It is thus that God allures us to saintliness. Not giving anything till we have dared to act--that He may test us. Not giving everything at first--that He may not overwhelm us. And always keeping in hand an infinite reserve of blessing. Oh, the unexplored remainders of God! Whoever saw His last star?--_F. B. Meyer._
_That night they caught nothing. John xxi. 3._
God may let the sinful world succeed in their forbidden schemes, but, blessed be His name, He does not allow His chosen ones to prosper in the path which leads them out of His holy will! He has a storm to send after every Jonah, and an empty net for every unbelieving and inconsistent Simon.--_A. B. Simpson._
_They made me keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Song of Sol. i. 6._
Our attention is here drawn to a danger which is preeminently one of this day: the intense activity of our times may lead to zeal in service _to the neglect of personal communion_; but such neglect will not only lessen the value of the service, but tend to incapacitate us for the highest service.--_J. Hudson Taylor._
_We came unto the land whither thou sentest us . . . we saw the children of Anak there. Num. xiii. 27, 28._
It is when we are in the way of _duty_ that we find _giants_. It was when Israel was going _forward_ that the giants appeared. When they turned back into the wilderness they found none.--_Selected._
_Each one resembled the children of a king. Judg. viii. 18._
Frances Ridley Havergal says: "If the King is indeed near of kin to us, the royal likeness will be recognizable."
_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. Psa. xxiii. 2._
This suggests the rest into which our Good Shepherd leads His flock. Life is not all toil. God gives us many quiet resting-places in our pilgrim way.
Night is one of these, when, after the day's toil, struggle, and exhaustion, we are led aside, and the curtains are drawn to shut out the noise, and He giveth His beloved sleep, in sleep giving the wonderful blessings of renewal. The Sabbath is another of these quiet resting-places. God would have us drop our worldly tasks, and have a day for the refreshing of both body and soul. . . . Friendship's trysts are also quiet resting-places, where heart may commune with heart, where Jesus comes, too, unseen, and gives His blessing. All ordinances of Christian worship--seasons of prayer and devotion, hours of communion with God--are quiet resting-places.