Week Thirty-Nine

On to Canaan’s rest still wending,

E’en thy wants and woes shall bring

Suited grace from high descending ;—

Thou shalt taste of mercy’s spring.

Wisdom and philosophy never found out God; He makes Himself known to us through our needs; necessity finds Him out. … The sinner’s heart—yes, and the saint’s heart too—is put in its right place in this way. I doubt much if we have ever learned anything solidly except we have learnt it thus.

We never ought to be discouraged, because the Lord we trust in never fails, nor can. It is just in 2 Timothy, when all was in ruin and declension, that Paul looks for his dear son to be strong in the faith: there never is so good a time for it, because it is needed, and the Lord always meets need.

I have learnt at the cross what God was to me as a sinner; and now I have to learn how He meets my wants as a saint, by feeling my need and bringing it to Him. To be hungry is not enough, I must be really starving to know what is in His heart towards me. When the prodigal was hungry he went to feed upon husks; but when he was starving, he turned to his father’s house, and then learnt the love of the father’s heart.

If we did but know a little more of the comfort and joy of drinking into the fulness of God’s love, we should feel present circumstances to be as nothing.

Whenever there is real need in the wilderness, it is a sin to doubt whether God will help us or not. … Tempting the Lord is doubting the supply of His goodness in giving all that we need.