Let m, in any vivid and impressive way, see God's working and providing in any one inst:i, , ,,, and we learn what he really is, and what he really does, in all instances, 'l'hert'lure is every man's life dotted over with special scenes of rescue and deliverance, when waJ·s were made for him altogether beyond his imagination, that he mi"ht learu t-0 say from the heart, "This God is our God for ever an~! ever: he will be o~r Guida e":en unto dea~h." Matthew Arno)? par~pbrases the verse thus: "I will bring my faint-hearted, rncredulous, and und1scernmg people safe through the desert to their mrn land." Prominent are two things: (1) the inability of man; (2) the perplexity of his circumstances. The Divine guidance ensures a safe, good way throu"h 0 all. Thi, may be fully opened and illustrated on the following lines. I. WE CAJs""");"OT GRASP THE PURPOSE OF LIFE. God holds it. What are we here for? God knows. How will our work fit iuto the work of others? God knows. ,ve arn only servan t.s working at parts of a plan which bas never been shown us. The Divine Archikct is our Guide, and shows us just what we have to do. Men are, in a despair- ing s, ,irit, nsking "Is life worth living?" We answer, "Certainly it is, if only it is put into God's hands for the guiding." Perhaps we shall never reach to grasp the purpose of our life on the earth better than this-it is our becoming holy, and the agents in helping others to become holy. That is God's thought for us, and towards its realiza- \ion be is ever working, ever guiding. II. WE CANNOT MAKE A WAY OF LIFE. We plan, but life does not carry out our plan. We "ish, but life will not fulfil our desires. Every one of us has to say, when life closes, "I could not have imagined the way in which l have been led." "It is not in man that witlketh to direct his steps." "The future we explore in vain, so little understood." God opens it. He knows the way of life for every man. He "leads in paths that we have not known." Two striking instances may be taken, one from Old. Testament and the other from New Testament Scripture. David tending his sheep could not even imagine the way of life he was to take; yet God was guiding him ster. by step along a way he had marked out for him. Tell Saul, the zealous Hebrew, tl:.at his way lay round from Jernsalem to Illyricum, preaching the gospel of the crucified Nazarene, and he will•exclaim, "Impossible I" But, under God's guidance, it was the way that he took. III. WE CA1'."1-0T MEET THE CLAIMS OF LIFE. God can help us. Those claims seem often as impossible for us as a command to carry sufficient water with them for all their long desert-journey would have been for those returning exiles. At times the responsibilities resting upon us seem quite overwhelming, and heart and flesh fa.ii. Then we need to be reminded of the amazing contrast between what a man can do by himself, and what a man can do when God is with him. Wonderful becomes bis "enduring" when he can "see him who is invisible." The ever-strengthening con- viction, which makes spiritual giants, is that God never gives any man any work to do without holding out, ready for him, grace for the doing. IV. WE CANNOT PROVIDE FOB THE NEEDS OF LIFE. God is the-to use an Eastern figure--Sheikh of the caravan, and he provides. What is wanted is the knowledge that anticipates all wants, and the abilities that can meet all. The various needs of life may be gathered under one head-the need of renewals. Renewals of body, by sleep; of health, by air, food, medicine; of mind, by knowledge; of_heart, by love. lt is nothing short of a Divine thing to arrange for all the needs of a smgle life-many of them needs to which the man himself is "blind," of them he knows nothing. God knows, guides, and provides. V. WE CA1'.'SOT MASTER THE ILLS OF LIFE. God overrules. Again and ngain we have to face calamities in conscious helplessness. What can Job do with the ills of life? The Sabieans carry off his flocks, a11d he can do nothing. Mighty winds bring the house down upon his sons and daughters, and he can do nothing. Painful diseases afflict his own body, and he can do nothing. He can master none of the ills of life. Darkness is round him; things are crooked. YeL God is the Life-~uide. Circumstances are all in his control. He overrules. He makes the very ills turn to good, by securing for Job, through them, a new ~nd more spiritual hold of himsel_f, an~ by making Job the supreme example of patience for the whole world. He brmgB light on the darkness, and makes the crooked things go straight. In C-Onclusion, urge that, in view of our helplessness and God's all-sufficing helpfulness, we may well on. XLII, 1-25,] 'fHE BOOK OF THE PROPIIET ISAIAH. 135
lift eyes and hearts up unto him, saying, "My Father, thou shalt be the Guide of my life."-R. T.