From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions
November 16 "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they
found no city to dwell in." Psalm 107:4 "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way;"--a
way not tracked; a path in which each has to walk alone; a road where no
company cheers him, and without landmarks to direct his course. This is a
mark peculiar to the child of God--that the path by which he travels is, in
his own feelings, a solitary way. This much increases his exercises, that
they appear peculiar to himself. His perplexities are such as he cannot
believe any living soul is exercised with; the fiery darts which are cast
into his mind by the wicked one are such as he thinks no child of God has
ever experienced; the darkness of his soul, the unbelief and infidelity of
his heart, and the workings of his powerful corruptions, are such as he
supposes none ever knew but himself. To be without any comfort except what
God gives, without any guidance but what the Lord affords, without any
support but what springs from the everlasting arms laid underneath; in a
word, to be in that state where the Lord alone must appear, and where he
alone can deliver, is very painful. But it is the very painful nature of the path that makes
it so profitable. We need to be cut off from resting upon an arm of flesh;
to be completely divorced from all props to support our souls, except that
Almighty prop which cannot fail. And the Lord will take care that his people
shall deal only with himself; that they shall have no real comfort but that
which springs from his presence, and no solid testimonies but those which
are breathed into their conscience from his own lips. His object is to draw
us away from the creature; to take us off from leaning on human pity and
compassion; and to bring us to trust implicitly on himself, "whose
compassions fail not,"--to lean wholly and solely upon him, who is "full of
pity, and of tender mercy."