August 19

My word shall not return unto me void.—ISA. IV. 11.

WHEN trying to do good, and seeing no immediate fruits of our labors, is not here a word of encouragement? Is it not comforting to have the divine assurance, that every good word spoken, every Christian effort put forth, every holy life lived, shall not be lost, but bring forth fruit? Is this thought an incentive to speak for God with loving and prayerful earnestness, and to endeavor so to live as to honor him and lead others to him?

The difficulties with which we meet as laborers in God's vineyard, instead of discouraging, should stimulate to greater diligence, to more fervent prayer, to the more diligent study of God's word, and to the assurance, because he has promised, that his word shall not return unto him void.

Since the world began, no true work for God was ever wasted; no true word spoken for him has ever failed of doing good; no true life has ever been in vain. The seed sown may not rise in a moment, but there is immortal vitality in it, and the harvest shall be sure.

By the light of day, or in shades of night, We must sow by faith, and not by sight. And though all around may seem drear and dark, Hope sends, through the promise, its glimmering spark. Fear not, for that faint and scarce visible ray, Shall expand to the light of an endless day!