"After this manner therefore pray ye." Matthew 6:9 .
The Lord's Prayer was twice given by our Saviour,
first to the multitude in the Sermon on the Mount,
and again, some months later, to the disciples
alone. The disciples had been for a short time absent
from their Lord, when on their return they found Him
absorbed in communion with God. Seeming unconscious
of their presence, He continued praying aloud.
The Saviour's face was irradiated with a celestial
brightness. He seemed to be in the very presence of
the Unseen, and there was a living power in His
words as of one who spoke with God.
The hearts of the listening disciples were deeply
moved. They had marked how often He spent long
hours in solitude in communion with His Father. His
days were passed in ministry to the crowds that
pressed upon Him, and in unveiling the treacherous
sophistry of the rabbis, and this incessant labor often
left Him so utterly wearied that His mother and
brothers, and even His disciples, had feared that His
life would be sacrificed. But as He returned from
the hours of prayer that closed the toilsome day,
they marked the look of peace upon His face, the
sense of refreshment that seemed to pervade His
presence. It was from hours spent with God that
He came forth, morning by morning, to bring the
light of heaven to men. The disciples had come to
connect His hours of prayer with the power of His
words and works. Now, as they listened to His
supplication, their hearts were awed and humbled. As
He ceased praying, it was with a conviction of their
own deep need that they exclaimed, "Lord, teach us
to pray." Luke 11:1.
Jesus gives them no new form of prayer. That
which He has before taught them He repeats, as if
He would say, You need to understand what I have
already given. It has a depth of meaning you have
not yet fathomed.
The Saviour does not, however, restrict us to the
use of these exact words. As one with humanity, He
presents His own ideal of prayer, words so simple
that they may be adopted by the little child, yet so
comprehensive that their significance can never be
fully grasped by the greatest minds. We are taught
to come to God with our tribute of thanksgiving, to
make known our wants, to confess our sins, and to
claim His mercy in accordance with His promise.
"When ye pray, say Our Father."
Luke 11:2 .
Jesus teaches us to call His Father our Father. He
is not ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 2:11.
So ready, so eager, is the Saviour's heart to welcome
us as members of the family of God, that in the very
first words we are to use in approaching God He
places the assurance of our divine relationship, "Our
Father."
Here is the announcement of that wonderful truth,
so full of encouragement and comfort, that God loves
us as He loves His Son. This is what Jesus said in
His last prayer for His disciples, Thou "hast loved
them, as Thou hast loved Me." John 17:23.
The world that Satan has claimed and has ruled
over with cruel tyranny, the Son of God has, by one
vast achievement, encircled in His love and connected
again with the throne of Jehovah. Cherubim and seraphim,
and the unnumbered hosts of all the unfallen
worlds, sang anthems of praise to God and the Lamb
when this triumph was assured. They rejoiced that
the way of salvation had been opened to the fallen
race and that the earth would be redeemed from the
curse of sin. How much more should those rejoice
who are the objects of such amazing love!
How can we ever be in doubt and uncertainty, and
feel that we are orphans? It was in behalf of those
who had transgressed the law that Jesus took upon
Him human nature; He became like unto us, that we
might have everlasting peace and assurance. We have
an Advocate in the heavens, and whoever accepts
Him as a personal Saviour is not left an orphan to
bear the burden of his own sins.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God." "And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may
be also glorified together." "It doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him
as He is." 1 John 3:2; Romans 8:17.
The very first step in approaching God is to know
and believe the love that He has to us (1 John 4:16);
for it is through the drawing of His love that we are
led to come to Him.
The perception of God's love works the renunciation
of selfishness. In calling God our Father, we
recognize all His children as our brethren. We are
all a part of the great web of humanity, all members
of one family. In our petitions we are to include our
neighbors as well as ourselves. No one prays aright
who seeks a blessing for himself alone.
The infinite God, said Jesus, makes it your privilege
to approach Him by the name of Father. Understand
all that this implies. No earthly parent ever
pleaded so earnestly with an erring child as He who
made you pleads with the transgressor. No human,
loving interest ever followed the impenitent with such
tender invitations. God dwells in every abode; He
hears every word that is spoken, listens to every prayer
that is offered, tastes the sorrows and disappointments
of every soul, regards the treatment that is given to
father, mother, sister, friend, and neighbor. He cares
for our necessities, and His love and mercy and grace
are continually flowing to satisfy our need.
But if you call God your Father you acknowledge
yourselves His children, to be guided by His wisdom
and to be obedient in all things, knowing that His love
is changeless. You will accept His plan for your life.
As children of God, you will hold His honor, His
character, His family, His work, as the objects of your
highest interest. It will be your joy to recognize and
honor your relation to your Father and to every member
of His family. You will rejoice to do any act,
however humble, that will tend to His glory or to the
well-being of your kindred.
"Which art in heaven." He to whom Christ bids
us look as "our Father" "is in the heavens: He hath
done whatsoever He hath pleased." In His care we
may safely rest, saying, "What time I am afraid, I
will trust in Thee." Psalms 115:3; 56:3.
"Hallowed be Thy name." Matthew 6:9 .
To hallow the name of the Lord requires that the
words in which we speak of the Supreme Being be
uttered with reverence. "Holy and reverend is His
name." Psalm 111:9. We are never in any manner
to treat lightly the titles or appellations of the Deity.
In prayer we enter the audience chamber of the
Most High; and we should come before Him with
holy awe. The angels veil their faces in His presence.
The cherubim and the bright and holy seraphim
approach His throne with solemn reverence. How much
more should we, finite, sinful beings, come in a
reverent manner before the Lord, our Maker!
But to hallow the name of the Lord means much
more than this. We may, like the Jews in Christ's day,
manifest the greatest outward reverence for God, and
yet profane His name continually. "The name of the
Lord" is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, . . . forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin." Exodus 34:5-7. Of the
church of Christ it is written, "This is the name wherewith
she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness."
Jeremiah 33:16. This name is put upon every follower
of Christ. It is the heritage of the child of God. The
family are called after the Father. The prophet Jeremiah,
in the time of Israel's sore distress and tribulation,
prayed, "We are called by Thy name; leave us
not." Jeremiah 14:9.
This name is hallowed by the angels of heaven, by
the inhabitants of unfallen worlds. When you pray,
"Hallowed be Thy name," you ask that it may be
hallowed in this world, hallowed in you. God has
acknowledged you before men and angels as His
child; pray that you may do no dishonor to the
"worthy name by which ye are called." James 2:7.
God sends you into the world as His representative.
In every act of life you are to make manifest the
name of God. This petition calls upon you to possess
His character. You cannot hallow His name, you
cannot represent Him to the world, unless in life and
character you represent the very life and character of
God. This you can do only through the acceptance
of the grace and righteousness of Christ.
"Thy kingdom come." Matthew 6:10 .
God is our Father, who loves and cares for us as
His children; He is also the great King of the
universe. The interests of His kingdom are our interests,
and we are to work for its upbuilding.
The disciples of Christ were looking for the immediate
coming of the kingdom of His glory, but in
giving them this prayer Jesus taught that the kingdom
was not then to be established. They were to pray
for its coming as an event yet future. But this petition
was also an assurance to them. While they were
not to behold the coming of the kingdom in their day,
the fact that Jesus bade them pray for it is evidence
that in God's own time it will surely come.
The kingdom of God's grace is now being
established, as day by day hearts that have been full of
sin and rebellion yield to the sovereignty of His love.
But the full establishment of the kingdom of His glory
will not take place until the second coming of Christ
to this world. "The kingdom and dominion, and the
greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,"
is to be given to "the people of the saints of the Most
High." Daniel 7:27. They shall inherit the kingdom
prepared for them "from the foundation of the world."
Matthew 25:34. And Christ will take to Himself His
great power and will reign.
The heavenly gates are again to be lifted up, and
with ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands
of thousands of holy ones, our Saviour will come forth
as King of kings and Lord of lords. Jehovah Immanuel
"shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall
there be one Lord, and His name one." "The tabernacle
of God" shall be with men, "and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself shall be with them, and be their God." Zechariah
14:9; Revelation 21:3.
But before that coming, Jesus said, "This gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for
a witness unto all nations." Matthew 24:14. His kingdom
will not come until the good tidings of His grace
have been carried to all the earth. Hence, as we give
ourselves to God, and win other souls to Him, we
hasten the coming of His kingdom. Only those who
devote themselves to His service, saying, "Here am I;
send me" (Isaiah 6:8), to open blind eyes, to turn
men "from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified"
(Acts 26:18)--they alone pray in sincerity, "Thy
kingdom come."
"Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven." Matthew 6:10 .
The will of God is expressed in the precepts of
His holy law, and the principles of this law are the
principles of heaven. The angels of heaven attain
unto no higher knowledge than to know the will of
God, and to do His will is the highest service that
can engage their powers.
But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit
of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of
Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to
the angels almost as an awakening to something
unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as
servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between
them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no
drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy.
So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory,
dwells, His words are re-echoed, "I delight to do Thy
will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart."
Psalm 40:8.
The petition, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is
in heaven," is a prayer that the reign of evil on this
earth may be ended, that sin may be forever
destroyed, and the kingdom of righteousness be
established. Then in earth as in heaven will be fulfilled
"all the good pleasure of His goodness." 2 Thessalonians
1:11.
"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11 .
The first half of the prayer Jesus has taught us is
in regard to the name and kingdom and will of God
--that His name may be honored, His kingdom
established, His will performed. When you have thus
made God's service your first interest, you may ask
with confidence that your own needs may be
supplied. If you have renounced self and given yourself
to Christ you are a member of the family of God, and
everything in the Father's house is for you. All the
treasures of God are opened to you, both the world
that now is and that which is to come. The ministry
of angels, the gift of His Spirit, the labors of His
servants--all are for you. The world, with everything
in it, is yours so far as it can do you good. Even the
enmity of the wicked will prove a blessing by
disciplining you for heaven. If "ye are Christ's," "all
things are yours." 1 Corinthians 3:23, 21.
But you are as a child who is not yet placed in
control of his inheritance. God does not entrust to
you your precious possession, lest Satan by his wily
arts should beguile you, as he did the first pair in
Eden. Christ holds it for you, safe beyond the spoiler's
reach. Like the child, you shall receive day by
day what is required for the day's need. Every day
you are to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."
Be not dismayed if you have not sufficient for tomorrow.
You have the assurance of His promise, "So shalt
thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed."
David says, "I have been young, and now am old;
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed
begging bread." Psalm 37:3, 25. That God who sent
the ravens to feed Elijah by the brook Cherith will
not pass by one of His faithful, self-sacrificing children.
Of him that walketh righteously it is written:
"Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure."
"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in
the days of famine they shall be satisfied." "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give
us all things?" Isaiah 33:16; Psalm 37:19; Romans
8:32. He who lightened the cares and anxieties of
His widowed mother and helped her to provide for
the household at Nazareth, sympathizes with every
mother in her struggle to provide her children food.
He who had compassion on the multitude because
they "fainted, and were scattered abroad" (Matthew
9:36), still has compassion on the suffering poor. His
hand is stretched out toward them in blessing; and
in the very prayer which He gave His disciples, He
teaches us to remember the poor.
When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread,"
we ask for others as well as ourselves. And we
acknowledge that what God gives us is not for
ourselves alone. God gives to us in trust, that we may
feed the hungry. Of His goodness He has prepared
for the poor. Psalm 68:10. And He says, "When thou
makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor
thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich
neighbors. . . . But when thou makest a feast, call the poor,
the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be
blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou
shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Luke 14:12-14.
"God is able to make all grace abound toward you;
that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may abound to every good work." "He which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2
Corinthians 9:8, 6.
The prayer for daily bread includes not only food
to sustain the body, but that spiritual bread which
will nourish the soul unto life everlasting. Jesus bids
us, "Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." John
6:27. He says, "I am the living bread which came
down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he
shall live forever." Verse 51. Our Saviour is the
bread of life, and it is by beholding His love, by
receiving it into the soul, that we feed upon the bread
which came down from heaven.
We receive Christ through His word, and the Holy
Spirit is given to open the word of God to our
understanding, and bring home its truths to our hearts.
We are to pray day by day that as we read His word,
God will send His Spirit to reveal to us the truth
that will strengthen our souls for the day's need.
In teaching us to ask every day for what we need
--both temporal and spiritual blessings--God has a
purpose to accomplish for our good. He would have
us realize our dependence upon His constant care,
for He is seeking to draw us into communion with
Himself. In this communion with Christ, through
prayer and the study of the great and precious truths
of His word, we shall as hungry souls be fed; as those
that thirst, we shall be refreshed at the fountain of
life.
"Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive
everyone that is indebted
to us." Luke 11:4 .
Jesus teaches that we can receive forgiveness from
God only as we forgive others. It is the love of God
that draws us unto Him, and that love cannot touch
our hearts without creating love for our brethren.
After completing the Lord's Prayer, Jesus added:
"If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not
men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses." He who is unforgiving cuts off the
very channel through which alone he can receive
mercy from God. We should not think that unless
those who have injured us confess the wrong we are
justified in withholding from them our forgiveness. It
is their part, no doubt, to humble their hearts by
repentance and confession; but we are to have a spirit
of compassion toward those who have trespassed
against us, whether or not they confess their faults.
However sorely they may have wounded us, we are
not to cherish our grievances and sympathize with
ourselves over our injuries; but as we hope to be
pardoned for our offenses against God we are to pardon
all who have done evil to us.
But forgiveness has a broader meaning than many
suppose. When God gives the promise that He "will
abundantly pardon," He adds, as if the meaning of
that promise exceeded all that we could comprehend:
"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither
are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways
higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your
thoughts." Isaiah 55:7-9. God's forgiveness is not
merely a judicial act by which He sets us free from
condemnation. It is not only forgiveness for sin, but
reclaiming from sin. It is the outflow of redeeming
love that transforms the heart. David had the true
conception of forgiveness when he prayed, "Create
in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit
within me." Psalm 51:10. And again he says, "As far
as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed
our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12.
God in Christ gave Himself for our sins. He
suffered the cruel death of the cross, bore for us the
burden of guilt, "the just for the unjust," that He
might reveal to us His love and draw us to Himself.
And He says, "Be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in
Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:32, R.V. Let
Christ, the divine Life, dwell in you and through
you reveal the heaven-born love that will inspire
hope in the hopeless and bring heaven's peace to the
sin-stricken heart. As we come to God, this is the
condition which meets us at the threshold, that,
receiving mercy from Him, we yield ourselves to reveal
His grace to others.
The one thing essential for us in order that we
may receive and impart the forgiving love of God
is to know and believe the love that He has to us.
1 John 4:16. Satan is working by every deception he
can command, in order that we may not discern that
love. He will lead us to think that our mistakes and
transgressions have been so grievous that the Lord
will not have respect unto our prayers and will not
bless and save us. In ourselves we can see nothing
but weakness, nothing to recommend us to God, and
Satan tells us that it is of no use; we cannot remedy
our defects of character. When we try to come to
God, the enemy will whisper, It is of no use for you
to pray; did not you do that evil thing? Have you
not sinned against God and violated your own
conscience? But we may tell the enemy that "the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
1 John 1:7. When we feel that we have sinned and
cannot pray, it is then the time to pray. Ashamed
we may be and deeply humbled, but we must pray
and believe. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." 1 Timothy
1:15. Forgiveness, reconciliation with God, comes to
us, not as a reward for our works, it is not bestowed
because of the merit of sinful men, but it is a gift
unto us, having in the spotless righteousness of Christ
its foundation for bestowal.
We should not try to lessen our guilt by excusing
sin. We must accept God's estimate of sin, and that is
heavy indeed. Calvary alone can reveal the terrible
enormity of sin. If we had to bear our own guilt, it
would crush us. But the sinless One has taken our
place; though undeserving, He has borne our iniquity.
"If we confess our sins," God "is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Glorious truth!--
just to His own law, and yet the Justifier of all that
believe in Jesus. "Who is a God like unto Thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not
His anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy."
Micah 7:18.
"Bring us not into temptation, but
deliver us from the evil one."
Matthew 6:13, R.V .
Temptation is enticement to sin, and this does not
proceed from God, but from Satan and from the evil
of our own hearts. "God cannot be tempted with
evil, and He Himself tempteth no man." James
1:13, R.V.
Satan seeks to bring us into temptation, that the
evil of our characters may be revealed before men
and angels, that he may claim us as his own. In the
symbolic prophecy of Zechariah, Satan is seen standing
at the right hand of the Angel of the Lord, accusing
Joshua, the high priest, who is clothed in filthy
garments, and resisting the work that the Angel
desires to do for him. This represents the attitude
of Satan toward every soul whom Christ is seeking
to draw unto Himself. The enemy leads us into sin,
and then he accuses us before the heavenly universe
as unworthy of the love of God. But "the Lord said
unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even
the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is
not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" And unto
Joshua He said, "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with
change of raiment." Zechariah 3:1-4.
God in His great love is seeking to develop in us
the precious graces of His Spirit. He permits us to
encounter obstacles, persecution, and hardships, not
as a curse, but as the greatest blessing of our lives.
Every temptation resisted, every trial bravely borne,
gives us a new experience and advances us in the
work of character building. The soul that through
divine power resists temptation reveals to the world
and to the heavenly universe the efficiency of the
grace of Christ.
But while we are not to be dismayed by trial,
bitter though it be, we should pray that God will not
permit us to be brought where we shall be drawn
away by the desires of our own evil hearts. In offering
the prayer that Christ has given, we surrender
ourselves to the guidance of God, asking Him to lead
us in safe paths. We cannot offer this prayer in
sincerity, and yet decide to walk in any way of our own
choosing. We shall wait for His hand to lead us; we
shall listen to His voice, saying, "This is the way,
walk ye in it." Isaiah 30:21.
It is not safe for us to linger to contemplate the
advantages to be reaped through yielding to Satan's
suggestions. Sin means dishonor and disaster to every
soul that indulges in it; but it is blinding and deceiving
in its nature, and it will entice us with flattering
presentations. If we venture on Satan's ground we
have no assurance of protection from his power. So
far as in us lies, we should close every avenue by
which the tempter may find access to us.
The prayer, "Bring us not into temptation," is
itself a promise. If we commit ourselves to God we
have the assurance, He "will not suffer you to be
tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may
be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.
The only safeguard against evil is the indwelling
of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness.
It is because selfishness exists in our hearts
that temptation has power over us. But when we
behold the great love of God, selfishness appears to
us in its hideous and repulsive character, and we
desire to have it expelled from the soul. As the Holy
Spirit glorifies Christ, our hearts are softened and
subdued, the temptation loses its power, and the grace
of Christ transforms the character.
Christ will never abandon the soul for whom He
has died. The soul may leave Him and be
overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn
from one for whom He has paid the ransom of His
own life. Could our spiritual vision be quickened,
we should see souls bowed under oppression and
burdened with grief, pressed as a cart beneath sheaves
and ready to die in discouragement. We should see
angels flying swiftly to aid these tempted ones, who
are standing as on the brink of a precipice. The
angels from heaven force back the hosts of evil that
encompass these souls, and guide them to plant their
feet on the sure foundation. The battles waging
between the two armies are as real as those fought by
the armies of this world, and on the issue of the
spiritual conflict eternal destinies depend.
To us, as to Peter, the word is spoken, "Satan
hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as
wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail
not." Luke 22:31, 32. Thank God, we are not left
alone. He who "so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John
3:16), will not desert us in the battle with the adversary
of God and man. "Behold," He says, "I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,
and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing
shall by any means hurt you." Luke 10:19.
Live in contact with the living Christ, and He will
hold you firmly by a hand that will never let go.
Know and believe the love that God has to us, and
you are secure; that love is a fortress impregnable
to all the delusions and assaults of Satan. "The name
of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth
into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10.
"Thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory." Matthew 6:13 .
The last like the first sentence of the Lord's Prayer,
points to our Father as above all power and authority
and every name that is named. The Saviour beheld
the years that stretched out before His disciples, not,
as they had dreamed, lying in the sunshine of worldly
prosperity and honor, but dark with the tempests of
human hatred and satanic wrath. Amid national strife
and ruin, the steps of the disciples would be beset
with perils, and often their hearts would be oppressed
by fear. They were to see Jerusalem a desolation, the
temple swept away, its worship forever ended, and
Israel scattered to all lands, like wrecks on a desert
shore. Jesus said, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors
of wars." "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and
pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All
these are the beginning of sorrows." Matthew 24:6-8.
Yet Christ's followers were not to fear that their
hope was lost or that God had forsaken the earth.
The power and the glory belong unto Him whose
great purposes would still move on unthwarted toward
their consummation. In the prayer that breathes their
daily wants, the disciples of Christ were directed to
look above all the power and dominion of evil, unto
the Lord their God, whose kingdom ruleth over all
and who is their Father and everlasting Friend.
The ruin of Jerusalem was a symbol of the final
ruin that shall overwhelm the world. The prophecies
that received a partial fulfillment in the overthrow of
Jerusalem have a more direct application to the last
days. We are now standing on the threshold of great
and solemn events. A crisis is before us, such as the
world has never witnessed. And sweetly to us, as to
the first disciples, comes the assurance that God's
kingdom ruleth over all. The program of coming
events is in the hands of our Maker. The Majesty of
heaven has the destiny of nations, as well as the
concerns of His church, in His own charge. The divine
Instructor is saying to every agent in the accomplishment
of His plans, as He said to Cyrus, "I girded thee,
though thou hast not known Me." Isaiah 45:5.
In the vision of the prophet Ezekiel there was the
appearance of a hand beneath the wings of the
cherubim. This is to teach His servants that it is divine
power which gives them success. Those whom God
employs as His messengers are not to feel that His
work is dependent upon them. Finite beings are not
left to carry this burden of responsibility. He who
slumbers not, who is continually at work for the
accomplishment of His designs, will carry forward His
own work. He will thwart the purposes of wicked
men, and will bring to confusion the counsels of
those who plot mischief against His people. He who
is the King, the Lord of hosts, sitteth between the
cherubim, and amid the strife and tumult of nations
He guards His children still. He who ruleth in the
heavens is our Saviour. He measures every trial, He
watches the furnace fire that must test every soul.
When the strongholds of kings shall be overthrown,
when the arrows of wrath shall strike through the
hearts of His enemies, His people will be safe in
His hands.
"Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power,
and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for
all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. . . .
In Thine hand is power and might; and in Thine
hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto
all." 1 Chronicles 29:11, 12.