Think a little this morning of God's great kindness to you. How _very_ good He is to you! I know one of His dear children who looks up many, many times a day, and says, "_Good_ Lord Jesus!" or "_Kind_ Lord Jesus!" She does not set herself to say it, but it seems as if she could not help saying it, just because He _is_ so good and kind. And then it seems only natural to look up again and say, "_Dear_ Lord Jesus!" How _can_ anybody go on all day long, and never see how good He is, and never look up and bless Him? Most especially on bright pleasant days, when He giveth us more even than usual to enjoy! "He giveth." Not one single pleasant thing, not one single bit of enjoyment comes to us but what He giveth. We can not get it, we do not earn it, we do not deserve it; but He _giveth_ lovingly, and kindly, and freely. Suppose He stopped giving, what would become of us?
"Richly." So richly, that if you tried to write down half His gifts to you, your hand would be tired long before you had done. You might easily make a list of the presents given you on your birthday, but you could not make a list of what God gives you every day of your life.
"All things." All the things you really need, and a great many more besides. All the things that will do you good, a great many more than you would ever have thought of. All the things that He can fill your little hands with, and trust you to carry without stumbling and falling. _All_ things, everything that you have at all!
"To enjoy." Now how kind this is! not only "to do us good," but "to enjoy." So you see He means you to be happy with what He gives you, to smile and laugh and be glad, not to be dismal and melancholy. If you do not enjoy what He "giveth," that is your own fault, for He meant you to enjoy it. Look up to Him with a bright smile, and thank Him for having given you richly all things to enjoy!
"My joys to Thee I bring, The joys Thy love hath given, That each may be a wing To lift me nearer heaven. I bring them, Saviour, all to Thee, For Thou hast purchased all for me."
12. Twelfth Day.
Much more than this.
"The Lord is able to give thee much more than this."--2 Chron. xxv. 9.
Amaziah, king of Judah, was going to war against the Edomites. He thought he would make sure of victory by hiring a hundred thousand soldiers from the King of Israel, and he paid them beforehand a hundred talents, which was about £34,218.15s. of our money. But a man of God warned him not to let the army of Israel go with him, for Israel had forsaken the Lord, and so He was not with them. It seemed a great pity to waste all that money, and so Amaziah said, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." So Amaziah simply obeyed, and sent the soldiers away, and trusted God to help him to do without them. Was it any wonder that he gained a great victory over the Edomites?
Does not this teach us that we should simply do the right thing, and trust God at any cost? When you do this, you will find that, in hundreds of ways which you never thought of, "the Lord is able to give thee much more." The trial comes in many different ways. One may be tempted to hurry over prayer and Bible, because there is something else that she very much wants to get done before breakfast, and she is afraid of not having time enough. Another shuts up her little purse when a call comes to give something for God's work, because she is afraid she will not have enough left for another purpose. Another is tempted to look at a key, or to glance over another's shoulder at a lesson, because without it he would not get the marks he is trying for. Another is tempted not to tell the exact truth, or to conceal something which he ought to tell, because he would lose something by it. Oh, resist the devil, and do what you know is right, and trust God for all the rest! For "the Lord is able to give thee much more than this," whatever your "_this_" may be. And His smile and His blessing will always be "more than this," more than anything else!
"Be brave to do the right, And scorn to be untrue; When fear would whisper 'yield!' Ask, 'What would Jesus do?'"
13. Thirteenth Day.
The Doings of the King.
"Whatsoever the king did pleased all the people."--2 Sam. iii. 36.
David had been giving a proof of his love for one who had long been his enemy, but whom he had received into friendship; and he had been giving a proof of his tender-heartedness and sympathy with the people, by weeping with them at the grave of Abner. "And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them: as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people."