Arrested Evils

“Godisour refuge,” — Psalm xlvi. i.

You will distinguish between a refuge and a strength. You stand during a lashing shower under a tree. You are much wet; but no bad results follow. You say, “I am indebted to my strong constitution.” Yes, my brother, but that should be only the half of your thanksgiving. You are thinking only of the drops which fell and which your strength mastered. Have you ever considered the drops which did not fall — the drops which were absorbed by the tree! That was your refuge, and I think you were most indebted to that. You are right to remember your strength the power to resist the rain; but should you forget the rain that never came, that was prevented from coming! Why have you no altars in memory of your unshed tears, your arrested tears! Why have you no pillar to commemorate these stones of Bethel on which you did not lie I Why have you no monument to the spot where you were saved from sacrifice by the ram caught in the thicket! You have a wreath for your victories; have you none for your averted battles! You have a crown for sorrow borne, have you none for sorrow spared! You have a hymn to the strength; why not to the refuge also!

Thou Christ of love, who hast borne more than the half of my rain-clouds, let me build an altar to Thee! I have stood beneath the tree of Thy life, and have caught but little of the shower; the largest drops have fallen on Thee. The tree of Calvary has sheltered me. If I had caught the storm’s full blast I must have died. But the storm has spent itself on Thee, and I live in calm. Thy night has been my day; Thy struggle has procured my rest. The garden in which I sit was once called Gethsemane; but it is Gethsemane no more. The sweat-drops that fell from Thy brow have been dried for me. Thou hast extracted the thorn, and left me only the rose. The privilege of to-day was the pain of yesterday; it was purchased by blood — Thy blood. I bless Thee for my shelter under the tree. I bless Thee for the drops that did not reach me. I bless Thee for the tears I have not been forced to shed. I bless Thee for the battles unfought, for the trials untouched, for the sacrifices unneeded, for the lamentations unspoken. I bless Thee that from so many storms I can hide myself in Thee,