Thoughts for the Quiet Hour Part 6

=Match 15th.=

_I sought Him, but I found Him not. Song of Sol. iii.

1._

Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Him in no other way than by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the l.u.s.t doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Him in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it; it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away.--_Spurgeon._

=March 16th.=

_Come behind in no gift. 1 Cor. i. 7._

The Scripture gives four names to Christians, taken from the four cardinal graces so essential to man's salvation: _Saints_ for their holiness, _believers_ for their faith, _brethren_ for their love, _disciples_ for their knowledge.--_Thomas Fuller._

=March 17th.=

_They rest not day and night. Rev. iv. 8._

O blessed rest! When we rest not day and night, saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord G.o.d Almighty!"--when we shall rest from sin, but not from worship; from suffering and sorrow, but not from joy! O blessed day, when I shall rest with G.o.d; when I shall rest in knowing, loving, rejoicing, and praising; when my perfect soul and body shall together perfectly enjoy the most perfect G.o.d; when G.o.d, who is love itself, shall perfectly love me, and rest in His love to me, and I shall rest in my love to Him; when He shall rejoice over me with joy, and joy over me with singing, and I shall rejoice in Him!--=Baxter.=

=March 18th.=

_They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint. Isa. xl. 31._

The eagle that soars in the upper air does not worry itself as to how it is to cross rivers.--_Selected._

=March 19th.=

_Their eyes were holden. Luke xxiv. 16._

_Their eyes were opened. Luke xxiv. 31._

There is much precious significance in this. The Lord is often present in our lives in things that we do not dream possess any significance. We are asking G.o.d about something which needs His mighty working, and the very instrument by which He is to work is by our side, perhaps for weeks and months and years all unrecognized, until suddenly, some day it grows luminous and glorious with the very presence of the Lord, and becomes the mighty instrument of His victorious working. He loves to show His hand through the unexpected. Often he keeps us from seeing His way until just before He opens it, and then, immediately that it is unfolded, we find that He was walking by our side in the very thing, long before we even suspected its meaning.--_A. B. Simpson._

=March 20th.=

_All things work together for good to them that love G.o.d. Rom. viii. 28._

If our circ.u.mstances find us in G.o.d, we shall find G.o.d in all our circ.u.mstances.--_Selected._

=March 21st.=

_He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Ps. xxiii. 3._

He always has a purpose in His leading. He knows where the bits of green pasture are, and He would lead His flock to these. The way may be rough, but it is the right way to the pasture. "Paths of righteousness" may not be straight paths; but they are paths that lead somewhere--to the right place. Many desert paths are illusive. They start out clear and plain, but soon they are lost in the sands. They go nowhere. But the paths of righteousness have a goal to which they unerringly lead.--_J. R.

Miller._

=March 22nd.=

_And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. Ex. iv. 13._

It was a very grudging a.s.sent. It was as much as to say, "Since Thou art determined to send me and I must undertake the mission, then let it be so; but I would that it might have been another, and I go because I am compelled." So often do we shrink back from the sacrifice or obligation to which G.o.d calls us, that we think we are going to our doom. We seek every reason for evading the divine will, little realizing that He is forcing us out from our quiet homes into a career which includes, among other things, the song of victory on the banks of the Red Sea; the two lonely sojourns for forty days in converse with G.o.d; the shining face; the vision of glory; the burial by the hand of Michael; and the supreme honor of standing beside the Lord on the Transfiguration mount.--_F. B.

Meyer._

=March 23rd.=

_See then that ye walk circ.u.mspectly. Eph. v. 15._

There is no such thing as negative influence. We are all positive in the place we occupy, making the world better or making it worse.--_T. DeWitt Talmage._

=March 24th.=

_She took for him an ark of bulrushes . . . and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. Ex. ii. 3._

The mother of Moses laid the ark in the flags by the river's brink. Ay, but before doing so, she laid it on the heart of G.o.d! She could not have laid it so courageously upon the Nile, if she had not first devoutly laid it upon the care and love of G.o.d.

We are often surprised at the outward calmness of men who are called upon to do unpleasant and most trying deeds; but could we have seen them in secret, we should have known the moral preparation which they underwent before coming out to be seen by men. Be right in the sanctuary, if you would be right in the market-place. Be steadfast in prayer, if you would be calm in affliction. Start your race from the throne of G.o.d itself, if you would run well, and win the prize.--_Joseph Parker._

=March 25th.=

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

By lifting the burdens of others we lose our own.--_Selected._

=March 26th.=

_I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.

John xvii. 4._

Was the work of the Master indeed done? Was not its heaviest task yet to come? He had not yet met the dread hour of death. Why did He say that His work was done? It was because He knew that, when the will is given, the battle is ended. He was only in the shadows of the garden; but to conquer these shadows was already to conquer all. He who has willed to die has already triumphed over death. All that remains to Him is but the outer husk, the sh.e.l.l.

The cup which our Father giveth us to drink is a cup for the will. It is easy for the lips to drain it when once the heart has accepted it. Not on the heights of Calvary, but in the shadows of Gethsemane is the cup presented; the act is easy after the choice. The real battle-field is in the silence of the spirit. Conquer there, and thou art crowned.--_George Matheson._

=March 27th.=

_A great mult.i.tude . . . stood before the throne. Rev.

vii. 9._