Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: July 29th

I will go in the strength of the Lord God. - Psalms 71:16.

THIS resolution of the Psalmist shows us that he believed all that is said in the Scriptures of God, as to his being able to meet all his wants. He says, therefore, in another place, “Once have I heard this, yea, twice, that power belongeth unto God.” “Speak we of strength?” says Job; “lo, he is strong.” There are mighty men to be found, and there are mightier angels; but he is the Almighty. We can work, but we must have instruments to work with; he can work without instruments. Then, again, we must have materials to work upon; but he can work without materials. He can produce what he requires; he can “call things which are not,” and they appear; he says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” We can do some things, but we know he can do every thing. We are soon exhausted and weary, and require a cessation of labour, and repose; but “he fainteth not, neither is weary.” We can use means, and can aid others; but we cannot really add vitality or strength: otherwise, the physician would not fail with his patient; otherwise, the mother would not suffer her darling to decline upon a bed of sickness, or follow him to the grave. But as to God,-

“If half the strings of life were broke,

He can our flesh restore.”

He can recall our frame, he can recolour our cheeks, he can renew our strength as the eagle’s. Who was it that enabled Abraham to offer up his son, and that enabled Daniel to enter the lions den? Who enabled the martyrs to sing and triumph at the stake? We must bring our faith to the greatness of his power as well as his goodness, and learn to sing, with the apostle, “Now, unto him that is able to keep us from falling;” “Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,-unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

But, while his resolution shows his belief of God’s power, it also shows that God’s strength was accessible and apprehendable; and this is the case. “Let him take hold of my strength,” says God. God not only makes known his strength, but he tell us, so to speak, that it is at our service on all occasions, and presses us to make use of it. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” “Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength;” and, says the apostle to the Hebrews, “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.” “Let us have grace:” then it was to be had. And the same apostle says, “And be renewed in the spirit of your minds;” “Be filled with the Spirit;” “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”

Then, all this is within our reach, and within our power,-not our natural power, not our personal power, but in that of another, who is intimately and perfectly one with us.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. - Psalms 37:23.

THOUGH God has declared that the way of man is not in himself, and it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, still he has not left us without encouragement. For he has given us the assurance that if we acknowledge him in all our ways he will “direct our paths.” And we may notice here three grounds of encouragement. First, God is able to direct our paths. His understanding is infinite. He sees the end from the beginning, and knows what is best upon the whole and in the end. And-

“Since all the downward tracts of time

His watchful eye surveys,

O, who so wise to choose our lot

And regulate our ways.”

Secondly, God is willing to direct our paths. He is so condescending as to bestow upon us his counsels and his care. There is something exceedingly wonderful in this, and we may well exclaim with David, “Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that thou visitest him? and with Job, “What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?” Yet so it is; the Lord careth for us. And when we come to the cross, and when we reflect upon what God has done there, there is nothing incredible in this assurance; for “he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?”

Thirdly, God has engaged to direct our paths; he has said, “The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way.” And he says by Isaiah, “I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” These are the true sayings of God; and as these promises are “exceedingly great and precious,” so they are all, “yea and amen in Christ Jesus, to the glory of God by us.” Talking and doing may be different things with men, but they are not so with God. “Heaven and earth may pass away,” and will pass away, “but not a word shall fail of all that the Lord hath spoken.”

Let us endeavour to realize this, and to “commit our way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass,” or render the failure a blessing. Thus our “soul shall dwell at ease.” Thus we shall” live in quiet from the fear of evil.” Thus “he will keep our mind in perfect peace, being stayed on God.”

What can we want more than to be able to say, as we may say, “This God is our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death.”