God Thought January 5th, 2019
"So let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me and the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”.” Genesis 33:14
What a beautiful picture of Jacob's thoughtfulness for the cattle and children! He would not allow them to be driven for even one day. He would not lead them at a pace to what a strong man like Esau could keep or expected them to keep, but only one as fast as they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day, and made that his only consideration in planning their travel. He had taken the same wilderness journey years before and knew from personal experience it's roughness, heat, and distance. And so he said, " I will move along slowly." "since you have never been this way before" (Jos 3:4)
We "have never been the way before" but the Lord Jesus has. It is all untraveled and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all through personal experience. He knows the steep places that take away our breath, the rocky paths that make our feet ache, the hot and shadeless stretches that bring us to exhaustion, and the rushing rivers that we have to cross-Jesus has gone through it all before us. As John 4:6 shows, "Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well." He was battered by ever possible torrent, but all the floodwaters coming against Him never quenched His love. Jesus was made a perfect leader by the things He suffered. "For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Psalms 103:14) Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of his leading. He remembers all the time and will never make you take even one step beyond what your feet are able to endure. Never mind if you think you are unable to take another step, for either He will strengthen you to make you able, or he will call a sudden halt, and you will nog have to take it at all. Frances Ridley Havergal (Exert from Streams in the desert, January 3)
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