Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: May 2nd

May 2—Morning—Genesis 24:58

"And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go."—Genesis 24:58.

See, my soul, with what readiness Rebekah determined to accompany the servant of Abraham to Isaac. And wilt thou not arise and go forth at the invitation of the servants of Jesus, who sends them to call thee to his arms? Hath he not, by the sweet constraining influences of his Holy Spirit, as well as by the outward ministry of his blessed word, made thee willing in the day of his power? Did the servant of Abraham give an earnest of his master’s affection in putting the bracelets upon Rebekah’s hands, and the ear-rings, and the gold? But what was this to the love-tokens which Jesus himself hath given thee, when he set thee as a seal upon his heart, and as a seal upon his arm, and when all the waters of divine wrath his holy soul had poured upon him for thy sins, and all the floods of corruption, which like a deluge, had overspread thy whole nature, could not quench his love, nor drown it. And if it be demanded, then, from thine own mouth this day, "Wilt thou go with this man," this Godman, this Glory-man, this Jesus? Wilt thou not instantly cry out, "I wilt go?" Yes! thou altogether lovely Lord, thou chiefest and fairest among ten thousand, I will go with thee. I would forget mine own people .and my father’s house. For my father’s house is an house of bondage. I was born in sin, and shapen in iniquity. A child of wrath, even as others, and by nature dead in trespasses and sins. It is thou, blessed Jesus, who hast delivered me from the wrath to come. It is thou who hast quickened me by thy Holy Spirit to a new and spiritual life. It is thou who hast sent thy servants to call me to thyself, and hast betrothed me to thyself for ever. And is there any that yet asketh me, "wilt thou go with this man? My whole soul would outrun the question, and, like the apostle, I would answer, "to whom else shall I go?" Witness for me, ye servants of my Lord; ye angels, and ministers of light. I have none in heaven, neither in earth, but him. Yes, thou dearest Redeemer! I will go with thee, follow thee, live with thee, hang upon thee, die with thee, nor even death itself shall part thee and me. Oh let those precious words of thine, concerning thy church, be sweetly, felt in my soul. "I will say, it is my people: "and my whole soul will make her responses to the gracious sound, and say," the Lord is my God."

May 2—Evening—Daniel 2:34-35

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.—And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. "—Daniel 2:34-35.

Ponder well, my soul, this wonderful vision of the heathen king, and mark its several features. If the Lord be about to bless and comfort his people, how often is it done by ways the most opposite and unlikely, according to our apprehension of things! It shall be accomplished, even by their enemies, and they who wish most to afflict them, shall not unfrequently be made the unconscious instruments of doing the very reverse of what they intend; as in the instance before us, to which these words in the writings of the prophet Daniel refer. The church was now in captivity; oppressed, and brought very low: the king, in whose dominions they were in their vassalage, a despotic tyrant, whose word became the chief law. The Lord visits this monarch’s mind with a vision of the night: he is troubled with what he had seen iu his vision; but when he awakes, the remembrance of what he had seen vanished. Daniel is blessed of the Lord, both to bring to his recollection his thoughts in the night, and to give the interpretation of them. The king’s heart is for the time subdued, and Daniel honoured with favour. But the most eminent point of this vision was for’ the church’s comfort, and the Lord caused his people to rejoice in the discovery of it. The image to be destroyed represented the several monarchies of the world, before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the order in which they should succeed each other. The Chaldean took the lead, and the Persian followed; to which succeeded the Grecian; and during the fourth, which was the Roman power, the Lord Jesus Christ," the stone cut out without hands," was to arise, which should destroy the image, become "a mountain, and fill the earth. "What a wonderful coincidence of circumstances must it have been, that made every minute point in this representation, to answer so exactly to Jesus, and to him only! The birth of Christ, produced without the intervention of a human father; nothing could more strikingly set forth, than the figure of "a stone cut out ’without hands. "And the triumph of his spiritual kingdom was equally beautiful, in the similitude of breaking in pieces "the image which, stood on his feet. "And when what is said of Christ is considered, which must finally be fulfilled in him, that "the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms Of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever; "who doth not, or will not, see the striking representation of a mountain springing up from slender beginnings," and filling the whole earth? "My soul! wilt thou not learn, this evening, from this very precious scripture, to appreciate thy Jesus, and to behold how sweetly scripture testimony confirms every thing concerning him? Teach me, thou dear Lord, to view thee under those delightful characters; and while I trace back the history of thine incarnation, low, humble, and despised, as "a stone cut without hands;" Oh! give me to contemplate thy glory in what most assuredly shall be accomplished, when "like a mountain established on the tops of a mountain, all nations shall flow to thee, and thou shalt fill the earth." Divine Master! fill my whole soul with thyself; and let this our land, and our people, be filled with the knowledge of Jesus and his great salvation," as the waters cover the sea!"