Love touch'd my eyes — these eyes which once were blind, And, lo ! a glorious world reveal'd to view,
A world I ne'er had dream'd so fair to find. I sang for gladness — all things were made new.
1 W. M. Clow, The Secret of the Lord, 10. /' » T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 175. PS. XXV.-CXIX. — 2
i8 THE SECRET OF THE LORD
'Twas Love unstopp'd my ears, and every sound
Borne through the silence seem'd a psalm of praise:
Bird-song, child-laughter — yet o'er all I found Thy voice the music of my happy days.
Love chang'd life's draught and made the water wine, And through my languid senses seem'd to flow
Some pow'r enkindled by the fire divine, Some inspiration I can ne'er forego.
Love rais'd the dead to life — and never more Can many waters quench th' eternal flame.
Love open'd wide the everlasting door, And bade us enter, called by His name.^
* Una, In Life's Oarden, 6.
Waiting Courageously.
Literature.
Bright (W.), Morality in Doctrine, 115.
Craig (R.)> Rock Plants with Gospel Roots, 27.
Dyke (H. van), Manhood, Faith and Courage, 53.
Jowett (J. n.), From Strength to Strength, 65.
Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 15.
Newman (J. H.), Sermons on Subjects of the Darj, 47.
Spurgcon (G. H.), Morning by Morning, 243.
„ „ Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxiii. (1877), No. 1371.
Steel (T. H.), Senions in Harrow Cliapel, 315. Vauglian (J.), Sermons in Christ Church, Brighton, 2nd Ser., 51. Wj'nne (G, R.), In Quietness and Confidence, 50. Christian World Pidpit, xliv. 321 (C. S, Home) ; liii. 136 (H. Black) ; Ivii.
27 (J. G. Rogers) ; Iviii. 401 (J. H. Jowett). Church of England Magazine, xxxiv. 168 (R. W. Dale), Church of England Pulpit, Ix. 286 (C. Wordsworth). Churchman's Pulpit : Sermons to the Young, xvi. 40G (R. Q. Scans). Twentieth Century Pastor, xxx. 20 (A. B. Macaulay).
Waiting Courageously.
Wait on the Lord :
Be strong, and let thine heart take courage ;
Yea, wait thou on the Lord. — Ps. xxvii. 14.
This is the concluding verse of a psalm which glows with lofty faith, and yet is clouded by a sense of depression. The magnificent opening, with its fulness of glad, exuberant energy, its high-hearted disclaimer of all fear in view of a host of enemies, and its fervid avowal of one supreme desire — to dwell in the Lord's house and to gaze upon His beauty — is followed up by entreaties which represent a change of mood. It is one of those transitions so common in the Psalter, which make it so truly human a book. Acting on the invitation, " Seek ye my face," the Psalmist begs his Lord not to cast him away, not to forsake him ; he describes himself as an orphan whom God will adopt, and he glances tremblingly at a contingency which would surely have over- whelmed him —
What if no faith were mine, to see Thy love in realms where life shall be?
But the psalm goes back to the major key at last, and in the closing verse prayer passes into self-encouragement. The heart that spoke to God now speaks to itself. Faith exhorts sense and soul to " wait on Jehovah." The self-communing of the Psalmist, beginning with exultant confidence and merging into prayer thrilled with consciousness of need and of weakness, closes with bracinig him up to courage, which is not presumption, because it is the fruit of waiting on the Lord. He who thus keeps his heart in touch with God will be able to obey the ancient command, which had rung so long before in the ears of Joshua and is never oat of date, " Be strong and of a good courage " ; and none but those who wait on the Lord will be at once conscious of weakness and filled with strength, aware of the foes and bold to meet them.
22 WAITING COURAGEOUSLY
Waiting.
The word " walk " describes almost the whole of Christian life, and so does this word "wait" ; for, rightly understood, waiting is active as well as passive, energetic as well as patient, and to wait upon the Lord necessitates as much courage as warring and fighting with enemies. It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns only with years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God's warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do ? Vex itself by despair ? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption ? No, but simply wait.
^ The English Prayer-Book version of the Psalms gives a quaint but beautiful rendering of the phrase " Wait on the Lord." It runs, " 0 tarry thou the Lord's leisure." This rendering brings out the exact meaning of the word " wait," which we have inter- larded and lost sight of by making it mean such things — and legitimately enough — as prayer. It just means " wait." Wait for Him as you would wait at the try sting-place for a friend who does not come. Wait for Him, and wait, and wait until He does come.^