The Plain Path

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

                  "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path."  Psalm  27:11

     A convert in Africa was once heard to remark,  "The trail is hard and tangled, but I am not afraid, for there is a Man up ahead!"  Yes, our Saviour always goes before us for He is the Good Shepherd.  He is ever out in front, smoothing out the tomorrows, but it is our duty to follow in His way.  The plain path is not always the easy one, but it is the right one if He is leading.

     The story is told of an old Scotch woman who tramped about selling goods from house to house.  She was in the habit of tossing a stick into the air when she came to a crossroad and then taking the direction in which it pointed.  One day she was observed tossing the stick several times.  On being questioned, she said the road to the right looked so very dreary that she continued to toss the stick until it pointed to the left, for that seemed to her to be a much nicer way.  How often we go to God for guidance in the same fashion.  If His way seems dull we want to choose a brighter one, forgetting that He sees the end as well as the beginning.  Only as we seek to know His will and earnestly follow in His way will we find our steps plainly directed and our life's journey lying along the highway of peace and blessing.

     It is well for us to remember the words of Moody when he said,  "Every hard duty which lies in your path that you would rather not do, that will cost you pain, or struggle, or sore effort to do, has a hidden sweet in it.  Not to do it, at whatever cost, is to miss God's blessing.  Every heavy load that you are called to lift hides in itself some strange secret of strength."

     Study His Word, follow the Holy Spirit's leading, and you will find the plain path to be a highway of joy, but also a narrow way of holiness and self-denial.

"Bread For Each Day"

Still Waters

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

                               " . . . he leadeth me beside the still waters."   Psalm 23:2

     Palestine is a semi-arid country and water is therefore scarce and precious.  The picture that is drawn here in the Twenty-third Psalm is an interesting one.  The streams during the rainy season are swift and treacherous so that it is not safe for a sheep to approach their raging current.  Should they do so, they would probably be carried away and drowned.  The sheep, however, in this rather dry and thirsty land are very eager for the sparkling refreshment when they see it pouring in an inviting torrent, but the shepherd, recognizing their danger, keeps them back until he has dug a ditch leading off from the main stream.  Only when the water has collected in this special pool and distilled to a crystal clearness does he allow his sheep to satisfy their thirst.  By these still waters they find their necessary refreshment without the dangers associated with the swiftly flowing streams of the rainy season.  No wonder the sheep love the shepherd, for through his tender care and provision they can enjoy cooling mouthfuls of water in tranquility, and slake their thirst without fear.

     So too, the boisterous streams of the world, although they appear inviting, can never satisfy the Lord's sheep.  The allurements of sin promise much, but their subtle threat to life and limb is apparent to the Good Shepherd.  He knows our need and graciously supplies the sweet water of the Word and heavenly refreshment.  The quiet beauty and crystal purity of the water of salvation ever invites His obedient sheep to peaceful repose and true contentment.  Only as these "waters of stillness" (as the phrase may be literally translated) are imbibed can our souls be restored and our thirst for God be satisfied.  How precious and delightful are His "still waters."  "O taste and see that the Lord is good."  He ever leads aright!

"Bread For Each Day"