God shall surely visit you
James Smith Joseph's dying words 1860

I am dying, but God shall surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Genesis 50, 24.

God shall surely visit you. When I can visit my beloved Christian friends no more, God will. He visits all of His children, walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks. When his people meet, he meets with them, whether in public assemblies or in the social circle. His church is his garden, in which he takes his pleasant walks. It is his city, in which he loves to dwell. It is his family, with which he feels at home.

He visits every individual Christian also. To the babes, he shows tender care and nurse-like kindness. To the young men, he imparts strength and courage. To the fathers, he opens his heart and shows them the depths of his infinite love. To the afflicted, he manifests sympathy. To the tempted, he affords support. And to the poor, he brings supplies.

He visits His children in the prayer closet, at the family altar, and in the house of prayer. He visits them as they sit around His table and sing His praise. He visits them in the valley of trouble where they sigh and weep. He visits them when oppressed to support and set them free. He visits them in sickness to comfort and make their bed. He visits them when they backslide to restore them. He visits them in the valley of the shadow of death to conduct them safely through.

The Lord has visited me at times in the past, and blessed be His name, He will surely visit me in the future. He will visit to sweeten every bitter cup, to sanctify every trying dispensation, and to enable me patiently to bear every cross. He will visit to bring me up out of this land, this land of trial and tribulation, this land of sins and sorrows. His last visit will be the sweetest, as introductory to His eternal presence and glory.

He will surely visit His children, but it may be to bereave. It may be to remove some idol, or it may be to strip me of something which encumbers and hinders me in my journey. He will visit, and his visits will be in mercy, whether he comes to commend or reprove, to comfort or grieve, to give or take away, to clothe or strip. To fill the mouth with songs, or the eyes with tears. Our prayers call for mercies, and our sins call for stripes, and He will surely answer our call.

Blessed, forever blessed be His holy name, for every visit He has paid me, for every loving look He has given to me, for every sweet word He has spoken to me, and for every blessing He has conferred upon me.

And now, O Lord, visit me often, stay with me long, and manifest yourself to me more fully and more gloriously than you have ever done, especially visit me when on the bed of sickness And in the hour of death, when I am descending into the grave, that land of darkness and corruption, then, then let me hear the voice of mercy saying, God shall surely visit you and bring you out of this land.