Evening
Time: 2:26 PM PST
"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of
Orion?" --Job 38:31
If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show
us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or
quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the
heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal
joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the
year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons
revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men
effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?
In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all
hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad His delights in the soul, none can
disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial
quickening power of the Comforter. When He deigns to visit a church and revive
it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule
it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the
Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if
the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul
bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual
death from an individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but
He. What a blessing it is that He can do it. O that He would perform the wonder
to-night. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my
longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all things are possible
with Thee. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of Thy love, the
beams of Thy grace, the light of Thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to me.
I suffer much from sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible
Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.