Octavius Winslow, 1856 (edited for
today's reader by Larry E. Wilson, 2010)
Bible Verse
"And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, 'Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.' And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God" (1 Kings 19:7–8).
Devotional
This illustrates one of the greatest principles in the divine life—one of the most wonderful, precious, and influential—the principle of faith: "The just shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4 KJV)
It is in this way the Lord prepares his people for what he has prepared for them in the future of their history. That history is wisely and graciously concealed to them. The path of the future is all unknown to them. A veil of impenetrable mystery enshrouds it from view.
We trace the love of our heavenly Father in all this. For all that you know, there may be a long season of want before you—many a weary stage is yet untraveled, many a new path is yet untrodden, many a battle is yet unfought, and many a temptation and trial are yet unmet. But faith, living upon the nourishment received—in the strength and sustaining power of some view of God which the Spirit has presented, of some especial grace that Christ has meted out, of some higher attainment in truth and experience and holiness, of some profounder lesson learned, of some especial mercy experienced, of some bright realizing view of glory caught—the believer may travel many a long and toilsome stage of his journey to the "rest that remains for the people of God."
Ah! how often has the Lord anticipated the future events of your life by his present dealings! For what circumstances of danger, of trial, and of want has Jesus provided! He well knew—for he had appointed every step and every incident of your journey—the deep and dark waters through which you were to wade, the sands you were to cross, the mountains you were to climb, and the valleys into which you were to descend. That cup of sorrow was not mixed, nor that fiery dart shot, nor that heavy cross sent, before all the necessities it would create and all the supplies it would demand had been thought of and provided for by him who knows the end from the beginning.
And when the voice of love gently awoke you as from the stupor of your grief, you marveled at the table spread, and wondered at the supply sent. And you could not define the reason why so much love took possession of your heart, why so much grace flowed into your soul, why so much nerve clothed your spirit, and why so much hope and joy bathed you in their heavenly sunlight, and shed their radiance upon your onward way. You little thought that this was the Lord's mode of providing nourishment for the journey.
And when the period and event of your life, thus anticipated, arrived, then the recollection of God's preparatory dealings rushed upon your memory. And in an instant you saw how your God and Savior had been graciously and amply providing for the "forty days and the forty nights" solitary travel.
But the life of faith, by which the justified live, fully explains all this mystery.
Sometimes a light surprises
the Christian while he sings;
it is the Lord, who rises
with healing in his wings:
when comforts are declining,
he grants the soul again
a season of clear shining,
to cheer it after rain.
In holy contemplation
we sweetly then pursue
the theme of God's salvation,
and find it ever new;
set free from present sorrow,
we cheerfully can say,
let the unknown tomorrow
bring with it what it may.
It can bring with it nothing
but he will bear us through;
who gives the lilies clothing
will clothe his people too:
beneath the spreading heavens
no creature but is fed;
and he who feeds the ravens
will give his children bread.
Though vine nor fig tree neither
their wonted fruit shall bear,
though all the field should wither,
nor flocks nor herds be there;
yet God the same abiding,
his praise shall tune my voice,
for, while in him confiding,
I cannot but rejoice.
(William Cowper, 1779)
Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.
Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.
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