September 6

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye." DEPT. 32:10.

AND will not this apply, O Christian, to thee, as well as to Israel?

Will not the finding? "He found him in a desert land, in a waste howling wilderness." And where did he find you? What was your natural state? What was the world lying in wickedness? What was the earth as filled, from the effects of sin, with vanity and vexation of spirit? There, not you found Him, but he found you. To His name give glory, for the mercy and the truth's sake. You did indeed find him, but how? "I am found of them that sought me not: I am sought of them that asked not for me." You did choose him; but as the cause or consequence of his choice? "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Who can refuse to acknowledge, "We love him, because he first loved us?"

Will not the leading? "He led them about." There was no road, and much depended upon their movements. He therefore became their conductor. And we know how he did this: it was by a fiery cloudy pillar. As this advanced, they removed; as this turned to the right or the left, they turned also; as this paused, they remained. Thus they were freed from all anxiety. The distance they had to go was not great in itself. Jacob's sons, with their asses, soon passed and repassed between Egypt and Canaan. And the Israelites quickly reached Kadesh-barnea, which was not far from Jordan; but they were turned back. And if you consult a map, and observe their winding marches, you will see the propriety of the expression. He led them about. And has he not thus led you? You knew that the way of man is not in himself. You cried unto the Lord, and said, Lead me in thy truth, and guide me; for thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all the day. And he said, "I will lead thee and guide thee, and instruct thee with mine eye." And has he ever abandoned you? What mistakes has he prevented. How often has he hedged up your path, to keep you from going astray. From how many embarrassments, the effect of your acting without him, has he extricated you. He has always led you in the right way; but it has often been a trying one, and such as you could not have foreseen or conjectured. In your temporal affairs he has perhaps checked you, and turned you back; you have had life to begin again, and to seek other openings and labors. And as to your spiritual experience, instead of gaining more of the assurance of hope, doubts and fears have invaded you; and instead of victory over your enemies, you have been led to see and feel more of the evil of your hearts; while you have often asked, If I am his, why am I thus? Yet all this has fulfilled the promise, "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make dark ness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them."

Will not the "teaching?" "He instructed them." They had the finest opportunities in the world to learn, cut off as they were from intercourse with the surrounding nations, and being alone, with God as their preceptor. When at Horeb, they sat down at his feet and received of his words. He gave them laws and ordinances. He sent them Moses and Aaron and Miriam. He taught them much by events pleasing and painful. He showed them in example the evil of sin, the happiness of obedience. Yea, he gave them his good Spirit, says Nehemiah, to instruct them. And has he not instructed you? If you have been unprofitable learners, the fault has been your own. You have had every thing favorable in your situation. A thousand resources of information have opened around you. You have the Scriptures, the preaching of the word, Christian intercourse, and the unction from the Holy One, which teaches us all things. Every thing that has befallen you has read you lessons. Some things you must have learned, that this is not your rest, the folly of trusting in your own hearts, the greatness of your unworthiness, and that it is of the Lord's mercies you are not consumed.

Will not the protection? "He kept them as the apple of his eye," the tenderest part of the tenderest member. Did the serpents bite them? he provided a remedy, and healed them. Did enemies assail them? it was not with impunity. "He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Amalek, Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, found, to their peril, that he made their cause his own. Did Balaam use divination and enchantment? he owned there was no enchantment against Jacob, nor divination against Israel. He cursed them, but the curse was turned into a blessing. In travelling, were they exposed to the sun? the Lord was their shade on their right hand. He preserved them in their going out, and in their coming in; they were a people saved of the Lord. And who has kindly, tenderly, constantly kept you? Have you had no enemies? Why have you not been a prey to their teeth? Why has not your heart turned back? Why have not your steps declined from his ways? He has holden you up. You have been kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation.

This is what he has done for you.

What have you done for him? What are you doing? What do you resolve to do?