My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year | Page 2

the sky? Does it
range over mighty spaces seeking benedictions for a multitude? Or
does it dwell in selfish seclusion, imprisoned in merely selfish quest?
How is it with our prayers? How big are they? Will a tent contain them,
or do they move with the scope and greatness of the heavens? Do they
just contain our own families, or is China in them, and India, and "the
uttermost parts of the earth"? "Look now towards the heavens!" Such
must be our outlook if we are the companions of God.

JANUARY The Third
THE NEVER-FAILING SPRINGS
GENESIS xvii. 1-8.
"I will establish My covenant." The good promises of God are never
revoked. They are like springs which know no shrinking in times of
drought. Nay, in time of drought they reveal a richer fulness. The
promises are confirmed in the hour of my need, and the greater my
need the greater is my bounty. And so it was that the Apostle Paul
came to "rejoice in his infirmities," for through his infirmities he
discovered the riches of Divine grace. He brought a bigger pitcher to
the fountain, and he always carried it away full. "As thy days so shall
thy strength be."
So I need never fear that the promise of yesterday will exhaust itself
before to-morrow. God's covenant goes with us like the ever-fresh
waters of the wilderness. "They drank of that rock which followed them,
and that rock was Christ." Every fulfilment of God's promise is the
pledge of one to come.
God has no road without its springs. If His path stretches across the
waste wilderness the "fountains shall break out in the desert," and "the
wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

JANUARY The Fourth
THE GOD OF THEIR SUCCEEDING RACE
EXODUS vi. 2-8.
"I appeared unto Abraham.... I will be to you a God." The covenant
made with the father was renewed to the children. The father's death
did not disannul the promise of the Lord. Death has no power in the
realms of grace. His moth and his rust can never destroy the ministries
of Divine love. Abraham died and was laid to rest, but the river of life
flowed on, and the bounties of the Lord never failed. The village well
quenches the thirst of many generations: and so is it through the
generations with the wells of grace and salvation. The villagers have
not to dig a new well when the patriarch dies: "the river of God is full
of water."
And thus I am privileged to share the spiritual resources of Abraham,
and the still richer resources of the Apostle Paul. Nothing was given to
him that is withheld from me. He is like a great mountaineer, and he
has climbed to lofty heights; but I need not be dismayed. All the
strength that was given to him, in which he reached those lofty places,
is mine also. I may share his elevation and his triumph. "For the
promise is unto you and your children, and to all that are afar off."

JANUARY The Fifth
THE FLOWERS THAT NEVER FADE
1 PETER i. 1-9.
"An inheritance incorruptible." I am writing these words in the Island
of Arran. To-morrow I shall leave the land behind, but I shall take the
landscape with me! It will be with me in the coming winter, and I shall
gaze upon Goat Fell in the streets of New York. The land is a

temporary possession, the landscape abides!
The praise of men often dies with the shout that proclaims it. Another
idol appears and the feverish worship is transferred to him. The world's
garland begins to fade as soon as it is laid upon the brow. The morning
after the coronation I possess a handful of withering leaves. But the
garland of God's praise acquires new grace and beauty with the years. It
is never so fresh and flourishing as just when everything else is fading
away. It is glorious in the hour of death! The soul goes, wearing her
garland, into the presence of the gracious Lord who gave it.
We can begin even now to wear the flowers of Paradise. We can begin
even now to furnish our minds with lovely thoughts and memories. We
can have "the mind of Christ."

JANUARY The Sixth
"COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS"
PSALM cv. 1-15.
"Count your blessings!" Yes, but over what area shall I look for them?
There is my personal life. Let me search in every corner. I have found
forget-me-nots on many a rutty road. I have found wild-roses behind a
barricade of nettles. Professor Miall has a lecture on "The Botany of a
Railway Station." He found something graceful and exquisite in the
midst of its soot and grime. So I must look