September 6

This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes. - Psalms 118:23.

ALL that the Lord hath done and is doing is worthy our attention and admiration. It is pleasing to contemplate his agency in nature, especially the successive seasons of the year; and to observe how he maketh the “outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice;” and how he is at the present season “crowning the year with his goodness.” so that “his paths drop fatness.” It is pleasing to contemplate his providence in presiding over the affairs of empires and nations, and families, and individuals, so that a sparrow falls not to the ground without his knowledge; and “the very hairs of our head are all numbered.”

But it is much more interesting still to see him, as the “God of all grace,” go and fetch a soul to himself; to see him go and take a sinner from the ruins of the fall, and make of him an eternal excellency; to see him go and call a sinner from a state of nature into a state of grace, and then from a state of grace usher him into a world of glory and happiness. And God is perpetually doing this thing. This is the Lord’s doing, and displays marvellous wisdom and loving-kindness; and we are called upon to “magnify the works of God which men behold.” But where are we when God is doing these great and marvellous things, that we are not observing and admiring and adoring? This is a representation, not of visionary scenes, but of veritable facts, of interesting and important realities: “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.”

And there are four things connected with the Lord’s doings in grace and salvation which should never be lost sight of by us. First, That we either are or may become the subjects of this blessedness, arising out of these manifestations of God’s mercy.

Secondly, That we may become the means of this blessedness and glory to others, being “fellow helpers to the truth;” and though we cannot efficiently, yet we may instrumentally, “convert the sinner from the error of his way, and save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.”

Thirdly, That the partakers of this blessedness, and the monuments of this mercy, are continually increasing in numbers; and notwithstanding some desponders who are ever looking on the dark side of things, and are expecting the end of the world to be nigh at hand, we are looking for a more extended and universal evangelisation of it.

And, lastly, That the Lord’s doings will go on attracting the notice and eliciting the adoring admiration of his people, until “all flesh shall see the salvation of our God together.” Oh, there is nothing of which we can be more sure than that the cause of Christ, on whose behalf the Lord’s doings are specially put forth, is the noblest of his works in the world; and that of the day in which they shall become objects of universal interest and admiration we as yet have only witnessed the dawn; but that this dawn will shine more and more unto the perfect day.