‘Go out into the high- ways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled’ (Luke 14:23).
We can never estimate the yearning love of God for the souls of men. He sees us absorbed with farming and industry; business and pleasure; with our homes and family life, and knows that these will all pass away, as a dream before the first touch of eternity. With intense passion he desires that we shall be really satisfied with abiding joys.
The Feast that he spreads is abundant and ready (Isa. 25:7; 55:1, 2). A banquet is a happy-making time. As the guests sit together, there is the brilliant flow of conversation, the sparkle of laughter, the enjoyment of the good things provided, the interchange of friendship and fellowship. Everything that a feast stands for God is waiting to give us. ‘He gives us richly all things to enjoy.’ How strange it is that men, mocked by the Evil One, are cajoled into forfeiting their places at the banqueting table, which God has spread for them!
The Jewish people were first bidden, but they were too much occupied with material things to respond to the gracious invitation. The excuses offered were shallow and stupid; the real reason lies much deeper, in the disinclination of the soul to arouse itself to lay hold of the life which is life indeed! But God’s purpose of love cannot be defeated (Luke 13:28-30; Acts 13:45-48).
‘Go out into the highways and hedges.’ Here is our work as his servants! The high-roads, along which the streams of commerce and pleasure, weddings and funerals, statesmen and businessmen, young men and women, housewives and children – are constantly passing! The hedgerows are the quiet sequestered lanes of the countryside, now covered with spring flowers, and again with autumn tints. The up-to-date motor car, or the slow-jogging country wagon are symbols of different modes of life, but the souls that use them alike need the message of Good News. Let us go forth and constrain them to come in that our Master’s House may be filled!
Prayer:
Blessed Lord, have mercy upon those who reject the invitation of thy love! Take from us all ignorance, hardness of heart and contempt of thy word; and so fetch us home, dear Lord, to thy flock, that we may be saved, and become one flock under the Great Shepherd of souls. Amen.
On F. B. Meyer’s death in 1929 The Daily Telegraph called him ‘The Archbishop of the Free Churches’. The New York Observer noted that ‘He has an international fame and his services are constantly sought by churches over the wide and increasing empire of Christendom.’ To the secular press of his time he was a key player on the world scene. Meyer was the minister one of Britain’s first ‘megachurches’. He was friends with D. L. Moody and ministered on both sides of the Atlantic, mirroring in America what D. L. Moody was able to undertake in the U.K. He came from a conventional, middle class Victorian background and experienced no dramatic conversion. He was not a distinguished scholar or dramatic orator. His slight figure and retiring manner meant that he did not stand out in a crowd. Yet he drew crowds by the thousands, wrote books, which sold by the millions, and attracted working class people.The range of Meyer’s activities is astonishing: preacher, pastor, writer, social activist, free church leader, Baptist president, advocate for missionary work and more. In his last years, he declared, ‘If I had a hundred lives, they should be at Christ’s disposal.’ At times, it seemed as though he was living a hundred lives!
Where to Buy:
Our Daily Walk: Daily Readings by F. B. Meyer is available at any good Christian bookstore. If you don’t have a Christian bookstore near you, you may want to consider purchasing a copy from one of the online book retailers listed below:
