112. Wednesday after Sexagesima Sunday.
Lord, let thy word of life permeate my whole heart. Amen.
Isaiah 55, 8-13. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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It is not in your power to form a correct idea of the glories which God has reserved for his faithful people. Even though you imagine them as a thousand times more glorious than everything of which you have any knowledge, you still use the things of this world as your measure of comparison; but God’s thoughts are of heaven, and are as much higher than your thoughts, as the heavens are higher than the earth. The mercy of God toward us is great beyond conception; his plan for our salvation is a bottomless depth of eternal love and wisdom. Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. — We often, alas, have gloomy thoughts, and it seems to us that our path leads to lower and lower levels. Our thoughts are the inconstant thoughts of doubt and despondency, or of levity. But the thoughts of the Lord are thoughts of truth and love, luminous and pure, fixed and immovable; and his ways, in which he conducts us, dear Christian friend, are high, and lead ever upward. Consider this whenever your own thoughts threaten to overwhelm you in the dark hours of your life. Your thoughts are wrong; those of the Lord are right. Your ways and your plans must go down; those of the Lord shall endure. For he carries out his purpose through a means which can not fail. As his thoughts in heaven are luminous and high, and his counsel fixed; so his word, which brings them to us on earth, is living and fruitful, and accomplishes his will. Do not the rain and snow from heaven water our earth and make it fertile? Does this fail? Shall, then, the word that goeth forth out of his mouth fail? Can you doubt that this word is able to transform the earth, create and maintain faith in our hearts, extend and preserve the kingdom of God, release the souls, and lead them at last, through all temptations, to glory? Have you not already begun to feel the power of the heavenly thoughts in the word? What was it which awakened you out of your sleep in sin, and kindled in you faith, the new life, and prayer? What was it which sustained you, and gave you such consolation in the face of all your sin and distress, that you had cause to wonder at the fact of your not having long since dropped back into your former state of unbelief? What is it which ever anew brings spring and summer into your spiritual life, causing the field to become green, blossom, and bring forth fruit? What is it which sustains your hope, and causes you to expect everlasting life and everlasting victory for the church of God? It is the word which does all this; the word of God. Do not hereafter allow any lying thoughts to find room in you. The Lord has thought glorious thoughts, and has spoken glorious promises concerning us. Let all things fall; let the world, with all that it contains, perish. It has pleased our God to ordain that happiness and peace and songs of joy shall at last fill all the earth. Nature shall be renewed, and the name Jesus with the sign of the cross shall illumine all things and make all full of eternal bliss. The word of God shall accomplish this glorious result.
O, our God, may our faith and our hope be firmly established in thy word. Thou knowest what worthless thoughts we think; help us to conquer all our own thoughts by means of thy thoughts, thy thoughts of love and mercy, which we find in thy word. Amen.
How blest are they who hear God’s word,
And keep and heed what they have heard.
They wisdom daily gather;
E’er brighter shines their light each day,
And while they tread life’s weary way,
They have the oil of gladness
To soothe all pain and sadness.