August 31

The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.

PSALM i. 6.

I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. — REV. ii. 2, 4, 5.

THIS declaration of God's omniscience is to impress us with the fact that God looks beyond the professions, resolutions, and desires of his people. Many of these are fair and earnest, but buds and blossoms must bring fruit, or they live and die to no purpose. The Master, as he walks in the midst of his Church, discovers everything. He looks at the internal as well as the external. It is work which develops the character. Labor in the Christian life is not pastime: to do the work required of us must be unto weariness. The sweat of the face is the result of the labor which brings bread to the hungry: so the sweat of the heart is found in the labor unto weariness of the Christian. Nothing marks the persevering, successful endurance of the Christian like the patience with which he does and suffers for his Lord.

Our Lord's tenderness prompts him first to commend every good act of theirs, and then, as a warning, to condemn what he cannot approve.


Should we wander from thy fold, And our love to thee grow cold, With a pitying eye behold. Lord, forgive and save.

MORRIS