Get near to God if you want to enjoy what He has prepared for you. Live in simple, loving fellowship with Him if you desire to drink in His fullness. And be sure of this: You will have no part in the matter unless you are a child of His house. "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided," but around it lies a desolate wilderness of famine and death.

Remember, only when Abraham stands with knife in hand, expecting that the next moment it will run red with his son's blood—only then does the call come: "Abraham!" Only then does he notice the ram caught in the thicket.

That is God's way always. Up to the very edge we are driven before He puts out His hand to help us. It is best for us that we should be brought to desperation, to say, "My foot slips" and then, just as our toes feel the ice, help comes and His mercy holds us up. At the last moment—never before it, never until we have discovered how much we need it, and never too late—comes the Helper.

If we want to get our needs supplied, our weakness strengthened, and wisdom to dispel our perplexity, we must be where all the provision is stored. If a man chooses to sit outside the provision shop, he may starve on its threshold. If a woman will not go into the bank, her pockets will remain empty though there may be bursting vaults to which she has a right. If we will not ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place by simple faith, God's amplest provision will be nothing to us, and we will be empty in the middle of affluence.

Alexander Maclaren, Adapted from The God of the Amen by Alexander Maclaren (New York, Funk and Wagnalls Co., n.d.).

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