Our almighty God is like a parent who delights in leading the tender children in His care to the very edge of a precipice and then shoving them off the cliff into nothing but air. He does this so they may learn that they already possess an as-yet-unrealized power of flight that can forever add to the pleasure and comfort of their lives. Yet if, in their attempt to fly, they are exposed to some extraordinary peril, He is prepared to swoop beneath them and carry them skyward on His mighty wings. When God brings any of His children into a position of unparalleled difficulty, they may always count on Him to deliver them.

THE SONG OF VICTORY

When God places a burden upon you, He places His arms underneath you.

There once was a little plant that was small and whose growth was stunted, for it lived under the shade of a giant oak tree. The little plant valued the shade that covered it and highly regarded the quiet rest that its noble friend provided. Yet there was a greater blessing prepared for this little plant.

One day a woodsman entered the forest with a sharp ax and felled the giant oak. The little plant began to weep, crying out, “My shelter has been taken away. Now every fierce wind will blow on me, and every storm will seek to uproot me!”

The guardian angel of the little plant responded, “No! Now the sun will shine and showers will fall on you more abundantly than ever before. Now your stunted form will spring up into loveliness, and your flowers, which could never have grown to full perfection in the shade, will laugh in the sunshine. And people in amazement will say, ‘Look how that plant has grown! How gloriously beautiful it has become by removing that which was its shade and its delight!’”

Dear believer, do you understand that God may take away your comforts and privileges in order to make you a stronger Christian? Do you see why the Lord always trains His soldiers not by allowing them to lie on beds of ease but by calling them to difficult marches and service? He makes them wade through streams, swim across rivers, climb steep mountains, and walk many long marches carrying heavy backpacks of sorrow. This is how He develops soldiers—not by dressing them up in fine uniforms to strut at the gates of the barracks or to appear as handsome gentlemen to those who are strolling through the park. No, God knows that soldiers can only be made in battle and are not developed in times of peace. We may be able to grow the raw materials of which soldiers are made, but turning them into true warriors requires the education brought about by the smell of gunpowder and by fighting in the midst of flying bullets and exploding bombs, not by living through pleasant and peaceful times.

So, dear Christian, could this account for your situation? Is the Lord uncovering your gifts and causing them to grow? Is He developing in you the qualities of a soldier by shoving you into the heat of the battle? Should you not then use every gift and weapon He has given you to become a conqueror?

CHARLES H. SPURGEON

The hill was steep, but cheered along the way By conversation sweet, climbing with the thought That it might be so till the height was reached; But suddenly a narrow winding path Appeared, and then the Master said, “My child, Here you will walk safest with Me alone.”

I trembled, yet my heart’s deep trust replied, “So be it, Lord.” He took my feeble hand In His, accepting thus my will to yield Him All, and to find all in Him. One long, dark moment, And no friend I saw, save Jesus only.

But oh! so tenderly He led me on And up, and spoke to me such words of cheer, Such secret whisperings of His wondrous love, That soon I told Him all my grief and fear, And leaned on His strong arm confidingly.

And then I found my footsteps quickened, And light unspeakable, the rugged way Illumined, such light as only can be seen In close companionship with God.

A little while, and we will meet again The loved and lost; but in the rapturous joy Of greetings, such as here we cannot know, And happy song, and heavenly embraces, And tender recollections rushing back Of life now passed, I think one memory More dear and sacred than the rest, will rise, And we who gather in the golden streets, Will oft be stirred to speak with grateful love Of that dark day Jesus called us to climb Some narrow steep, leaning on Him alone.

There is never a majestic mountain without a deep valley, and there is no birth without pain. DANIEL CRAWFORD

He found [Jacob] in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.

Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

For this GOD is our GOD for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Who teacheth like him?

He shall choose our inheritance for us.—He led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.—Who teacheth like Him?

We walk by faith, not by sight.—Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.—Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.—Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.—The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He will ever be mindful of his covenant.

He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.—As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.—The same yesterday, and today, and forever.

The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Fear ye not therefore.

Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.—Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.—He bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.—For I am persuaded, that neither . . . height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.

I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.—In his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.—As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him.

Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.—This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Cast thy burden upon the Lord , and he shall sustain thee.—Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.