Can the rush grow up without mire? Job 8:11
"THE rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is
no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution.
The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly.
Is this my case?
Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable?
Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands?
If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys....
---The rush cannot grow without mire,
---but plants of the Lord's right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought.
Lord, let me find my life in Thee, and not in the mire of this world's favor or gain." Charles Spurgeon