Who can this be but Jesus?

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(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"A Man will be like . . .
a shelter from the wind,
a refuge from the storm,
streams of water in the desert, and
the shade of a great rock in a parched land!" Isaiah 32:2

The beautiful words of the prophet find their supreme fulfillment in Jesus--the Man who is both my Brother, and the Son of the Most High God.

Jesus is my Sin-Bearer, and therefore I discover in Him a shelter from the wind and storm. Between me and the the fiery hurricane of God's wrath, about to overtake me because of my sin--He has placed Himself! The storm of divine wrath broke on Him, instead of on me! He felt all its scorching and devastating power. And so, when I take refuge in what He has done and in who He is--He screens me from its fury!

Jesus stretched wide His blessed arms on the Cross; in His holy bosom, He received all the spears of divine wrath which should pierced my heart forever in Hell!

Jesus is my Friend, and therefore I discover in Him streams of water in the desert. Not content with redeeming me from death, He satisfies all the thirst of my heart--the thirst which the world's best things can neither satisfy nor quench. Yesterday, it was the hot, burnt, agonizing desert; today I am among "the silver mountains, where the nectar fountains spring."

The Bible has ceased to be vexatious and dull; it brims over with light and help and joy. Prayer is a task no longer--but a well of refreshment. He gives me fuller grace, life more abundant, deeper holiness, and soul-satisfaction. I hunger no more, neither thirst any more.

And Jesus is my Master, and therefore I discover in Him the shade of a great rock in a parched land. The monotony, the miserable sameness, of my life--how is it cured? It is cured when He begins to reign over me. Before He came, it was sand, sand, sand, as far as the eye could travel--yellow sand below, and blazing sun above! But since He came, there is something else, a mighty rock rising in the midst of my parched land; and, nestling under its shade . . .
the grass is green,
and the flowers are bright,
and the wilderness is wilderness no more.
Every passing act is dignified now, because it is done for Christ. Every trifle is sacred, because His Heaven bends over me, and His eternity awaits me. I have escaped from the monotony, the tediousness, the dull routine of life. He crowns me with His loving-kindness and tender mercy!

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