July 22

“Overcome evil with good.”—Romans 12:21.

It is the way of Nature. She takes the fields which men have marred with their mines and slag-mounds, and she plants her ferns and mosses over the unlovely spot, doing her best to make it beautiful again. From the place of strife and battle, where the swords clashed and the guns thundered and the ground was drenched with blood, she brings her richest harvests.

It is the way of Providence. Disasters that seem irretrievable, calamities that are overwhelming as an avalanche, yet benefit in the end the individual soul or the life of the community and the nation. “Knowledge by suffering entereth.” Growth and advance are the fruits of adversity. We are benefited by our woes. We are led to victory through our lost campaigns.

It is the way of the Holy. The angels, those ministering spirits who succour the heirs of salvation, bear and forbear with my multitudinous provocations. The best men and women love their enemies, and pray for them who despitefully use them, and bless those who curse. Angels and saints, they are children in malice—it is an art they never learned or have now abjured.

It is the way of God. The Father sets His heart on me, who have rebelled against Him. The Son gives “His unblemished body” on the Tree for me, His antagonist and adversary. The Spirit comes and dwells in me, and loves me into life and grace and holiness, though I grieve and vex Him every day. God’s tender mercies are over all His works.

Manifestly I am in the best of company, when I overcome evil with good.