Daily Devotionals

Bowen's Daily Meditations

Devotional: January 2nd

" I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit."- Isaiah 48:17.

Sometimes the soul gets angry with the instruction and says, " I will not believe that this is from the Lord my God. The Lord my God is one that loveth me and taketh pleasure in granting the desires of my heart. But this providence is rude and withering; my hopes are blasted, my expectations mocked, my trust belied. What could mine enemy do to me, more severe, more crushing, than this that has come upon me? And shall I be told that it is the Lord my God teaching me to profit?"

" Yes, it is the Lord thy God. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Thine enemy would never have done to thee what I am doing. Thine enemy might indeed afflict; but not for thy profit. It might be difficult to distinguish between a wound inflicted by an assassin, and an incision made by a surgeon; but the results would soon show the world-wide difference between the two acts. It was needful that I should bring upon thee the very thing most intensely deprecated by thee. There was no need of sending trials for which thou were prepared, and which had no power to disguise me from thee at all. Thou wouldest have greeted them laughingly, and said, I know that the Lord my God is coming to me in these. Therefore I have taken a thicker shroud; but still, if thou wilt hearken, the well-known voice will come to thee out of the midst thereof, saying, ’I am the Lord thy God that teacheth thee to profit.’ ’

" But do I need to be still taught my dependence, my sin fulness, my misery; the sole righteousness of Christ; the sovereignty of God; the vanity of the world? Have I failed to profit by past instructions? Is all my past experience in vain?"

" Not in vain. It is because of the evidence of a good work in thee, that I am led to discipline thee thus and to seek thy perfection. Thy words show that thou hast yet some lessons to learn. Thou art not yet altogether willing that I should be in all things sovereign, and thy will be made everywhere to succumb to mine."

" But, gracious Lord, how can one who has tasted of thy loving-kindness and been enraptured by thy smile, receive without deep anguish of heart the strokes of thy displeasure? Thou hast given me the very sensibility by virtue of which I now suffer. Is it better to be callous? Better to be without expectations, aspirations?"

" The trial of your faith is more precious than of gold that perisheth. Thoughts arise in your mind because the furnace is seven times heated; but will you not consider that I am seven fold more gloriously manifest to you, and eventually by you?"

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