[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":4},["ShallowReactive",2],{"reading-0711":3},"JULY 11\r\nIt came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land (I Kings 17:7).\r\nWeek after week, with unfaltering and steadfast spirit, Elijah\r\nwatched the dwindling brook; often tempted to stagger through\r\nunbelief, but refusing to allow his circumstances to come between\r\n\r\nhimself and God. Unbelief sees God through circumstances, as we sometimes see the sun shorn of his rays through smoky air, but\r\nfaith puts God between itself and circumstances, and looks at them through Him. And. so the dwindling brook became a silver thread;    and the silver thread stood presently in pools at the foot of the\r\nlargest boulders; and the pools shrank The birds fled; the wild\r\ncreatures of field and forest came no more to drink; the brook was dry. Only then to his patient and unwavering spirit, \"the work of\r\nthe Lord came saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath.\"\r\nMost of us would have gotten anxious and worn with planning long before that. We should have ceased our songs as soon as the\r\nstreamlet caroled less musically over its rocky bed; and with harps  swinging on the willows, we should have paced to and fro upon the withering grass, lost in pensive thought. And probably, long ere\r\nthe brook was dry, we should have devised some plan, and asking God's blessing on it, would have started off elsewhere.\r\nGod often does extricate us, because His mercy endureth forever, but if we had only waited first to see the unfolding of His plans,\r\nwe should never have found ourselves landed in such an inextricable labyrinth; and we should never have been compelled to retrace our\r\nsteps with so many tears of shame. Wait, patiently wait! --F. B.\r\nMeyer.",1783499793199]