Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 23

=October 6th.=

_When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Matt. ii. 10._

We who look for Jesus ought to be joyful; it is no credit to our Lord when we look as though we were seeking His grave. The dull looks of Christ's followers have injured Him in the sight of the world. Let us, then, smile as we go, for we have the star if we will look up and put ourselves in the right path.--_Thos. Champness._

=October 7th.=

_When I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me. Micah vii. 8._

If you are willing to choose the seeming darkness of faith instead of the illumination of reason, wonderful light will break out upon you from the Word of G.o.d.--_A. J. Gordon._

=October 8th.=

_I (Daniel) was left alone, and saw this great vision.

Dan. x. 8._

Solitude is the antechamber of G.o.d; only one step more and you can be in His immediate presence.--_Landor._

=October 9th.=

_Come and dine. John xxi. 12._

This morning the voice of the Beloved of our soul is heard giving us His invitation.

"Children," He asks, "have ye any meat?"

We answer, "No; of ourselves we have nothing but hunger and starvation.

O G.o.d, we cannot feed ourselves!"

Then it is that His own sweet voice replies, "Come and dine!"--_W. Hay Aitken._

=October 10th.=

_O Lord G.o.d, Thou knowest! Ezek. x.x.xvii. 3._

Here is the response of faith. "Thou knowest!"--what a pillow for the heart to repose upon! "Thou knowest!"--what few but comprehensive words to sum up and express the heart's difficulties and perplexities and trials. "Thou knowest!"--what an inexpressibly sweet resting-place in the midst of life's tumultuous heavings; in the midst of a sea that knows no calm; in the midst of a scene in which tossings to and fro are the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can find no words to express its big emotions; for a heart whose sorrows are too deep for language to find its way to G.o.d! Oh, that they were ever uppermost in the soul, as the response to every difficulty in our path!

They are G.o.d's answer to everything we cannot fathom; G.o.d's answer for our hearts to rest upon, and our lips to utter, when every way is hedged up so that we cannot pa.s.s. "O Lord G.o.d, thou knowest!" Rest here, believer. Lean thy soul on these words. Repose calmly on the bosom of thy G.o.d, and carry them with thee into every scene of life. "O Lord G.o.d, thou knowest."--_F. Whitfield._

=October 11th.=

_Behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Gen. xxviii. 12._

Think of that mystic ladder, which descends from the throne of G.o.d to the spot, however lowly, where you may be. It may be a moorland waste; a humble cottage; a ship's cabin; a settler's hut; a bed of pain; but Jesus Christ finds you out, and comes just where you are. The one pole of this ladder is the gold of His deity; the other is the silver of His manhood; the rungs are the series of events from the cradle of Bethlehem to the right hand of power, where He sits. That ladder sways beneath a weight of blessing for you. Oh, that you would send away your burdens of sin, and care, and fear, by the hands of the ascending angels of prayer and faith!--so as to be able to receive into your heart the trooping angels of peace, and joy, and love, and glory.--_F. B. Meyer._

=October 12th.=

_Surely G.o.d is in this place, and I knew it not. Gen.

xxviii. 16._

The Parish Priest, of austerity, Climbed up in the high church steeple To be nearer G.o.d, that he might hand His word down to the people.

And in sermon script he daily wrote What he thought was sent from heaven; And he dropped it down on the people's heads Two times one day in seven.

In his age G.o.d said, "Come down and die."

And he cried out from the steeple: "Where art thou, Lord?" And the Lord replied: "Down here among My people."--_Selected._

=October 13th.=

_Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord G.o.d of your fathers giveth you. Deut.

iv. 1._

"Hearken" and "do," that ye may "live" and "possess." This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of G.o.d. We see this all through the inspired volume, from cover to cover. G.o.d has given us His Word, not to speculate upon it or discuss it, but that we may obey it. And it is as we, through grace, yield a hearty and happy obedience to our Father's statutes and judgments, that we tread the bright pathway of life, and enter into the reality of all that G.o.d has treasured up for us in Christ.--_C. H. M._

=October 14th.=

_I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of G.o.d, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Gal. ii. 20._

The man who lives in G.o.d knows no life except the life of G.o.d.--_Phillips Brooks._

=October 15th.=

_Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. 1 Thess. v. 8._

_Faith, love, hope_--these three form the defensive armor that guards the soul; and these three make self-control possible. Like a diver in his dress who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity, and whose head is covered with the helmet of hope, may be dropped down into the wildest sea of temptation and of worldliness, and yet will walk dry and unharmed through the midst of its depths, and breathe air that comes from a world above the restless surges. _Faith_ will bring you into communication with all the power of G.o.d. _Love_ will lead you into a region where all the temptations round you will be touched as by Ithuriel's spear, and will show their own foulness. And _Hope_ will turn away your eyes from looking at the tempting splendor around, and fix them upon the glories that are above. And so the reins will come into your hands in an altogether new manner, and you will be able to be king over your own nature in a fashion that you did not dream of before, if only you will trust in Christ and love Him, and fix your desires on the things above.

Then you will be able to govern yourself, when you let Christ govern you.--_Alex. McLaren._

=October 16th.=

_The word of our G.o.d shall stand forever. Isa. xl. 8._

The Word of G.o.d is the water of life; the more ye lave it forth, the fresher it runneth. It is the fire of G.o.d's glory; the more ye blow it, the clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord's field; the better ye grind it, the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth. It is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth.--_Bishop Jewel._

=October 17th.=

_I spake unto thee in thy prosperity. Jer. xxii. 21._

We shade our eyes with the hand to shut out the glare of the strong daylight when we want to see far away. G.o.d thus puts, as it were, His hand upon our brows, and tempers the glow of prosperity, that we may take in the wider phases of His goodness. It is a common experience that, looking out from the gloom of some personal affliction, men have seen for the first time beyond the earth plane, and caught glimpses of the Beulah Land. Let us not shrink from the Hand which we know is heavy only with blessing.--_Ludlow._