September 5

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.— Habakkuk 3:18.

HERE we have a cheerful position, or purpose. This is the only firm position, Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. And such times, as the prophet speaks of, indeed are fit to give proof of this, to tell thee whether it be truly so, where thy heart is built. While thy honor, and wealth, and friends, are about thee, it is hard to know whether these props bear thee up, or another, an invisible supporter; but when these are plucked away, and thou art destitute round about, then it will appear if thy strength be in God, if these other things were but flourishes about thee, and thou didst lay no weight on them at all. He that leans on these, must fall when these fall, and his hope is cut off, and his trust as a spider's web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand. They that clasp their hearts about their houses or estates, within a while they are either sadly pulled asunder, or swept away together.

But, oh! the blessed, the high condition of a soul set on God, untied, independent from all things beside him, its whole dependence and rest placed on him alone, sitting loose to all the world, and so not stirred with alterations! Yea, amid the turnings upside-down of human things, if the frame of the heaven and earth were falling to pieces, the heart founded on him who made it, abides unmoved; the everlasting arms are under it, and bear it up.

Do ye believe, my brethren, that there is such a thing, that it is no fancy? Yea, all is but fancy beside it. Do you believe this? Why, then, is one day after another put off, and this not attained, nor the soul so much as entered or engaged to a serious endeavor after it, looking on all things else, compared to this noble design, as vanity? How often, and how easily are their joys damped, who rejoice in other things, and their hopes broken! What they expected most, soon proves a lie, as the word spoken of the olive here signifies; as if the labor of it should lie—a fair vintage or harvest promised, and either withered with drought, or drowned with rain; indeed, it lies at the best! But the soul that places its joy on God, is still fresh and green when all are withered about it. Acquaint thyself with him betimes in ease. It is a sad case, to be making acquaintance with him, when thou shouldst make use of his friendship, and find comfort in his love.

No language can make a natural man understand what this thing is, to rejoice in God. Oh! it is a mystery. Most men mind poor childish things, laughing and crying in a breath, at trifles; easily puffed up, and as easily cast down. But even the children of God are too little acquainted with this their portion. Which of you find this power in the remembrance of God, that it doth overflow and drown all other things, both your worldly joys and worldly sorrows, that you find them not? And thus it would be, if we knew him. Is he, then, our Father, and yet we know him not?

Although all should fail, yet, rejoice in him who fails not, who alters not. He is still the same in himself, and to the sense of the soul that is knit to him, is then the sweetest when the world is bitterest. When other comforts are withdrawn, the loss of them brings this great gain, so much the more of God and his love imparted, to make all up. They that ever found this, could almost wish for things that others are afraid of. If we knew how to improve them, his sharpest visits would be his sweetest; thou wouldst be glad to catch a kiss of his hand while he is beating thee, or pulling away something from thee that thou lovest, and bless him while he is doing so.

Rejoice in God, although the fig-tree blossom not—. Yea, rejoice in these hardest things, as his doing. A heart rejoicing in him, delights in all his will, and is surely provided for the most firm joy in all estates; for if nothing can come to pass beside, or against his will, then can not that soul be vexed which delights in him, and hath no will but his, but follows him in all times, in all estates, not only when he shines bright on them, but when they are clouded. That flower which follows the sun, doth so even in cloudy days: when it doth not shine forth, yet it follows the hidden course and motion of it. So, the soul that moves after God, keeps that course when he hides his face; is content, yea is glad at his will in all estates, or conditions, or events. And though not only all be withered and blasted without, but the face of the soul little better within to sense, no flourishing of graces for the present, yet it rejoices in him, and in that everlasting covenant that still holds, ordered in all things and sure, as the sweet singer of Israel sweetly expresses it, 2 Samuel 23:5: For this, says he, is all my salvation and all my desire, ALTHOUGH he make it not to grow. That is a strange although, and yet is he satisfied even in that.

This joy in God, as my God, the God of my salvation, ought to exercise the soul in the darkest and worst times; and it ought to stick to it, not to let go this confidence, still expecting salvation from him, and resting on him for it, though not having those senses and assurances that thou desirest. This, weak believers are easily beaten from, by temptation. But we are to stand to our right in him, even when we see it not. And when it is said to thee, that there is no help for thee in God, tell all that say so, they lie: He is my God, my glory, and the lifter-up of my head.

Rejoice in him still as thy God; and however rejoice in him as God. I will rejoice in Jehovah, glad that he is God, that his enemies can not unsettle nor reach his throne, that he rules, and is glorious in all things, that he is self-blessed, and needs nothing. This is the purest and highest kind of rejoicing in him, and is certainly most distant and most free from alteration, and hath, indeed, most of heaven in it.