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Thursday, November 27, 2014

"...here is the word which tells us that God will make our feet "like hinds' feet."

For who is God, except the LORD?  And who is a rock, except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way blameless.  He makes my feet like hinds' feet, and sets me upon my high places.                                                                                                          Psalm 18:31-33

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food… Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon my high places.                                                                                    Habakkuk 3:17-19


        I think of Wordsworth's lines, in which he describes a natural lady, made by Nature herself:
"She shall be sportive as the fawn
That wild with glee across the lawn
Or up the mountain springs."
And it is this buoyancy, this elasticity, this springiness that the Lord is waiting to impart to the souls of His children, so that they may move along the ways of life with the light steps of the fawn.
Some of us move with very heavy feet.  There is little of the fawn about us as we go along the road.  There is reluctance in our obedience.  There is a frown in our homage.  Our benevolence is graceless, and there is no charm in our piety, and no rapture in our praise.  We are the victims of "the spirit of heaviness."  And yet here is the word which tells us that God will make our feet "like hinds' feet."  He will give us exhilaration and spring, enabling us to leap over difficulties, and to have strength and buoyancy for the steepest hills.  Let us seek the inspiration of the Lord.  "It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way blameless."
J.H. JOWETT
My Daily Meditation ~1914


        Let thy faith lead thy heart into the presence of God, as near as thou possibly canst, and say to it, "Behold the Ancient of Days, the Lord Jehovah, whose name is, I AM.  This is He, who made all the worlds with His word, who upholds the earth, who rules the nations, who disposes of all events, who subdues His foes, who controls the swelling waves of the sea, who governs the winds, and causes the sun to run its race, and the stars to know their courses.  This is He who loved thee from everlasting, formed thee in the womb, gave thee this soul, brought thee forth, showed thee the light, and ranked thee with the chief of His earthly creatures; who endued thee with thy understanding, and beautified thee with His gifts, who maintains thy life and all it comforts….
O here is an object worthy love!  Here shouldst thou even pour out thy soul in love!  Here it is impossible for thee to love too much!  This is the Lord who hath blessed thee with His benefits, spread thy table in the sight of thine enemies, and made thy cup overflow!  This is He whom angels and saints praise, and the heavenly host forever magnify!  Thus do thou expatiate on the praises of God, and open His excellencies to thine heart, till the holy fire of love begins to kindle in thy breast.
RICHARD BAXTER ~1615-1601

The Saints Everlasting Rest

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