May 22

Morning

He led them forth by the right way. — Ps 107:7

Trials and troubles often leads the anxious believer to enquire, “Why is this happening to me? I looked for light but lo, darkness came! I looked for peace but trouble came! Lord, you hide Your face, and I am troubled. It was but yesterday that I could read my title clear; today my evidences are bedimmed, and my hopes are clouded. Yesterday I could climb to Pisgah’s top, and view the landscape o’er, and rejoice with confidence in my future inheritance; today, my spirit has no hopes but many fears; no joys but much distress. Is this part of God’s plan with me? Can this be the way in which God would bring me to heaven?”

Yes, it is even so! The eclipse of your faith, the darkness of your mind, the fainting of your hope—all these things are but parts of God’s method of making you ripe for the great inheritance upon which you shall soon enter. These trials are for the testing and strengthening of your faith—they are waves that wash you further upon the rock—they are winds which waft your ship the more swiftly towards the desired haven.

According to David’s words, so it might be said of you, “so He brings them to their desired haven.” By honor and dishonor, by evil report and by good report, by plenty and by poverty, by joy and by distress, by persecution and by peace—by all these things is the life of your souls maintained, and by each of these are you helped on your way. Oh, do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it. “We must, through much tribulation, enter the kingdom.” Learn, then, even to “Consider it a great joy, whenever you experience various trials.”

“O let my trembling soul be still,
And wait Your wise, Your holy will!
I cannot, Lord, Your purpose see—
Yet all is well since ruled by Thee.”

Evening

Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved. — Song 1:16

From every point, our Well-beloved is most beautiful. Our various experiences are meant to furnish fresh viewpoints from which we may consider the loveliness of Jesus!

How amiable are our trials—when they carry us aloft where we may gain clearer views of Jesus, than ordinary life could afford us! We have seen Him from the languishing of a sick bed, from the borders of the grave—we have turned our eyes to our soul’s spouse, and He has never been otherwise than “all beauteous.” Many of His saints have looked upon Him from the gloom of dungeons, and from the red flames of the stake—yet they have never uttered a bad word about Him but have died extolling His surpassing charms! Oh, noble and pleasant employment to be forever gazing at our sweet Lord Jesus!

Is it not unspeakably delightful to view the Savior in all His offices, and to perceive Him matchless in each, to shift the kaleidoscope, as it were and to find fresh combinations of His peerless graces?

In the manger and in eternity; on the cross and on His throne; in the garden and in His kingdom; among thieves—or in the midst of cherubim—He is everywhere—altogether lovely!

Examine carefully every little act of His life, and every trait of His character, and He is as lovely in the minute as in the majestic. Judge Him as you will—you cannot censure! Weigh Him as you please and He will not be found lacking. Eternity shall not discover the shadow of a spot in our Beloved! But rather, as countless ages revolve, His hidden glories shall shine forth with yet more inconceivable splendor!