the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Mornings and Evenings with Jesus
Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. - Psalms 136:1.
LET us notice the repetition of the leading sentiment of this psalm:-“For his mercy endureth forever.” Here is not only information, but a remembrance, which we should reduce to practice. This repetition seems often very necessary; we are so very apt to be forgetful and negligent. Hence our Lord instituted the Supper, and said to his disciples, “This do in remembrance of me.” “Wherefore,” says Peter, “I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” And again, he says, this “second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.”
The burden of this beautiful psalm is calling to remembrance the mercies of the Lord. No less than twenty-six times is this sentiment repeated. The sacred writers rejoiced in this subject; and how desirable it is that we should always keep it in mind! Let us observe the thanksgiving which it demands:-“Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.” Religion is a personal thing. So, when David, in another psalm, calls upon others to bless the Lord, he concludes with saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Alas! how little disposed are we to adopt his resolution, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth!”
It is said of Hezekiah, (and it was a sad blemish in his character,) that he “rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him, for his heart was lifted up.” “How lamentable,” says Dr. South, “is it that a world so full of God’s creatures should be so empty of his praise!” David heaves a sigh five times, and says, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” But our thanksgiving, in order to be accepted, must proceed from the affections of the heart. David therefore said, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
What is it that best praises a teacher but the proficiency of his pupil? What is the best commendation of a tree but the goodness and plentousness of its fruit? And “herein,” says our Saviour, “is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” Zacharias, the father of “the Baptist,” tells us that this is the grand design of God in redemption,-“ That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life.”
We have heard that God is with you. - Zechariah 8:23.
OBSERVE here the knowledge which others have of the Christian’s state and privilege. They could not have “heard” it, unless it had been reported. Religion has many reporters; some very false ones, and some very true ones. God sometimes constrains even the enemies of his people to bear testimony in their favour; and therefore, says Isaiah, “Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all they that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.” But though others may make known their religion, they must make it known themselves; they must not only be but also appear religious. They must not only “believe with the heart,” that is beyond the ken of their fellow-creatures, but “confess with their mouth unto salvation,” and “hold fast” not only the reality, but “the profession of their faith without wavering.” As the praises of men should never draw us out of a corner, so the frowns of men should never drive us into one.
Daniel did not court publicity, but he made no scruple, when the writing forbidding it was signed, to go into his chamber, the windows being open, and give thanks three times a day as aforetime. It was predicted of the Saviour himself that he should say to the prisoners, Go forth, and to them that were in the darkness of obscurity, Show yourselves. They shall feed, says he, “in the way, and their pastures shall be in all high places,” where they can be seen, feeding, preserved, and blessed.
It is not easy to conceal religion; where it is real it will break out in some way or other. Repentance will get into the eye, and be seen in tears. Meekness will sit in a man’s face, and smile like a morning in May. The man’s hand will slide into his pocket before he has time to think about other things. Then “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” It is not easy to restrain powerful emotion.
When those angry hypocrites, the Pharisees, came to our Saviour, as the common people and children were crying Hosanna, they, with long faces, said, Lord, rebuke thy servants, that they should hold their peace; all this will bring religion into contempt. Oh, said the Saviour, If I were to command them to hold their peace it would be enjoining upon them an impossibility. And moreover I tell you that “if these should hold their peace, the very stones would cry out.” So when Peter and John were ordered by the council to speak no more in His name, Oh, said they about that we are determined; “we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard,” whatever may be the consequence.
How much good is often done by a verbal, but still more by a practical testimony. “Actions speak louder than words.” Our meekness under provocation, our humility under applause, our liberality with growing wealth, our patience in affliction, our readiness to forgive when injured, should tell whose we are, what we are, whence we are born, and whither we are bound. We are to be “the epistles of Christ, read and known of all men.” And our neighbours and friends should never be in perplexity as to whose writing we are, for we are to be “manifestly the epistles of Christ.”
No one should be in doubt concerning us, but we should by our whole Spirit and conduct “declare plainly that we are seeking a country, and a heavenly country, and that we are only strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
