the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
February 20—Morning—Job 10:2
"I will say unto God, do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me."—Job 10:2.
My soul, art thou at any time exercised with any trying dispensations? Doth thy God, thy Jesus, seem to hide his face from thee? Are his providences afflicting? Art thou brought under bereaving visitations? Is thy earthly tabernacle shaken by sickness? Are the pins of it loosening? Are thy worldly circumstances pinching? Is prayer restrained? Oh, refer thy state, my soul, be it what it may, to Jesus. Tell thy Lord, that of all things, thy greatest dread and fear is, lest thou shouldest be mistaken concerning his love to thee. Say, as Job did, "Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." There is an Achan in the heart. Thy Jesus doth not withdraw for nothing. Love is in his lips. Salvation fills the whole soul of Jesus. Fly to him, then, my soul! Say to him, Lord, make me what thou wouldest have me to be. Oh! for a word, a whisper of Jesus. I cannot live without it. I dare not let thee go, except thou bless me. Not all the past enjoyments, experiences, manifestations, will do me good, until thou again shine in upon my soul. Oh! come then, Lord Jesus! I fly to thee as my God, my Saviour, my portion, my all! "Never, surely wilt thou say to the praying seed of Jacob," Seek ye my face in vain!
February 20—Evening—Genesis 14:19-20
"Now thou art commanded, this do ye: take your waggons out of the land of Egypt, for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours."—Genesis 45:19-20.
What effect must the first news of Joseph being alive, and his exaltation at the right hand of Pharaoh, have had upon the mind of the patriarch Jacob! And what a flood of overwhelming joy must have broke in upon the poor old man, when convinced of the certainty of the account! But what are all these feelings of nature, compared to the triumphs of grace, when the poor sinner is first made acquainted with the wonders of redemption, wrought out and accomplished by one that is his brother, even our spiritual Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes! thou risen and exalted Saviour! by faith I behold thee on the right hand of the Majesty on high; and all power is thine in heaven and on earth. I hear thee giving commandment to thy servants, to take the ordinances, and the several means of grace, in thy sacred word, and, like the conveyances of the waggons of Egypt, to bring all thy kindred, thy redeemed ones, to thee. Yea, Lord! I would do as thou hast said, "regard not the stuff," for gladly would I leave it all behind; for it hath already too long and too powerfully occupied my poor heart, and robbed my soul of thee. I would hasten to thy presence; for sure I am, the good of all the land of heaven itself is thy brethren’s, and, what is infinitely more than even heaven, thou, even thou thyself, blessed Jesus, art thy people’s. But, Lord! how shall I look thee in the face? How shall I dare to draw nigh, conscious of my having, like the sons of Jacob, sold thee, parted with thee, denied thee, left thee, and as the Jews of old, preferred every Barabbas, every robber before thee? And wilt thou, dearest Lord, still own me, still love me, and still speak kindly to me? Oh! what praises will the realms of heaven resound with, when Jesus shall have brought home all his brethren, into his Father’s house, around himself in glory! How will then every knee (and my poor soul among the glorious number) bow before thee, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen and Amen!
