2/28/2023 0 Comments The strongholdFirst, let us think of God himself: “The Lord is good.” Then let our minds ponder a little upon what God is to us: “a strong hold in the day of trouble.” And then we will change the theme a little, and speak of God with us: “He knoweth them that trust in him.” I invite you, dear friends, to consider this text, and may the Holy Spirit make the meditation which will follow to be useful! There are three things here to be thought about. Nothing shall harm them though the earth be removed, and the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea, they may rejoice in the goodness of the Lord in the day of his fierce anger. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” Then, just as there has sometimes been a break, and a delightful silence, in the very midst of some tremendous chorus of sacred song, so here the thunder pauses, the hurricane is stayed, and we hear the sweet music of this still small voice: “Jehovah is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him,” - from which we may gather that there is always a hiding-place for his people, his eyes of love are fixed on them even when they flash fire upon his adversaries. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. Listen a minute to the prophet’s words of terror. It boils, and seethes, and flows with overwhelming force, bearing everything before it yet, right in the middle of the surging flood stands out, like a green island, this most cheering, comforting, and delightful text. HAVE you read this chapter through? It is a very terrible one it is like the rushing of a mighty river when it is nearing a cataract. I have learned to be nothing, and everything." (This may be the best description of a good meditation session that I have ever read.“The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him.” - Nahum i. I have learned to be nothing, as the wind is nothing to step outside my body and be a grass bending in the wind, a bird soaring, a stone rooted deep in the earth. I have learned to let my mind drift with the wind and listen to the ghosts. "No, it is not courage that is needed, for a man cannot fight the wind or escape from the voices of ghosts. But it took a really great mind in the first place to recognize the mere existence of such principles!" They seemed simple only because they rested on principles that could be demonstrated to be true. "Because that was the way with all great ideas. If you have any connection with Scotland, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. I had a sorta knowledge of what a broch was going into this book but I love what Mollie Hunter did to create a story around their origins. Critic Peter Hollindale has gone so far as to assert that Hunter "is by general consent Scotland's most distinguished modern children's writer." Her books have been as popular in the United States as in the United Kingdom, and most are still in print. Hunter's portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and her papers and manuscripts are preserved in the Scottish National Library. There has also been great interest in Hunter's views about writing fiction, and she has published two collections of essays and speeches on the subject. Her work, which includes fantasy, historical fiction, and realism, has been widely praised and has won many awards and honors, such as the Carnegie Medal, the Phoenix Award, a Boston Globe - Horn Book Honor Award, and the Scottish Arts Council Award. Mollie Hunter is one of the most popular and influential twentieth-century Scottish writers of fiction for children and young adults. Maureen Mollie Hunter McIlwraith writes under the name Mollie Hunter.
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