Whether of the Twain?

I, even I, am He that comforts you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die … and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor?” (Isaiah 51:12).

O my soul! whither dost thou direct thy gaze today? To the hills, or higher? To the winds and waves, or to Him Who walks in majesty upon the swelling tide? To the scattered flock, or to the Shepherd of the sheep? To the saints, or to the Saviour? To the Church militant and mutilated, or to her mighty Head up there in heaven? Whether of the twain? Is God or is man the commanding object of thy vision?

“Why look ye one upon another?” said Jacob to his hunger-bitten sons. Reuben was as powerless in the matter of supply as was Benjamin; all of them were consciously impotent. They could render no kind of help. To whom, then, should they have looked? To Joseph!

Yes, but there was something inexplicable in Egypt’s mysterious ruler. They feared him, and shrank from journeying thither. Yet it was Joseph or starvation: it was Joseph and blessing. So today, “Why do ye look one upon another?” when the middle verse of the Bible—the fulcrum of all—says, “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes” (Ps. 118:9).