Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: December 24th

But now they desire a better country. - Hebrews 11:16.

THESE words refer to the patriarchs who lived in a remote period of the world’s history. Yet, if we are Christians, we, like them, are “strangers and pilgrims upon earth;” and, so far as their religion is concerned, we are commanded to be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. With regard to their desire, here are two things for us to observe. First, The preference for the country. It is obvious this language is metaphorical, and refers to a state of future blessedness; and we may notice six exemplifications of it. It is “a better country.”

First, Locally. We do not view heaven principally as a place, but as a state. Still, however, it is a place: and what a place! What a place of beauty and blessedness was Eden! and earth has some delightful spots where God displays the perfection of his nature, and yields us richly all things to enjoy. But, alas! earth has storms as well as sunshine, winter as well as spring, sickness as well as health, night as well as day, death as well as life. There is enough to entitle it to the character of a “vale of tears.” But there is no night, no thorns and briers, no ravenous beasts to go up thereon, no disease, no death; for “there shall be no more curse.” It is corporeally better. What a body must that be which is destined for the Christian! Compared with that, the apostle calls this a “vile body.” It is to be fashioned like unto the Saviour’s glorious body. It is intellectually better. God’s people are now said to be made “wise unto salvation.” “Now we know in part; there shall we know even as we are known.” It is morally better. Holiness is the beauty of the soul and the glory of God; and though here the believer is made a partaker of the divine nature, yet he finds he is not perfect in holiness. When he “would do good, evil is present with him.” And therefore he sings so joyously now,-

“There I shall see his face,

And never, never sin.”

There I shall never grieve his Spirit whom I infinitely love, nor pierce that dear bosom on which I now lean; but I shall be “presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” It is socially better. Much of our present happiness is derived from society, and much of our present misery is also from the same source. We may judge a little of the happiness of the social life in glory by two classes of characters with whom we hope to be privileged to enjoy sweet fellowship,-those who have shone in the world as the Lord’s faithful servants, the world’s best benefactors, and also the company of those of the saints whom we personally loved. We pay dearly for our social enjoyments, but some of them are worth all the tax they impose upon us; but when we meet again, there will be no separation, nothing to mar or to chill us in our embraces, but both shall be forever with the Lord. It is durably better. “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” Laurels here soon wither on the brow of the conqueror; riches, when amassed, make to themselves wings and flee away; nature itself decays; but there

“Everlasting spring abides,

And never-withering flowers.”

But, after all, its excellency and preeminence doth not yet appear, for we can find nothing in the world wherewith to compare it. But, Secondly, Observe the peculiarity of the desire. It is not natural to man. “They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; and they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” The Christian’s desires flow from conviction; they say, “Then shall I be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” What the Christian thus really desires bears three relations. It is right in its objects, in its nature, and in its expectation. Yes; to all believers heaven is infinitely desirable, and of these the apostle speaks as well as of patriarchs; and they shall not desire it in vain. Now they have some Pisgah views of it; now they appropriate it by faith; now they get some earnests and foretastes of it; but they shall ere long go up and take full possession of their promised and reserved inheritance in this “better country.”

Thou tellest my wanderings. - Psalms 56:8.

OBSERVE, first, This may have reference to local changes. Abraham was a wanderer. When called to leave Ur of the Chaldees he went out, not knowing whither he went; and though he was without an earthly guide, all his satisfaction was derived from hence, and of his being able to say,” Thou knowest the way that I take.”

The patriarchs were all wanderers when they went from “one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people.” Take Israel; forty years they “wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.” David was a great wanderer. Saul regarded him with envy and drove him from his presence, and to elude his apprehension he was perpetually compelled to shift his residence. He says, “he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains.” But God knew all his wanderings, and preserved him in his going out and in his coming in.

Persecution has often driven the people of God from city to city, from country to country. Some of the most eminent servants of God have “wandered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted tormented; they wandered in deserts, and in mountains’ and in dens and caves of the earth.” Pious servants have been dismissed from their places and workmen from their employment, and have wandered about to find situations and engagements, and all this for conscience sake. “But there is no man,” says our Saviour, “that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this world, and in the world to come life everlasting.”

How many, contrary to a disposition to enjoy a permanency, have had frequent removals from station to station. As soon as they had begun to feel attached and fixed, they heard a voice saying, “Arise, and depart hence, for this is not your rest.” Yet very important purposes have often been answered by these changes, and the Lord has known them all. Of this, as we see here, David was fully persuaded.

Observe, secondly, The recognition and acknowledgment here made of God’s omniscience and notice. “Thou tellest my wanderings.” The language must be figurative as applied to God; God needs no aid in any case; his understanding is infinite. But we reach numbers by counting and telling them, and so the effect is put for the cause. The sentiment here stands opposed to two things; the first is a kind of philosophical notion, namely, that God is supremely engaged in managing hundreds of worlds, and that he disregards all individualities.

But a general providence always comprehends a particular, as the greater includes the less, as the day includes the hour, and the hour includes the minutes. If we turn to the Scriptures we find a system of providence established there which extends to the minutest concerns of life. Yes; he is always a God at hand, not a God afar off; he is filling every vacuum, peopling every solitude, animating every scene; “in him we live and move, and have our being.” Then, also, it is opposed to a pious fear, in which good men are tempted to indulge, supposing that they are overlooked or disregarded by God, for their unworthiness, their guilt, and their imperfections.

Thus it was with Asaph, who said, “Will the Lord cast off for ever, will he be favourable no more?” So Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, my God hath forgotten me.” And we know how tenderly and convincingly was the rebuke received. And Moses said to the Jews, “The Lord knoweth thy walkings through this great wilderness.” I believe this, says David; I believe nothing befalls me by chance; I believe that it is all permitted, appointed, arranged, and administered by the care of my heavenly Father.

So it should be with us; this thought should be with us a very influential and consolatory principle, keeping our minds in perfect peace, leading us to cast all our care upon him, knowing that” he careth for us.” Thus “in all our ways may we acknowledge him, and he will direct our paths.”