"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

"O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee." -II Chronicles 20:12 [KJV] Jehoshaphat did not know what to do; he was altogether at his wit's end; and yet he took the wisest course a man could take. This is the beauty of it; that when we are fools, then we are wise; when we are weak, then we are strong; when we know not what to do, then we do the only right thing.  O had Jehoshaphat taken any other course; had he collected an army, sent through Judah, raised troops and forged swords and spears he would certainly have been defeated! But not knowing what to do, he did the very thing he should do. "Our eyes are upon Thee."   Thou must fight our battles; Thou must take the matter into Thy own hands. Our eyes are upon Thee, waiting upon Thee, looking up, and hoping in Thee; believing in Thy holy name, expecting help from Thee, from Whom...

" My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen Thou me, according unto Thy word." -Psalm 119:28 [KJV] While the wicked are gay, alert, and merry, many of God’s beloved children go bowed down, from day to day, with heaviness of soul. When they compare themselves with the men of the world, under such seasons, they are tempted to write bitter things against themselves, and to pass a verdict in favour of others. Soul! in the heaviest season, and most dejected frame you ever experienced, say, Could you find it in your heart to wish to change lots with them? What! quit your faith in Jesus, and hope of eternal enjoyment of Him—for what? the momentary gratifications and short lived pleasures of time and sense.  Alas! my soul is in such heaviness, that I doubt whether I have either a spark of faith or a ray of hope in Christ. My soul melteth: it bears no image nor impression of any grace, or of the power of any truth. Faith fails: hope decays: my heart sinks. I am burdened ...

"...Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." -Romans 4:25 [KJV] My soul, thou must not yet dismiss—no, nor ever dismiss, the sweet and precious subject of thy Lord's resurrection. One part of it thou hast not yet scarce glanced at; and yet it is such a one as thine everlasting safety, and thy justification before God depends upon. For , as the Holy Ghost hath said, by the mouth of His servant the apostle, If Christ be not risen, then are believers yet in their sins (see I Corinthians 15:17.)   See to it then, my soul, that what this sweet scripture of the morning saith be true, that Jesus was delivered for thine offences, and was raised again for thy justification. While Jesus was on the cross, and when Jesus was taken down and laid in the grave, the payment and the ransom for sin was then discharging. Jesus was then truly delivered for our offences. And when He arose from the dead, then the poor sinner, for whom He ...

"I have poured out my soul before the L ORD ." -I Samuel 1:15 [KJV] How much there is in that expression pouring out the soul before the Lord! Shall I use a familiar figure to illustrate it, as sometimes familiar figures are best adapted to that purpose? Look at a sack of corn; you know, when the mouth of the sack is tied up, there is no pouring out its contents; but let the sack be opened and thrown down, and then its contents are immediately poured out, and the rich grain falls upon the floor. Our hearts are sometimes like the sack with the mouth tied; there are desires, pantings, and longings; there are wants, and these urgently felt; but we cannot give them utterance. As we read, "I opened my mouth and panted." But the Lord in mercy, at times, opens the mouth; and then when the mouth is opened, the heart can pour out its desires, just as the rich grain is poured out of a sack when the mouth is untied. But must not the sack be full before the grain...