"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling
wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of
His eye." –Deut. 32:10
Thus Moses describes God's care of ancient Israel. How
accurate the description! In the land of Egypt--groaning under oppressive
slavery, and writhing under the lash of heartless taskmasters--God found His
chosen people. And, when His eye of love was fixed upon them, He "led
them about," from the Red Sea shore to the Promised Land--sometimes along a
straight, sometimes a circuitous path--and all the while "He instructed
them" by many a providential dealing, and many a token of loving-kindness.
He instructed them--by mercies, by warnings, by judgments, by frequent
interpositions of His power, and, by remarkable proofs of His determination
to bless the obedient, and to punish the transgressor.
Yes, "He kept them as the apple of His eye"--He shielded
them in the hour of peril--He manifested Himself strong in their behalf--He
placed around them the broad shield of omnipotence, until at length He
brought them to the goodly land promised to their fathers.
Christian! see the emblem of yourself in Israel. Where
did God find you? He found you in a "desert land." Yes, earth with all its
loveliness and beauty is a desert place, until the sinner has been found by
God. There is much, it is true, to attract the eye and to gratify the sense,
but fair and lovely though it be, in a moral and spiritual view it is "a
desert land." The soul can find in it no sustenance--no refuge; and, as in a
"waste howling wilderness," it is surrounded, on every side, by dangers, and
exposed to countless perils. But, oh! it is a blessed thing to know, that
God seeks out, and finds the wanderer, in the desert; and, when He has found
him, "He leads him," not always by a direct path, to the promised land, but
by a circuitous route, and in the right way, to "a city with eternal
foundations, a city designed and built by God."
Reader! has God permitted you to encounter the sharp
stroke of affliction? Has He taken from you the earthly prop, upon which you
were used to lean all too fondly? Remember! God is leading you about. These
unexpected trials--these heart-rending bereavements--are just so many
turnings in your pilgrimage. No thorn has been scattered on your path, but
what is common to the one family of God. "This honor have all the saints."
The Shepherd is leading you, as all the flock are led, with a skillful hand,
and in the right way. It is yours to stand, if He bids you, or to follow, if
He leads.
And, O Christian! is it well you don't know the future
path, along which God is leading you. How disheartened would Israel have
been, had they known the long and weary pilgrimage which was before
them--the need, and suffering, and privation of their forty years travel!
Even so would it be with you, if you could look into the dark and mysterious
future, and see the rough and stony places in life's path--the thorns and
briars in the hills of difficulty--if you could mark, how often and how
painfully you were to be wounded and stricken--if you could gaze on those
grassy mounds, which will yet cover the ashes of the loved and cherished,
and behold yourself, at the close of life's journey, it may be, a worn and
weary pilgrim, tottering on the verge of the grave, feeble and exhausted,
with the perils you have encountered. Oh! it is better far to leave all to
God–
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."
Although, in leading His people, "God gives no account of
any of His matters," yet, if we put ourselves confidingly into His hands,
the longer He leads us, the more we shall be inclined to trust Him. It is
even thus He "instructs us"--instructs us in His love, and faithfulness, and
goodness; He instructs us in our own weakness and His all-sufficiency--our
impotence and His omnipotence--our corruption and His grace--our own frailty
and His steadfastness--our unbelief and His unwavering faithfulness to His
word.
And, mark the believer's security, "He keeps him as the
apple of His eye." Such is God's watchful guardianship over His saints--such
His unceasing vigilance. Yes! humble, unknown, obscure believer, dwelling in
a lowly cottage, in some sequestered glen, far removed from the hum of human
voice or occupation, if only you can say of God, that He is your reconciled
Father in Christ, you are more to be envied than princes of the earth, for
you are in possession of a blessedness, such as no monarch can bestow, no
wealth can purchase, no earthly power procure. Be sure that God, even your
God, does not, for a solitary instant, forget or overlook you; your most
trivial actions are not without interest in His sight--not a hair falls to
the ground without your Father; He orders all things, for the sake of His
own great name, and for the discipline of your soul, to prepare you for the
glories and the blessings of eternity.
Christian! God has found you--God is leading you--God is
instructing you--oh, then, leave to Him to choose your path in life! Rest,
calmly and unhesitatingly, upon the sure word, "kept by the mighty power of
God," and, the nearer you come to the land of your inheritance, the stronger
will grow the conviction that God is faithful to all His promises. As He
carries you, securely, over the rough and stony places of life's journey,
you will sing of "mercy and of judgment;" and, when descending the brink of
the dark waters of Jordan, which divide Canaan from the wilderness, you will
take up the language of the Psalmist, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not
lack. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yes,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me."
And oh! thrice-animating prospect! As you stand upon the
cloudless summits of the heavenly Zion, welcomed by angelic bands, greeted
with the loud hosannas of the redeemed, methinks this will prove the theme
of your song, "He found me in a desert land, and in the waste howling
wilderness; He led me about, He instructed me, He kept me as the apple of
His eye."
"Oh God! who has sent Your own Son into the world to seek
and save the lost, and who has prepared for those who love You, such good
things as pass man's understanding; pour into my heart such love towards
You, that, loving You above all things, I may obtain Your promises of
guidance and strength in this world, and of joy and happiness at Your right
hand in the world to come."
"Oh! for that bright and happy land
Where, far amid the blest,
The wicked cease from troubling, and
The weary are at rest.
"Where friends are never parted,
Once met around Your throne;
And none are broken-hearted,
Since all, with You, are one!
"Yet oh! until then, watch o'er us keep,
While far from You away;
And soothe us, Lord, often as we weep,
And hear us when we pray."
–J. S. Monsell