The Giver and Taker

ILe Lord gave, and the Lord liatli taken away; Llessed b« the name of the Lord.” — Job i. 21.

ISToBLE posture this; to kneel and to adore I To see no hand but one I Sabeans — Fire — Whirlwind — Sword — are all overlooked. The Patriarch recognizes alone “the Lokd” who gave and “the Loed” who had taken

What is the cause of so much depression, overmuch sorrow, ungospel murmuring in our hours of trial? It is what Kutherford calls “Our looking to the confused rollings of the wheels of second causes;” a refusal to rise to “the height of the great argument,” and confidingly to say, “The will of the Lord bn cloneV’ — a refusal to hear His voice — His own loving voice, mingling with the accents of the rudest storm — “It is I!”

“Is there evil in a city, and THE Lord hath not done itT’’ Is there a bitter drop in the cup, and the Lord hath not mingled it? He loves His people too well to intrust their interests to any other. We are but clay in the hand of the Potter — vessels in the hand of the Kefiner of silver. He metes out our portion. He appoints the bounds of our habitation. “The Lord God ‘prepared the GOURD.” “The Lord God prepared the WORM.” He is the Author alike of mercies and sorrows, of comforts and crosses. He breathes into our nostrils the breath of life; and it is at his summons the spirit returns “to the God who gave itP’’

Oh, that we would seek ever to regard our own lives and the lives of those dear to us as a loan. God, as the Great Proprietor — who, when He sees meet, can revoke the grant or curtail the lease — “He gave!” All the mercies we have are lent mercies; — by Him bestowed; — by Him continued; — by Him withheld.

And how often does He take away, that He may Himself enier the vacuum of the heart and fill it with His own ineffable presence and love! No loss can compensate for the want of Hinij but He can compensate for all losses. Let us trust His love and faithfulness as a taJdng as well as a giving God. Often are Sense and Sight tempted to say, “Not so, Lord 1” But Ib’aith, resting on the promise, can exult in this Bow spanning the darkest cloud — ‘’Even so, Father FOR SO IT SEEMS GOOD IN THY SIGHT I”