May 16

"The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants."—Psalms 34:22.

I THANK God for this present tense. He redeemeth. He keeps on redeeming. He never wearies of the task and the joy of redemption. He lives in an enduring and undecaying Now; and His Now always spells salvation, rescue, rest, purity, strength, for the children of men. It was so in the distant days of Hebrew psalmists. It is so in my time. It will be so to the end.

What a tribute it is to the perseverance of my God! I am touched with tenderness and zeal through a week; He is tender and zealous through an eternity. I take up charitable schemes, and let them drop; my enthusiasm is gone. But His heart does not weary. Summer and winter, in my brief seconds of devotion and my long seasons of coldness, He redeemeth my soul.

What a hope, moreover, the word awakens for the world! Most storehouses of blessedness wear out and are exhausted. They vanish like the snows of a hundred years ago, or the roses that bloomed when I was a little child. But His redemption comes out to men and women to-day, unlessened and full. Still, as in the old era of Abraham and David and Paul and John, they may hear and see and handle His Word of Life.

And what an assurance there is here for my separate and needy heart! God the Father does not tire of me. Christ my Saviour does not lose His interest in me. The Holy Spirit will go on performing the good work He has begun. My Lord's mercy toward me is as steadfast and unmovable as the sunrise which never failed us yet. He redeems me. He will redeem me always.

Yes, I bless Him for the pregnant and precious present tense.