And consider what unheard-of things are here promised to the congregation of God. Not only that they shall abide in the hour of temptation, and be preserved from despondency and backsliding; but they shall even be glad with their streams, and bloom yet more fair than in times of peace. There are but few rejoicing Christians, yet we learn that it is no sin to be joyful in God. He who has no occasion to mourn, may lift up his head, and need not bow it down like a bulrush. We have cause and reason enough to be glad in the Lord, and to pass through life with a joyful spirit. For what do we yet want [lack], we who are in Christ; and in Him have all that the heart can desire; we who go clothed in the purple of our King, and in His robe are glorious before the eyes of God; we who know that our names are written in the Book of Life, and that our souls are in hands from which nothing and nobody can pluck them away; we who have the assurance that He has always loved us, and that He will keep that which we have committed to Him against that day; we who are certain that all our enemies already lie vanquished under our feet, and that one day, adorned with the victor-crowns of our Surety, we shall cast anchor on the golden coast of the promised land? Nay, if we could, we might sit from morning till evening at the harp, and none could justly reproach us for being so glad. If we could, our whole life might be a dance, like that of David before the Ark of the Covenant, and we might be drunk with the wine of the house of God, and, as Zechariah says, "Make a noise as through wine, and be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar." God would have nothing against it; He would have pleasure in it. But the eye of our faith is so dim, and the hand of our confidence takes such loose hold; we look more to ourselves than to Christ, and will not seek in Him alone, but would also find something in ourselves; and hence it comes, that with all our riches, we are so poor in joy; and that our treasure which we have through grace, is like a talent buried in the earth, from which we do not even get the interest; and our life is miserable, like that of a poor beggar, and yet we are told, "All is yours."
F.W. Krummacher
A Glimpse of the Kingdom of Grace
