July 21

THERE are occasions when God’s servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? They lose the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God’s love. When we obey our Lord Jesus as believers should, our God is with us; and though we have the wdiole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, “O my God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to lose all the bright shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence.”