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

"Bow down Thine ear, O L ORD , hear me: for I am poor and needy." -Psalm 86:1 [KJV] Whatever deliverance a man may have experienced, let him have been delivered from the lowest hell, and have had his feet placed upon a rock, yet all his life long he will have this experience wrought in him by the Holy Ghost,—to be "poor and needy." And only so far as he is poor and needy, will he want to know anything experimentally of the riches of Jesus Christ, or to taste the consolations which the Spirit of God alone can communicate to the parched and thirsty soul. How many we find in our day, who are "rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing," and yet they are always speaking and boasting of the riches of Christ. But what can they know of Christ's riches? His riches are for the “poor and needy ; " His blood is for the guilty; His righteousness is for the naked; His perfect work and finished salvation is for those who cont...

"...He saw them toiling in rowing; for the  wind was contrary unto them." -Mark 6:48 [ KJV ]  Jesus always sees our toils and distresses in this world. We do not see Him--and sometimes we think that He has forgotten us; but that is never true. He never forgets us, or is indifferent for a moment. On the heights, while the battle was in progress, stood a group of men watching the struggling armies on the plain below. In this group was the American general Sheridan , who watched the mighty strife with the keen eye of a soldier . King William was also there; but his interest was different from Sheridan's. His son was in the thick of the fight--and he watched the battle with the eye of a father , as well as of a king. Just so, Christ looks down upon our struggles in this world. He sees us straining and toiling ; He beholds all our battles and strifes . He sees us in the waves and in the storm . He sees us, not merely with the eye of the calm spectator --b...