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January 21 |
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Morning Reading |
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Evening
Reading |
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"And so all Israel shall be saved." |
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Romans 11:26 |
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Then Moses sang at the Red Sea, it was his joy
to know that all Israel were safe. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid
wall until the last of God's Israel had safely planted his foot on the other
side the flood. That done, immediately the floods dissolved into their
proper place again, but not till then. Part of that song was,
"Thou in thy
mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed." In the last time,
when the elect shall sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the
Lamb, it shall be the boast of Jesus,
"Of all whom thou hast given me, I
have lost none." In heaven there shall not be a vacant throne.
For
all the chosen race
Shall meet
around the throne,
Shall bless
the conduct of his grace,
And make his
glories known.
As many as God hath chosen, as many as Christ
hath redeemed, as many as the Spirit hath called, as many as believe in
Jesus, shall safely cross the dividing sea. We are not all safely landed
yet:
Part
of the host have crossed the flood,
And part are
crossing now.
The vanguard of the army has already reached
the shore. We are marching through the depths; we are at this day following
hard after our Leader into the heart of the sea. Let us be of good cheer:
the rear-guard shall soon be where the vanguard already is; the last of the
chosen ones shall soon have crossed the sea, and then shall be heard the
song of triumph, when all are secure. But oh! if one were absent — oh! if
one of his chosen family should be cast away — it would make an everlasting
discord in the song of the redeemed, and cut the strings of the harps of
paradise, so that music could never be extorted from them. |
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Evening Reading |
Go to Morning Reading |
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"He was sore athirst, and called on the
Lord, and said, thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy
servant: and now shall I die for thirst?" |
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Judges 15:18 |
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Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The
difficulty was totally different from any which the hero had met before.
Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be
delivered from a thousand Philistines! but when the thirst was upon him,
Samson felt that little present difficulty more weighty than the great past
difficulty out of which he had so specially been delivered. It is very usual
for God's people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a
little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and
piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water! Jacob wrestles
with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes "halting
on his thigh!" Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever
we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our
nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly
when he said, "I have slain a thousand men." His boastful throat soon grew
hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of
humbling his people. Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid
very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne
of Israel, he said, "I am this day weak, though anointed king." You must
expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God
has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present difficulty
is only like Samson's thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor
suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of
sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all
along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson's words,
and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long. |
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