Sharing a Blessing

Good afternoon, friends!

I have but a few more moments before the kids awake from their naps,

and so I scramble to type as quickly as possible!

This morning I was reading from my Morning and Evening devotional by Charles Spurgeon, and as you well know by now, I adore his writings and so of course I have a hard time reading ONLY the morning devotional and not the evening one, too!

*smile*

Today, it was the evening one that especially spoke to me

and I wish to pass the blessing on to you.

Here it is:

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"My people shall dwell in quiet resting places." Isaiah 32:18

Peace and rest belong not to the unregenerate,
they are the peculiar possession of the Lord's people,

and of them only.

The God of Peace gives perfect peace

to those whose hearts are stayed upon him.

When man was unfallen,

his God gave him the flowery bowers of Eden

as his quiet resting places;

alas! how soon sin blighted the fair abode of innocence.

In the day of universal wrath

when the flood swept away a guilty race,

the chosen family were quietly secured

in the resting-place of the ark,

which floated them from the old condemned world

into the new earth of the rainbow and the covenant,

herein typifying Jesus, the ark of our salvation.

Israel rested safely beneath

the blood-besprinkled habitations of Egypt

when the destroying angel smote the first-born;

and in the wilderness the shadow of the pillar of cloud,

and the flowing rock gave the weary pilgrims sweet repose.

At this hour we rest in the promises

of our faithful God,

knowing that his words are full of truth and power;

we rest in the doctrines of his word,

which are consolation itself;

we rest in the covenant of his grace,

which is a haven of delight.

More highly favoured are we than David in Adullam,

or Jonah beneath his gourd,

for none can invade or destroy our shelter.

The person of Jesus is the quiet resting-place of his people,

and when we draw near to him

in the breaking of the bread,

in the hearing of the word,

the searching of the Scriptures,

prayer, or praise,

we find any form of approach to him

to be the return of peace to our spirits.

"I hear the words of love,

I gaze upon the blood,

I see the mighty sacrifice,

and I have peace with God.

'Tis everlasting peace,

sure as Jehovah's name,

'Tis stable as his steadfast throne,

for evermore the same:

The clouds may go and come,

and storms may sweep my sky,

This blood-sealed friendship changes not,

the cross is ever nigh."

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What a comfort to know that in Him and Him ALONE,

we find our peace.

Not in a different vocation, or a bigger home,

or more money, or more "things",

or more of anything this world can offer -

but in Christ alone.

Jesus is the quiet resting place of His people.

Abba, Father - amid the hustle and bustle of my busy days,

help me to keep my eyes fully on Your sweet face and to run to You -

for You are my quiet resting place.