Psalm 4:6 There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance on us.… An earnest Christian woman lay upon her deathbed in a Boston hospital. She had devoted herself to an unselfish life, and contracted the disease that caused her death, in spending her life for others. The night she died she said to her attendants, "Please raise the curtain." There, on a great church opposite the hospital, flooded by moonlight, stood Thorwaldsen's statue of the Master. Long and silently she gazed upon it. "Don't drop the curtain," she pleaded. "I want to look at Christ." Our doubts, our sins, our troubles, our perplexities, are all curtains that fall between us and the true meaning of a simple Christian life. Raise them and look at Him. Happiness in God's favour: — Four things briefly put about the happiness that comes of God's smile. 1. It goes to heighten other joys where they are possessed. There are such joys, sources of satisfaction for the intellect, for the social heart, for every want of man except that of the soul. Let this deepest need of man be met, and all other things will yield more good. 2. Further, true happiness remains when other sources of joy have passed away. Failures, reverses, losses, are always saddening; but have we not known men m whose heart happiness has held its seat even amidst the wreck of their fortunes? Yet again, the joy of God dwells within the soul of many a man who never had many other sources of comfort. God's poor are gladdened by the light of His countenance. 3. Lastly, this happiness will be enjoyed in proportion as we are seeking it. The Christian living beneath the sunlight is the happy Christian. The Christian who often lives without seeking it, lacks the joy. So, then, here is the secret of a happy life — it is with God. It is living in friendship and fellowship with God; it lies in the consciousness of His favour and love. The one spot on earth where happiness is to be found is the heart of a good man. (J. B. French.) Parallel Verses KJV: There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.WEB: Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us. |
    |