"I know how to abound."-Philippians 4:12

There are many who know "how to be abased" who have not learned "how to
abound." When they are set upon the top of a pinnacle their heads grow
dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The Christian far oftener disgraces
his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing
to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to
the Christian than the fining-pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of
soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the
very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of necessity,
for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound. When he had much he
knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled him to bear abundant
prosperity. When he had a full sail he was loaded with much ballast, and so
floated safely. It needs more than human skill to carry the brimming cup
of mortal joy with a steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for
he declares, "In all things I am instructed both to be full and!
to be hungry." It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the
Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their mouth,
the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for mercies that they
might satisfy their own hearts' lust. Fulness of bread has often made
fulness of blood, and that has brought on wantonness of spirit. When we
have much of God's providential mercies, it often happens that we have
but little of God's grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have
received. We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are
content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder to know how to
be full than it is to know how to be hungry-so desperate is the tendency
of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God. Take care that you
ask in your prayers that God would teach you "how to be full."


" Let not the gifts Thy love bestows
Estrange our hearts from Thee."

Evening

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a
cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee."-Isaiah 44:22

Attentively observe THE INSTRUCTIVE SIMILITUDE: our sins are like a
cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are our transgressions.
As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and darken the landscape
beneath, so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah's face, and cause
us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born things, and rise
from the miry places of our nature; and when so collected that their
measure is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest. Alas! that,
unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers, but rather threaten to
deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. O ye black clouds of sin,
how can it be fair weather with our souls while ye remain?
Let our joyful eye dwell upon THE NOTABLE ACT of divine mercy-"blotting
out." God Himself appears upon the scene, and in divine benignity,
instead of manifesting His anger, reveals His grace: He at once and for
ever effectually removes the mischief, not by blowing away the cloud, but
by blotting it out from existence once for all. Against the justified
man no sin remains, the great transaction of the cross has eternally
removed His transgressions from him. On Calvary's summit the great deed,
by which the sin of all the chosen was for ever put away, was completely
and effectually performed.
Practically let us obey THE GRACIOUS COMMAND, "return unto me."Why
should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God? If we have been
forgiven all our sins, let no legal fear withhold us from the boldest
access to our Lord. Let backslidings be bemoaned, but let us not
persevere in them. To the greatest possible nearness of communion with the
Lord, let us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, strive mightily to return.
O Lord, this night restore us!