Daily Devotionals

Bowen's Daily Meditations

Devotional: November 29th

" The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself."- Psalms 4:3.

Set him apart by making him godly; teaching him to set his affections upon things above; to hunger and thirst after righteousness; to count all things worthless in comparison with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ; to meditate day and night in God’s word; to cultivate a prayerful habit of mind; to delight in the society of the people of God; and to hold all personal interests of trivial moment in comparison with the interests of the Gospel, the extension of Christ’s kingdom, the salvation of souls. Take a worldly man in the midst of worldly companions; with them seeking now pleasure, now wealth, now renown; with them despising the Bible and the men that reverence it. Let now an arrow from the quiver of the Almighty, an arrow dipped in the blood of the Lamb, wing its way to his heart. Suddenly a mighty revolution is wrought in that heart. Repentance creates a perfect anarchy, and faith erects the throne of God; he is now a new man, a godly man.

He begins with joy to relate his new experiences to his companions; they listen with amazement; draw off to a little distance to see if the fit will pass; and when they find him a veritable believer, an enthusiastic and incurable servant of Christ, they flee far from him as though he were a leper. It is not that he is alienated from them, that he takes no longer an interest in them; he takes, it is likely, a deeper interest in them than ever he did before; but his new feelings, aims, tastes are such as they cannot at all sympathize with. Thus he is set apart.

But he is set apart for the Lord. For the Lord to bless. To receive the manifestations of God. To understand the designs of God. To be comforted by the promises of God. To be the servant of God, his witness, his steward, his son. To declare the Gospel. To be the depository of the Holy Spirit. To suffer. To be poor in spirit. To search the word. To run the race of glory. To come off conqueror. To inherit all things.

Perhaps, reader, you are not thus set apart. You are at home in the world, and the world is at home with you. You are of it. There is nothing that jars in your intercourse with it. And perhaps you know of some one that is set apart from you and your world. You feel that there is a wall betwixt him and you, a high impracticable wall. What he loves, you cannot love; what he beholds, you care not to behold; what he disdains, you value; and what he flees from, you allow. You know that he was not always thus; and there is something deep within you testifying that nothing less than a divine power has wrought this change. Now if God hath set him apart for himself, what is your condition? He has been taken and you have been left. He has been taken for God; you have been left for Satan. He has been taken for mercy, you have been left for wrath. The ark has received him, the deluge awaits you. He has been sealed with the seal of God; the destroying angel will pass by him and speed to you on whose forehead is not seen the name of God.

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