The Harp

"I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy" (2 Cor. 11:2) Weymouth

How an old harper dotes on his harp! How he fondles and caresses it, as a child resting on his bosom! His life is bound up in it. But, see him tuning it. He grasps it firmly, strikes a chord with a sharp, quick blow; and while it quivers as if in pain, he leans over intently to catch the first note that rises. The note, as he feared, is false and harsh. He strains the chord with the torturing thumb-screw; and though it seems ready to snap with the tension, he strikes it again, bending down to listen softly as before, till at length you see a smile on his face as the first true tone trembles upward.

So it may be that God is dealing with you. Loving you better than any harper loves his harp, He finds you a mass of jarring discords. He wrings your heartstrings with some torturing anguish; He bends over you tenderly, striking and listening; and, hearing only a harsh murmur, strikes you again, while His heart bleeds for you, anxiously waiting for that strain--"Not my will, but thine be done"--which is melody sweet to His ear as angels' songs. Nor will He cease to strike until your chastened soul shall blend with all the pure and infinite harmonies of His own being. --Selected.

THE WHOLE HEART

"With my whole heart have I sought Thee."¡XPs. cxix. 10.

Notice how often the Psalmist speaks here of the whole heart. "They that seek Him with the whole heart" (ver. 2) "I shall observe Thy law with my whole heart" (ver. 34). "I will keep Thy precepts with my whole heart" (ver. 69). "I cried with my whole heart" (ver. 145). In seeking God, in observing His law, in crying for His help¡Xeach time it is with the whole heart.

When we want to make anything a success in worldly affairs, we put our whole heart into it. And is this not much more necessary in the service of an holy God? Is He not worthy? Does not His great holiness, and the natural aversion of our hearts from God demand it? The whole heart is needed in the service of God when we worship him in secret.

And yet how little most Christians think of this. They do not remember how necessary it is¡Xin prayer, in reading God's Word, in striving to do His will¡Xto say continually: "With my whole heart have I sought Thee. Yes, when we pray, and when we try to understand God's word, and to obey His commands let us say: I desire to seek God, to serve Him and to please Him with my whole heart.

"With my whole heart have I sought Thee." Dear reader, take this word into your heart. Think over it. Pray over it. Speak it out before God until you feel, I really mean what I say, and I have the assurance that God will hear my prayer. Say it each morning as you approach God in prayer. I seek Thee with my whole heart. You will by degrees feel the need of waiting in holy stillness upon God, that He may take possession of your whole heart, and you will learn to love Him with your whole heart and with all your strength.

Tears Shall Cease

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes"(Revelation 21:4).

Yes, we shall come to this if we are believers. Sorrow shalt cease, and tears shall be wiped away. This is the world of weeping, but it passes away. There shall be a new heaven and a new earth, so says the first verse of this chapter; and therefore there will be nothing to weep over concerning the Fall and its consequent miseries. Read the second verse and note how it speaks of the bride and her marriage. The Lamb's wedding is a time for boundless pleasure, and tears would be out of place. The third verse says that God Himself will dwell among men; and surely at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore, and tears can no longer flow.

What will our state be when there will be no more sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain? This will be more glorious than we can as yet imagine. O eyes that are red with weeping, cease your scalding flow, for in a little while ye shall know no more tears! None can wipe tears away like the God of love, but He is coming to do it. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Come, LORD, and tarry not; for now both men and women must weep!

Morning, January 28

¡§Perfect in Christ Jesus.¡¨(Colossians 1:28)

Do you not feel in your own soul that perfection is not in you? Does not every day teach you that? Every tear which trickles from your eye, weeps ¡§imperfection¡¨; every harsh word which proceeds from your lip, mutters ¡§imperfection.¡¨ You have too frequently had a view of your own heart to dream for a moment of any perfection in yourself. But amidst this sad consciousness of imperfection, here is comfort for you¡Xyou are ¡§perfect in Christ Jesus.¡¨ In God's sight, you are ¡§complete in him;¡¨ even now you are ¡§accepted in the Beloved.¡¨ But there is a second perfection, yet to be realized, which is sure to all the seed. Is it not delightful to look forward to the time when every stain of sin shall be removed from the believer, and he shall be presented faultless before the throne, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? The Church of Christ then will be so pure, that not even the eye of Omniscience will see a spot or blemish in her; so holy and so glorious, that Hart did not go beyond the truth when he said¡X

¡§With my Saviour's garments on,

Holy as the Holy One.¡¨

Then shall we know, and taste, and feel the happiness of this vast but short sentence, ¡§Complete in Christ.¡¨ Not till then shall we fully comprehend the heights and depths of the salvation of Jesus. Doth not thy heart leap for joy at the thought of it? Black as thou art, thou shalt be white one day; filthy as thou art, thou shalt be clean. Oh, it is a marvellous salvation this! Christ takes a worm and transforms it into an angel; Christ takes a black and deformed thing and makes it clean and matchless in his glory, peerless in his beauty, and fit to be the companion of seraphs. O my soul, stand and admire this blessed truth of perfection in Christ.

Evening, January 28

¡§And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.¡¨(Luke 2:20)

What was the subject of their praise? They praised God for what they had heard¡Xfor the good tidings of great joy that a Saviour was born unto them. Let us copy them; let us also raise a song of thanksgiving that we have heard of Jesus and his salvation. They also praised God for what they had seen. There is the sweetest music¡Xwhat we have experienced, what we have felt within, what we have made our own¡X¡§the things which we have made touching the King.¡¨ It is not enough to hear about Jesus: mere hearing may tune the harp, but the fingers of living faith must create the music. If you have seen Jesus with the God-giving sight of faith, suffer no cobwebs to linger among the harp strings, but loud to the praise of sovereign grace, awake your psaltery and harp. One point for which they praised God was the agreement between what they had heard and what they had seen. Observe the last sentence¡X¡§As it was told unto them.¡¨ Have you not found the gospel to be in yourselves just what the Bible said it would be? Jesus said he would give you rest¡Xhave you not enjoyed the sweetest peace in him? He said you should have joy, and comfort, and life through believing in him¡Xhave you not received all these? Are not his ways ways of pleasantness, and his paths paths of peace? Surely you can say with the queen of Sheba, ¡§The half has not been told me.¡¨ I have found Christ more sweet than his servants ever said he was. I looked upon his likeness as they painted it, but it was a mere daub compared with himself; for the King in his beauty outshines all imaginable loveliness. Surely what we have ¡§seen¡¨ keeps pace with, nay, far exceeds, what we have ¡§heard.¡¨ Let us, then, glorify and praise God for a Saviour so precious, and so satisfying.