From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Daily devotions for 04-10-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Wails for His Agony
Evening Title: What Makes Us Great
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Morning: Wails for His Agony
"And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also
bewailed and
lamented Him." --Luke 23:27
Amid the rabble rout which hounded the Redeemer to His doom, there were some
gracious souls whose bitter anguish sought vent in wailing and
lamentations--fit music to accompany that march of woe. When my soul can, in
imagination, see the Saviour bearing His cross to Calvary, she joins the godly
women and weeps with them; for, indeed, there is true cause for grief-- cause
lying deeper than those mourning women thought. They bewailed innocence
maltreated, goodness persecuted, love bleeding, meekness about to die; but my
heart has a deeper and more bitter cause to mourn. My sins were the scourges
which lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned with thorn those bleeding
brows: my sins cried "Crucify Him! crucify Him!" and laid the cross upon His
gracious shoulders. His being led forth to die is sorrow enough for one
eternity: but my having been His murderer, is more, infinitely
more, grief than one poor fountain of tears can express.
Why those women loved and wept it were not hard to guess: but they could not
have had greater reasons for love and grief than my heart has.
Nain's widow saw her son restored--but I myself have been raised to newness of
life. Peter's
wife's mother was cured of the fever--but I of the greater plague of sin. Out
of Magdalene seven
devils were cast--but a whole legion out of me.
Mary and Martha were favoured with visits--but He dwells with me. His mother
bare His body--but He is formed in me the hope of glory. In nothing behind the
holy women in debt, let me not be behind them in gratitude or sorrow.
"Love and grief my heart dividing,
With my tears His feet I'll lave--
Constant still in heart abiding,
Weep for Him who died to save."
Evening: What Makes Us Great
"Thy gentleness hath made me great." --Psalm 18:35
The words are capable of being translated, "Thy goodness hath made me great."
David gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but the
goodness of God. "Thy
providence," is another reading; and providence is nothing more than goodness
in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower, or goodness
is the seed of which providence is the harvest. Some render it, "Thy help,"
which is but another word for providence; providence being the firm ally of the
saints, aiding them in the service of their Lord. Or again, "Thy humility hath
made me great." "Thy condescension" may, perhaps, serve as a comprehensive
reading, combining the ideas mentioned, including that of humility. It is God's
making Himself little which is the cause of our being made great.
We are so little, that if God should manifest His greatness without
condescension, we should be trampled under His feet; but God, who must stoop to
view the skies, and bow to see what angels do, turns His eye yet lower, and
looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great. There are yet other
readings, as for instance, the Septuagint, which reads, "Thy discipline"--Thy
fatherly correction--"hath made me great;" while the Chaldee paraphrase reads,
"Thy word hath increased me." Still the idea is the same. David ascribes all
his own greatness to the condescending goodness of his Father in heaven.
May this sentiment be echoed in our hearts this evening while we cast our
crowns at Jesus' feet, and cry, "Thy gentleness hath made me great." How
marvellous has been our experience of God's gentleness! How gentle have been
His corrections!
How gentle His forbearance! How gentle His teachings! How gentle His drawings!
Meditate upon this theme, O believer. Let gratitude be awakened; let humility
be deepened; let love be
quickened ere thou fallest asleep to-night.
=========================================
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Daily devotions for 04-11-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: The Hill of Comfort
Evening Title: Help from God
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Morning: The Hill of Comfort
"The place which is called Calvary." --Luke 23:33
The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is built
with the wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly blessing is founded upon the
riven rock--riven by the spear
which pierced His side. No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul like
Calvary's
tragedy.
"Is it not strange, the darkest hour,That ever dawned on sinful earth,Should
touch the heart
with softer power,For comfort, than an angel's mirth?That to the Cross the
mourner's eye should turn,Sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?"
Light springs from the midday-midnight of Golgotha, and every herb of the field
blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of the once accursed tree. In that place of
thirst, grace hath dug a
fountain which ever gusheth with waters pure as crystal, each drop capable of
alleviating the
woes of mankind. You who have had your seasons of conflict, will confess that
it was not at Olivet that you ever found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai, nor
on Tabor; but Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha have been a means of comfort
to you.
The bitter herbs of Gethsemane have often taken away the bitters of your life;
the scourge of Gabbatha has often scourged away your cares, and the groans of
Calvary yields us comfort rare and rich. We never should have known Christ's
love in all its heights and depths if He had not died; nor could we guess the
Father's deep affection if He had not given His Son to die. The common mercies
we enjoy all sing of love, just as the sea-shell, when we put it to our ears,
whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we desire to hear the ocean
itself, we must not look at every-day blessings, but at the transactions of the
crucifixion. He who would know love, let him retire to Calvary and see the Man
of sorrows die.
Evening: Help from God
"For there stood by me this night the angel of God." --Acts 27:23
Tempest and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought
the crew of the vessel into a sad case; one man alone among them remained
perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man
who had heart enough to say, "Sirs, be of good cheer."
There were veteran Roman legionaries on board, and brave old mariners, and yet
their poor Jewish prisoner had more spirit than they all. He had a secret
Friend who kept his courage up. The Lord Jesus despatched a heavenly messenger
to whisper words of consolation in the ear of His faithful servant, therefore
he wore a shining countenance and spake like a man at ease.
If we fear the Lord, we may look for timely interpositions when our case is at
its worst. Angels are not kept from us by storms, or hindered by darkness.
Seraphs think it no humiliation to visit the poorest of the heavenly family. If
angel's visits are few and far between at ordinary times, they shall be
frequent in our nights of tempest and tossing. Friends may drop
from us when we are under pressure, but our intercourse with the inhabitants of
the angelic
world shall be more abundant; and in the strength of love-words, brought to us
from the throne by the way of Jacob's ladder, we shall be strong to do
exploits. Dear reader, is this an hour of
distress with you? then ask for peculiar help.
Jesus is the angel of the covenant, and if His presence be now earnestly
sought, it will not be
denied. What that presence brings in heart-cheer those remember who, like Paul,
have had the angel of God standing by them in a night of storm, when anchors
would no longer hold, and rocks were nigh.
"O angel of my God, be near,
Amid the darkness hush my fear;
Loud roars the wild tempestuous sea,
Thy presence, Lord, shall comfort me."
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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