p. 32 | Thou art With Me by A. S. Hutchins

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 3, 1857

"Thou art With Me."

By A. S. Hutchins

In the psalm from which we have selected these words David expresses his firm and unshaken confidence in the protecting care of the Lord. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Ps. xxiii, 1, 2, 4.

And why should we not trust fully in the Lord? For "the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." And if we confide in him and follow in his footsteps, he will withhold no good thing. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

God has manifested his love to us in the most convincing manner, in giving his Son to die for us. And with the Apostle we may ask, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Rom. viii, 32.

"Thou art with me." O, cheering thought! O, blessed reflection! This consideration has sustained the people of God in the flood, in the Red Sea, in the fiery furnace, and the lions' den; and in stripes, in imprisonments, and in deaths oft; and amidst perils of waters, perils of robbers, perils of the heathen, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren.

In view of this buoyant reflection, the martyrs were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. They wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

A time of trouble is just before us, when we shall greatly desire the presence of the Lord. Yea, when we must have it or fall amidst the plagues and lose eternal life.

Says David, "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me: he shall set me up upon a rock." Ps. xxvii, 4, 5.

And again, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah." Ps. xlvi, 1, 2.

But if we would feel this abiding confidence in God, we must walk in the light of all the present truth. It is not enough to be numbered with the remnant, we must have a living and deep experience in the work of the Lord; which we may have if we heed the counsel to the Laodiceans. Then may we confidently say of the great Head of the church, in every trial and conflict, "I will fear no evil; for thou art with me."

A. S. HUTCHINS.

Battle Creek, Nov. 26th, 1857.