered and perhaps unconquerable evil. Just bring it to the light; let the light s.h.i.+ne upon it, and s.h.i.+ne it out. Wait upon the Lord more than watchers for the morning, for "the path of the just is as the s.h.i.+ning light, s.h.i.+ning more and more unto the perfect day." Count upon it that G.o.d wants to fill thee with the light of His glory: wait on Him more than watchers for the morning. "Wait, I say, on the Lord."--_Andrew Murray._

=April 14th.=

_My soul, wait thou only upon G.o.d. Psa. lxii. 5._

Did it ever occur to you that if you do not hear G.o.d's answer to prayer, it may be not because He is dumb, but because you are deaf; not because He has no answer to give, but because you have not been listening for it? We are so busy with our service, so busy with our work, and sometimes so busy with our praying, that it does not occur to us to stop our own talking and listen if G.o.d has some answer to give us with "the still small voice"; to be pa.s.sive, to be quiet, to do nothing, say nothing, in some true sense think nothing; simply to be receptive and waiting for the voice. "Wait thou only upon G.o.d," says the Psalmist; and again "Wait on the Lord."--_Selected._

=April 15th.=

_Could ye not watch with me one hour? Matt. xxvi. 40._

Oh! ye who sigh and languish, and mourn your lack of power, Heed ye this gentle whisper, "Could ye not watch one hour?"

To fruitfulness and blessing, there is no "royal road"; The power for holy service is intercourse with G.o.d.

--_Selected._

=April 16th.=

_My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. John iv. 34._

Seek your life's nourishment in your life's work.--_Phillips Brooks._

=April 17th.=

_It is G.o.d which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Phil. ii. 13._

Full salvation is to realize that everything we see in Christ, our Example, may be ours, not by imitation, but by reproduction.--_Selected._

=April 18th.=

_Lo, I am with you all the days. Matt, xxviii. 20. (R.

V., margin.)_

"ALL THE DAYS"--in winter days, when joys are fled; in sunless days, when the clouds return again and again after rain; in days of sickness and pain; in days of temptation and perplexity, as much as in days when the heart is as full of joy as the woodlands in spring are full of song.

That day never comes when the Lord Jesus is not at the side of His saints. Lover and friend may stand afar, but He walks with them through the fires; He fords with them the rivers; He stands by them when face to face with the lion. We can never be alone. We must always add His resources to our own when making our calculations.--_F. B. Meyer._

=April 19th.=

_Having . . . boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near with a true heart.

Heb. x. 19, 22._

Oh, the glory of the message! For fifteen centuries Israel had a sanctuary with a Holiest of All, into which, under pain of death, no one might enter. Its one witness was: Man cannot dwell in G.o.d's presence; cannot abide in His fellows.h.i.+p. And now how changed is all! As then the warning sounded: "No admittance! enter not!" so now the call goes forth: "Enter in! the veil is rent; the Holiest is open; G.o.d waits to welcome you to His bosom; henceforth you are to live with Him." This is the message. Child! thy Father longs for thee to enter, to dwell, and to go out no more forever.--_Andrew Murray._

=April 20th.=

_There stood by me this night the angel of G.o.d . . .

saying, Fear not, Paul. . . . G.o.d hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore . . . be of good cheer: for I believe G.o.d, that it shall be even as it was told me. Acts xxvii. 23, 24, 25._