A LADY once was leaning over a bridge at Leamington watching the fresh sparkling waters of the stream murmuring beneath. Her thoughts turned to Holy Scripture, and she uttered aloud, almost unconsciously, the words of the forty-sixth Psalm, fourth verse: “There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God.” A gentleman was passing by and heard the words. Turning to her, he said very quietly, “Forgive me, but is there anything that maketh glad in this world of misery?” The question led to a few earnest words in reply. The lady told from her own experience of Him Who came to save, and Who alone can refresh and satisfy the weary soul. She invited the inquirer to prove for himself the blessedness of trusting in Jesus. So they parted, but the message by the bridge was a word in season, and guided a thirsty soul to Him, Who is the Fountain of living waters, and the Wellspring of all true joy.
The lady discovered this in a remarkable way. Some years after the word spoken at the bridge, a gentleman was shown into her pew in a London church. He was quite a stranger, and a place being vacant he took it. The lady was struck with his devout bearing. As he went away, he turned to her, opened his Bible at the forty-sixth Psalm and, pointing to the verse she had quoted, said that he had “cause indeed to thank God for her repeating that verse on Leamington Bridge.”
(It may be a lesson to the Christian to make greater use of Holy Scripture. A single verse, uttered at a suitable moment, and in the spirit of the Master, may prove a lifelong blessing to the one who hears it. It may be God’s Own chosen means of leading a soul to Himself.)
But I would ask you to notice the connection in which these words are found. There is something very beautiful about it. Around the city there is trouble and distress. All seems confusion. The waters roar; the mountains shake; yea, the earth is removed. Peril and danger, foes and fears, surround the city on every hand. The heathen rage. The enemies of Zion threaten to destroy. But, there is a sure defense. In spite of all, there is a safe shelter. There is One in the midst of her stronger than all who combine against her, so that her inhabitants may sing a triumph-song even whilst the peril continues.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved God shall help her, and that right early.” “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (Psa. 46:1-3, 5, 71<<To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.>> God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (Psalm 46:1‑3)
5God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. (Psalm 46:5)
7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. (Psalm 46:7).)
Here is a blessed confidence. Here is a fortress which none can invade, a strong habitation that none can overthrow. But there is more than this. Within the city there flows a peaceful river, If the rough waves of the mighty ocean rage and toss themselves without, a river of joy and peace and quietness flows within. So that there is not only safety, but comfort and gladness and hope. “There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.” (vs. 4.)
Here is a sweet thought for the true “children of Zion” as they journey on. Every year brings its sorrow and loss and trial. War does its deadly work, and has had its victims. Many a home is deprived of its stay. Hard times bring not a few to the brink of poverty and want. Each coming year will have its troubles also, and perhaps the reader may find in them many a heavy load of care and anxiety. But, if God be your Refuge, if Christ be your Hiding-place, you are a “citizen of Zion,” and all its privileges are yours. The God of all power and might, the faithful God, the everlasting God, the God of providence and grace, is on your side; and “if God be for you, who can be against you?” You, too, shall have access to this river of gladness. You shall “be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house, and shall drink of the river of His pleasures.” (Psa. 36:88They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. (Psalm 36:8).)
But is there anything that makes glad in a world of sorrow such as ours? Yes, indeed there is. True heart-gladness is provided for earth’s sorrowing children. What is the spirit of true religion? What is the life God would have His children lead? Is it bondage, fear, and dread? Is it gloom, sadness, a troubled and disquieted spirit? Is it a needful drudgery to be endured to obtain rest hereafter? Nay, rather, is it not “righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost”? Hath not the Master told us that, “His joy shall abide in us,” “that our joy may be full”? Dangers and difficulties may thicken around; tears, troubles, and temptations may lie in wait for us; we may be “cast down for a season, and be in heaviness through the manifold trials” of life; but if we trust in Jesus, joy is on the way, yea, we have it now, as through our tears we look up, to Him Who is close by to cheer and uphold us.
The note was once heard from angel-lips, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Then was the glad song caught up by the heavenly choir in the noble anthem: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men.” Nor has the joy ever ceased from that day to this. The shepherds heard it and rejoiced. The Virgin Mother with a strange joy pondered it in her heart. Simeon and Anna in the Temple took up the strain. The wise men from the East came and carried back the exceeding joy that filled their hearts. Peter and the rest of the Apostles rejoiced in the stripes laid upon them for Christ. The Eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Paul and Silas sang hymns in the dark dungeon at Philippi. And right on ward from those early Gospel days has the gladness spread from heart to heart and from shore to shore, till now, in almost every land, there are some faithful ones in Christ, even in persecution, poverty, or pain, who can “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Only the other day I heard a touching story of a Christian’s joy. It was about a young girl who was deprived of almost every source of comfort. She was quite blind, and unable to hear or speak. The only way in which others could communicate with her was by writing on her cheek, and she replied by writing on a slate, in some way guiding the pencil with her mouth. A clergyman was one day visiting her. He wanted to comfort her, yet the words must be few. So he wrote on her cheek, “Rejoice in the Lord.” She immediately wrote back on the slate, “He is my only joy.”
Let me give another incident, and this from a foreign land. A Mohammedan lady was baptized at Amritsar, having to bear, for Christ’s sake, no small amount of persecution and reproach from her husband and relatives. She was beaten about the face till the blood flowed, and scarcely escaped with her life. A fortnight afterward a relative was trying to persuade her to go back to her former faith. She replied, “Having first drunk from a muddy well, and then having found a spring of clean, fresh, sweet water, do you think I should go back to the muddy well again?” Truly she had also been refreshed by the “river that maketh glad,” and therefore could no more forsake its life-giving waters.
Come, reader, and drink from this stream of Divine consolation, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”