Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 19
The LORD set a mark upon Cain. —Genesis 4:15
We speak of the mark of Cain as if it was the mark of a curse. In reality it was the mark of God’s mercy, a defence against his enemies. —D. J. Burrell
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 18
Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. —Psalm 91:3
He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. That is, from the little things, the hidden traps and nets that are set for us. Great sins frighten where little snares entangle. It is easier to escape the huntsman's arrow than the crafty lure.
And where are they not set? Riches and poverty, sickness and strength, prosperity and adversity, friendship and loneliness, the work and the want of it—each has its snare, wherein not only are the unwary caught, …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 17
I spake unto thee in thy prosperity. —Jeremiah 22:21
We shade our eyes with the hand to shut out the glare of the strong daylight when we want to see far away. God thus puts, as it were, His hand upon our brows, and tempers the glow of prosperity, that we may take in the wider phases of His goodness. It is a common experience that, looking out from the gloom of some personal affliction, men have seen for the first time beyond the earth plane, and caught glimpses of the Beulah …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 16
The word of our God shall stand forever. —Isaiah 40:8
The Word of God is the water of life; the more ye lave it forth, the fresher it runneth. It is the fire of God’s glory; the more ye blow it, the clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord’s field; the better ye grind it, the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more it remaineth. It is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 15
Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. —1 Thessalonians 5:8
Faith, love, hope—these three form the defensive armor that guards the soul; and these three make self-control possible. Like a diver in his dress who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity, and whose head is covered with the helmet of hope, may be dropped down into the wildest …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 14
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. —Galatians 2:20
The man who lives in God knows no life except the life of God. —Phillips Brooks
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 13
Now therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. —Deuteronomy 4:1
“Hearken” and “do,” that ye may “live” and “possess.” This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this all …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 12
Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. —Genesis 28:16
The Parish Priest, of austerity,
Climbed up in the high church steeple
To be nearer God, that he might hand
His word down to the people.
And in sermon script he daily wrote
What he thought was sent from heaven;
And he dropped it down on the people’s heads
Two times one day in seven.
In his age God said, “Come down and die.”
And he cried out from the steeple:
“Where art thou, Lord?” And the …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 11
Behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. —Genesis 28:12
Think of that mystic ladder, which descends from the throne of God to the spot, however lowly, where you may be. It may be a moorland waste; a humble cottage; a ship’s cabin; a settler’s hut; a bed of pain; but Jesus Christ finds you out, and comes just where you are. The one pole of this ladder is the gold of His deity; the other is the silver of His manhood; the rungs …
Thoughts for the Quiet Hour - October 10
O Lord GOD, Thou knowest! —Ezekiel 37:3
Here is the response of faith. “Thou knowest!”—what a pillow for the heart to repose upon! “Thou knowest!”—what few but comprehensive words to sum up and express the heart’s difficulties and perplexities and trials. “Thou knowest!”—what an inexpressibly sweet resting-place in the midst of life's tumultuous heavings; in the midst of a sea that knows no calm; in the midst of a scene in which tossings to and fro are the hourly history! What an answer they contain for every heart that can …