OCTOBER 1
A WONDERFUL UNBELIEF
Psalm 78:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
"THEY believed not in God ... though He had_______" Let everyone finish that
sentence out of his own experience. How much grace can our unbelief
withstand? The Lord had made the rock like unto a spring of water, and yet
these people believed not! What has He done for thee and me? Let us
retrace the pilgrimage of our own years. Let us recall the blessings by
the way—the streams in the desert, the pillar of fire that led us in the
night. And yet what is the quality of our faith? It is often weak and
reluctant, riddled with timidities, or moth-eaten with worldly ease. It is
not mighty and daring, riding forth every morning like a chivalrous knight
to inevitable conquest. It creeps along, like Mr. Halting, and Miss
Much-Afraid, and Mr. Little-Faith.
“He marvelled at their unbelief.” (Mk 6:6) The Lord Jesus wondered that men and
women, seeing what they had seen, did not immediately spring to the life
and service of faith. Perhaps we do not give time for faith to be born!
Perhaps we do not see because we do not look. Perhaps we are blind to His
mercies and are therefore dead to the faith. And therefore, perhaps, our
first prayer should be, “Lord, that I might receive my sight,” and then
the prayer, “Lord, increase my faith.” (cp Mk 9:24)
OCTOBER 2
HUMBLING OUR PRIDE
Job 38:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
I
WILL demand of thee, and answer thou Me.” When our God begins to ask
questions our pride is soon humbled, for the limits of our knowledge and
power are speedily reached. The mist is very close to our doors, and in a
very few steps we are lost on a trackless moor. Who can trace the real
springs of a tear and lay his hand on the emotion that gave it birth? Who
can lead us into the bright realm where smiles are born? Who knoweth the
way of a frown, or who can uncover the secrets of fear? No living man can
explain his own breathing, or can unravel the mysterious decree which
moves his own finger!
And as there is so much mystery, it must be surely true that mystery is a
very gracious thing. Uncertainty is the divine ministry of blessedness. If
it were not so, He would have told us! “I have many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now.” If it were best for us that the mist
should be removed, He would roll it up like a garment and give us the
light of unclouded day. But the mist remains, the home of blessing. “He
cometh in a thick cloud.” “The clouds drop fatness.”
OCTOBER 3
WATCHING THE CREATOR
Jeremiah 10:10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
HE hath made the earth by His power.” And He is making it still. Even in
the material world “His mercies are new every morning.” James Smetham used
to speak of going into his garden “to see what the Lord is doing.” He
would stand on the top of Highgate Hill on a blustering night “to watch
the goings of the Lord in the storm.” And all this means that to James
Smetham creation was not merely a single event, but a process whose
countless events are still going on. He watched his Lord at work! Every
sunset was a new creation from the Almighty Maker’s hands.
To many of us the Creator is remote from His works. He is not immediately
near. And so He no longer “walks in the garden in the cool of the day.”
The garden is no longer a holy place. Let us recover the sacredness of
things. Let us “practise the presence of God.” Let us link His love and
power to every flower that blows. And so shall we be able to say, as we
move amid the glories of the natural world, “The Lord is in His holy
temple.”
OCTOBER 4
CREATOR AND CREATURE
Isaiah 40:9-28.
LET me mark the range of this teaching. “Who hath measured the waters in
the hollow of His hand.... He shall feed His flock like a shepherd.” And
let me mark it again. “The Creator of the ends of the earth ... giveth
power unto the faint.” Almightiness offers itself to carry my burden! The
Creator offers Himself to re-create me! I can engage the forces of the
universe to help me on my journey. Emerson counselled us to hitch our
wagon to a star. We can do better than that. We can hitch it to the Maker
of the star! We have something better than an ideal; we have the Light of
the world. We are not left to a radiant abstraction; we have a gracious
God.
The water flows from the Welsh hills to every house in Birmingham. Rich
and poor alike share the bounty of the mountains. The wealth of the
mountains comes to the common thirst. And everybody, too, may have the
water from the everlasting hills. “The water that I shall give him shall
be in him.” The river of life will flow to every soul of man.
OCTOBER 5
THE SOUL AND NATURE
Psalm 148:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
"PRAISE ye the Lord.” And the Psalmist calls upon the creation to join in
the anthem. And that is the gracious purpose of our God, that the world
should be filled with harmonious praise. It is His will that the character
of man should harmonize with the flowers of the field, that the beauty of
his habits should blend with the glories of the sunrise, and that his
speech and laughter should mingle with the songs of birds and with the
melody of flowing streams. But man is too often a discord in creation. The
flowers put him to shame. The birds make him sound harsh and jarring. He
is “out of tune.”
What then? “Tune my heart to sing Thy praise.” We must bring the broken
strings, the rusted strings, the jarring strings to the Repairer and Tuner
of the soul. It is the glad ministry of His grace to re-awaken silent
chords, to restore broken harps, to “put new songs” in our mouths. He will
make us the kinsfolk of all things bright and beautiful. We shall “go
forth with joy,” and “all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
OCTOBER 6
HE KNOWETH OUR FRAME
Psalm 103:13-22.
"HE knoweth our frame.” The Bible abounds in such gracious and tender words.
“He remembereth us in our low estate.” “I have many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now.” “He will not permit you to be tempted
above that ye are able.” The burden is suited to our strength. The
revelation is determined by our experience. The pace is regulated by our
years. “He carrieth the lambs in His arms.” He “leads on softly.” Nothing
is done in ignorance. “The Lord is mindful of His own. He remembereth His
children.”
And so I must practise the belief in God’s compassionate nearness. In my
childhood I used to sing “There’s a Friend for little children, Above the
bright blue sky.” I know better now. He is nearer to me than I can dream.
I used to sing “There is a happy land, Far, far away.” Now I sing, “There
is a happy land, Not far away.” The good Father and His home are not in
some remote realm. They are very, very near to me, and He knows all about
me. “He knoweth our frame.”
OCTOBER 7
NEEDING AND WANTING
Acts 17:22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31.
"AS though He needed anything.” “He may not need us; but does He want us?”
Such is the question I heard Dr. Parker ask as he preached upon these
words. And he took up a handful of flowers which he had upon the pulpit,
and said: “These flowers were gathered for me by little hands in a
Devonshire lane. Did I need them? No. Did I want them?... Your little girl
kissed you before you left for business this morning. Did you need it?...
Did you want it?”
And so Almightiness may not need our weakness, but the loving Father wants
His children. “We are His offspring.” Our Father delights in the love of
His children. The Saviour said to a Samaritan woman, “Give Me to drink.”
And perhaps it is within the scope of our holy privilege to refresh the
heart of our Lord. Perhaps we can give Him to drink of the well of our
affections, and He will see of “the travail of His soul and be satisfied.”
OCTOBER 8
GOD’S GLORIOUS PURPOSE
“I have created him for My glory, I have formed him;
yea, I have made him.”
—Isaiah 43:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
THAT is surely a superlative honour! “I have created him for My glory.” I
stood before one of Turner’s paintings, and a man of fine judgment said to
me, “That is Turner’s glory!” He meant that in that picture the genius and
the power and the grace of Turner were most abundantly expressed. And it
is the will of God that man should express His glory, and by his
righteousness and goodness witness to the great Creator’s power and love.
Amid all the wonders and sublimities of earth, and sky, and sea, man is to
be the Almighty’s “glory.”
The contrast is pathetic when we turn from the Creator’s purpose to our
immediate life. There is so much that is shameful, crooked, and perverse.
There is little or nothing of “glory.” But, blessed be God! the purpose
abides, and the Creator’s work goes on. In His redemptive grace He has
made provision for marred work, for spoilt and perverted life. “The
crooked shall be made straight.” “I will bring again that which is out of
the way.” “Where sin abounds grace doth much more abound.”
OCTOBER 9
THE LARGER WATERS
1Thessalonians 4:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
DEATH is not an end; it is only a new beginning. Death is not the master of
the house; he is only the porter at the King’s lodge, appointed to open
the gate, and let in the King’s guests into the realms of eternal day.
“And so shall we be ever with the Lord.”
And so the range of three score years and ten is not the limit of our
life. Our life is not a land-locked lake enclosed within the shore-lines
of seventy years. It is an arm of the sea, and where the shore-lines seem
to meet in old age they open out into the infinite. And so we must build
for those larger waters. We must lay our life plans on the scale of the
infinite, not as though we were only pilgrims of time, but as children of
eternity! We are immortal! How, then, shall we live to-day in prospect of
the eternal morrow?
OCTOBER 10
OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH
Psalm 46:1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
"GOD is our refuge and strength.” And in the varied conflicts and perils of
life we need both these resources. We need the “refuge.” There are times
when our mightiest warfare is to lie passive, to shelter quietly in the
strong defences of our God. Our finest strategy is sometimes to “rest in
the Lord and wait.” We can slay some of our enemies by leaving them alone.
We can “starve them out.” They can be weakened and beaten by sheer
neglect. We feed their strength, and give them favoured chances, if we go
out and face them actively, “marching as to war.” The best way is to hide,
and keep quiet; and “God is our refuge.”
But we also need the “strength.” This is positive equipment for active
service. The defensive is changed to the offensive, and in the “strength”
of the Lord we advance against the foe. We “ride abroad, redressing human
wrongs.” We “tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the
dragon we trample under foot.” We meet our enemy on the open field, and we
slay him in his pride!
And so our God is our resource in the double warfare of active and passive
crusade. In Him we can take refuge, and the enemy withers. In Him we can
find fighting strength, and the enemy is overthrown.
OCTOBER 11
THE OLD COMPANION ON THE NEW ROAD
“Get thee out ... and I will show thee.”
“So Abram departed ... and the Lord appeared.”
—Genesis 12:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
WE must bring these separated passages together if we would appreciate the
graciousness of the Lord’s call. They are like the two sides of the same
shield. They answer each other as voice and echo. When I move in obedience
the Lord moves in inspiration. He never lets me go on my own charges. “All
things are now ready.” Before He makes me hunger the bread is prepared.
Before I thirst the water is at hand. Before He calls me He has opened
springs in difficult places and arbours of rest along the road. When Abram
set out from his own country the Lord went before him.
And so I need not fear the arduous call. The very measure of its
difficulty is also the measure of the riches of the divine provisions. “As
thy day so shall thy strength be.” At every turning of the winding way the
Lord will appear unto us. At every new demand we shall discover new
bounty, and everywhere in the unfamiliar road we shall gaze upon the
familiar and friendly face of the Lord.
OCTOBER 12
ROUND-ABOUT WAYS
Acts 7:1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
"INTO a land that I will show thee.” But what mysterious windings there
often are before that land is reached! But God’s windings are never
wasteful and purposeless. The apparent deviations are always gracious
preparations. We are taken out of the way in order that we may the more
richly reach our end. George Pilkington yearned to go to the foreign
field, and God sent him to a dairy farm in Ireland. But the Irish dairy
farm proved to be on the way to Uganda; and all the experience and
knowledge which Pilkington picked up in this strange business proved
invaluable when he reached his appointed field. “He bringeth the blind by
a way that they know not.”
So I will remember that the “short cut” is not always the finest road.
God’s round-about ways are filled with heavenly treasure. Every winding is
purposed for the discovery of new wealth. What riches we gather on the way
to God’s goal!
“The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.”
OCTOBER 13
THE ROYAL AIR
Galatians 3:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
EMERSON says somewhere that he has noticed that men whose duties are
performed beneath great domes acquire a stately and appropriate manner.
The vergers in our great cathedrals have a dignified stride. It is not
otherwise with men who consciously live under the power of vast
relationships. Princes of royal blood have a certain great “air” about
them. The consciousness of noble kinships has an expansive influence upon
the soul. The Jews felt its influence when they called to mind “our Father
Abraham.”
So is it with men and women of glorious kinships in the realm of faith.
Their souls expand in the vast and exalted relations. “The children of
faith” have vital communion with all the spiritual princes and princesses
of countless years. They have blood-relationship with the patriarchs, and
psalmists, and prophets, and they dwell “in heavenly places” with Paul,
and Augustine, and Luther, and Wesley.
Surely, such exalted kinship should influence our very stride, and set its
mark upon our “daily walk and conversation.” It ought to make us so big
that we can never speak a mean word, or do a petty and peevish thing.
OCTOBER 14
COMMONPLACE PEOPLE
John 1:35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47.
OUR Lord delights to glorify the commonplace. He loves to fill the common
water-pots with His mysterious wine. He chooses the earthen vessels into
which to put His treasure. He calls obscure fishermen to be the
ambassadors of His grace. He proclaims His great Gospel through provincial
dialects, and He fills uncultured mouths with mighty arguments. He turns
common meals into sacraments, and while He breaks ordinary bread He
relates it to the blessing of heaven.
And “this same Jesus” is among us to-day, with the same choices and
delights. He will make a humdrum duty shine like the wayside bush that
burned with fire and was not consumed. He will make our daily business the
channel of His grace. He will take our disappointments, and, just as we
sometimes put banknotes into black-edged envelopes, He will fill them with
treasures of unspeakable consolation. He will use our poor, broken,
stammering speech to convey the wonders of His grace to the weary sinful
souls of men.
OCTOBER 15
THE CALL AND THE EQUIPMENT
Luke 5:27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.
MATTHEW was very weary, and the all-seeing Lord read the signs of his
spiritual dissatisfaction and unrest. As Jesus “passed by” nothing escaped
His watchful eye. He saw a look in Matthew’s eye as of some caged creature
longing for freedom. Matthew’s office, the contempt of his fellows, and
perhaps his own self-contempt held him in imprisoning disquietude. The
Lord knew it all, and one word from Him and the iron gate was open, and
the prisoner was free! “Follow Me! And he left all, rose up, and followed
Him.” With the Lord’s command was conveyed the ability to obey, and
Matthew stepped into “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
And this is the Master’s way. His calls are always equipments. Every
received commandment is also the vehicle of requisite grace. God’s decrees
are also promises, nay, they are immediate endowments. If we reverently
open one of His callings we shall find it a store-house of needed
strength.
And therefore we need not fear the calls of the Lord. They are not the
harsh commandments of a tyrant, they are the loving invitations of a
friend. If we obey them we shall taste the grace of them, and “His
statutes will become our songs.”
OCTOBER 16
THE INSPIRATIONS OF THE PAST
Isaiah 51:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
HERE is a sentence from Lord Morley: “If a man is despondent about his work
the best remedy I can prescribe for him is to turn to a good biography.”
He counsels him to go into the yesterdays to find inspiration for the life
of to-day. Other men’s attainments are bugle-calls to me. “Look unto
Abraham, your father.” Look unto the blessings which waited upon his
obedience! See how springs of refreshment broke out in the troubled way!
God “called him and blessed him.” Rekindle your hope at his radiant
triumph. Strengthen your will in his glorious persistence.
Here do I see God’s mercy in the gift of memory and in the witness of
history. I can turn to the yesterdays for light and quickening. “Do ye not
remember the miracle of the loaves?” Yes, I can recall the grace that met
me in my need, the power that made the crooked straight and the rough
places plain. And I am privileged to turn the pages of other men’s
testimonies and read the record of the Lord’s dealings with them. And so
do memory and history come as helpful angel-presences to my soul.
“His love in time past
Forbids me to think
He’ll leave me at last
In trouble to sink.”
OCTOBER 17
NO QUEST OF GOD
“He inquired not of the Lord.”
—1 Chronicles 10:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
THAT was where Saul began to go wrong. When quest ceases, conquests cease.
“He inquired not”; and this meant loss of light. God will be inquired
after. He insists that we draw up the blinds if we would receive the
light. If we board up our windows He will not drive the gentle rays
through our hindrance. We must ask if we would have. The discipline of
inquiry fits us for the counsel of the Lord.
“He inquired not”; and this meant loss of sight. When light fails, sight
fails. The ponies in our pits become blind. When a spiritual power is not
exercised in the heavenly, it is deprived of its appointed functions. And
the tragedy is this, that the blind are deceived into thinking that they
still retain their sight. “Ye say, we see!”
“He inquired not”; and this meant loss of might. For “the light of life”
is not only illumination; it is inspiration too. It is both light and
heat; it confers guidance and dynamic. When a man, therefore, refuses the
light he becomes a weakling, and he will meet with disaster in the first
tempestuous day.
OCTOBER 18
UNANIMITY IN THE SOUL
“A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
—James 1:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8.
IF two men are at the wheel with opposing notions of direction and destiny,
how will it fare with the boat? If an orchestra have two conductors both
wielding their batons at the same time and with conflicting conceptions of
the score, what will become of the band? And a man whose mind is like that
of two men flirting with contrary ideals at the same time will live a life
“all sixes and sevens,” and nothing will move to purposeful and definite
issues. If the mind flirt with Satan and Christ, life will be filled with
disastrous instability and confusion.
The first thing we need, therefore, for influential and impressive living
is unanimity. Unanimity in the mind is the primary factor in a forceful
life. To bring “all that is within me” into concord, to make every
instrument of the soul bow to one conductor, to lead all the powers into
homage to the Lord—this is the unanimity which assures the perfection of
holiness. “Unite my heart to fear Thy name.” That is the mood which wins
life’s prize, “the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
OCTOBER 19
READY!
“Let your loins be girded about.”
—Luke 12:35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40.
LOOSE garments can be very troublesome. An Oriental robe, if left ungirdled,
entangles the feet, or is caught by the wind and hinders one’s goings. And
therefore the wearer binds the loose attire together with a girdle, and
makes it firm and compact about his body. And loose principles can be more
dangerous than loose garments. Indefinite opinions, caught by the passing
wind of popular caprice, are both a peril and a burden. Many people go
through life with loose beliefs and purposes, and they never arrive at any
glorious goal. “Let your loins be girded about.” Bind your loose thinkings
together with the girdle of truth into firm and saving conviction.
“And your lights burning.”
Be ready for the emergency. When the darkness falls, don’t have to hasten
away to buy oil. Look after your resources, and be competent to meet the
crisis when it comes. Let the light of conscience be burning with clear
flame, like a brilliant lighthouse on a dangerous shore. Let the light of
love be burning, like a lamp which sends its friendly, cheery beams to the
pilgrims of the night. “Our sufficiency is of God,” and the oil of grace
will keep the lights burning through the longest night.
OCTOBER 20
THE LORD AS THE SERVANT
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands,
and that He came forth from God, and goeth to God....”
—John 13:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
19, 20.
AND how shall we expect the sentence to finish? What shall be the issue of
so vast a consciousness? “He took a towel, and girded Himself ... and
began to wash the disciples’ feet.”
So a mighty consciousness expresses itself in lowly service. In our
ignorance we should have assumed that divinity would have moved only in
planetary orbits, and would have overlooked the petty streets and ways of
men. But here the Lord of Glory girds Himself with the apron of the slave,
and almightiness addresses itself to menial service.
And that is the test of an expanding consciousness. We may be sure that we
are growing smaller when we begin to disparage humble services. We may be
sure we are growing larger when we love the ministries that never cry or
lift their voices in the streets. When a man begins to despise the
“towel,” he is losing his kingly dignity, and is resigning his place on
the throne. “I have given you an example that ye also should do as I have
done to you.”
OCTOBER 21
THE CONTRITE HEART
Isaiah 57:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21.
LET us look at this description of the dwelling-place of the Eternal God.
“I dwell with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.”
And who are the contrite? In the original word there is the significance
of pieces of rock or lumps of soil having been crumbled into the finest
powder. Have I not sometimes heard the phrase—“He’s just a lump of pride”?
Well, that pride has to be broken down into the finest powder, until not a
bit of stubborn self-conceit remains. And then the contrite become the
humble! Our gracious Lord has sometimes to use heavy hammers in the
destruction of this hard and stony pride: the shock of calamity, the
battering of disappointment and defeat! Our pride must be ground to
powder. Then He will come in and dwell with us!
And what then? He will “revive the spirit of the humble, and revive the
heart of the contrite ones.” Our broken pride shall be as broken soil in
which our Lord will grow the flowers and fruits of the Spirit. The death
of pride shall be followed by a revival of all things sweet and beautiful.
When pride is laid low, it is a “day of resurrection.” The wilderness
shall “blossom as the rose.”
October 22
THE TRUE STANDARD OF GREATNESS
Matthew 18:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
HERE is our Lord’s estimate of true greatness. How infinite is the contrast
between His standard and the standards of the world! The world measures
greatness by money, or eloquence, or intellectual skill, or even by
prowess on the field of battle. But here is the Lord’s
standard—“Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Those people are greatest who are most like God. We become partakers of
the Divine nature through a child-like relationship to God. The grace and
power of God pour into our souls when we wait upon Him like a little
child.
Child-likeness opens the doors and windows to the incoming of the
Almighty. The child-like is the trustful, and no barriers of cynical
suspicion block the channels of spiritual communion. And the child-like is
the docile, and no boulders of arrogance or self-conceit block the channel
of the invigorating waters of life. And so the child-like become the
God-like, and, of course, they are the greatest among the sons of men. The
little child enshrines the secret of the God-man, and we should be
infinitely wise if we had the little child always in our midst.
OCTOBER 23
MASTERS AND SERVANTS
Matthew 20:20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.
IT is always our peril that we hunger for place more than for character,
for position more than for disposition, for a temporal sceptre more than
for a majestic self-control.
These disciples coveted places on the right and left of the Lord, and they
had little or no concern about their worthiness for the posts.
Temporalities eclipsed spiritualities, fleeting fireworks hid the quiet
stars. They wanted to be great and prominent, the Lord wanted them to be
pure and good. They longed to be Prime Ministers, the Lord purposed that
they should be glad to be ministers, working contentedly in an obscure
place.
Now mark our Lord’s response. “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I
drink of?” They wanted to be the King’s cup-bearers; He offers them to
drink of His cup. They call for sovereignty: He asks for sacrifice. They
crave sweetness: He offers them bitterness. They seek a life of “getting”:
He demands a life of “giving.” Who has a cup of bitterness to drink? Go
and share it with him! Where are the morally and spiritually anæmic? Go
and give them thy blood! “Whoever shall lose his life shall find it.”
Through self-sacrifice we pass to our throne.
OCTOBER 24
“PUSH” AND “PULL”
Lk 14:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10, 11.
THE world canonizes “push.” It eulogizes the “man of push.” It loves to see
a man elbowing his way through the jostling crowd, and gaining for himself
a “chief seat” at life’s feast. He is proclaimed a “successful” man, and
he rises in “the chief seat,” and amid loud hurrahs he responds to the
toast of his health.
Yes, “push” is the word of the world, but “pull” is the word of the Lord,
and between the two there is the difference of darkness and light. “Push”
is selfish and exclusive: “pull” is inclusive and neighbourly. “Push”
takes as its motto, “The weakest to the wall!” “Pull” takes as its motto,
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
The final verdict upon life will be founded, not upon our own success in
gaining a chief seat, but upon our success in encouraging the faint and
the weakling, and in “helping lame dogs over stiles.”
My gracious Lord, help me to put on “a heart of compassion” that by
neighbourly feeling and ministry I may lead my fellows to the choice
places of life’s feast.
OCTOBER 25
THE ROBE OF HUMILITY
1Peter 5:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
LET me, therefore, learn this lesson, that if my Lord should give me
prominence in His church it is not to feed my lust of dominion, but in
order to strengthen and extend the influence of the church’s life.
“Neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making
yourselves ensamples to the flock.”
The only truly imperial purple is the robe of humility. Any other sort of
attire may appear to be kingly, but it has none of the glorious
significance which belongs to our sovereign Lord. When a man puts on the
robe of pride, he immediately belittles his manhood. When a man puts on
the robe of humility, he becomes a greater man.
But humility is more than an imperial robe, it is a complete armour. It is
fine for defence! The devil cannot get at the man who is “clothed in
humility.” There is no chink or crevice through which his deadly rapier
can pierce. And it is equally fine for offence! Wearing this armour we can
go out “redressing human wrongs.” The stroke of pride is ever futile. When
the humble man deals a blow, the power of the Almighty is in his right
hand. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.”
OCTOBER 26
THE LUST OF THE EXTERNAL
Matthew 23:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
PHARISAISM is the lust of externalities, and the utter negligence of the
inward sanctities of the spirit. It thinks more of decorum than of
holiness, more of etiquette than of equity, more of ritualism than of “the
robe of righteousness and the garment of salvation.” Pharisaism lives in
the streets: it does not dwell in the inner chambers of our mystic life.
Pharisaism thirsts for the homage of men and not for the approbation of
God. It is far more alert to the “Rabbi! Rabbi!” of the crowd than it is
to the secret callings of the Lord. The path between itself and the
highest is unfrequented and grass-grown; the path between itself and the
multitude is a well-trodden and barren road.
My Lord, let me be warned! Let me not pervert the ministries of religion
to the aggrandizement of self. Let me not, in appearing to worship Thee,
be seeking the worship of men. Give me singleness of mind. Give me purity
of heart. And may I discover true greatness in seeking greatness for
others.
OCTOBER 27
PAYING HOMAGE TO THE KING
Proverbs 3:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
ACKNOWLEDGE Him.” But not with a passing nod of recognition. I must not
merely glance at Him now and again, admitting His existence on the field.
To acknowledge Him is to acknowledge Him as King, with the right to
control, and as predominant partner in all the affairs of my life, even
the right to give the determining voice in all my decisions. No, it is not
the recognition paid to an acquaintance, it is the homage paid to a King.
And if I thus acknowledge Him, He will direct my paths. Life shall always
be moving on to its purposed end and glory. The path chosen will not
always be the most alluring one, but it will be the right one, and
therefore the safe one, and there will be wonderful discoveries on the
uninviting track.
How will He let me know which path to take? I cannot say. We can never
anticipate God’s ways of dealing with us. But if my life is bent to the
loving acknowledgment of His will, He will assuredly find a way to make
His will known. The light will always reach the willing mind.
OCTOBER 28
PLEASANTNESS AND PEACE
“Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”
—Proverbs 3:13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.
AN the ways of the Lord I shall have feasts of “pleasantness.” But not
always at the beginning of the ways. Sometimes my faith is called upon to
take a very unattractive road, and nothing welcomes me of fascination and
delight. But here is a law of the spiritual life. The exercised faith
intensifies my spiritual senses, and hidden things become manifest to my
soul—hidden beauties, hidden sounds, hidden scents! Faith adds a
mysterious “plus” to my powers, and “all things become new.”
And in the ways of the Lord I shall also find the gracious gift of peace.
Not that the road will be always smooth, but that I may be always calm. I
can be unperturbed when “all around tumultuous seems.” I can journey in
holy serenity, because the Lord of the road is with me. For peace
consists, not in friendliness of circumstances, but in friendship with the
Lord.
OCTOBER 29
THE STORY OF THE PAST
Deuteronomy 31:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.
AND no ears are more receptive to spiritual story than the ears of a little
child. It is not needful to open the gate of interest; it is wide ajar
already. And imagination also is there, ready to busy itself about the
story. And so, too, is the spirit of homage and adoration. The children
are ready for the King! “Suffer little children to come unto Me, for of
such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And, therefore, we have need of wise tellers of the story, who know the
story themselves. And in these delicate regions I must ever remember how
much my spirit shares in the story I tell. My spirit is a friend or a foe
to my power. My words may be well chosen, but they may all be light as
empty shells, devoid of all vitality. My words have just the power of
their spiritual contents. “You cannot fight the French with 200,000 red
uniforms,” said Carlyle; “there must be men inside them.” And we cannot
engage in the evangelization with mere uniforms of words. There must be
spirit inside them, even the spirit of pure and consecrated lives.
OCTOBER 30
A TESTIMONY MEETING
Psalm 34:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
THIS is a little testimony meeting, in which each of the witnesses tells
the story of the Lord’s gracious dealings with him. Let me listen to them.
“He delivered me from all my fears.” His fears held him in dungeons. Even
the noontide was as darkness round about him, and there was no song in his
soul. And the Lord broke open the prison-gate and let him out to light,
and joy, and belief.
“They looked to Him and were lightened.” They looked upon the grace of the
Lord, and were lit up, just as I have seen humble cottage windows ablaze
with the glory of the rising sun. I must “set my face” towards the Lord,
and I, too, shall catch the radiance of His glory.
“This poor man cried ... and the Lord saved him out of all his troubles.”
And these troubles were what I should call “tight corners,” when the life
is hemmed in by unfortunate circumstances, and there seems no way of
escape. Disappointment shuts us in. Sorrow shuts us in. Lack of money
shuts us in. Let me cry unto the Lord. He is a wonderful Friend in the
tight corner, and He will bring my feet into “a large place.”
OCTOBER 31
TWO GREAT MYSTERIES
Psalm 81:1-16
THIS is an unutterable mystery, that a man can close his life against God.
“Israel would have none of Me.” We can shut out God as we can shut out the
pure air. We can bar His entrance just as we can exclude the light from
the chamber. And then the pity is, we can deceive ourselves into believing
that the air is perfectly fresh and that the room is flooded with light.
We lose our fine discernment, and we call evil good, and the darkness we
call day. If we “refuse to have God” in our thoughts God gives us over to
a “reprobate mind.”
And it is an equally unutterable mystery that a man can open his life to
the entertainment of Almighty God. “I will dwell with them!” That is my
supreme honour, that the Lord will be my guest. I can “hearken” to Him,
and “talk” to Him, and “walk” with Him. And He offers me protection. He
will “subdue my enemies.” And He offers me unfailing provision. The Guest
becomes the Host! I put my little upon the table, and lo! I find that “the
cruse of oil fails not, and the meal in the barrel is not consumed!”
