Morning
Time: 4:03 AM PST
"They go from strength to strength." --Psalm 84:7
They go from strength to strength. There are various renderings of
these words, but all of them contain the idea of progress.
Our own good translation of the authorized version is enough for us this
morning. "They go from strength to strength." That is, they grow stronger and
stronger. Usually, if we are walking, we go from strength to weakness; we start
fresh and in good order for our journey, but by-and-by the road is rough, and
the sun is hot, we sit down by the wayside, and then again painfully pursue our
weary way. But the Christian pilgrim having obtained fresh supplies of grace, is
as vigorous after years of toilsome travel and struggle as when he first set
out. He may not be quite so elate and buoyant, nor perhaps quite so hot and
hasty in his zeal as he once was, but he is much stronger in all that
constitutes real power, and travels, if more slowly, far more surely. Some
gray-haired veterans have been as firm in their grasp of truth, and as zealous
in diffusing it, as they were in their younger days; but, alas, it must be
confessed it is often otherwise, for the love of many waxes cold and iniquity
abounds, but this is their own sin and not the fault of the promise which still
holds good: "The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they
shall walk and not faint." Fretful spirits sit down and trouble themselves about
the future. "Alas!" say they, "we go from affliction to affliction." Very true,
O thou of little faith, but then thou goest from strength to strength also. Thou
shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of
it sufficient grace. God will give the strength of ripe manhood with the burden
allotted to full-grown shoulders.