THE EVERLASTING ARMS by Christian at Work

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 6, 1888

THE EVERLASTING ARMS.

By Christian at Work

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Surely no promise could have been more infinitely precious than this promise was, when its words fell upon the ears of the Israelites. It was so wonderfully adapted to the circumstances of a people who had been traveling, houseless and homeless, without any fixed habitation, for a long time. Now they knew that the Lord was to be their dwelling-place; the words had a home-like sound. The thought of stability and permanence must have been like music in the ears of this homesick people. Every blessing seemed to be contained in this promise, an abiding and unchanging dwelling-place where no evil could befall them, an everlasting arm to sustain and support them, strong enough to bear every burden, every care.

The words came down to us as a priceless legacy from the God who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and we may each know for ourselves the comfort contained in them for every weary, heavy-laden soul. The eternal God is our refuge. What need we care then if dark clouds of sorrow lower, and the bitter waters of affliction overflow us? God will never leave or forsake us, and, pavilioned in his eternal love, we need fear no evil.

And God is not only a refuge, he is a dwelling-place. Too many of us are accustomed to go to God only in times of weakness, or to flee to him as a very present help only in time of trouble. When the clouds gather and the storm breaks, then we turn to God to protect us, but when the storm has passed, and all is bright and fair again, we forget him as if we were now self-sufficient. We make God our refuge only, instead of our dwelling-place; we go to him as a covert for a little season, till the danger is overpast; we do not make him our home. If we made God our dwelling-place as well as our refuge, I believe it would alter our lives completely, and increase our happiness an hundred-fold.

Think for a moment what a blessed thing it is to dwell in God; then there is not one thing in our lives that we have to do alone, not one trouble that comes to us that we have to bear alone, not one joy that we have to share alone, not one purpose to make alone, not one temptation to conquer alone and unaided.

The least event in our history quite as much as the greatest does not happen to us alone, but God shares our life with us, and every moment we are dwelling in him, with the everlasting arms beneath and about us.

What a revolution it would make in our lives if we realized this! How many things would be left undone that are now done! How many new duties would be begun! What a new sanctity and sweetness would fill our joys! What deeper responsibility would invest our thoughts and actions! What victories we would gain over temptations that have heretofore defeated us! We would attach a new sacredness and greatness to our common life if we once felt that God was our refuge and dwelling-place, not only in times of distress and in trouble alone.

Of course those times will come, but underneath us are the everlasting arms, strong enough to bear us up through any trouble. Should we ever be crushed by the burdens and cares of life as they gather about us, we feel also the tightening of those everlasting arms which have borne so many precious souls through deepest waters safely to the other side.

Only by casting ourselves upon the Lord will we feel beneath us the everlasting arms; if we stand in our own strength we cannot claim the promise of help, but surely no one will hesitate when the weak arm of flesh, so inadequate to help, is compared to the everlasting arms of the eternal God, our refuge.