Morning, September 27
Go To Evening Reading
“Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by
the Lord!”
Deuteronomy 33:29
He who affirms that Christianity makes men miserable, is himself an
utter stranger to it. It were strange indeed, if it made us wretched,
for see to what a position it exalts us ! It makes us sons of God. Suppose you that God will give all the
happiness to his enemies, and reserve all the mourning for his own
family? Shall his foes have mirth and joy, and shall his home-born
children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the sinner, who has
no part in Christ, call himself rich in happiness, and shall we go
mourning as if we were penniless beggars? No, we will rejoice in the
Lord always, and glory in our inheritance, for we “have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have
received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” The rod of chastisement must rest upon us in our measure, but it
worketh for us the comfortable fruits of righteousness; and therefore
by the aid of the divine Comforter, we, the “people saved of the Lord,” will joy in the God of our salvation. We are married unto Christ;
and shall our great Bridegroom permit his spouse to linger in constant
grief? Our hearts are knit unto him: we are his members, and though
for awhile we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even
now blessed with heavenly blessings in him. We have the earnest of
our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit, which are neither few
nor small. Inheritors of joy forever, we have foretastes of our portion.
There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising.
Our riches are beyond the sea; our city with firm foundations lies
on the other side the river; gleams of glory from the spirit-world
cheer our hearts, and urge us onward. Truly is it said of us, “Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people saved by
the Lord?”