God’s Providences.

In the sure guidance of God we have his Word and his Spirit and also his providences.  Again, we would say, oh, how blessed to await the providences of God!  His providences are always in favor of the righteous.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”  How many can look back through their lives and see how the providences of God have directed their ways.  They may have planned, but God’s providence overthrew and brought better things to pass.  Trust in the providences of God, commit your way unto him, patiently wait, and he will guide you into the way that is best.  Never get in a hurry, but wait on the Lord, and he will always make the way plain before you.  I have learned never to take a step until I know it is ordered of God.  In the providence of God, Joseph was sold to a company of Ishmaelites and cast into prison and thus brought to be ruler over all Egypt.  In the providences of God, Kish’s asses went astray and Saul being sent in search of them was led to the prophet Samuel, who anointed him king over Israel.  You may meet with losses, all things may seem decidedly against you; but be patient, trust in the providence of God, and in time you will see his kind favor.

If you value your happiness and success in life, wait on God.  If you do not know which way to go or what thing to do, wait until you do know.  God will surely guide you; he will open the way clear and plain before you.  When he has given you full assurance, then go forward in all security.  Mountains may rise before you, but he will pluck them up and cast them into the sea.  Rivers and seas may lie across your path, but he will divide the waters and let you pass through.  Live humbly and only for the glory of God.  Trust in him with all the strength of your soul.  See that all motives are as pure as heaven.  Prayerfully seek a knowledge of God’s will, patiently wait on him, cheerfully and promptly obey when his will is known, and he will lead you in the path of security, strewing the way with blessings and glory, and make your life one golden gleam of light across this dark world to lead others to the Lamb.

FRAGRANCE.

Every saintly life on earth, is a sweet fragrance unto God, and every sinful life is a stench in his nostrils.  As the rose scents the evening air, so a pure life scatters a sweet Christian influence and a knowledge of God throughout the world.  The literal translation of 2 Cor. 2:14 reads thus:  “But thanks be to God, who leads me on from place to place in the train of his triumph, to celebrate his victory over the enemies of Christ, and by me sends forth the knowledge of him, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world.”  A saintly life diffuses a sweet, heavenly fragrance throughout the world, and brings a knowledge of God and the nature of his salvation to the minds of men.  Let me exhort you, therefore, to a pure life, a life full of devotion and reverence to God.  You can make your life, by God’s grace, a constant, flowing stream of fragrant incense, whose sweetness will linger long on the air after you have passed to higher realms.  So may it be.