Gospel in the way of stimulus and encouragement, and exhortation, and
actual communication of powers, we may calculate, from the abundance of
the resources, how great will be the strain upon us before we come to
the end, and our 'feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.' Go into
some of the great fortresses in continental countries, and you will
find the store-rooms full of ammunition and provisions; bread enough
and biscuits enough, as it seems, for half the country, laid up there,
and a deep well somewhere or other in the courtyard. What does that
mean? It means fighting, that is what it means. So if we are brought
into this strong pavilion, so well provisioned, so massively fortified
and defended, that means that we shall need all the strength that is to
be found in those thick walls, and all the sustenance that is to be
found in those gorged magazines, and all the refreshment that is to be
drawn from that free, and full, and inexhaustible fountain, before the
battle is over and the victory won. Depend upon it, the promise 'Thy
shoes shall be iron and brass.' means, 'Thy road shall be rocky and
flinty'; and so it is.

And yet, thank God! whilst it is true that it is very hard and very
difficult for many of us, and hard and difficult--even if without the
'very'--for us all, it is also true that we have the adequate provision
sufficient for all our necessities--and far more than sufficient! It is
a poor compliment to the strength that He gives to us to say that it is
enough to carry us through. God does not deal out His gifts to people
with such an economical correspondence to necessities as that. There is
always a wide margin. More than we can ask, more than we can think,
more than we can need is given us.

If He were to deal with us as men often deal with one another, asking
us, 'Well, how much do you want? cannot you do with a little less?