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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Devotional: September 5th

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Morning Devotional

My garden. - Song of Solomon 5:1.

THE church is here compared to a garden. A garden has a very interesting aspect; and there are four gardens which may furnish us with ample materials for reflection and meditation. First, The garden of Eden, where man was formed, and where man fell.

Second, The garden of Gethsemane, where the Saviour oft resorted with his disciples, where he was “sore amazed and very heavy,” and “his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death,” “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground;” where his favoured disciples “could not watch with him one hour,” where an “angel from heaven appeared strengthening him,” where he healed the ear of Malchus, and where he caused the soldiers, and Roman soldiers too, to “go backward and fall to the ground.”

Thirdly, The garden of Calvary, belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, where the Saviour was buried in a new tomb, wherein was never man laid, and from which he arose the third day, “the Resurrection and the Life.”

Fourthly, The Church. Now, the three former gardens were real gardens; the latter is a garden metaphorically considered only;-a spiritual garden, a garden for the soul and for eternity.

Observe, therefore, that a garden is a place selected, enclosed and fenced to keep it from intrusion; and that this is ordinarily compared with the surrounding common ground. And so we sing, and sing truly, too,-

“Zion’s a garden wall’d around,

Chosen and made peculiar ground,-

A little spot enclosed by grace

Out of the world’s wide wilderness.”

A garden is a spot formed and arranged by labour and skill in distinction from what is natural; for there is nothing in the natural soil but weeds: all in it besides is sown or planted. And in the church we have the fruits of the Spirit, which “are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” “We are,” says the apostle, “his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

A garden requires much careful attention. Something is always required to be done, in planting, or sowing, or weeding, or pruning, or propping, or preserving, or watering. And says God of his church, under this image, “I the Lord do keep it;” so that it has divine care. “I will water it every moment.” And, lest any hurt it, “I will keep it night and day:” nor will he ever relax his vigilance over it. And herein is the safety of believers, who are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” A garden is a place of pleasure and delight. We are told that “the Lord God taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy;” that “the prayer of the upright is his delight;” that their prayers are sacrifices with which he is “well pleased:” that their service is the odour of a sweet smell. In a word, it is also a place of profit too. It yields not only flowers but fruits.

The church is always “filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” Some gardens yield the owner his chief income. God derives his principal revenue of honour from his church. He has, therefore, said, “I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory, the people from whom I derive my glory principally.” And indeed God is more honoured by the ordinary actions of real Christians than by all the religious services of all the unregenerate men upon the earth.

Evening Devotional

O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. - Psalms 104:24.

GOD is wonderful; and in his works the Most High has displayed the glory of his infinite perfections. Not only are they great and marvellous works, they are also great and manifold. Who can estimate their number? If we only consider the heavens, the work of his fingers, and think of the stars which cannot he numbered, “Our thoughts are lost in reverent awe.” Infidelity has displayed its gross ignorance in mocking at the idea of comparing the number of stars to the sands upon the sea shore; for the discoveries of astronomers have proved the comparison to be perfectly consistent with facts.

And if we turn our attention from the heavens and look upon the face of the earth, how “manifold” are God’s works there; how numerous and diversified its inhabitants; what numbers visible; and what vast numbers are there which are invisible. If we look at the trees, herbs, plants, and flowers, are we not compelled to exclaim, “How manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” Let us consider their diversity. How large are some! how minute are others! If we take up the microscope and the telescope, and examine them, we shall be constrained to say of each, This is “the finger of God.”

What vastness in the sun! what smallness in the mite! And the animalculæ, all of them, however imperceptible to the naked eye, have their peculiar qualities, their tribes, their families, their birth, their breeding, their education, their government. Only observe the commonwealth of the ants, and the monarchy of the bees; how manifold and how marvellous are these works!

Thirdly, If we consider the means of their support, they are all provided for; there is sufficient for all and for all seasons; so that we are constrained to say, “The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season;” “thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.”

Then, lastly, What wisdom do we behold in their structure! If we examine only one of the vegetable tribes, how mysterious its growth, how simple its form, and yet how beautiful! so that our Saviour said of one of them, “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” What man contrives man can comprehend; and the more admiration is excited the more disappointed we feel because we see that what we behold admits of improvement. Whereas in the works of God, all fully answer the ends for which they were intended; and the more frequently and minutely we examine them, the more abundantly are their beauties seen and admired.

We sometimes wonder how we shall employ the successive ages of eternity; but we need not be at a loss here. In the human frame-the soul, the mysterious junction of the two, the particles of earth, an insect, a blade of grass; here is more than enough to engage the study of the longest life. We find that we are in the region of perfection; and also in the region of infinity. “The earth is full of thy riches.”

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