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

"Thou God seest me." -Genesis 16:13 [KJV] Why sayest thou, O trembling sinner! "My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?”  The Lord here asks thy reason, and reproaches thy speech (see Isaiah 40:27.) Look at Hagar, and be ashamed of the unbelieving surmises of thy heart. She was a dear child of God: yet she is left to suffer sore distresses. Her mistress treats her cruelly. She flees to a solitary wilderness: here was no eye of pity, no hand to relieve, no friend to comfort her: and, what must add to her sorrow and heighten her distress, she was with child. She fled from her station in providence. But the God of providence follows her,—the angel of the Lord—rather, the Lord, the Angel, the Messenger of the covenant—the Lord Jesus the Saviour. He found her, called her by name, inquires the cause of her distress, and bids her return to her mistress. Hagar knew her Saviour. She sets up a memorial of his sympathizing love for he...

"The waters of Marah." -Exodus 15:23 [KJV] My soul! let thine imagination take wing, and flee thou, this evening, beside "the waters of Marah;"  and while thou sittest down by the stream, see whether thou wilt be able to gather some of the many improving lessons the Holy Ghost brings before the church, concerning that memorable transaction wrought there for Israel. We read in the history of that people, that they had just before sung the song of salvation, on the borders of the Red Sea, when Israel saw that great sight, themselves redeemed, and the enemy swallowed up; and they were now on their march toward the promised land. Three days they had travelled into the wilderness, and found no water; and when they came to Marah, though water was there in abundance, yet they could not drink of it, for it was bitter. In this situation they cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed the people a tree, which when cast into the waters made them sweet. Such are th...

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." -Ephesians 1:3 [KJV] O, could our faith but embrace a little, were it only a little, and O, could we daily come and drink but a few drops of this pure fountain of immortal joy, in the sweet realisation of being blessed, already blessed, fully blessed, unalterably, irreversibly blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, what strength and consolation would it impart to our often cast-down soul! Look at the words; examine them again and again; think over in your mind, one by one, the spiritual blessings that you most covet. Is it pardon? Is it peace? Is it the love of God shed abroad in your heart? Is it the spirit of adoption, enabling you to cry, "Abba, Father?"  Is it communion with God? Is it the enjoyment of His presence and smiles? Is it deliverance from every doubt and fear? Is it a large measure of His fea...