Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: April 15th

I, even I, am He that comforteth you. - Isaiah 51:12.

HOW great and worthy of admiration is the condescension of God! The heaven of heavens cannot contain him, yet he dwells verily with men upon the earth. “All nations are before him as nothing, less than nothing, and vanity.” “As for man; his days are as grass,” “his foundation is in the dust;” he is “of yesterday, and knows nothing.” But this is not all: we are unworthy as well as mean, and guilty as well as poor; and therefore we may well exclaim, “Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” How astonishing is the manifestation of this! How wonderful the way in which he himself by anticipation has represented in the Scriptures the condescension and tenderness of the divine regards, that he will “put our tears into his bottle,” and that he will “write them in his book”!

There is only one passage in the Scriptures where his condescension is represented in a still more wonderful way. It is where David says, “Thou shalt comfort him upon the bed of languishing; thou shalt make all his bed in his sickness.” There is the Eternal and the Almighty attending upon his sick child; and, as it is in the margin, “He shaketh up the bed,” and maketh his bed, so God chooseth to represent himself. Let us, as Young says,-

“Not stop at wonder, but imitate and live.”

There is implanted in human nature a principle of emulation, the design of which is to excite us at the view of whatever is noble and excellent; and, as God is the perfection and the source of all excellency, the ultimate design of the principle was unquestionably to excite us to an imitation of himself. But here now is the grand mistake: we wish to imitate God as the greatest of beings; whereas we ought to wish to imitate him as the best of beings. We are disposed readily enough to make him our model in his natural perfections, and would, if we could, know as he knows; we would “thunder with a voice like his;” we would have others under our management, like him.

But this imitation of God is the way to sink, not rise; this is the very essence of sin. Thus Adam and Eve fell, who wished to be “as gods, knowing good and evil.” This is the way that Lucifer fell. “I will be,” said he, “like the Most High.” This is the way the devils fell: they abode not in their first estate, but must think of a better, and would not be content with such things as they had, and so in aspiring they were cast down to hell. We are required to make God our model in his moral perfections, to be holy as he is holy, patient as he is patient, to hold fast the profession of our faith because he is faithful that hath promised, to be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful, to be like the Son of God: he was the “image of the invisible,” and when he was upon earth “God was manifest in the flesh.”

Let us contemplate him and seek to be like him. “Be ye therefore,” says the apostle, “followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour.” Let all wanderers and weepers repair here. God is able to comfort us in all our tribulation. If, therefore, we are sufferers in any way, let us beware of worldly dissipation and of infidel reasonings. But let us draw near to the God of all grace and the God of all comfort. If we approach him in the Son of his love, he will receive us graciously and love us freely. Let us say, with David, “All my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee.” And in a little time we shall enter his presence, and be able to say, “Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling,” and “I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living,” and show forth all his praise.

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. - Isaiah 38:17.

WE ought always to value God’s mercy; but our successes and indulgences, frequently for a time, make impressions which are injurious. They cause us to forget our present condition, and that other dangers may be yet in reserve and awaiting us. So it was here. Hezekiah had just experienced a marvellous deliverance, and promised himself a continuance of peace and triumph. When lo! he was seized with a distemper, which embittered all his comforts, and threatened his life. “In my prosperity,” said David, “I shall never be moved.” Ah! vain hope; for with the same breath he exclaimed, “Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” Of the many sources of disappointment to which the most favoured child of Providence is liable, let us notice four. And, First, There is nothing more precarious than health. Who can tell what a day may bring forth; what accidents may befal us; or by what diseases we may be laid prostrate?

Secondly, Children may bitterly disappoint a parent’s hope. Here is Rachel, holding up their little robes, which are to be worn no more, “weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are not.” And here is a greater affliction still-a child becoming vicious, and a companion of fools.

Thirdly, The friendships of life may prove how insincere and perfidious are some who have been trusted as friends. Hence the language of David, “It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it; but it was thou, my guide and mine acquaintance.” Thus it was with Job; his friends dealt deceitfully with him. So it was with Paul, when before Caesar, he says, “All men forsook me.”

Fourthly, Wealth is another source of disappointment. Many who began life in affluence are now living in want, or depending on alms. We should therefore take care, and be sober-minded, and not look for more from any of those things, in our passage through life, than they are able to afford.

Let us make the Lord our trust; he will not, he cannot, disappoint us. If creatures are broken cisterns, he is the Fountain of living waters; if they are broken reeds, he is the Rock of Ages.