Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: May 4th

Oh, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. - Psalms 119:97.

DAVID, as we have already observed, here means by the “law” the Scriptures, or the word of God at large, including much less than we mean now by the word of God. He had only the five books of Moses, a few narratives, and a few of the prophets; but in addition to these we have all the prophets, we have the four evangelists, we have the Acts of the Apostles, we have the Epistles, and we have the Revelation of St. John. How, therefore, is our coast enlarged! and if David could say, “I have rejoiced at thy word as one that findeth great spoil,” what may we say? If he said, “I have taken thy testimonies as my heritage forever,” narrow and bounded as it was, what may we say of our heritage, expanded as it is?

“’Tis a brood land of wealth unknown,

Where springs of life arise;

Seeds of immortal bliss are sown,

And hidden treasure lies.”

Observe, also, that there is enough to excite and justify the believer’s greatest attachment to the Scriptures, because of the grand object and aim of the whole, from the beginning to the end. And what is this but to testify of the Saviour? It is this which makes the Christian so prize the book. He says,-

“There my Redeemer’s face I see,

And read his name who died for me.”

There we can contemplate him in his person, relations, character, offices, influences, blessedness. “Search the Scriptures,” therefore, says the Saviour; “for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.” And then, how dear also, how delightful, are the histories of this book! and “whatsoever things” of this kind “were written aforetime are written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.” How delightful are the doctrines of this book!-the doctrine of God’s everlasting and unchangeable love, of “redemption by the blood of Christ,” of justification by faith, of regeneration, not by baptism, but by the “renewing of the Holy Ghost,” of “acceptance in the beloved,” of the saints’ final perseverance, of the resurrection, and of eternal life. Then, how much there is to draw forth and justify our attachment to the promises of Scripture! “These are exceedingly great and precious.”

They are made to suit all our circumstances and exigencies; and then they are “all yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us.” So that when the Christian looks within him, and looks into the book, he finds something provided for all his evils, and for the removal of them. And if he looks forward and “knows not what a day may bring forth,” then he looks into the book and finds that “all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that fear him;” and that “all things work together for good to them that love him;” and that he has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”

There is another thing which exceedingly attaches Christians to their Bibles; and that is, experience. In how many and in what various ways does this endear it to them! “Oh!” says the Christian, “how often have I quenched my thirst in a warm day, and in this weary land, at this spring of living waters! I have’ had many benumbings; but ‘thy word hath quickened me.’ I have been exposed to many imminent perils; but ‘by the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.’ Many a trial I have had personally and relatively, and often the greater part of my heart’s bitterness has been known only to myself; but, ‘unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.’”

My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11.

HERE we see the resemblance between natural and Spiritual influences in the certainty of their success. The snow and the rain do not return fruitless, nor shall God’s word; neither the one nor the other is ineffectual, but produce results corresponding to a certain and previous arrangement. Some results indeed always follow. But are these showers always useful? It is easy to see, that when they fall upon the garden and upon the cultivated field they are useful, but what is their use when they fall upon the sea, upon the sand, and upon the rock? We cannot say that God has poured them down in vain even then.

It is not for us mere short-sighted creatures, to determine what is in vain in the divine empire, where we find one operation will produce a thousand effects. It is a fact that God sends his gospel, and it is fairly and faithfully preached often when persons do not receive it. Nor is it then thrown away; even with regard to the wicked it is not in vain; they will have to acknowledge that “a prophet has been among them;” “they will have no cloak for their sin;” they “will be speechless;” they will be made to feel the full conviction that their destruction has been from themselves; they will have to acknowledge that God is justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth.

Besides, man is to be considered not only personally but relatively. Where the gospel does not sanctify, it restrains; where it does not save, it civilizes. The community derives a thousand benefits from the genial influence of the gospel. But there is a certainty of some Spiritual effects in this case also. The degree and the instances of usefulness here we are incompetent judges of. It is impossible to tell what conviction it produces, or what emotions it excites. O, could we witness what has taken place under a gospel sermon as God surveys it! Then we should find one pricked in the heart crying out, “What must I do to be saved?” There is another, freed from his doubts and fears, and enabled to rejoice in the God of his salvation. Another comes in, pressed with grief to the ground; and the preacher has the tongue of the learned, and speaks a word in season to his weary heart; and he finds God in his palaces for a refuge.