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Daily Devotionals
John Gossner's Treasury
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. Psalms 22:14-16. He teacheth my hands to war. Psalms 18:34. Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling? Psalms 56:13.
Thus did David complain in the name of ’Messiah, foreseeing His sufferings and also how the children of Israel would once "compass" Him and nail Him to the tree of the cross. If the ancients in the spirit considered the coming sufferings of the Savior and alluded thereto even though only certain fragments thereof stood clearly out before them, and even that in dim outlines, ought not we, then, let His sufferings constantly be before the eyes of our souls and not overlook even the least particular in His sufferings? Dear heart, behold how your Savior who so often stretched forth His hands to heal and to cure, now of His own free will stretches out the same hands and permits them to be nailed to the cross for your sake, that cross at which you have not even patience to remain. May the pain which He felt from the strokes of the hammer that drove the nails through His blessed hands and feet, pierce your soul and cure it from every desire for the joys of the world! Grasp this hammer and these nails in spirit when your hands reach out after forbidden enjoyments, and your feet are inclined to follow some wrong path; when the lust of the flesh, selfishness and concupiscence make themselves felt in you, and nail them to the cross of Christ. Then you are crucified with Christ and shall live with Him; then His nailed hands shall teach your hands to warfare, and His pierced feet shall keep your feet from stumbling. But if you permit the evil lust to live in you, what benefit do you derive from your Savior on the cross? "They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (Galatians 5:24; Romans 6:6).
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place!
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
Receive me, my Redeemer;
My Shepherd, make me Thine!
Of every good the Fountain,
Thou art the Spring of mine!
