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

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi...

"Wherein shall it be known that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight?" -Exodus 33:16 [KJV] Grace is always "found." It is not earned, nor merited, nor worked into; but it is found; and if a man never "found" it, he never had it. It is stumbled upon, so to speak, as the Lord sets forth in the parable of the man who found the treasure hid in a field (Matthew 13:44) . The man was not thinking about the treasure. He was, we may suppose, ploughing in the field. He had no idea that there was gold beneath the clods. But he finds it all on a sudden, in the most unexpected and unlooked-for manner, and for joy thereof "goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." So it is with the way in which grace is found. It comes so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and so sweetly into a man's soul, that when it comes he is like a man who has found something which he had no conception of till he found it.  He had no idea what it w...

"O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?" -Jeremiah 14:8 [KJV] My soul, follow up these holy pleadings with thy Lord. Jesus loves boldness, and not bondage frames. Remember, when thou goest to Him, thou goest to a tried Friend, a long-proved, a faithful Friend, and one that loveth at all times; and He that was and is the hope of Israel, hath ever been, and will be thy hope, thy Saviour, the Rock of Ages; yea, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Is then thy Jesus as a stranger to thee? Are His visits short, and but as the wayfaring man that is hastening on his journey, who, though he stops at the inn for the night, stops only to refresh himself, and takes no account of what passeth in the house? Pause, my soul, it is time to enquire. I hope no shyness has crept in between thy Lord and thee! When ...