Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: April 21st

Behold, I am vile. - Job 40:4.

LET us observe the effects of this conviction. They are various. One of these effects is evermore wonderment. Nothing is more wonderful to the man than what he now sees of himself. That he should have acted in such an ungrateful, such a foolish, such a base manner as he has been doing! That he should have been so deluded as to suppose he was safe, and in a state of acceptance with God, when he was in the very jaws of destruction. That he did not see his danger and his depravity sooner. And then, again, he wonders that he sees it now, when he looks around him and sees so many who know nothing of it; who know not the gospel and the way of life, and “have no fear of God before their eyes.”

Humiliation will be another result of this discovery. Ignorance is a pedestal upon which pride always stands: down with the pedestal, and the idol must fall to the ground. Yes, self-abasement will always follow this self-acquaintance. Self-complacency then will be at an end, and the man will condemn himself, and say, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” Self-dependence will now be at an end, and he will own that without the Saviour he can do nothing. Thus the day of conviction is always the day of self-abasement, in which the proud and lofty looks are brought low, and the Lord alone is exalted. The endearment of the Saviour is another result of this discovery.

Why is it that there are so many to whom he has no form, nor comeliness, nor any beauty, that they should desire him? that they can hear of him, that they can read of him, that they can talk of him, without feeling any attachment to him? “Why is it, but that, to change the image, as Solomon says, “The full soul loatheth the honey-comb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet”? Or, to use our Lord’s own expression, “They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” These set a high value upon the Saviour, the Physician of souls; he is now the person to whom the awakened and humbled sinner repairs, throws himself at his dear feet, and cries, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.” Therefore, says the apostle, “To them that believe he is precious.”

Submission under afflictive dispensations is another effect of this discovery. When a sense of sin lies heavy upon the soul, the sense of trouble will be light. Such a man as this will say, “Why should a living man complain,-a man for the punishment of his sins?” “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him.” He no longer thinks that God deals hardly with him, but exclaims, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that I am not consumed!” He will not wonder that his trials are so many, but that they are really so few; not that they are so heavy, but that they are so light.

Gratitude will be another result of this discovery of our vileness. The proud are never grateful. Do what you will, heap whatever favours you may upon them, what reward have you? what thanks have you? They only think you are doing your duty; they think they are deserving of all this. But, when a man feels that he is unworthy of the least of all his mercies, how will he feel with regard to the greatest of them? What will his feeling be when he says, with Paul, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift,” or with Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him”?

Charity and tenderness towards the faults of others will be a result from this conviction. The man who at the foot of the cross has been brought to say, “Behold, I am vile,” will not look for perfection in others, because he is conscious he is destitute of it himself. He will not have time for pulling motes from other people’s eyes, because he will have so much to do in removing beams from his own. Or, if he calls for reproof, he will fall in with the injunction of the apostle:-“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

He that received seed in the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty. - Matthew 13:23.

WE here see, that as natural influences operate according to the nature of the soil, so do the Spiritual. In the parable we observe there was the very same sower, the very same seed, and the very same season: the difference therefore in the result was not in these. It was in the nature of the ground. There were four kinds of soil. The way-worn and the stony place, the thorny place, and the good ground. Our Saviour says the good ground is the honest and good heart; not that any hearts are naturally so, or can be so, destitute of the grace of God. But some are prepared for the reception of the word. The parable takes the fact, and wisely accounts for the difference of the produce from the difference of the soil. “Do not,” says God, “my words do good to them that walk uprightly?” that is, to those who are sincerely desirous of knowing and following its designs. And our Saviour says: “He that doeth my will, shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

We are, therefore, likely to derive benefit from reading or hearing the word, when our hearts are delivered from the love of every sin, and when we can come to his dear feet and pray-“Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? “Lead me in the way and guide me, for “thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” Agencies must evermore operate according to the nature of their subjects. Heat, the very same heat that melts wax, will harden clay. There may be two persons sitting in the same pew and hearing the truth; if one of them believe it, and believe not only the truth of it but the importance of it, and the other does not, it is not possible for them to feel alike the same doctrine. So says the Apostle to the Hebrews, “The word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” And to the Thessalonians he says, “Ye received our word, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually worketh in them that believe.”

Therefore, says the Apostle James, “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive meekly the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls.”