February 1

"Get thee hence,—and hide thyself by the brook Cherith." 1 Kings 17:3.

By the brook God taught His servant to tarry His own time in loneliness and silence; and that was a good discipline for a man so active, so impetuous, so zealous. Let me learn to love the solitary place and the season of waiting. "In His face is light, but in His shadow healing too." The desert with God in it is a fruitful field to my soul, and I shall come out from its quietude instructed and revived and strong.

By the brook God taught His child to trust Him implicitly for daily bread. Morning and evening the birds spread his table at the Lord's commandment, and he lacked for no good thing. Let me remember that my Father in heaven knows my temporal necessities as well as my spiritual poverty. Let me confide in Him to feed me with food convenient for me. "Heard of a poor woman in Windsor Forest," writes Caroline Fox in her Journal, "who was asked if she did not feel lonely in that exceeding isolation. 'Oh no! for Faith closes the door at night, and Mercy opens it in the morning.'"

By the brook God taught His ambassador and envoy to have fellowship with men in suffering. For by and by the mountain-torrent dried up; its waters no longer gave the prophet drink; its music was hushed; and then his thoughts went out to the multitudes perishing in the drought. Let me welcome any discipline, however sore, which deepens and widens my sympathy. Let me bear my brother's burden, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

Surely I shall be glad if there is a Cherith in my experience. It will do me good to be there.