Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: July 22nd

The Lord thy God. - Zephaniah 3:17.

HERE we may observe the relation in which Jehovah stands to his people. He is our Maker, the Creator of our bodies, and the Former of our spirits within us; in him “we live, and move, and have our being.” And this would seem to authorize us to hope in him, for surely he will have respect unto the work of his own hands. But as far as we are sinners, we are not the work of his hands, but the workmanship and the offspring of Satan. And therefore we must observe, that the relationship here spoken of comprehends much more than his relation to us as our Creator and Preserver and Benefactor. These relations do not secure us from the wrath to come. He has expressly told us this, and said, “Because they are a people of no understanding-, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour.” But the other relation is the source of our eternal safety and happiness; and, therefore, “happy are that people that are in such a case; yea, happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”

Hear the testimony of God by Zechariah:-“I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, The Lord is my God.” Now, here we have mutual acknowledgment, founded on mutual dedication. They give themselves to him and avouch they are his people, and he gives himself to them and avouches that he is their God, for, every thing is mutual between them; they choose him and he chooses them, they love him and he loves them, and he says, “I love them that love me.”

But here, to prevent mistake, we must observe, that, though this love is mutual, we are not to suppose their love to him is the cause of his love to them, for “we love him because he first loved us.” But then it is the consequence, and, therefore, becomes the evidence. So, therefore, he is the Lord their God; and he is so really. There is nothing, indeed, in which they have such a proprietary as they have in God; indeed, they have a proprietary in nothing else. Their time is not their own, their wealth is not their own, their children are not their own, their bodies are not their own, their souls are not their own; but God is their own, and they may say, with the Church, “God, even our God, shall bless us.” And he is the Lord their God, wholly and entirely; and what the king said of Ben-hadad,-“I am thine, and all that I have,”-and what the father of the prodigal said to the elder brother,-“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine,”-God says to every believer, however poor and however afflicted. And he is the Lord their God eternally:-“This God is our God forever and ever; he will be our Guide even unto death.”

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. - 2 Timothy 1:12.

THIS knowledge, which the Apostle possessed with regard to personal salvation, was not miraculous. He was “a man in Christ” as well as an “Apostle of Christ.” Paul’s official character did not interfere with his private character as a Christian. Neither was it the knowledge of an enthusiast, but a rational knowledge, in which the end was sought for in the use of means; a knowledge derivable from sources open to ourselves. It was derivable from the perfections of God, from his power, goodness, wisdom, patience, and his faithfulness. It was derivable from the “everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.” It was derivable from the “exceeding riches of God’s grace in his kindness toward us by Christ Jesus;” and the Apostle found it so by his own experience. It was thus Asaph checked his despondency, saying, “This is my infirmity;” and thus the Apostle says, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God;” and thus also David said, “I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right;” and thus Paul here says, “I know whom I have believed,” &c.

Thus, while the religion of the Bible enjoins us to be humble, and forbids everything like presumption, yet it admits of confidence and assurance; and what a recommendation is this to our religion. Nothing is more distressing to our feelings than uncertainty with regard to any invaluable interest, such as the issue of a malady, the title to an estate, or the success of an enterprise; and the wretchedness must be greater if there be no confidence and certainty possessed with regard to “things which are unseen and eternal.” But this confidence and certainty are attainable.

A Christian is not like a man who is floundering in the mud and mire, and pressed down lower by the weight of his own person. No: his feet are “upon a rock, and his goings are established.” “A new song is put into his mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and turn unto the Lord.” The Christian can gain this confidence and assurance with regard to the doctrines of the gospel. We cannot exercise too great candour; but nothing can be more pernicious than to apply this to the great leading and fundamental truths of Christianity. “It is a good thing,” says our Apostle, “that the heart be established with grace.” This assurance may be gained with regard to the privileges of the gospel. There is such a thing as enjoying “the comforts of the Holy Ghost,” “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” and relief under a distressed conscience, by the application of the blood of sprinkling.

Christians can gain this confidence also with regard to their own personal interest in all this. We do not affirm that all the subjects of divine grace have this assurance, or we should “break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax.” “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” And Christians may gain this certainty with regard to the end and issue of afflictive dispensations. So did the Apostle.

Did he say, “I desire, I hope?” No: “We know that all things work together for good.” And this is the very Spirit of the text which serves as a motto for this morning’s meditations.