The Bible is a warm letter of affection from a parent to a child, yet there are many who see chiefly the severer passages. As there may be fifty or sixty nights of gentle dew in one summer, that will not cause as much remark as one hail-storm of half an hour, so there are those who are more struck with those passages of the Bible that announce the indignation of God than by those that announce his affection. God is a Lion, John says in the Book of Revelation. God is a Breaker, Micah announces in his prophecy. God is a Rock. God is a King. But hear also that God is Love.
A father and his child are walking out in the fields on a summer’s day, and there comes up a thunder storm; and there is a flash of lightning that startles the child, and the father says, “My dear, that is God’s eye” There comes a peal of thunder and the father says, “My dear that is God’s voice” But the clouds go off the sky, and the storm is gone, and the light floods the heavens, and floods the landscape; and the father forgets to say, “That is God s smile.” Let us not shut our eyes to God’s, tender nature. He is a father. He is our mother.—TALMAGE.
