n it realizes it is accepted; when it is not afraid of the
discipline; when it is not the hand of wrath, but the hand of love. Oh,
then, God, takes you down and makes you poor in spirit, and makes you
mourn until you get to the third step, which is to be meek, broken,
yielded, submissive, willing, surrendered, and laid low at His feet,
crying: "What wilt Thou have me to do?"

JUNE 7.

"When ye go; ye shall not go empty" (Ex. iii. 21).

When we are really emptied He would have us filled with Himself and the
Holy Spirit. It is very precious to be conscious of nothing good in
ourselves; but, oh, are we also conscious of His great goodness? We may be
ready to admit our own disability, but are we as ready to admit His
ability? There are many Christians who can say, "We are not sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves"; but the number I fear is
very small who can say, "Our sufficiency is of God."

Are you sure that He is able to provide every want in you, or do you feel
that you must supply it yourself? Are you believing that God does now
supply every lack in your heart and your life, so that all stumbling is
taken away, and you are endowed with power for His service, as Elisha took
the empty vessels and filled them before they were set aside to be used?
Our Saviour, at Cana, ordered the water-pots to be filled to the brim.
Then the water was made into wine, but not until the vessels were full.
God wants His children to have always a full heart.

JUNE 8.

"Bread corn is bruised" (Isa. xxviii. 28).

The farmer does not gather timothy and blue grass, and break it with a
heavy machine. But he takes great pains with the wheat. So God takes great
pains with those who are to be of much use to Him. There is a nature in
them that needs this discipline. Don't wonder if the bread corn is treated
with the wise, discriminating care that will fit it for food. He knows the
way He is taking, and there is infinite tenderness in the oversight He
gives. He is watching the furnace you are in lest the heat should be too
intense. He wants it great enough to purify, and then it is withdrawn. He
knoweth our frame. He will not let any temptation take us but such as is
common to man, and He will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that we may be able to bear it. Do you believe in this disciplining love
of the Husbandman, and are you trusting Him with the leading and
government of your life? Oh, t