Springs in the valley - C. Cowman (Aug 11 reading)

This was especially encouraging to me today...

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (Gen. 45:5)

When you are disappointed or vexed or hedged in or thwarted; when you are seemingly abandoned, remember, son of God, heir of Heaven, that you are being prepared for the higher life. You need courage, patience, perseverance, and it is in the hard places that they are developed. You need faith, and you will never have it unless you are brought to circumstances in which you are compelled to act by the invisible rather than the visible. You need those Christian graces of which the Bible speaks, and of which the pulpit preaches; and practical life, with its various vicissitudes, is God’s school in which you are to acquire these things. Do not be discouraged or cast down.

When you are bestead, remember that God is dealing with you as a good schoolmaster. You will thank Him for His severity by and by.

When God is dealing with you, do not accuse Him. Do not cry out, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” Remember, that to those who are exercised thereby God shows His love and His Fatherhood. Bow yourselves meekly to the chastisements of God, and study not how you can get away from the trouble, but how you can rise above it by being made better by it.

I knew I had been sold,
For circumstance
Dark as a desert pit
And dismal as the slaver’s caravan
Surrounded me,
And seemed to crush me down;
I had been sold.

I also had been sent.
The circumstance
Shone with the light Divine,
And through the wrath of men
God put me in His own appointed place.
He set on high
And none could bow me down.
I HAD BEEN SENT.
– JOSEPH, BY M. MANNINGTON DEXTER

Had we no tests, no great hedged-in experiences, we would never know what a wonderful Deliverer and triumphant Guide we have!

He never limits us, except to liberate us!