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daily devotional
Morning...
Exodus 28:38
The iniquity of the holy things.
What a veil is lifted up by these words, and what a disclosure is made! It
will be humbling and profitable for us to pause awhile and see this sad sight.
The iniquities of our public worship, its hypocrisy, formality, lukewarmness,
irreverence, wandering of heart and forgetfulness of God, what a full measure
have we there! Our work for the Lord, its emulation, selfishness, carelessness,
slackness, unbelief, what a mass of defilement is there! Our private devotions,
their laxity, coldness, neglect, sleepiness, and vanity, what a mountain of
dead earth is there! If we looked more carefully we should find this iniquity
to be far greater than appears at first sight. Dr. Payson, writing to his
brother, says, "My parish, as well as my heart, very much resembles the garden
of the sluggard; and what is worse, I find that very many of my desires for the
melioration of both, proceed either from pride or vanity or indolence. I look
at the weeds which overspread my garden, and breathe out an earnest wish that
they were eradicated. But why? What prompts the wish? It may be that I may walk
out and say to myself, 'In what fine order is my garden kept!' This is pride.
Or, it may be that my neighbours may look over the wall and say, 'How finely
your garden flourishes!' This is vanity. Or I may wish for the destruction of
the weeds, because I am weary of pulling them up. This is indolence." So that
even our desires after holiness may be polluted by ill motives. Under the
greenest sods worms hide themselves; we need not look long to discover them.
How cheering is the thought, that when the High Priest bore the iniquity of the
holy things he wore upon his brow the words, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD:" and even
so while Jesus bears our sin, He presents before His Father's face not our
unholiness, but his own holiness. O for grace to view our great High Priest by
the eye of faith!
January 8
Evening...
Song of Solomon 1:2
Thy love is better than wine.
Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has
enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad both in
God's gifts and God's works; but in all these separately, yea, and in all of
them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in the
matchless person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on earth ever
yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could never bring
forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in communion with
our Beloved? In our esteem, the joys of earth are little better than husks for
swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We would rather have one
mouthful of Christ's love, and a sip of his fellowship, than a whole world full
of carnal delights. What is the chaff to the wheat? What is the sparkling paste
to the true diamond? What is a dream to the glorious reality? What is time's
mirth, in its best trim, compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised
estate? If you know anything of the inner life, you will confess that our
highest, purest, and most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life
which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. No spring yields such sweet water
as that well of God which was digged with the soldier's spear. All earthly
bliss is of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ's presence are like
Himself, heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets
of emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this
ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not looked
upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test of years,
and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called "the only true delight." For
nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no wine can rival the
love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening.
January 9
Morning...
Jeremiah 31:33
I will be their God.
Christian! here is all thou canst require. To make thee happy thou wantest
something that shall satisfy thee; and is not this enough? If thou canst pour
this promise into thy cup, wilt thou not say, with David, "My cup runneth over;
I have more than heart can wish"? When this is fulfilled, "I am thy God," art
thou not possessor of all things? Desire is insatiable as death, but He who
filleth all in all can fill it. The capacity of our wishes who can measure? but
the immeasurable wealth of God can more than overflow it. I ask thee if thou
art not complete when God is thine? Dost thou want anything but God? Is not His
all-sufficiency enough to satisfy thee if all else should fail? But thou
wantest more than quiet satisfaction; thou desirest rapturous delight. Come,
soul, here is music fit for heaven in this thy portion, for God is the Maker of
Heaven. Not all the music blown from sweet instruments, or drawn from living
strings, can yield such melody as this sweet promise, "I will be their God."
Here is a deep sea of bliss, a shoreless ocean of delight; come, bathe thy
spirit in it; swim an age, and thou shalt find no shore; dive throughout
eternity, and thou shalt find no bottom. "I will be their God." If this do not
make thine eyes sparkle, and thy heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly thy
soul is not in a healthy state. But thou wantest more than present
delights-thou cravest something concerning which thou mayest exercise hope; and
what more canst thou hope for than the fulfillment of this great promise, "I
will be their God"? This is the masterpiece of all the promises; its enjoyment
makes a heaven below, and will make a heaven above. Dwell in the light of thy
Lord, and let thy soul be always ravished with His love. Get out the marrow and
fatness which this portion yields thee. Live up to thy privileges, and rejoice
with unspeakable joy.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
(16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17)
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
So the Scriptures are profitable for the purpose of reproving and
correcting us!
But how many people are even willing to be corrected when they are in
error—to be reproved for the wrong things they do? People simply do not like to
be corrected. They love praise—they like flattery—but reproof and correction
they surely hate!
Now we can see why it is so difficult for people to understand the Bible
and to agree on just what it says. The Bible is God's great spiritual mirror.
It shows up every flaw in our thinking, reveals every spot on our characters.
It pictures us as we really are—as God sees us, not as we like to think we are,
or as we like to have other people look upon us.
"For the word of God," we read in Hebrews 4:12, "is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword"—it cuts deep, and it cuts both ways—"and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Yes, it opens up and
exposes our innermost thoughts.
When little children do things that are wrong—that have been forbidden—do
they usually admit it freely and frankly? Or do they usually deny it as long as
possible, then try to cover it up, excuse it, justify it, or place the blame on
somebody else?
We are all only little children grown up. When our heavenly Father speaks
to us, through His Holy Scriptures, and reproves, rebukes, or corrects us, we
usually do not like to admit our errors, our faults, our wrong ways.
And so men began, centuries ago, to interpret the Bible. As a result, the
Word of God has become twisted, wrested, perverted, with almost every false and
counterfeit meaning imaginable being read into it.
From Why Study the Bible in the Space Age?
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