Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: August 3rd

We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. - Numbers 10:29.

Let us view the Christian as a traveller, for so he is; and then he says, “I will go in the strength of the Lord God,” to pursue my journey, and to hold on my way to the end. Dr. Watts has finely seized upon this in his version of our text:-

“My feet shall travel all the way,

Of the celestial road;

And march with courage in thy strength,

To meet my Saviour-God.”

The journey of Jacob was a trying one; the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness was a trying journey, and “the souls of the people were much discouraged because of the way.” It is the same with Christians now, but it ought not to be so, it is very true, as we sometimes sing:-

“True, ’tis a strait, a thorny road,

And mortal spirits tire and faint;

But they forget the mighty God,

That feeds the strength of every saint.”

He hath said, “I will be with thee in all places whither thou goest.” “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

“God is our strength, and through the road

We lean upon our helper, God.”

And we cannot lean too much, we cannot lean too hard, upon him. His arm can sustain us. We know not what lies before us; we know not what a day may bring forth: nor is this knowledge necessary or desirable; it can bring nothing with it; but he will bear us through. But, says the Christian, “Jordan lies between me and the promised land. I stand by it, and see its dark cold waters rolling along, and I am chilled and terrified. How shall I get over? How shall I reach my journey’s end? How shall I arrive at the land flowing with milk and honey?” Why, in the same way. He will be with you then; he will make a dry-shod passage for you, as he did for Joshua. Or if not, and the waters come up to your neck, like Bunyan’s Christian, your feet shall feel the bottom, and your eyes shall see the shining ones at the other side, ready to escort you to the celestial city; and so shall you be forever with the Lord.”

I will look unto the Lord. - Micah 7:7.

THE Church here resolves to look unto the Lord; that is, to seek him in prayer, for his help and relief. The Jews looked to the brazen serpent to obtain relief. God, in the prophecies of Isaiah, says, “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” David, speaking of the righteous, says, “They looked unto him and were lightened.” And thus we are to look to the Lord: First, For explanation under our afflictions. “Of all troubles,” says an old writer, “my dumb ones are the most distressing; they strike, but say nothing; I put my ear down close to them, I listen, and hear nothing.” This was the case with Job. He could neither find comment nor commentator. But he says, “He knoweth the way that I take”-though he did not know it himself. This was a very trying state, and a very disadvantageous one; for if we know not in our afflictions for what it is that God designs to reprove us, what it is that he would wean us from, what it is that he would urge us to pursue, how is it possible for us to apply ourselves to the purpose? We should therefore go to him for information, and address him as did Job: “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.”

Secondly, We are to look to the Lord for support in our trouble. It is very honourable to religion when we can possess our souls in patience-when we can say, “I know, O Lord, thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me; let thy loving-kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.” The Christian feels under the dispensation; and this is allowable, and even necessary -morally necessary. There is no grace in bearing what we do not feel-there is no submission or resignation where there is no sensibility. But sensibility may be excessive- may be breaking down our Spirits; and while we do not “despise the chastening of the Lord,” on the one hand, we may, on the other, “faint when we are rebuked of him.” What is to prepare us for this? “If we faint in the day of adversity our strength is small.” What is to prevent this? What prevented it in David? “In the day that I cried,” said he, “thou heardest me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”

Thirdly, We are to look to him that our afflictions may be sanctified. That these afflictions, which are “the fruit of sin,” may have the effect to “take away sin”-that from the sins of our condition we may be preserved-that all the graces becoming the condition may be exercised and improved by us-that we may “glorify God in the fires,” and that we may come forth as gold purified and refined, and be “found unto praise and glory and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

Fourthly, We are to look to him for deliverance from our afflictions. This is allowable. Afflictions are not immutable dispensations. Our Saviour himself prayed, “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me,” with perfect .submission; and we may do the same if we can add, as he did, “nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” To this we are encouraged by God himself in his promise to prayer, “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” And we have records in the Scriptures of deliverances which he has wrought for his people in adversity. And his power and grace are still the same.

If we look unto him as the God of salvation, we shall find that he knows how to deliver- that “nothing is too hard” for him, and we shall exemplify the language of Watts-the “beautiful language of Watts,” as Cowper calls it (how capable was he of judging!)-

“The Lord can clear the darkest skies,

Can give us day for night,

Make drops of sacred sorrow rise

To rivers of delight.”