Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Psa. xc. 1.
You cannot detain the eagle in the forest. You may gather around him a chorus of the choicest birds; you may give him a perch on the goodliest pine; you may charge winged messengers to bring him choicest dainties; but he will spurn them all. Spreading his lordly wings, and with his eye on the Alpine cliff, he will soar away to his own ancestral halls amid the munitions of rocks and the wild music of tempest and waterfall.
The soul of man, in its eagle soarings, will rest with nothing short of the Rock of Ages. Its ancestral halls are the halls of heaven. Its munitions of rocks are the attributes of God. The sweep of its majestic flight is Eternity! "Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations!"—Macduff.
November 15th.
He hath said. Heb. xiii. 5.
If we can only grasp these words of faith, we have an all-conquering weapon in our hand. What doubt is there that will not be slain by this two-edged sword? What fear is there which shall not fall smitten with a deadly wound before this arrow from the bow of God's covenant? "He hath said!" Yes; whether for delight in our quietude, or for strength in our conflict, "He hath said!" must be our daily resort.
Since "He hath said" is the source of all wisdom, and the fountain of all comfort, let it dwell in you richly, as "a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life." So shall you grow healthy, strong, and happy, in the divine life.—Spurgeon.
November 16th.
Not I, but Christ liveth in me. Gal. ii. 20.
The wonder of the life in Jesus is this—and you will find it so, and you have found it so, if you have ever taken your New Testament and tried to make it the rule of your daily life—that there is not a single action that you are called upon to do of which you need be, of which you will be, in any serious doubt for ten minutes as to what Jesus Christ, if He were here, Jesus Christ being here, would have you do under those circumstances and with the material upon which you are called to act. The soul that takes in Jesus' word, the soul that through the words of Jesus enters into the very person of Jesus, the soul that knows Him as its daily presence and its daily law—it never hesitates.—Phillips Brooks.