Exodus 23:15-33

"And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee." Exodus 23:28

What the hornets were we need not consider. They were God's own army which He sent before His people to sting their enemies and render Israel's conquest easy. Our God by His own chosen means will fight for His people and gall their foes before they come into the actual battle. Often He confounds...

"Ye shall serve the LORD your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water." Exodus 23:25

What a promise is this! To serve God is in itself a high delight. But what an added privilege to have the blessing of the LORD resting upon us in all things! Our commonest things become blessed when we ourselves are consecrated to the LORD. Our LORD Jesus took bread and blessed it; behold, we also eat of blessed bread. Jesus blessed water...

"But if thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries." Exodus 23:22

The LORD Christ in the midst of His people is to be acknowledged and obeyed. He is the vice-regent of God and speaks in the Father's name, and it is ours implicitly and immediately to do as He commands. We shall lose the promise if we disregard the precept.

To...

I traverse the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice. Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. § In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old.They did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your...

For they disciplined us only a short time, as it seemed proper to them; but He does it for our good, in order that we may share His holy character" (Heb. 12:10, Wms.).

It is only natural to feel that our need requires immediate victory, but the truth is that we cannot come to maturity...