What a beautiful picture of Jacob’s thoughtfulness for the cattle and the children! He would not allow them to be driven too hard for even one day.

He would not lead them at a pace equal to what a strong man like Esau could keep or expected them to keep, but only one as fast as they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day, and he made that his only consideration in planning their travel. He had taken the same wilderness journey years before and knew from personal experience its roughness, heat, and distance. And so he said, “I will move along slowly, since you have never been this way before” (Joshua 3:4).

We “have never been this way before,” but the Lord Jesus has. It is all untraveled and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all through personal experience. He knows the steep places that take our breath away, the rocky paths that make our feet ache, the hot and shadeless stretches that bring us to exhaustion, and the rushing rivers that we have to cross—Jesus has gone through it all before us. As John 4:6 shows, “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down.” He was battered by every possible torrent, but all the floodwaters coming against Him never quenched His love. Jesus was made a perfect leader by the things He suffered. “He knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of His leading. He remembers all the time and will never make you take even one step beyond what your feet are able to endure. Never mind if you think you are unable to take another step, for either He will strengthen you to make you able, or He will call a sudden halt, and you will not have to take it at all. FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

In “pastures green”? Not always; sometimes He Who knowest best, in kindness leadeth me In weary ways, where heavy shadows be. So, whether on the hilltops high and fair I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where The shadows lie, what matter? He is there. BARRY

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. REVELATION 2:2–3

Our Lord took His apostles aside when they were fatigued, and said, “Let us rest awhile.” He never drove His overtired faculties. When tired, He “sat down by the well.” He used to go and rest in the home of Martha and Mary after the fatigue of working in Jerusalem. The Scripture shows it was His custom. He tells us all—you, and me, and all—to let tomorrow take care of itself, and merely to meet the evil of the present day.

As Elijah slept under a juniper tree, an angel touched him and said, “Arise and eat” (1 Kings 19:5 KJV). God had sent His wearied servant to sleep. In his overwrought condition sleep was his greatest need, and it is precisely under such conditions that sleep is often wooed in vain. Are we ever astonished at the miracle of sleep? Remember you have to do with the same God who ministered to Elijah, and Though thy way be long and dreary, Eagle strength He’ll still renew.

Real foresight consists in reserving our own forces. If we labor with anxiety about the future, we destroy that strength which will enable us to meet the future. If we take more in hand now than we can well do, we break up, and the work is broken up with us.

Bakers of bread for others to eat must be very careful to husband their strength. They are not much seen, but much felt; unknown multitudes would feel their loss, and their failing means others famishing.

We need to take lessons of Sir William Cecil, once Lord Mayor of London. Upon throwing off his gown at night he would say to it, “Lay there, Lord Treasurer!” and forget all the cares of State until he resumed his official garb in the morning. THE GOLDEN MILESTONE

“Be still, and know” (Psalm 46:10)! The Hebrew word for still signifies more than quietness and meditation before God; it means to let the tension go out of our life, just as the great cable holds in place the great steamer until the vessel reaches its channel and can go with its own steam. JOHN TIMOTHY STONE

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.—Touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.—Jesus being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.

When Jesus . . . saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. Jesus wept.—For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.—He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.—When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path.

He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.—In all their affliction he was afflicted; and the angel of his presence saved them.