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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Devotional: February 19th

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Morning Devotional

They shall come which were ready to perish. - Isaiah 27:13.

WE have here the attraction the gospel shall exert. Whatever knowledge the heathen had, they were utterly unable to carry it into effect, both for want of evidence and authority. None of them could speak in the name of that God who calleth the things that are not as though they were. Hence we find Plato complaining that he was unable, by all his instructions, to bring over the inhabitants of a single village. But if we go to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Colosse, to Ephesus, and survey the character of the inhabitants before they received the gospel, it is largely described by the apostle, and we cannot suppose that the devil himself could make or wish them worse. Yet the apostle stands forth and says, “Such were some of you;” “ye were sometimes far off;” you “were dead in trespasses and sins;” but “you hath he quickened;” “instead of the thorn came up the fir-tree; and instead of the brier came up the myrtle-tree.” “Our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power also;” “the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”

Accordingly, the gospel is expressed evermore by images which indicate its efficacy. It is called the “rod” of God’s power-a “hammer” to break in pieces-a “two-edged sword”-“leaven” which commences its operations in the centre, and extends them to the circumference until the whole is leavened-“seed” which, though it looks dead, yet fills the earth with its fruit, thirty, sixty an hundredfold. This success God himself has insured, or we could not reckon upon it. “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.”

The gospel never leaves people as it finds them: it enlightens their understanding; it prevails on their wills; it purifies their affections; it makes them new creatures. How can we honour the gospel so much as by showing what it can do? What has the gospel done for multitudes? If they are as proud, and covetous, and revengeful, after hearing the gospel, as they were before hearing it, where is the change? Where is the conversion? In the passage before us the trumpet is blown, but it is heard,-it is answered:-they “come.” How do they come? “With weeping and with supplication;” they come eagerly, hastening, running, flying like doves to their windows when they behold the approaching storm. ‘From whence do they come? From the dark dens of ignorance -from the lurking-holes of hypocrisy-from the false refuges of pharisaism-from the service of sin-from the bondage of Satan. To whom do they come? “To whom coming as unto a living stone,” “to him shall men come.” He is the only resource; and he says, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” “Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me.”

What is faith, what is religion, but the soul in motion to him and negotiating all its affairs with him?

Evening Devotional

I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites. - Psalms 42:6.

THERE are two ways in which we may understand these words-both instructive, and perhaps both included. First, As an expression of determined confidence; as if he had said, “In whatsoever situation, place, or circumstance I may be found, I will remember God, and I will hope and confide in him.” How often in the Scriptures do we find good men imagining the worst, and yet hoping for the best! Thus the church in the days of Habakkuk, after surveying their condition, and finding every indication of prosperity destroyed, says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Thus David sang in the 98th psalm, a psalm of which Luther was very fond, so that when his timid but good friend Melancthon, who had not his fortitude, was distressed, “Come,” says Luther, “let us sing the 98th psalm, and let Rome and hell do their worst.” And so says David here, as if he had said, “Wherever I am, O my God, I will think of thee; and if banished from my own palace, and deprived also of thy sanctuary and public ordinances, I will think of thee and be comforted.” And so may we say, whatever may be our circumstances, I will call thee to remembrance, and exercise confidence in thee. Thou, Lord, only art “my portion in the land of the living.” And in whatever situation, however disadvantageous and trying, I may be found, I will remember thee.

Secondly, Then we may consider it also as an expression of confidence derived from reflection. He would remember God “from the land of Jordan,” etc., because he had been there, and had experienced there what would always serve to increase and confirm his confidence in God. He does not tell us what God had done for him in these places, but it is obvious that they had been scenes of divine manifestations and inter positions. Let us call to remembrance what God has done for us in providence and grace what proofs we have received of his kindness, faithfulness, and power. It is our duty and privilege not only to notice God’s appearances for us at the time, but to treasure them up in our mind, that we may recur to them; for they were intended not only for our immediate relief, but in order to be cordials against our future faintings.

“His love in time past forbids me to think

He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.”

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