Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: July 26th

Though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness. - 1 Peter 1:6.

HERE the apostle reminds us of the expediency of our afflictions. Nothing befalls us by chance, especially as to our afflictions. The Lord does “not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” There are purposes which he aims to accomplish; there are reasons for these various afflictions. “If need be,” says he. But, First, Who is to be the judge of this necessity? Why not we ourselves? No; we are poor, blind, short-sighted creatures; we cannot discern what will be good for us a month hence, nor a year hence; we cannot distinguish, in many things, between appearances and realities. How often have we been deceived, in passing through life, both by our hopes and our fears! We have desired things which would have proved our mischief if we had gained them; and we have endeavoured to shun things which after a while we found to be some of our chief mercies,-reasons, these, why we should “trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not to our own understanding.”

Who is to be the judge of this necessity? Why, God, whose understanding is infinite, who cannot, therefore, err; whose goodness is boundless, who cannot, therefore, injure those who commit the keeping of themselves to him. He “sees the end from the beginning.” He knows now what will be good for us thirty years hence, if we live so long; yea, he knows what will be good for us in eternal ages. He knows how to distinguish between appearances and realities; and, therefore,-

“Who so wise to choose our lot,

Or regulate our ways?”

And how should we be disposed to say, “The Lord shall choose our inheritance for us”! But, again, there is another question to be asked:-What is the need itself of which the apostle speaks, and which is to be determined by our heavenly Father, whose judgment is always according to truth? Why, we have the same need of “being in heaviness through manifold temptations” as the gold and silver has of the furnace; the same need as the vine has of the pruning-knife; the same need as the ground has of the ploughshare, to prepare it for the reception of the seed; the same need as the patient has of the disagreeable medicine; the same need as the child has for the restraints of the rod. Or, to lay aside figure, there are various purposes which these trials are to accomplish. There is a needs-be, sometimes, in the way of correction. There are follies that require the rod in the Christian. And there is a needs-be for them arising from prevention. Paul was not proud as yet, but there was danger of it; and the “thorn in the flesh” was given him, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. Such a creature has been removed from us: we had not idolized it, but God saw we were just going to kneel, and therefore he removed it. “Our hearts,” says Young, (and it is very true,)-

“Our hearts are fasten’d to the world

By various and strong ties;

But every trouble cuts a string

And urges us to rise.”

And for incitement; that our trials and afflictions may induce us to say, “Arise and depart, because this is not your rest.” The “needs-be” is sometimes for the purpose also of producing usefulness, of enabling us to sympathize with others in their trouble, to “weep with them that weep.” And, above all, that we may be conformed to our Lord and Saviour; for a suffering head must have suffering members too

O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. - Jeremiah 10:23.

THESE are three ways of speaking with regard to God. There is a speaking for him, defending his truth and his cause from cavils and misrepresentations and falsehood. “I have yet to speak,” says Elihu, “on God’s behalf.” There is a speaking of God, making his purpose, his doings, his works, the subject of our discourse. “Hence,” says David, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty, and of thy wondrous works, and men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness; they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.” And there is a speaking to God, addressing him as if he were present- and he is present; as if he heard us-and he does hear us; as if he concerned himself in our affairs-and he does concern himself in our affairs.

There are many who speak for God and of God, who rarely, if ever, speak to him, and yet in this our sincerity and Spirituality must principally appear. In this it is we hold communion with him; and when a man has once through the mediation of the Saviour and under the agency of the Holy Spirit sought and found God in Christ, and feels that he has “boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him,” “a glorious high throne from the beginning” will be the “place of his sanctuary.” He will find it good to draw near to God to pour out his heart before him, sometimes in adoration, sometimes in confession, sometimes in supplication, sometimes in complaint, and sometimes in acknowledgment. Here is an address to God: “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”

Observe here a representation of human life. “The way of man.” All writers, profane and sacred, have been accustomed to speak of life under various comparisons; sometimes it has been by a state of servitude, wherein the term of labour is prescribed and the season of release appointed; and hence Job says, “The servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and an hireling looketh for the reward of his work.” Sometimes it is represented as a state of warfare, in which there is always something to be resisted, something to be overcome, something to be obtained, in every relation and in every condition. And it will be well for us if, when we come to the close, we can say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight,” and can “lay hold on eternal life.” But it has been more commonly represented by a way.

In this way we are all travellers. We begin our journey at our birth. We travel on through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, and youth, and of manhood, and old age, and we end in the grave, where we say to corruption, “Thou art my father and my sister.” Now the weather is not always the same with us, the road is not the same, our companions are not the same, the treatment we meet with is not the same. The course of some is very rough-oh, how rough!-while the passage of others is comparatively smooth. Some go straightforward and uniformly, but as to others there are many wanderings and turnings, and they can seldom see any distance before them. But whatever diversities there are among all these travellers, one thing belongs to them all equally: they are all under a higher appointment, and guidance, and influence, than their own.

“O Lord, I know that the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”