"_I have meat to eat that ye know not of._" --JOHN iv. 31-42.
And what sort of meat is this? The Lord found secret refreshment in feeding other people. In vitalizing the woman of Samaria He restored His own soul. The disciples were amazed when they returned to find that the weariness had gone out of His face, and that He looked like one who had been at a feast!
And that is the law of life. "_My meat is to do the will._" There is a secret nutriment in the bread we give away. The Lord gives us to eat of the "hidden manna" whenever we are seeking the refreshment of our fellows. Distributed bread has a sacramental efficacy for our own souls. The man who feeds the hungry shall himself be "satisfied as with marrow."
And these ways of service are open on every side. There are millions of weary people waiting, like the woman at the well. "_Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: for they are white already to harvest!_" Be it mine to be a minister in the mighty service, and in the ways of obedience let me find delights and delicacies for my own soul.
"Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more!"
AUGUST The Fifth
ISAIAH xii.
The wells of the Lord are to be found where most I need them. The Lord of the way knows the pilgrim life, and the wells have been unsealed just where the soul is prone to become dry and faint. At the foot of the hill Difficulty was found a spring! Yes, these health-springs are lifting their crystal flood in the cheerless wastes of evil antagonisms and exhausting grief.
Sometimes I am foolish, and in my need I assume that the well is far away. I knew a farmer who for a generation had carried every pail of water from a distant well to meet the needs of his homestead. And one day he sunk a shaft by his own house door, and to his great joy he found that the water was waiting at his own gate! My soul, thy well is near, even here! Go not in search of Him! Thy pilgrimage is ended, the waters are at thy feet!
But I must "_draw_ the water out of the wells of salvation." The hand of faith must lift the gracious gift to the parched lips, and so refresh the panting soul. "I will _take_ the cup of salvation." Stretch out thy "lame hand of faith," and take the holy, hallowing energy offered by the Lord.
AUGUST The Sixth