November 20

"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early."—Psalms 46:5.

I WOULD receive and repeat the joy-bringing message of this lofty psalm. These are its tidings.

A rich abundance fills God's Jerusalem. The old town among the hills of Judah had no great river to dignify and gladden it; but there is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God—the city of the Church of Christ, the city of my ransomed and quickened heart. Pardon, holiness, joy, strength—I am intended to have all these treasures in no meagre degree, but overflowingly, largely, royally. Let me claim my wealth.

And a miraculous power defends God's Jerusalem. No war-galleys on the sea, no war-chariots in the field, rescued the ancient capital of the Holy Land from Sennacherib; it was the Lord Himself who broke the bow and cut the spear in sunder. Let me remember where the Church's success and my own are to be found: not in human eloquence or human expedients, but in the presence and the Spirit of God. Let me trust and not be afraid.

And a holy unworldliness should distinguish God's Jerusalem. Long ago, Zion was the place of the tabernacles of the Most High. To-day, the Church should not hanker after the world's favour and alliance, nor should I. She is separated to the gospel and the fellowship of God. And I—I am called to be a saint; I am a temple of the Holy Ghost; and what communion hath Christ with idols?

It means very much, of blessedness, and of responsibility too.