From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
October 20 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into
the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." Hosea 2:14 It is in the margin "to her heart;" and God speaks to the
heart; that is the special characteristic of his voice. Men may speak to the
ear, and they can do no more; but God speaks to the heart, for it is there
that his voice alone is heard. All true religion first and last lies in a
man's heart. He may have his head well furnished with notions, yet a heart
destitute of grace. But not so with the vessels of mercy, for they "believe
with the heart unto righteousness;" and it is by the voice of God heard in
the heart that a saving faith is raised up in the soul. There God must speak
if there is to be any heart religion, any sound or saving experience, any
knowledge of the truth so as to be blessed and saved thereby. But in the
wilderness we learn the deep necessity there is that God should speak to our
heart. We need the Lord himself to speak and the Lord alone; and to speak
such words as shall reach our heart and enter with divine power into our
conscience. When you are in the wilderness, you have no friend, no
creature help, no worldly comfort--these have all abandoned you. God has led
you into the wilderness to bereave you of these earthly ties, of these
creature refuges and vain hopes, that he may himself speak to your soul. If,
then, you are separated from the world by being brought into the wilderness;
if you are passing through trials and afflictions; if you are exercised with
a variety of temptations, and are brought into that spot where the creature
yields neither help nor hope, then you are made to see and feel that nothing
but God's voice speaking with power to your soul can give you any solid
grounds of rest or peace. But is not this profitable? It may be painful; it
is painful; but it is profitable, because by it we learn to look to
the Lord and the Lord alone, and this must ever be a blessed lesson to learn
for every child of God.