Daily Strength for Daily Needs Part 56

October 29

_Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction_--ISA. xlviii. 10.

Be patient, suffering soul! I hear thy cry.

The trial fires may glow, but I am nigh.

I see the silver, and I will refine Until My image shall upon it s.h.i.+ne.

Fear not, for I am near, thy help to be; Greater than all thy pain, My love for thee.

H. W. C.

G.o.d takes a thousand times more pains with us than the artist with his picture, by many touches of sorrow, and by many colors of circ.u.mstance, to bring man into the form which is the highest and n.o.blest in His sight, if only we received His gifts and myrrh in the right spirit. But when the cup is put away, and these feelings are stifled or unheeded, a greater injury is done to the soul than can ever be amended. For no heart can conceive in what surpa.s.sing love G.o.d giveth us this myrrh; yet this which we ought to receive to our soul's good, we suffer to pa.s.s by us in our sleepy indifference, and nothing comes, of it. Then we come and complain: "Alas, Lord! I am so dry, and it is so dark within me!" I tell thee, dear child, open thy heart to the pain, and it will do thee more good than if thou wert full of feeling and devoutness.

J. TAULER.

October 30

_That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us_.--2 TIM. i. 14.

Oh that the Comforter would come!

Nor visit as a transient guest, But fix in me His constant home, And keep possession of my breast: And make my soul His loved abode, The temple of indwelling G.o.d!

C. WESLEY.

Thy spirit should become, while yet on earth, the peaceful throne of the Divine Being; think, then, how quiet, how gentle and pure, how reverent, thou shouldst be.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN.

I cannot tell you how much I love you. But that which of all things I have most at heart, with regard to you, is the real progress of your soul in the divine life. Heaven seems to be awakened in you. It is a tender plant. It requires stillness, meekness, and the unity of the heart, totally given up to the unknown workings of the Spirit of G.o.d, which will do all its work in the calm soul, that has no hunger or desire but to escape out of the mire of its earthly life into its lost union and life in G.o.d. I mention this, out of a fear of your giving in to an eagerness about many things, which, though seemingly innocent, yet divide and weaken the workings of the divine life within you.

WM. LAW.

October 31

_And Enoch walked with G.o.d: and he was not; for G.o.d took him_.--GEN. v. 24.

Oh for a closer walk with G.o.d, A calm and heavenly frame; A light to s.h.i.+ne upon the road That leads me to the Lamb!

W. COWPER.

Is it possible for any of us in these modern days to so live that we may walk with G.o.d? Can we walk with G.o.d in the shop, in the office, in the household, and on the street? When men exasperate us, and work wearies us, and the children fret, and the servants annoy, and our best-laid plans fall to pieces, and our castles in the air are dissipated like bubbles that break at a breath, then can we walk with G.o.d? That religion which fails us in the every-day trials and experiences of life has somewhere in it a flaw.

It should be more than a plank to sustain us in the rus.h.i.+ng tide, and land us exhausted and dripping on the other side. It ought, if it come from above, to be always, day by day, to our souls as the wings of a bird, bearing us away from and beyond the impediments which seek to hold us down.

If the Divine Love be a conscious presence, an indwelling force with us, it will do this.

CHRISTIAN UNION.

November 1

_Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named_.--EPH. iii. 15.

One family, we dwell in Him; One church above, beneath; Though now divided by the stream,-- The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living G.o.d, To His command we bow: Part of His host has crossed the flood, And part is crossing now.

C. WESLEY.

Let us, then, learn that we can never be lonely or forsaken in this life.

Shall they forget us because they are "made perfect"? Shall they love us the less because they now have power to love us more? If we forget them not, shall they not remember us with G.o.d? No trial, then, can isolate us, no sorrow can cut us off from the Communion of Saints. Kneel down, and you are with them; lift up your eyes, and the heavenly world, high above all perturbation, hangs serenely overhead; only a thin veil, it may be, floats between. All whom we loved, and all who loved us, whom we still love no less, while they love us yet more, are ever near, because ever in His presence in whom we live and dwell.

H. E. MANNING.

November 2

_Wherefore seeing we also are compa.s.sed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us_.--HEB. xii. i.

When the powers of h.e.l.l prevail O'er our weakness and unfitness, Could we lift the fleshly veil, Could we for a moment witness Those unnumbered hosts that stand Calm and bright on either hand;

Oh, what joyful hope would cheer, Oh, what faith serene would guide us!

Great may be the danger near, Greater are the friends beside us.

ANON.

We are compa.s.sed about by a cloud of witnesses, whose hearts throb in sympathy with every effort and struggle, and who thrill with joy at every success. How should this thought check and rebuke every worldly feeling and unworthy purpose, and enshrine us, in the midst of a forgetful and un-spiritual world, with an atmosphere of heavenly peace! They have overcome--have risen--are crowned, glorified; but still they remain to us, our a.s.sistants, our comforters, and in every hour of darkness their voice speaks to us: "So we grieved, so we struggled, so we fainted, so we doubted; but we have overcome, we have obtained, we have seen, we have found,--and in our victory behold the certainty of thy own."

H. B. STOWE.

November 3

_Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another_.--EPH. iv. 25.

In conversation be sincere; Keep conscience as the noontide clear; Think how All-seeing G.o.d thy ways And all thy secret thoughts surveys.