Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: February 13th

February 13—Morning—Galatians 3:13

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."—Galatians 3:13.

Pause, my soul, and contemplate the unspeakable mercies contained in those precious words. However little thou hast regarded them, yet they contain in their bosom the whole blessings of the gospel. It is to Jesus in this one glorious act of his faith, should the sinner be continually looking. There, the believer should say, there hangs my hope, my joy, my confidence. "Christ hath redeemed me from the curse of the law, being made a curse for me." Now, my soul, observe how Jesus accomplished this great mercy for thee. Whatever Christ redeemed the sinner from, he became that for him. In the act of redemption, by substituting himself in the sinner’s place and room, he redeemed him from that place and room, by standing there himself. Hence, as the sinner stood before God, accursed by reason of sin; so Christ, by taking the sinner’s sin upon himself, and standing in his stead to answer for it, was made a curse also. If, therefore, Christ will come under the law for sinners, that law will have as much to demand of him, as of sinners. If Jesus, from his boundless love and mercy, will take the sinner’s curse upon himself, the law will speak as harsh to him as the sinner that is under the curse: and not only speak, but exact from him all that could be demanded from the sinner. Pause, my soul! And did Jesus, thy Jesus, thus stand; thus be considered, and was he made a curse for thee? Did he really, truly, suffer the cursed sinner’s punishment, "and die, the just for the unjust, to bring sinners to God?" Look to it then, my soul; he hath bought thee out, paid the full ransom, and taken away both sin and the curse of sin, by the sacrifice of himself. Shout, my soul, shout salvation to God and the Lamb! Say, as Paul, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

February 13—Evening—Psalms 137:5-6

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy"—Psalms 137:5-6.

My soul! sit down this evening, and contemplate the languishing state of Zion. Did ever the church of Christ lie in more desolate circumstances than now? Amidst a great profession of zeal for religion, how little possession of the divine life is to be met with among men! And who is there that seriously lays it to heart? For whom doth a throne of grace witness, that they are holy mourners for Zion, and are earnestly wrestling, night and day, with the Lord, that he would visit Zion, and make his glory to appear? Where is the priest, the minister of the Lord, that is weeping between the porch and the altar, and saying," Spare thy people, O Lord! and give not thine heritage to reproach?" Joel 2:17. And where are the people that seriously lay it to heart? My soul! what sayest thou of these things, personally considered? Dost thou really love Jesus? Surely then, thou canst not be indifferent to his interests? Is not Zion the purchase of his blood? Are not her walls, in all her ruined state, constantly before him? Yea, is not her name engraven on the palms of his hands? And shall her name be on Jesus’s hand, and no concern for Zion in thy heart? Moreover, look and see, in the tribulations of the present day; are not God’s judgments abroad in the earth? And is not his jealousy for his church the sole cause? And if the nations of the earth are under the frowns of thy God, canst thou rejoice in aught but the church’s prosperity? Are thousands dying in sin, and shall not the children of God mourn? Where are the trophies of the Redeemer’s precious death and salvation? When shall Jesus see, agreeably to the promise, the travail of his soul, and be satisfied? Oh! for a portion of that holy zeal with which the Lord inspired the prophet, when he cried out, "Oh! that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" Oh! holy Lord! give my soul from henceforth a more earnest concern for the prosperity of thy Zion! Oh! for grace to enter, through the blood of Jesus, into the retirings of the Lord, and to plead with him, as the patriarch did, with an: importunity not to be resisted, that he would turn the captivity of his people. Oh! take away the rebuke of thy chosen, and let it be no longer said, of any of thine, who know Jesus, and have been made partakers of salvation by him: "There is none to guide her, among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand, of all the sons that she hath brought up." Isaiah 51:18.