Basic HTML Version
Strong in the Lord, January 16
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord
is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... Though an
host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war
should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
Psalm 27:1, 3
.
We are passing through an enemy’s land. Foes are upon every side to
hinder our advancement. They hate God and all who follow after Him and
bear His name. But those who are our enemies are the Lord’s enemies,
and although they are strong and artful, yet the Captain of our salvation
who leadeth us can vanquish them. As the sun disperses the clouds from
its path, so will the Sun of Righteousness remove the obstacles to our
progress. We may cheer our souls by looking at the things unseen which
will cheer and animate us in our journey....
If we cling to Him by living faith, saying with Jacob, “I will not let thee
go” (
Genesis 32:26
); if we entreat, “Cast me not away from thy presence;
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me,” (
Psalm 51:11
), the promise is to
us, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”....
We have read an account of a noble prince who carried the picture of
his father always near his heart and on important occasions when there was
danger of forgetting him, he would take out the likeness and view it and
say, “Let me do nothing unbecoming so excellent a father.” As Christians,
God has claims upon us that we should never, never lose sight of for a
moment; and as we are His children by adoption, how careful should we
be that we retain His image and do nothing that will belittle or degrade
our holy calling, for we rank among the royal family. God has made us as
vessels unto honor, prepared unto every good work. “This people have I
formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
Isaiah 43:21
. God’s
people are called a crown, a diadem. Satan would eagerly seize the Lord’s
treasure, but God has secured it so that Satan cannot obtain it. “Thou shalt
be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the
hand of thy God.”
Isaiah 62:3
. We are secure, perfectly secure from the
enemy’s subtlety while we have unwavering trust in God.”
[23]
21