July 29Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us — Dan. 3:17.
The Lord's providences vary, and it is not for His people to decide when shall come remarkable deliverances, and when they shall apparently be left entirely to the will of their enemies without any manifestation of Divine favor on their behalf. Sometimes, the Lord's people who are bound, restrained of liberty to proclaim the Truth, find, as did the three Hebrews, that the fire burns the cords and sets them free, and really gives them larger opportunities to testify to the glory of our God than they could have had by any other course. It is not, therefore, for us to predetermine what shall be the Divine providence in respect to ourselves; we are to note the point of right and duty and to follow it regardless of consequences, trusting implicitly to the Lord—Z '99, 171 (R 2494). These Hebrews had such faith in God's delivering power as armed them with unflinching courage and obedience, despite the threat and danger of the fiery furnace. Small wonder that they were honored by the presence of the Son of Man, who quenched the deadliness of the fire. Similarly, as we, the children of God, are threatened with and enter the antitypical fiery furnace for not bowing down to Militarism, Romanism or Federationism, we may exercise the faith that will be honored with the Son of Man's presence, who will make the fiery furnace the means of freeing us, uninjured by the experience, from the cords of this earth—P '26, 96. Parallel passages: Gen. 49:22-26; Ezra 8:31; Psa. 23; 34:7, 9, 10; Matt. 5:10-12; Acts 5:29, 40-42; Rom. 8:17, 35-37; Heb. 11:33-38; Rev. 20:4. Hymns: 93, 25, 179, 200, 216, 222, 293. Poems of Dawn, 183: Your Father Knoweth What Things Ye Have Need Of. Tower Reading: Z '15, 55 (R 5633). Questions: In what experiences of the week did I gain deliverance? How? What helped or hindered? In what did it result? "YOUR FATHER KNOWETH WHAT THINGS YE HAVE NEED OF"
MATT. 6:8. OUR Father knows what things we need Each step along the way, His eye of love doth never sleep,— He watches night and day. He knows sometimes, like ripening grain, We need the sunshine bright, Again He sends the peace that comes With shadows of the night. Sometimes our pride would fain unfurl Ambition's flaunting sail,— Ah! then He knows we need to walk Humiliation's vale. Sometimes He takes our eager hands And folds them on our breast, He gently lays our work aside,— He knows we need to rest. Sometimes we need companionship, Sometimes, "the wilderness,"— How sweet to feel He'll know and give The state that most will bless! Then let us leave it all with Him. Assured that, come what may, Our father knows just what we need. Upon our pilgrim-way. |
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