CHRIST JESUS, our Chief Shepherd!

“He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” -DEUTERONOMY 32:10 [KJV]

Christian! see here an emblem of yourself. Where did God find you? He found you in “a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness.” Yes, earth with all its loveliness and beauty is a desert place, until the sinner has been found by God. There is much, it is true, to attract the eye and to gratify the sense; but fair and lovely though it be, in a moral and spiritual view it is “a desert land.” The soul can find in it no sustenance, and no refuge in this desert. In this “waste howling wilderness,” he is surrounded, on every side, by dangers; and exposed to countless perils. But, oh! it is a blessed thing to know, that God seeks out, and finds the wanderer, in the desert; and, when He has found him, “He leads him,” not always by a direct path, to the promised land, but by a circuitous route, and in the right way, to “a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.”

Reader! has God permitted you to encounter the sharp stroke of affliction? Has He taken from you the earthly prop, upon which you were used to lean all too fondly? Remember! God is leading you! These unexpected trials; these heart rending bereavements; are just so many turnings in your pilgrimage. No thorn has been scattered on your path, but what is common to the one family of God. The Shepherd is leading you, as all the flock are led, with a skillful hand, and in the right way.

He “instructs us” in...His love, and faithfulness, and goodness; our own weakness, and His all sufficiency; our impotence, and His omnipotence; our corruption, and His grace; our own frailty, and His steadfastness; our unbelief, and His unwavering faithfulness to His word.

Mark the believer's security, “He keeps him as the apple of His eye.” Such is God’s watchful guardianship over His saints; such His unceasing vigilance. Yes! humble, unknown, obscure believer; dwelling in a lowly cottage, in some sequestered glen, far removed from the hum of human voice or occupation, if only you can say of God, that He is your reconciled Father, you are more to be envied than princes of the earth, for you are in possession of a blessedness, such as no monarch can bestow, no wealth can purchase, no earthly power procure.

Be sure that God, even your God, does not, for a solitary instant, forget or overlook you! Your most trivial actions are not without interest in His sight. Not a hair falls to the ground without your Father. He orders all things, for the discipline of your soul, to prepare you for the glories and the blessings of eternity.

Christian! God has found you! God is leading you! God is instructing you! Oh, then, leave to Him to choose your path in life! As you stand upon the cloudless summits of the heavenly Zion, welcomed by angelic bands, greeted with the loud hosannas of the redeemed, methinks this will prove the theme of your song, “He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” -DEUTERONOMY 32:10 [KJV]

“Is this the way, my Father?” “Yes, my child. You must pass through the tangled, dreary wild, If you would reach the City undefiled, Your peaceful home above.” “But enemies are round!” “Yes, child, I know That where you least expect you will find a foe, But victor you shall prove over all below, Only seek strength above.”

-Gospel report by preacher John MacDuff (1818–1895 A.D.)

“Words of Comfort to the Christian Pilgrim”