| J.R. Miller D.D. | Page 16 |
“Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs
With trembling hand that from thy table fall,
A weary, heavy-laden sinner comes
To plead thy promise, and obey thy call.
I am not worthy to be thought thy child,
Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board;
Too long a wanderer and too oft beguiled,
I only ask one reconciling word.
“I hear thy voice; thou bid’st me come and rest;
I come, I kneel, I clasp thy pierced feet;
Thou bid’st me take my place, a welcome guest,
Among thy saints, and of thy banquet eat.
My praise can only breathe itself in prayer,
My prayer can only lose itself in thee;
Dwell thou forever in my heart, and there,
Lord, let me sup with thee; sup thou with me.”
We may think of anointing also as an emblem of spiritual blessing. Oil was a symbol of the grace of God. Jesus was anointed at his baptism, and went forth full of grace and truth. If we yield ourselves to God, we, too, shall receive a heavenly anointing. Then we shall be filled with God. The beauty of the Lord our God shall be upon us. Our faces shall shine with the shining of holy peace. Our words shall have in them divine sweetness and grace. Anointed for God, our life shall be a benediction to every one it touches. Our shadow, as we pass along the streets, shall bless those on whom it falls. We shall be God’s saving health in this world, diffusing the influences of heaven amid human sorrow and sin.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This reads like a line out of an angel’s life in heaven. “Goodness and mercy… all the days.” Can that mean here, in this world? What! in the life of toil, disappointment, loss, sorrow, and tears, which we must all live on earth? Surely this must be only a poet’s dream of life. No; it is the life of faith and trust in this world. Toil, trouble, trial, belong to life as men see it, but in faith’s realm this is the picture always – “Goodness and mercy all the days.” Even in sorrow and loss there is goodness, always there is mercy. Thus it is unto the end, and then – “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
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