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

"Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey." -John 4:6 [KJV] My soul, art thou wearied with the labours of the day, and glad that the evening of rest is come? Look unto thy Lord! Behold Jesus wearied with His journey. As part of the curse, this, among other consequences, seized upon the Lord of life and glory, from the moment He became flesh: "It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren." All the sinful frailties and infirmities of our poor nature; all the calamities to which human life is exposed, in the thorns and thistles which the earth is made to bring forth to man, and the dust of death, into which, as Jesus spake by the Spirit of prophecy, He knew Jehovah would bring Him (Psalm 22:15) .   These were the very conditions to which the Redeemer subjected Himself, in the days of His flesh, when "He was made sin for us Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him : " and hence His whole life was a lif...

"To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace."   - Luke 1:79 [KJV] What was it that moved the divine Father to send His own Son into the world? Was it not the free mercy of God flowing forth from His bosom to His family? Then, what merit, what claim can His family ever have? Their misery is their claim. Their worthlessness, their sunken state, the depth of their fall—these things call forth God's compassion. It is not what I have done for the glory of God; not what I am doing, or trying to do; not my wisdom, my strength, my resolutions, my piety, my holiness . No; my misery, my helplessness, my worthlessness, my deeply sunken state, my fallen condition; which I feel only because of interest in the blood and love of the Lamb—this it is that makes me need God's mercy; and this it is that qualifies me to go to God through Jesus to receive mercy: for "He is able to save unto the uttermost all that com...

"For I, saith the L ORD , will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." -Zechariah 2:5 [KJV] Precious promises these, my soul! and, like all the other promises of our God, are "Yea and amen in Christ Jesus." Is the church, in this wilderness-state, exposed to the ravages of Satan, who goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour? then will God "be unto her a wall," and that "of fire," which (like travellers in the desert, who encircle themselves with fire against the attacks of wild beasts by night) will keep her secure from all approaches. Doth the church, in her poor circumstances, need comfort within? then will God in Christ be "the glory in the midst of her." And hence, all around, within and without, in every direction, and in every way, Jesus will be "the hiding-place from the storm, and a covert from the tempest; and upon all the glory shall be a defence."   ...

"Through the tender mercies of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us." - Luke 1:78 [KJV] By "day-spring" is meant the day-dawn, the herald of the rising sun, the change from darkness to light, the first approach of morn, in a word, the  spring of the day . But what is this "day-spring" spiritually? It is the intimation of the rising of the Sun of righteousness. It is not the same thing as the Sun of righteousness; but it is the herald of His approach; the beams which the rising sun casts upon the benighted world, announcing the coming of Jesus, "the King in His beauty."   This expression was singularly applicable in the mouth of Zacharias. The Lord of life and glory had not then appeared; He was still in the womb of the Virgin Mary. But His forerunner, John, had appeared as the precursor, the herald of His approach, and was sent to announce that the Sun of righteousness was about to arise. "There was a man sent from G...

"Should not a people seek unto their God?" -Isaiah 8:19 [KJV] To be sure they should. My soul, what would become of thee, in thine exercises, hadst thou not had a God in Christ to fly to, and a God in Christ to depend upon? Where wouldest thou find a bosom to pour all thy griefs into, did not Jesus say to thee, as to the sorrowful father, concerning his child, "Bring him hither to Me?" Thou knowest, dearest Lord, that there are circumstances into which I am cast, where none but Thyself can help; and even if help could be derived from man, yet who is there to whom I could seek with a certainty of success? "My friends," saith Job, "have dealt deceitfully, like a brook;" like a brook which, dried up by the summer heat, disappoints the traveller when he most needs supply to slake his thirst. Oh for grace to centre all my desires in Thee, and to seek unto Thee with all my concerns! Blessed Lord! Let that devout frame of David, in the wilderness, b...

"Abide in Me, and I in you." - John 15:4 [KJV] The Lord did not use these words as though there were any power in the creature to abide in Him. But He was pleased to use them that they might be blessed to His people when the Holy Spirit applied them to the heart; for He adds,  "And I in you."   The one is the key to the other. If we abide in Christ, Christ abides in us. It is by Christ abiding in us, that we are enabled to abide in Him.   But how does Christ abide in us? By His Spirit. It is by His Spirit He makes the bodies of His saints His temple; it is by His Spirit that He comes and dwells in them. Though it is instrumentally by faith, as we read, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith;" yet it is through the communication of His Spirit in the soul, and the visits of His most gracious presence. Thus He bids us, encourages us, and influences us to abide in Him by His abiding in us. But His abiding in a child of God may be known by certain eff...

"And the earth helped the woman."   -Revelation 12:16 [KJV] How blessed is it to see the hand of the Lord, when no hand beside can be near to help! And that when our situation is as lonely and forlorn as that of the pelican in the wilderness, Jesus is still near; and we are never less alone than when alone! When the church brought forth her offspring, and hell stood ready to devour it, God sheltered it from his jaws. And when he cast forth a flood to sweep the church away, the earth helped the woman, by opening its mouth, and swallowing it up.   My soul! Look into thine own circumstances, and trace the Lord's dealings, and thou wilt find a great multitude o£ corresponding instances. It is from the inattentive minds of the Lord's people, that mercies so often pass and repass, and they see them not. There are thousands of them in every believer's life, that he is as unconscious of, as the world are of the sweet-blowing flower of the desert, which sheds her rich perf...