“The Lord hath blessed me hitherto.”— Joshua 17:14

Believer, cannot you join with the children of Joseph this morning, and bear a similar testimony? Thy God hath blessed thee in Jesus, and through Jesus; look back to the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you were digged; call to mind the time and place, when and where thy God first led thee to cry for mercy, and seek for salvation; remember the distress and bondage felt before mercy was manifested; and then remember how your soul was delivered, and the comforts of the Holy Ghost imparted. Think of thy difficulties and dangers, thy trials and fears, the deliverances the Lord has wrought, the favour He hath shown, and the comforts He has imparted: and surely you will gratefully acknowledge, HE HATH BLESSED ME HITHERTO. He promised to bless, and you have found Him faithful. He has manifested a father’s love, and a mother’s tenderness in dealing with you. But what have been your returns? Oh, be humble, for you have been ungrateful! But cleave to Jesus, for God gives no blessing but by and through Him.–James Smith, 1840

Jesus found me, vile and guilty,
I had broken all His laws;
When He look’d, He saw me filthy;
All corrupt my nature was:
Mine appear’d a hopeless case,-
Such it had been, but for grace.

“Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.”— Isaiah 54:17

The longer the Christian lives, the more he learns; and the more the Spirit teaches him, the more he loathes himself and renounces his own righteousness as filthy rags. He hoped sensibly to grow in holiness, to feel his corruptions subdued, and to enjoy without interruption the presence of his God; but instead of this he seems to grow more like Satan, corruption appears to get stronger and stronger, and the depravity of his nature appears so dreadful, that he enjoys scarcely anything. He thinks himself a monster of iniquity, and wonders how God can possibly love him, or show any favor unto him. This experience endears free grace, renders Christ unspeakably precious, and the gift of righteousness invaluable. How can such a man be just before God? Where is his righteousness to come from? Jehovah answers, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF ME. Jesus wrought it; the Father imputes it to us; the gospel reveals it; and faith receives it, puts it on, and pleads it before God. O Jesus! in Thee have I righteousness and strength.– James Smith, 1840

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame;
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name;
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

“Rejoice in the Lord alway.” Philippians 4:4

THIS is a very difficult precept; sometimes the Lord hides His face; we fear and doubt our interest in His love; we are almost bewildered through the powerful workings of corruption within us; we are bowed down by Satan’s sore temptations; and the dispensations of providence are so perplexing, that we are ready to cry out, All things are against us. But we are not bidden to rejoice in frames and feelings, or in the dispensations of providence, but in the Lord. He has loved us with an everlasting love, and His love is immutably the same; He is our God in Jesus, and has promised to be unto us, to do for us, and freely give us, all that our circumstances require, or that will be for our good and His glory. In weakness we may rejoice in His power; in darkness we may rejoice that He knoweth our path; in sickness and sorrow, that He careth for us; and under any circumstances, in His covenant relations; for He is always our Father, Friend, and God. We should rejoice in His free grace, rich mercy, omnipotent power, faithful promises, special providence, and unchangeable love.

Rejoice in glorious hope!
Jesus, the Judge, shall come,
And take His servants up
To their eternal home;
We soon shall hear the archangel’s voice,-
The trump of God shall sound, REJOICE.

“I, even I, am He that comforteth you….” Isaiah 51:12

How does God comfort us? Suppose you are in some great trouble–how will God comfort you?

God comforts us by showing us the necessity of that trouble. Do you ever think of this–that there is NO CHANCE? Not a pang can pierce the heart of His redeemed child, for which there is not a needs-be!
Not an ache can gnaw the frame;
not a grief can pierce the heart;
not a shadow can darken the soul–
which is not permitted because there was a needs-be!

It is comfort to know that no affliction is random, that no bereavement is accident–but that each is sent because it was a medicine essential for our spiritual health and happiness. Thus God comforts us.

God comforts us in affliction, by revealing to us what is the source of trouble. We are told that not a trouble can befall us that has not been first in God’s bosom; that not a tear can start in the eye that He has not first planned, and estimated, and weighed, and pronounced to be expedient for us.

Admit for one moment, that chance is the parent of your troubles–that accident is the author of your bereavements–and what a gloomy place must this world be! What a sad heart must the mourner’s be! What an unhappy man must the victim of trouble be! But when we know that the blow that strikes the heaviest, is from our Father’s hand; that the sorrow that pierces the heart with the keenest agony, lay in His bosom before it received its mission to touch us–then surely it is a truth, “I, even I, am He that comforteth you!”

God comforts us by showing us the end of that trouble. If the sorrows, bereavements, disappointments, griefs, secret and open, had no end, and no grand object, and no great purpose to accomplish–then they would be intolerable. But He tells us, “Though no tribulation for the present seems joyous, but grievous–yet afterwards it works out the peaceable fruits of righteousness to those who are exercised thereby.” He tells us that “Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for us a far more exceeding, even an eternal weight of glory.” “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

And therefore the necessity, the source, and the end of our troubles, revealed to us by God–take away the edge of them, and make at least tolerable that which, if inexplicable, would be altogether intolerable.

Lastly, He will comfort us by delivering us from all our troubles, and introducing us into a glorious rest–more bright and beautiful than eye has seen, or ear has heard, or man’s heart in its happiest imaginings has ever conceived!–John Cummin

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted….” Psalm 119:71

There are some mistaken notions current concerning the ways in which God would help us. People think that whenever they have a little trouble, a bit of hard path to go over, a load to carry, a sorrow to endure—all they have to do is to call upon God, and He will at once take away their sorrow, or free them from the trouble. But this is not the way God helps us! His purpose of love concerning us is—not to make all things easy for us—but to make something of us!

When we ask God to save us from our trouble, to take the struggles out of our life, to make the paths mossy, to lift off every heavy load—He will not do it! It would be most unloving in Him to accommodate us. We must carry the burden ourselves! All God promises is, to sustain us—as we carry it! He wants us to learn life’s lessons, and to do this—we must be left to work out the problems for ourselves.

There are rich blessings which can be gotten, only in sorrow. It would be short-sighted love indeed—which would heed our cries, and spare us from sorrow—and thus deprive us of the wonderful blessings which can be gotten only in sorrow! God is too good to us to answer our prayers—which would save us from pain, cost, and sacrifice today—at the price of holier, better, truer life in the end. He would not rob us of the blessing that is in the burden—which we can get only by carrying it!–J R Miller