May 22

4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the repreach of thy widowhood any more.

5 For thy Maker is thine husband: The Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel: The God of the whole earth shall he be called

6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee

8 In a little wrath I had my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

9 For this is at the waters of Noah unto me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebake thee

10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires

12 And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

14 In righteousness shall thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear; and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake

16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

The Church, consisting of all true believers, is "the bride, the Lamb's wife." Her Redeemer is said to be her husband. These four names are given to Him: "Thy Maker, the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth"

"The sincerity of God's affection to His people appears in the unmovableness of His love. As there is no shadow of turning in the being of God, so not in the love of God to His people; there is no vertical point; His love stands still like the sun in Gibeah; it goes not down nor declines, but continues in its full strength. With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. Sorry man repents of his love: the hottest affection cools in his bosom; love in the creature is like fire on the hearth, now blazing, anon blinking and going out; but in God, like fire in the element, that never fails."—Gurnall.

Verses 11 and 12 are beautiful and full of comfort for God's people. The lattice work of Oriental windows is sometimes exceedingly rich; rarest woods exquisitely carved or inlaid with pearl; bronze delicately wrought; cross strips of alabaster or a net-work cut from porphyry. But the imagination of the prophet, foreseeing the blessing of the patient and faithful, out-runs any reality he ever saw. He says their joy shall be as if they looked out through bars of cut agate or net-works of strung rubies. But even such a window would be forgotten in the magnificent vision the trusting soul shall see through it, when the glory of God's full promise has unrolled its panorama of pleasures forevermore.

Closet Promise.—The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.—Isa. liv. 10.

Miss Havergal has said: "Every year, I might almost say every day, that I live, I seem to see more clearly how all the rest and gladness and power of our Christian life hinges on one thing, and that is, taking God at His word, believing that He really means exactly what He says, and accepting the very words in which He reveals His goodness and grace, without substituting others or altering the precise moods and tenses which He has seen fit to use."