J. T. Mawson
At the close of another year we recall the old story of a Christian farmer who erected a weather vane upon the gable of his house, upon which was the text, “God is love.” He was asked if he meant to convey the idea that God’s love was as changeable, as the wind, and his reply to the questioner is worthy to be often told: “No, I mean that ‘God is love’ whichever way the wind blows.” What a comfort and stay is this in the midst of passing seasons, changing circumstances, and sometimes fierce trials, to those who know God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed to us in all the blessedness of a quenchless and eternal love.
The rolling years cannot ruffle the peace of such, for whether they look back into the receding past, or forward into the swiftly coming future, all is bright with that love which nothing can destroy.
The past has been likened to a sunset, and the simile is an apt one; we can look upon it with adoring hearts and eyes, for we see the clouds that once threatened us, and filled us, perhaps, with misgiving, made glorious by the golden light of the ways of God. Those clouds, perhaps, tell of hopes blighted, ambitions thwarted, and idols broken, but it is well to have behind us those things Which would obscure faith’s vision and impede faith’s footsteps in the race.
The future is the sun-rising, when every promise and purpose of God will be fulfilled at the coming of the Lord. The eager hands of faith stretch forward to the eternal realities which then shall be revealed, and the heart substantiates them even now (Heb. 11:11Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)); but what will it be when faith gives place to sight, and the glory of God surrounds us in His home above?
“Our hearts beat high, the dawn is nigh That ends our pilgrim story, In that eternal glory!”
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