We have not to inquire if we are sons, but take that as the ground of our now being conformed to Him. “Oh,” you will say, “that is so high!” Well, but Christ has come as the link to what is so high by coming so low—and He stooped lower than any—and He made Himself our only object. It is not the power of the mind that thinks about it, but the singleness of the eye that looks at it; the single eye has no object but Christ. The old nature is not to act. The new man has no other object than Christ.

You are called to know God. “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace” (Job 22:21). That was always true, but you are now called to know God in Christ. Oh that the world may not get into our hearts in such a way as to make us incapable of enjoying God! He is leading us from circumstances to the knowledge and enjoyment of God by the communication of the divine nature. If I am in sorrow, God is my comfort; if I have suffered loss, Christ is everything to me. We are to cast all our cares upon Him, great and small; and so “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7). Is His throne shaken by our cares, because they are so many, and so great? No! His throne is unaffected by them all. Thus, while it is applicable to the commonest cares, all these things but bring us into the knowledge of God.

May our communion and fellowship be such that we may know His peace; not peace with Him, but the peace in which He dwells; to know that His throne is not disturbed by all our cares, and thus to know Him, and find our joy in Him, and wait to be like Him, purifying ourselves even as He is pure!