e we need both these resources. We need the "refuge." There are
times when our mightiest warfare is to lie passive, to shelter quietly in
the strong defences of our God. Our finest strategy is sometimes to "rest
in the Lord and wait." We can slay some of our enemies by leaving them
alone. We can "starve them out." They can be weakened and beaten by sheer
neglect. We feed their strength, and give them favoured chances, if we go
out and face them actively, "marching as to war." The best way is to hide,
and keep quiet; and "God is our refuge."

But we also need the "strength." This is positive equipment for active
service. The defensive is changed to the offensive, and in the "strength"
of the Lord we advance against the foe. We "ride abroad, redressing human
wrongs." We "tread upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the
dragon we trample under foot." We meet our enemy on the open field, and we
slay him in his pride!

And so our God is our resource in the double warfare of active and passive
crusade. In Him we can take refuge, and the enemy withers. In Him we can
find fighting strength, and the enemy is overthrown.

OCTOBER The Eleventh

_THE OLD COMPANION ON THE NEW ROAD_

"_Get thee out ... and I will show thee."
"So Abram departed ... and the Lord appeared._"
--GENESIS xii. 1-9.

We must bring these separated passages together if we would appreciate the
graciousness of the Lord's call. They are like the two sides of the same
shield. They answer each other as voice and echo. When I move in obedience
the Lord moves in inspiration. He never lets me go on my own charges. "All
things are now ready." Before He makes me hunger the bread is prepared.
Before I thirst the water is at hand. Before He calls me He has opened
springs in difficult places and arbours of rest along the road. When Abram
set out from his own country the Lord went before him.

And so I need not fear the arduous call. The very measure of its
difficulty is also the measure of the riches of the divine provisions. "As
thy day so shall thy strength be." At every turning of the winding way the
Lord will appear unto us. At every new demand we shall discover new
bounty, and everywhere in the unfamiliar road we shall gaze upon the
familiar and friendly face of the Lord.

OCTOBER The Twelfth

_ROUND-ABOUT WAYS_

ACTS vii. 1-7.

"Unto a land that I will show thee." But what mysterious windings there
often are before that land is