From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
August 20 "I will meet with you there and talk to you from above
the atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover over the Ark of the
Covenant." Exodus 25:22 What heart can conceive or tongue describe the
blessedness of this heavenly truth that at all times, under all
circumstances, and in all places there is provided a mercy seat, a throne of
grace, at which the God of all grace and a sensible sinner may freely meet
without hindrance, if indeed there be any spirit of prayer in the
petitioner's breast? As no place, so no circumstance is too dark for his eye
not to see; as no covering is too thick, so no circumstance is too obscure
for his sight not to pierce through--"Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?
says the Lord." So felt the Psalmist--"If I say, Surely the darkness shall
cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yes, the darkness hides
not from you; but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light
are both alike to you." By night upon our bed; by day in our various occupations;
in the crowded streets or in the lonely fields; surrounded by the ungodly or
in company with the Lord's people, we may, if the Lord the Spirit enables
us, lift up a hearty sigh, utter a confessing word, and pour forth one
simple desire. This may not to some seem to be sufficient to warrant the
gracious fulfillment of the promise, "There will I meet with you;" and yet
every relief thereby obtained proves that it is so; for wherever or whenever
we get any sense of the Lord's presence or of the Lord's power, any
intimation that his eye is upon us for good, and his ear listening to our
cry, be the prayer short or long, be it uttered on our knees or sighed out
on our feet, be it in the quiet room or the bustling street, we have in it
that evidence which each believer knows best in the sweet experience of it,
that God does fulfill his own gracious word, "There will I meet with you."