Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: August 23rd

So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. - Psalms 90:12.

A KNOWLEDGE of the frailty of life and the certainty of death, one would imagine, would be very powerful, very efficient, and very operative. But what is the fact? We do not find any thing that is really less impressive and less influential than death! How was it in the days of Job? Eliphaz says, “They are destroyed from morning to night; they perish forever.” And it is the same now. Sometimes the sudden dissolution, the sight of a dying bed, or the passage of a funeral, will produce a temporary impression: but it is little more than a momentary one; men soon go on again as before; one returns to his farm, and another to his merchandise; one is mad after honour, another after money, and another after the dissipations of the world. Men do not live as those who know they must die. They do know it; and yet what a slight influence it has over them!

Here we see the inefficacy of mere knowledge. Some people seem to think that knowledge is to do every thing. Why, this, like any other truth, may lie in the mind uninfluential. Some imagine that all truth must necessarily be influential according to the nature and importance of the thing believed. It ought to be so, and it would be so if we were in a proper state of mind. We are fallen creatures, and much of the effect of the fall is apparent in the derangement of the operation of the powers of the mind, so that it is now an undeniable fact, that the clearest convictions can be counteracted, that men may see and approve better things and follow the worse. But is it not strange that such knowledge, so immediately and eternally interesting to man, should be uninfluential? Is it not a proof of the depravity of human nature that he can be insensible and indifferent here? But why is it so desirable to consider our latter end, and what influence should the knowledge we have of our mortality have over us? It should lead us to abhor and forsake sin, which has “brought death into the world, and all our woe.” How should this knowledge loosen our. hold of the earthly things which we must certainly, and which we may so soon, be deprived of! It was a good reflection of Esau, so far, when he said, “Behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” And so we may say with regard to various things which would entice us and engross our supreme attention.

The ancients made use of this fact when they were accustomed to place before their guests at their feasts a skeleton, in order to excite them to the more mirth while they could enjoy it, for they could not enjoy it long. But how much better use does the apostle make of it, when, writing to the Corinthians, he says, “Brethren, the time is short: it remaineth that both they that have wives should be as those that have none.” So it should lead us immediately and earnestly to say, with Paul, “That I may win Christ, and be found in him.” He has destroyed death as to its sting now, and will as to its state hereafter; and the voice from heaven cries, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,” and only such; that is, all who die in a state of union and communion with him, having his righteousness to justify them and to give them a title to heaven, and his Spirit to sanctify them and make them “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.”

It is important for us to know that we must shortly die, in order that we may turn this knowledge to the most advantageous account. We shall, therefore, be concerned to do with our might whatsoever our hand findeth to do, “for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither we are going.” Let us then pray with Moses, “Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.” “So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Many will intreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. - Proverbs 19:6.

WE all naturally look towards creatures, especially if they are placed above us, if they are wealthy or powerful, and seek to gain their countenance and their assistance. But there are four differences between our seeking after the favour of a mortal and our seeking after the favour of God.

First, In seeking after the favour of a mortal we may debase ourselves; we maybe required to submit to mean compliances, and to make improper sacrifices in order to please such an individual. But in seeking the favour of God the very exercise elevates us; it dignifies, it improves, and profits us.

Secondly, In seeking after the favour of a mortal we are never sure of success. After toiling for weeks or years we may find that we have been labouring in vain, and spending our strength for nought; but if we seek the favour of God we are sure of succeeding. “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find;” “Their hearts shall live that seek God.”

Thirdly, If we gain the favour of a mortal we are never sure of retaining it. Who has not been tempted, in passing through life, with David to say in his haste, “All men are liars.” This appears to be uncandid and uncharitable; yet, after all, the Scripture says, “Men of high degree are vanity, and men of low degree are a lie: if they are tried in the balance together, they are altogether lighter than vanity.” “Confidence,” says Solomon, “in an unfaithful friend is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint,” not only useless but painful to us. Whereas if we obtain the friendship of God we are sure of keeping it. There is no changeableness with him; he is “without variableness, or the shadow of turning.” “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

And then, fourthly, If we could not only gain but even retain the favour and friendship of a superior mortal, yet what, after all, could it do? What could it do for us in the many emergencies and incidents of life? What could it do for us in the agonies of conscience-in the adversities of life-in a dying hour- and in the judgment of the great day? But when God says, “I will never forget thee,” this is saying everything; this meets every want, every feeling, every fear. Oh, his presence can sustain us under the loss of every possession, or comfort us under the loss of every relative or friend; and we may say with our Saviour, “I am alone, and yet not alone, because the Father is with me.” If he says, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,” why, what is it but saying, I will guide thee with my counsel; I will keep thee with my power lest any hurt thee; I will sympathise with thee in all thy sorrows; I will attend thee in all thy afflictions; I will not suffer thee to be tempted “above that ye are able to bear;” “my grace is sufficient for thee;” and “my strength shall be made perfect in your weakness?”

On this assurance we may rely, and say with David, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Leaning on this assurance we may witness with composure the dissolution of the universe; and looking beyond it say, “We look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”