Evening, January 2
Go To Morning Reading
“Let the people renew their strength.”
Isaiah 41:1
All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing continueth
by itself. “Thou renewest the face of the year,” was the Psalmist’s utterance. Even the trees, which wear not themselves with care,
nor shorten their lives with labour, must drink of the rain of heaven
and suck from the hidden treasures of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon,
which God has planted, only live because day by day they are full
of sap fresh drawn from the earth. Neither can man’s life be sustained without renewal from God. As it is necessary to
repair the waste of the body by the frequent meal, so we must repair
the waste of the soul by feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening
to the preached Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances.
How depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor starvelings
some saints are who live without the diligent use of the Word of God
and secret prayer! If our piety can live without God it is not of
divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God had begotten it, it
would wait upon him as the flowers wait upon the dew. Without constant
restoration we are not ready for the perpetual assaults of hell, or
the stern afflictions of heaven, or even for the strifes within. When
the whirlwind shall be loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked
up fresh sap, and grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots. When
tempests arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their
mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven. If we suffer the
good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength and struggle
desperately for the mastery over us; and so, perhaps, a painful desolation,
and a lamentable disgrace may follow. Let us draw near to the footstool
of divine mercy in humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfilment
of the promise, “They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”