Help in Extremity
“This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing” —
jn tf)e poor anti lufig srch ioatrr, anB tfjjre is none, anft tfjcir tongue failetfj for tfjirst, K tiye ILorS fajtll fjear tfjcm, K tfje (ffioB of Esrael iuill not tijem.” — Isa. xii. 17.
. Has not this been God’s way and method of
deaUng with His people in every age! bringing
them in the hour of desert privation, when the
heavens above them were as brass and the earth as iron, to
the shade of palm-grove and the refreshment of fountain?
It was when the disciples were in their hour of extremity, during the storm on Gennesaret, giving themselves up to the hopelessness of despair, that, “in the fourth watch of the night,” when darkness was deepest and danger greatest, the great Deliverer appeared on the crested wave — “Jesus went unto them walking on the sea!” It was when the bereft of Bethany had, as they imagined, consigned the fond treasure of their affections to everlasting silence; and, as they were sitting in the pillaged home, wondering at the mysterious delay on the part of the one Being who could alone have arrested that winged arrow which had laid low the pride of their hearts; at that crisis-hour, the great Conqueror of death appears, to revive the smouldering ashes of their faith, and reanimate the joy and prop of their existence! Yes, how often still, does God thus delay His succouring mercy to the very last — “the tongue failing for thirst” — that they may see His hand, and His hand alone, in the gracious intervention or deliverance, and be brought to say, with grateful adoring thankfulness, “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence!”
Even when He does not appear visibly to succour; when some treasured comfort is withdrawn; or when deliverance from some threatened earthly trial or threatened evil is not vouchsafed, it is in order that we may, the more significantly and submissively, cast ourselves on Him. The shelter of the canvas tent is removed. But it only the more endears to us the shadow of the Elim-Palm. Observe the difference between the failing of the world’s consolations and refuges and joys and those of the true Christian: — When the worldly man mourns his dried-up brooks or his stripped and dismantled tents, he has lost his all — he has nowhere else to turn; there is nothing left him but the waterless channel — the dreary stretches of blinding sand — the tear of despair — the broken heart — the grave! But, in the case of the believer, when one comfort is withdrawn, his God has other spiritual comforts for him in reversion. Miserable, indeed, are those who have nothing but the poor- earthly rill to look to! Sooner or later this must be their history (as multitudes can bear testimony), “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up” (i Kings xvii. 7,) Or the earthly tent! “suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment” (Jer. iv. 20). But, “happy is the man who hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:” — who can say, in the words of a faithful and venerated member of the Church of Christ
HELP nV EXTREMITY. 271
recently entered on his rest and reward, — ‘In the crowded city, “Thou art about my path.” In the secret chamber, “Thou art about my bed.” In the trackless desert, “Thou, God, seest me.” In the lonely journey, “Surely the Lord is in this place, though I knew it not.” In the assembled congregation, “In all places where I record My name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.” In the little company at home, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” In distant cities and foreign lands, “I will be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries whither they shall come.” In looking back on all the places of residence, “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” And humbly depending on the promise for the great future, “Where I am, there shall also My servants be.” ’
Beautifully have the two greatest religious poets of Germany thus sung (Paul Gerhard and Lange): —
“Thou wert not born that earth should be
A portion fondly sought;
Look up to heaven, and, smiling, see
Thy shining, golden lot!
Honours and joys which thou shalt share,
Unending and unenvied there!
“Then journey on to life and bliss,
God will protect to heaven;
And every good that meets thee is
A blessing wisely given.
If losses come — so let it be,
The God of heaven remains with thee!”
“Yes, the light of comfort shall return,
Joy’s sweet sun shall shine again at last,
I shall sing the gladsome song of morning,
When the watches of the night are past.
“I shall find again the hopes long vanished,
Like the swallows when the storms are gone,
Fountains shall be opened in the deserts,
Streams by the wayside, while journeying on,
“Flowers of love and promise shall be springing,
“Where the cruel thorn and wormwood sprung;
And the homeward ‘path lie bright in sunshine,
Where my sad harp upon the willows hung!”
••O GOD, THOU ART MY GOD; EARLY WILL I SEEK THEE: MY
SOUL THIRSTETH FOR THEE, MY FLESH LONGETH
FOR THEE IN A DRY AND THIRSTY LAND,
WHERE NO WATER IS.”
■^2^^-’