| There are
times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser
than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone,
waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word
spiritual strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse
upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out
of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we
would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and
squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully
upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must
well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be
wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if
we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not
supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process
which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew,
and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that
the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our
souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and
then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing,
reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to
complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth
lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some
Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow
advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets,
and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the
wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but
they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit
hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows
at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such
folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning,
"I will meditate in Thy precepts." (from Morning
Devotions, October 12th.) |
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