July 29

1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

5 Fear not: for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.

6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

7 Even every one that is called by my name:

for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

8 ¶ Being forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he, before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savour.

12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.

13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

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Fire and water are often used in the Scriptures to denote calamity—the latter because it overwhelms; the former because it consumes. But oceans of fear and rivers of danger, fiery temptations and burning persecutions contain no real evil to those who trust in God. The redeemed are above the reach of danger, however many their fears.

"We never prize the precious words of promise till we are placed in conditions in which their suitability and sweetness are manifested. We all of us value those golden words, 'When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee;' but few, if any, of us have read them with the delight of the martyr Bilbey, to whom this passage was a stay while he was in prison awaiting his execution at the stake. His Bible, still preserved in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, has the passage marked with a pen in the margin. Perhaps, if all were known, every promise in the Bible has borne a special message to some one saint, and so the whole volume might be scored in the margin with mementos of Christian experience, every one appropriate to the very letter."—C. H. Spurgeon.

Closet Promise.—Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.—Isa. xliii. 1.

"My gracious Redeemer, Thou art my delight, My trust, my dependence, my all; No one half so lovely, so dear to my sight— On Thee, and Thee only I call;

My Shepherd to lead me in pastures of love, To guard me by night and by day; My kind Intercessor in glory above, My light, my salvation, my way."