Are you unable to sing the Lord’s praises? Are there no mercies that you have experienced? Although you’re gloomy now, can you forget that blessed hour when Jesus met you and said, “Come unto me”? Can you remember that wonderful moment when He snapped your chains, dashed them to the earth, and said, “I came to break your bonds and set you free”?

Surely there are memorials along the way that haven’t yet become overgrown with moss; let them remind you of His mercy toward you. Did you ever have a sickness like the one you have now? Didn’t He restore you? Wasn’t He with you? Were you ever poor before, and didn’t He supply what you needed? Were you never in dire straights before, and didn’t He deliver you?

Arise, go to the river of your experience, and pull up a few bulrushes, and let them become lining in the tiny boat in which your infant-faith may float safely on the stream. Don’t forget what your God has done for you.  Has the Lord never met with you on the mountain? Have you never been helped in time of need? No, I know you have been. Go back, then, a little way to the choice mercies of yesterday, and, though all may be dark now, light up the lamps of the past; they will shine through the darkness, and you will trust in the Lord until the new day breaks, and the shadows flee away. [M&E]