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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Devotional: August 15th

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Morning Devotional

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. - Psalms 73:25.

CHRIST is all in all in the estimation of his people. Abraham rejoiced to see his day: he saw it, and was glad. Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.” David regarded him as “fairer than the children of men,” and to be preferred before all on earth and in heaven; and the church throughout the world doth acknowledge him to be “altogether lovely,” and with Paul esteem all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord.

And of the noble army of martyrs, some said, “We cannot dispute for him, but we can burn for him.” The hoary head, trembling with weakness.-pious females, with all their tenderness,-dear youths, with their love of life,-yet “not accounting; their lives dear unto them.” There were such as these, and numbers of others, who, as they approached the stake, could say, “None but Jesus,” “None but Jesus,” “Christ is all, and in all.”

And it is the same now as formerly, only they are not called to endure the like suffering, yet they possess the same dispositions. The love of Christ shed abroad in the heart constrains believers to live not to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. It makes the servant willing to forego his place, and the mechanic his employ, and the tradesman his customer, and the physician his patient, rather than betray the truth or deny his Lord; willing to go forth without the camp, bearing the reproach of the cross of Christ, and “rejoicing that they are counted worthy to suffer shame for his name’s sake.”

And he is still “all, and in all,” in the estimation of his people. As to their thoughts, each of them can say, “My meditation of him shall be sweet;” and as to their desires, they “wait for him more than they that watch for the morning.” Look at their consolations: see what is their principal source of comfort. If he hides his face, they are troubled. Nothing can supply his place. Their language of inquiry is, “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?”

“I cannot live contented here,

Without some glimpses of thy face;

And heaven, without thy presence there,

Would be a dark and tiresome place.”

Without him friends are “miserable comforters;” ministers are “physicians of no value;” promises are “dry breasts;” ordinances are “wells without water.” But when he appears, their hope, their joy begins; then, if in the world they have tribulation, in him they have peace. And we see how highly they value persons and things in connection with him. Their love to their fellow-Christians is founded principally because they belong to him and wear his image.

They love the habitation of God’s house, because it is the place where his honour dwelleth. They call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord and honourable, because it is his day. And this is also the reason why they prize the Scriptures. There, says the Christian,-

“There my Redeemer’s face I see,

And read His love who died for me.”

Evening Devotional

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. - Psalms 130:5.

THIS supposes some delay in God’s appearance on behalf of his people. These delays have always been common. God “is not, indeed, slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness.” He is never beyond his own fixed time, but is often after the time which we have fixed for him; and, according to our apprehensions and feelings, he seems frequently to be inclined to be “favourable no more,” and to have forgotten to be gracious. But can this be the fact? “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget, yet will not I forget thee.” But “hope deferred maketh the heart sick,” and especially when we deeply feel our want of a thing, when we are exceedingly attached to it.

O, to look for God and see nothing of him! to inquire of all who pass by, “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?” and to look upwards and say, “When wilt thou comfort me? when wilt thou come unto me?” Oh, how trying is this, when we have waited for important intelligence by letter, or with anxiousness and eagerness the arrival of a friend or relative from a distance! How has time flapped over us with leaden wing! If we were knocking at a door and we saw a lion at a distance coming towards us, should we not feel every moment an hour ere the door was opened to allow us to enter in and find safety? And have we not been in a situation similar to this when we were constrained to say, “Make haste to help me, make no tarrying, O my God?” Here is the need of patience, lest we should not persevere in the course of duty, waiting on the Lord, and still keeping his way.

The danger is, that we should abandon the door which we think is not open to us; or, in other words, that we should turn away from the throne of grace, saying, with the unbelieving prophet, “Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” “We may be assured that the enemy of souls will be busily at work, in order to act on our impatience, which is so natural to us; but “he that believeth shall not make haste;” he will “both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Faith will preserve him from making use of improper means in order to obtain premature deliverance. Trouble in Scripture is called a prison. When God places us in it, we are not to endeavour to escape by breaking open the door or the windows. We may indeed, through the bars, look to see if he is passing along; and we may then, when we see him, cry, “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name.” “The righteous shall compass me about, but thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”

Here is the advantage of faith. It will tranquillize the mind at such a time. It will produce waiting by such considerations as these:-I will wait upon the Lord, for he is such a Saviour, and I have no claims upon him. I will wait for the Lord; how long did he wait for me-days, and weeks, and months, and years. I will wait for the Lord, for his time is the best time. He is a God of judgment; and “blessed are all they that wait for him.”

I will wait for him, for I know that in due time he will appear for my good, and I shall not be ashamed; for he has said, “None shall be ashamed that wait for me.”

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