the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Bowen's Daily Meditations
" Surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God." - Ecclesiastes 8:12.
Observe here the character of those that are spoken of: " they fear God."
Observe their condition present and prospective: "it shall be well with them."
Notice the certainty of this: " surely I know."
God is love. This word embraces all his perfections. But let none suppose that he is therefore bound down to a single line of manifestation. Light is one; yet, says the prism, manifold. The sternest acts of Providence unfold, in their own particular way, the love of God. Again, all that God requires of us, is love. But this love will manifest itself diversely, according to the divine perfection contemplated. In view of his holiness, we stand in awe; of his sovereignty, we fear; of his faithfulness, we believe; and in view of his kindness, we rejoice.
It shall be well with them. A quiet, modest word; but full of significance. The fear of God took Abraham to Mount Moriah, but it was well with him there. It was not the fear of God that took Lot to Sodom; it went not well with him there. The fear of God took Daniel into the lion’s den, and the three Hebrews into the seven-times heated furnace; they feared him who had power to cast both soul and body into hell; and it was well with them. The spirit of glory and of God rests as a dove, upon them that fear God; invisible to the world; telling of the new Jerusalem that cometh down from God out of heaven! Who shall estimate the measure of this word " well?" Ask Lazarus to tell thee from the bosom of Abraham, what it means; - ask Paul; - ask the primeval angels; - ask God!
I know surely, says the Preacher. There is no item of knowledge based on more absolute certainty than this. If God be God, then whatever else be certain or uncertain, this one thing is imperatively true; it must be well with him that feareth God. This unquestionable axiom laughs all mere philosophy to scorn, and condemns all that disdain the paths of God. Are you willing to bid eternal farewell to this word which shuts up in itself as in a mystic casket all the riches, all the beauty, all the splendor, and all the bliss of God’s vast universe? Oh! what a bankrupt is he that lets go this word!
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