This teaches us that the comfort
obtained by a one may often prove serviceable to another; just as wells
would be used by the company who came after. We read some book full of
consolation, which is like Jonathan’s rod, dropping with honey. Ah! we
think our brother has been here before us, and digged this well for us
as well as for himself. Many a “Night of Weeping,” “Midnight Harmonies,”
an “Eternal Day,” “A Crook in the Lot,” a “Comfort for Mourners,” has
been a well digged by a pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as
useful to others. Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that
beginning, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Travellers have been
delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we love to
see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing through the vale of tears.
The
pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from the top
instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not
spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain. The
horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord.
The means are connected with the end, but they do not of themselves
produce it. See here the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become
useful as reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does
not supersede divine help.
Grace may well be compared to rain for
its purity, for its refreshing and vivifying influence, for its coming
alone from above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or
withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the wells
they have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means and ordinances
without the smile of heaven! They are as clouds without rain, and pools
without water. O God of love, open the windows of heaven and pour us
out a blessing!
This devotion was taken from The Apostle's Bible app.
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