What Is Man . . . That Thou Shouldest
F.B. Meyer explores the profound significance of God's daily visitations and His unwavering care for humanity.
F.B. Meyer reflects on the profound care and attention God gives to humanity, emphasizing that every morning, God visits us with mercy and grace, tending to the world and reaching out to comfort even the most wretched among us. He highlights that God's visits are not only for comfort but also for discipline and growth, as He seeks to lead us to richer experiences of His grace. Meyer urges us to recognize our intrinsic value in God's eyes, akin to a lapidary valuing a diamond, and to respond with love, gratitude, and trust towards our Creator.
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What is man . . . that thou shouldest
visit him every morning? Job vii. 17, 18.
GOD visits us with mercy every morning. Before we are awake He is at work in the world, baptizing it with dew, feeding the birds and wild things, taking pleasure in the jasmine and heliotrope, the honeysuckle, and the rose; and with all his care for his world, He does not forget man, whom He has placed there to be its tenant. There is no life so mean and abject, so suffering and wretched, that He does not visit in order to comfort and relieve it. No heart so forlorn that He does not knock at the door: no window so selfishly curtained and shuttered, at which He does not tap. "Open to Me!" the heavenly visitor entreats, "my love, my dove, my spouse!" Alas for us! that we keep the doors and windows closed to Him ‑‑ as the poor widow to a beneficent friend, who called to relieve her, but she mistook him for the rent‑collector.
But probably Job meant that God visits us in discipline, training, education. He is the watcher of men; not to detect their failures, but to discover opportunities of leading them on to richer, fuller experiences of his grace and life. Surely, as we consider all the time and pains which God has expended on us, we too may cry, with the patriarch, "What is man?" Man is more than we guess, else God would never take such time and pains with him. When a lapidary spends years over a single diamond, the most careless observer begins to appraise properly its intrinsic value.
Every morning God visits thee, with holy thoughts and warnings, with miracles and parables, with anticipations and forecasts ‑‑ oh, realize how much thou art to Him: give Him love for love, thanks and loving recognition, a child's welcome and trust.
Sermon Outline
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I
- God's daily visitations
- Nature's reflection of God's care
- God's attention to the lowly
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II
- God's purpose in discipline
- Opportunities for growth
- The value of human life
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III
- God's communication through thoughts and warnings
- Miracles and parables in daily life
- The importance of recognizing God's presence
Key Quotes
“What is man . . . that thou shouldest visit him every morning?” — F.B. Meyer
“There is no life so mean and abject, so suffering and wretched, that He does not visit in order to comfort and relieve it.” — F.B. Meyer
“Every morning God visits thee, with holy thoughts and warnings, with miracles and parables.” — F.B. Meyer
Application Points
- Recognize the daily blessings and opportunities God provides in your life.
- Respond to God's visitations with love and gratitude each morning.
- Embrace discipline as a means of growth and deeper understanding of God's grace.