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

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." -P SALM 103:13-14 [ KJ V] Oftentimes we shock ourselves in our failures and surprise ourselves and others in our weakness and sin. We do this because we naturally think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We are full of self-righteousness and far overestimate our strength, knowledge and wisdom. But though we surprise ourselves and others in our failures and weakness, we never surprise God! We may not know what we are but He does! The word He uses to describe us is “ dust. ” Dust is our origin: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (G ENESIS 2:7) . Dust is what we’ll become again: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, ...

"Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." -P SALM 84:7 [KJV] As the Lord is true, no spiritual pilgrim will ever fall and die in the valley of Baca. Some may fear that through temptation their strong passions or boiling lusts will one day break out and destroy them. No, not if they are pilgrims. "Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." Others may think they never shall have a testimony; they never shall read their name clearly in the Book of Life; the Lord will never appear in their heart or bless their soul; they never shall be able to say, "Abba, Father." If Jesus is theirs, they shall. But are they spiritual pilgrims? Do they find it a vale of tears? Are their faces Zionward? Have they come out of the world? Do they sometimes make the valley of Baca a well? And does the rain fill the pools? And have they ever had strength made perfect in weakness? Then every one of them will appear before God in Zion. Blessed end! ...