THE LORD THINKS ON ME-J.C. PHILPOT

But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Psalm 40:17

Are there not solemn seasons in your soul, when you think upon the Lord? When you lie awake, perhaps at midnight, thinking upon God, upon His truth, His love, His word, His dealings with your soul, and your desires, prayers, and breathings all flow forth to His sacred Majesty; is not this some evidence that you are thinking upon His name? And be assured that if you think upon Him, He has thought upon you.

Look at the giddy multitude. Do they think upon God? Is Jesus ever felt to be precious to their soul? Do they pant after Him as the hart after the water brooks? No; their language is, "There is no God." It is not their spoken language, but it is their inward language. But through mercy you can say that you think upon God; and thus there is some evidence, though you cannot rise up to the assurance of it, that He thinketh upon you. And if He thinks upon you, His thoughts are thoughts of good, thoughts of peace, and not of evil. Does He not read your heart? Does not His holy eye look into the very secret recesses of your soul? And if He thinks upon you, will He leave you, give you up, abandon you in the hour when you need Him most? No; He who thought upon you in eternity, will think on you in time, in every trial, every temptation, every sickness, and in the solemn hour when soul and body part. Through life and death He will still think on you, and will bring you at last to that Heavenly abode where these two things will be blessedly combined, the Lord's ever thinking upon His Zion, and His Zion ever thinking upon Him.

(Ears From Harvested Sheaves for May 12th)

DWELLING SAFELY APART- C.H. SPURGEON

"Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew" (Deuteronomy 33:28).

The more we dwell alone, the more safe shall we be. God would have His people separate from sinners, His call to them is, "Come ye out from among them."...A worldly Christian is spiritually diseased. Those who compromise with Christ's enemies may be reckoned with them. Our safety lies, not in making terms with the enemy, but in dwelling alone with our Best Friend. If we do this, we shall dwell in safety despite the sarcasms, the slanders, and the sneers of the world. We shall be safe from the baleful influence of its unbelief, its pride, its vanity, its filthiness. God also will make us dwell in safety alone in that day when sin shall be visited on the nations by wars and famines. The LORD brought Abram from Ur of the Chaldees, but Abram stopped halfway. He had no blessing till, having set out to go to the land of Canaan, to the land of Canaan he came, He was safe alone even in the midst of foes. Lot was not safe in Sodom though in a circle of friends. Our safety is in dwelling apart with God.
(From Faith's Checkbook for June 12th).

GOD IS GOD- A.W. PINK

One of the most flagrant sins of our age is that of irreverence, the failure to ascribe the glory which is due the august majesty of God. Men limit the power and activities of the Lord in their degrading concepts of His being and character. Originally, man was made in the image and likeness of God, but today we are asked to believe in a god made in the image and likeness of men. The Creator is reduced to the level of the creature: His omniscience is called into question, His omnipotence is no longer believed in, and His absolute sovereignty is flatly denied. Men claim to be the architects of their own fortunes and the determiners of their own destiny. They know not that their lives are at the disposal of the Divine Despot. They know not they have no more power to thwart His secret decrees than a worm has to resist the tread of an elephant. They know not that, "The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all" (Psalm 103:19). (emphasis mine, cw)