January 17
He Supplies All My Need
In the Hour of Silence"His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."—Isaiah 9:6 (R.V., margin).
THE most precious names of the earth need to be combined in order to bring out the excellence of my Saviour, and need to be sublimed, too, to their loftiest significance and meaning.
He is the Wonderful Counsellor. I am like the passenger in a ship across the wide Atlantic. There are seas running fit to crush the vessel; there are engines revolving about whose government I know nothing; there are joints and cords creaking and groaning. But I lean on my Captain's clear eye and steadfast hand; His wisdom never fails.
He is the Mighty God. I am like the soldier in a desperate struggle against overwhelming odds. I have no strength against the great army—the world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. What can I do against such unearthly and ghostly foes? But One fights for me who has all power, and I am safe.
He is the Father of Eternity. I am like the stranger passing through a foreign land. I see its sights and listen to its sounds, but I have no continuing city here and no stable home. But my Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, and He permits me to share in His abiding and undecaying life.
He is the Prince of Peace. I am like the martyr whom the hot flames lick and scorch. I cannot be true to Him without encountering the world's ridicule and hate. But He is with me all the time. He breathes an assured tranquillity into my soul. He gives me His own unspeakable joy. So He supplies all my need.