Lectionary Calendar
Friday, March 29th, 2024
Good Friday
There are 2 days til Easter!
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Daily Devotionals
Bowen's Daily Meditations
Devotional: December 16th

Resource Toolbox

"Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13.

A reference to the context will show that this declaration is intended for those who are smarting under the chastisements of God; for those of his professing people who have brought upon themselves by disobedience and worldliness, the rebuke of the Most High. Out of the cloud there comes a voice telling of the blue sky beyond and of the way in which it may become visible. The blessings connected with the uplifted light of God’s countenance are not to be recovered by those who have once enjoyed them, save by a whole-hearted, intense, persevering, all-sacrificing search for them.

It has pleased God at various times in the history of his Church, to bestow upon her some distinguishing tokens of his regard. Legitimately these should have had no other effect than to make her more humble, more self-mistrusting, more zealous, more earnest in the pursuit of perfection. But often a different result has been witnessed. She has plumed herself upon these as constituting a glory of her own; or she has rested satisfied with these, so as not to long for something better and more essential; or she made light of them as though there were nothing special about them. Then God has revoked the blessings, and left the Church to her denuded and inglorious state. Thenceforward, God is in no haste to bestow anew what has been so deliberately forfeited.

He is wonderful in the inflexibility with which he has carried out this principle. The distinct understanding of it would be of immense benefit to the Church and to each member of the Church. Search the annals of the Church. Bring the Church as she now is into contrast with the Church as she once was, and see how much she is without. Impute it not to the sovereignty of God, to an arbitrary and unexplained exercise of his royal will, that we languish now under many disabilities. The privileges that have been withdrawn were lost through the gross and culpable negligence of the Church. They are recoverable; for the promises relating to them have not been torn out of the Bible; but they are only to be recovered by a whole-hearted, fervent, and indomitable travail at the throne of grace, accompanied with a thorough consecration to his word. " If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?" is a text that might utterly discourage us but let us lay hold of this kind and loving assurance: " Ye shall seek me, and find me. when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

-

Subscribe …
Get the latest devotional delivered straight to your inbox every week by signing up for the "Bowen's Daily Meditations" subscription list. Simply provide your email address below, click on "Subscribe!", and you'll receive a confirmation email from us. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your subscription to this list.
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile