The Whole Disposing Thereof Is Of The LORD

The love of Christ toward little children is a thing beyond our measuring, and methinks beyond our telling also. Yet something of that same love constraineth His servants to bring these little ones unto the knowledge of Him, that they also might know there is a love more real, more enduring, and greater than all the troubles which this poor world can lay upon them. The place wherein the Lord hath appointed us to serve is poor, and in many respects broken. The children themselves bear something of this brokenness; and often, when I behold them, I am made sensible how very little we are able to do for them. Yet the little is ours to do; the multiplying belongeth unto God. 

We may teach them, sit beside them, pray for them, show them kindness, and continually point them unto Christ. But we cannot give one child spiritual understanding, neither can we cause the smallest seed of truth to take root within the heart. We may prepare the soil, but we cannot command life from it. This is the work of God alone. And therefore we would put our poor little labor into His hands, beseeching our kind Lord to multiply it by His own power, in His own time, and after His own manner, unto His own glory. Our part is but to love these little ones, and in loving them, to point them continually unto the reality of Christ. The rest belongeth unto Him.

What then distinguisheth our labor amongst the poor from that of the heathen who do the same? Considered merely in the outward act, absolutely nothing. They may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, relieve the afflicted, and show a tenderness which might put many a professor of religion to shame. Neither would we presume from these outward things to determine whom God is for or against. Such judgments belong not unto us. The Lord is sovereign over all His creatures, and employeth whomsoever He pleaseth for the accomplishment of His purposes. He needeth not first to convert a man before making use of his hand. The unbeliever himself, though knowing nothing of the counsel of God, may nevertheless be made an instrument thereof.

This consideration is very humbling. For what then have we wherein to glory? If the Lord can accomplish His pleasure by the hand of one who knoweth Him not, surely the usefulness of our labor is no proof of any excellency in us. We are servants, and poor ones at that. Yet there is a sweet providence beneath all these things. What men labor for, build, gather, and accumulate may in the end serve purposes which never once entered into their thoughts. Thus was Canaan prepared in its fulness before Israel possessed it. Others had built the cities, planted the vineyards, and filled the land; yet in the appointed hour these things were made to serve the covenant purposes of God.

So it remaineth still. The whole earth is the LORD'S, and nothing escapeth His government. Saint and unbeliever alike move beneath His sovereign hand, though only the former knoweth and loveth the King whose providence ordereth all. And amidst those workings which we cannot trace, this remaineth our comfort: the heart of God in all His dealings shall never cease to be toward the everlasting good of His chosen people. Therefore we need not magnify our own labor above another man's. Let us rather marvel that God should employ any of us at all.

..the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

Proverbs 13:22