“As thy days, so shall thy strength be” Deuteronomy 33:25

NO man can possibly tell what is before him: but our God knoweth, and He has promised His people strength proportioned to their trials. We should not be anxious, for with the trial comes the strength. Our troubles are very generally to be numbered amongst our mercies. Temporal prosperity without a special blessing from God, will prove to be a curse; and it always brings a solemn responsibility with it. We have always found our God faithful; He always has given strength according to the day; and why should we now doubt? We may look forward and suppose the worst, and then say, “I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my STRENGTH and my song; He also is become my salvation.” We go from strength to strength, and every true believer shall appear in Zion before God. He will perfect that which concerneth us, but will never forsake the work of His own hands. Let us then expect the Lord to give WHEN we want, AS we want, ALL we want; let us believe that our strength will be equal to our burden, to our day. The promise is plain, it is positive, it is sure, and our God is faithful.

God is love, and will not leave you,
When you most His kindness need;
God is true, nor can deceive you,
Though your faith be weak indeed. —James Smith

Over and over I hear people complain about not having any friends. My response is a question–“Do you assume any responsibility for it?” You should. To have a friend you “must” be a friend. But first you need to understand what friendship is.

Someone said, ” Friendship is a principle of mutual interchange and mutual sacrifice. There can be no onesidedness, no selfish engrossment, no taking without giving. Selfishness is the death of social reciprocity and sympathy.” I mention this because a lot of folks don’t understand. They don’t actually want a friendship. When they talk about wanting a friend, what they actually mean is that they want someone to fawn over them, make them feel good, and do them favors. They want a benefactor, not a friend. They want it to be all get and no give. They want to be cherished without any contribution on their part. They want to be blessed without being a blessing. In other words —-“Bless me, but don’t bother me. Leave me alone unless you are helping me”. That’s not friendship! And that’s why you don’t have any friends.

You should want friends. Being social beings we all need friends, so it is well and good to desire them. We need one another, but that need will never be met unless you get concerned about meeting the needs of others. Wait a minute— Isn’t that exactly what every Christian ought to be doing? As Paul said, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”(Phil. 2:4). Do that and you will have all the friends you need. One last word of advice—I’ve discoverd that it is better to have a few true friends than to have a thousand so-called friends. Don’t confuse friendship with popularity.

“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”–Job 14:1
This describes life on planet earth. Of all that might be said, only two things are mentioned— life is of “few days” and “full of trouble”. He speaks of duration and difficulties, brevity and burdens. Life is short and a struggle, uncertain and unpleasant. We are foolish to expect it to be otherwise. A fallen world results in life being of few days and full of trouble. And it is getting progressively worse. Still we are expected to do our duty with delight. Although suffering greatly we are to serve faithfully. Although the road is rough we are required to “rejoice in the Lord alway”(Phil.4:4).

When he says life is “full of trouble” we all agree– if not now then later. There is trouble of all sorts and sizes in all seasons of life. Sin brought a curse upon the earth and it brings disease, difficulty, and death. Thus there is dread and despair. Seeing that it gets worse with the passing of time, who would want to live forever? At some point you would reach a breaking point. So, thank God it is but a “few days”. And it is but a few days whether you die at 9 or 90. Compared to eternity we are here but for a moment. For the righteous death shall be a delight, for “the just shall come out of trouble”(Prov. 30:5).

Your troubles might be terrible but they are temporary–“but for a moment” and transforming–working “for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”.(2 Cor. 4:17). For the child of God the best is always yet to come! When your health and wealth is gone your inheritance awaits. When the storm clouds of sorrow overwhelm you, joy comes in the morning. The best will have, at long last, come and the burdens will go. Until that day appointed comes let us “wait” as Job did (Job 14:14)— ever mindful, in good times or bad, the best is yet to come.

“I am Alpha and Omega” Revelation 22:13

JESUS is the first and the last. He began He carries on, and He will complete the great work of our eternal salvation. He was the first object to which we were directed to look, and He will be the last we shall wish to see. He was the first subject we began to learn, and we shall be learning Him to all eternity. He is first with us in every trial and trouble, and will never leave us nor forsake us. He is the foundation on which we build, and He will be for a covering. We should look to Him first in every trouble, and go to Him first with every want. He includes all that is good, great, and glorious. He that hath Jesus hath all things. Let us begin with Jesus, and then go on with Jesus, so shall we end with Jesus, and a blessed ending it will be. He is our great lesson, and we have learned nothing to purpose until we know Him. Oh, to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, and to be made conformable to His death! Let us endeavor to learn the happy art of looking to Jesus, expecting from Jesus, and glorifying Jesus as our ALPHA and OMEGA from day to day.

Christ is my hope, my strength, my guide,
For me He groan’d, and bled, and died;
Christ is the source of all my bliss,
My wisdom, and my righteousness:
My Saviour, Brother, faithful Friend,
Oh Him alone I now depend.–   James Smith