"Cups of cold water," simple ministries of refreshment, the love-thought, the love-prayer, the love-word--these are the privileged services of all of us. And everybody needs these gentle and gracious services of refreshment, and often there is greatest need where there seems to be least. JUNE The Twenty-fourth _AT EASE IN ZION_ "_Woe to them that are at ease in Zion!_" --AMOS vi. 1-7. I would be delivered from the folly of confusing ease and rest. There is an infinite difference between comforts and comfort. It is one thing to lie down on a luxurious couch: it is a very different thing to "lie down in green pastures" under the gracious shepherdliness of the Lord. The ease which men covet is so often a fruit of stupefaction, the dull product of sinful drugs, the wretched sluggishness of carnal gratification and excess. The rest which God giveth is alive and wakeful, abounding in tireless and fruitful service. "Oh, rest in the Lord." But is it not a strange thing that men can be "at ease in Zion"? That they can play the beast in the holy place? Zion was full of holy memory, and abounded with suggestions of the Divine Presence. And yet here they could carouse, and lose themselves in swinish indulgence! A little while ago I saw a beautiful old church which had been turned into a common eating-house! My soul, be on thy guard. Be watchful and diligent, and busy thyself in the practice of "self-knowledge, self-reverence, self-control." JUNE The Twenty-fifth _DESOLATIONS WROUGHT BY SIN_ "_The Lord hath spoken this word._" --ISAIAH xxiv. 1-12. "The Lord hath spoken this word," and it is a word of judgment. It unveils some of the terrible issues of sin. See the effects of sin upon the spirit of man. "_The merry-hearted do sigh._" Life loses its wings and its song. The buoyancy and the optimism die out of the soul. The days move with heavy feet, and duty becomes very stale and unwelcome. If only our ears were keen enough we should hear many a place of hollow laughter moaning with troubled and restless sighs. The soul cannot sing when God is defied. But see another effect of sin. "_The earth moaneth._" That is a frequent note in Bible teaching. The forces of nature are mysteriously conditioned by the character of man. When man is degraded, nature is despoiled. The beauty of the garden is checked when man has lost his crown. "The whole creation groaneth in pain," waiting for the manifestation of the children of God. Sin spreads desolation everywhere. When I sin, I become the centre of demoralizing forces which influence the universe. And so let me ever pray, "Deliver me from evil." JUNE The Twenty-sixth _CRUCIFYING THE FLESH_ "_Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind._" --1 PETER iv. 1-8. Let not the body be dominant, but the soul. Let me study the example and counsel of the Apostle Paul.