Tried With Fire

"And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness , and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." Exodus 16:10. But from what an unexpected quarter the glorious vision came! "They looked toward the wilderness ." Not a cheering prospect, surely! Not a likely spot to which one's eyes would naturally turn for a revelation of the Divine presence! A solitary place, without habitation, or fruitfulness, or beauty; a waste and arid land, where the sun smites by day, and the moon by night; a place where the wild beasts meet, and dragons and owls dwell in safety. Yet such a desert does God choose, in which to reveal Himself; and the watcher sees, amid all this desolation and loneliness, nothing less than "the glory of the Lord." Look into your past life, and see whether you cannot recall many times when you "looked toward" some w...

Lord, I would see You in all my joys, not only receiving them as gifts from Your bountiful hand, but feeling that You Yourself share them with me, thus sanctifying and exalting them; and I would see You in every sorrow, when only Your voice can comfort, and Your sympathy reach to the depths of my suffering. I would see You when perplexed and anxious concerning either heavenly or earthly things, for You are "the wisdom of God," and I cannot go wrong, or do amiss, so long as I follow closely after You, and keep Your commandments. I would see You, You blessed One, in Your wondrous relation to me as my Redeemer, and my Husband! I would often look upon You as the Purchaser of my soul by Your own precious blood, and realize that the absolute surrender of myself, and my will, is but the natural consequence of such an unparalleled sacrifice as Yours! From A Basket of Summer Fruit by Susannah Spurgeon (written after the death of her beloved husband, C. H. Spurgeon)