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March 8 |
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Morning Reading |
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Evening
Reading |
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"We must through much tribulation enter
into the kingdom of God." |
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Acts 14:22 |
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God's people have their trials. It was never
designed by God, when he chose his people, that they should be an untried
people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never
chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains
of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the
charter of privileges, he included chastisements amongst the things to which
they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were
predestinated for us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars are
fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our
trials allotted to us: he has ordained their season and their place, their
intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect
to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their
predecessors have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember
Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the
"Father of the faithful." Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom
God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of
affliction. It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be
engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King's
vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the
path of God's children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master
has traversed it before them; they have his presence and sympathy to cheer
them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to
endure; and when they reach "the kingdom," it will more than make amends for
the "much tribulation" through which they passed to enter it. |
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Evening Reading |
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"She called his name Benoni (son of
sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand)." |
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Genesis 35:18 |
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To every matter there is a bright as well as a
dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and
death; Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see the mercy of the
child's birth. It is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our
faith triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so
will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes
with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous florets; the stormy
wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark
clouds distil bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of
good is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in
discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a
trial; if there were only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to
their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would
hear it roar. About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we
are apt, at times, like Jacob, to cry,
"All these things are against me."
Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to
anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she
does not fret over the broken pitcher, but rejoices that the lamp blazes
forth the more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty she extracts the
rare pearl of honour, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress she uplifts
the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she
finds treasures hid in the sands; and when her sun of delight goes down, she
turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death
itself appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave,
thus making our dying Benoni to be our living Benjamin. |
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