Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: September 6th

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded. - Song of Solomon 6:11.

HE enters his garden to walk there; he enters it to enjoy his pleasant fruits there, for they are all his own. He loves to hold intercourse and communion with his saints. But here he speaks of entering it for another purpose, for the garden is his own, and it is so valuable that he will not treat it with neglect, or overlook it. No; “I went down,” says he, “to see the fruits of the valley;” for the garden is low, and the church is lowly. “I went down to see the fruits of the valley.” He comes into his garden especially to examine the state of his church.

He looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any that seek after him. He said to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation,”- causing them all, as it were, to pass before him. And in the parable of the marriage-feast, we are told the king came in to see the guests, and saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment. Why, he is continually inspecting his church. And how qualified is he for this! “His eyes are as a flame of fire;” distance and darkness are nothing to him.. “The darkness and the light are both alike to him.” “The darkness shineth as the light.” “Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.” There is no disguise that can screen from his penetration.

And what is his aim when he comes to examine? Not to ascertain who are learned, but who are “wise unto salvation;” not who are rich, but who “are rich towards God;” and whether “our souls prosper.” Yes, he “comes down to see the fruits of the valley,” to look after the reality of these fruits, to observe the degree of these fruits, whether we “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” according to the time of our standing, and the advantages with which we have been favoured. And our Saviour said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”

Observe, it is not said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear fruit,” but “that ye bear much fruit.” A husbandman does not call in his neighbours to go out and see and admire his field, or his meadow, if he has only an ordinary crop: no, but it is when he has an unusual one; then he says, “Come; did you ever see any thing like this?” Well, so it is here; and when his people increase with all the increase of God, when they are “filled with all the fulness of God,” then their profiting will appear unto all, and “herein will their Father be glorified, that they bear much fruit,” and so will they abundantly appear “to be his disciples.”

This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvellous in our eyes. - Psalms 118:23.

ALL that the Lord hath done and is doing is worthy our attention and admiration. It is pleasing to contemplate his agency in nature, especially the successive seasons of the year; and to observe how he maketh the “outgoings of the morning and the evening to rejoice;” and how he is at the present season “crowning the year with his goodness.” so that “his paths drop fatness.” It is pleasing to contemplate his providence in presiding over the affairs of empires and nations, and families, and individuals, so that a sparrow falls not to the ground without his knowledge; and “the very hairs of our head are all numbered.”

But it is much more interesting still to see him, as the “God of all grace,” go and fetch a soul to himself; to see him go and take a sinner from the ruins of the fall, and make of him an eternal excellency; to see him go and call a sinner from a state of nature into a state of grace, and then from a state of grace usher him into a world of glory and happiness. And God is perpetually doing this thing. This is the Lord’s doing, and displays marvellous wisdom and loving-kindness; and we are called upon to “magnify the works of God which men behold.” But where are we when God is doing these great and marvellous things, that we are not observing and admiring and adoring? This is a representation, not of visionary scenes, but of veritable facts, of interesting and important realities: “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen.”

And there are four things connected with the Lord’s doings in grace and salvation which should never be lost sight of by us. First, That we either are or may become the subjects of this blessedness, arising out of these manifestations of God’s mercy.

Secondly, That we may become the means of this blessedness and glory to others, being “fellow helpers to the truth;” and though we cannot efficiently, yet we may instrumentally, “convert the sinner from the error of his way, and save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.”

Thirdly, That the partakers of this blessedness, and the monuments of this mercy, are continually increasing in numbers; and notwithstanding some desponders who are ever looking on the dark side of things, and are expecting the end of the world to be nigh at hand, we are looking for a more extended and universal evangelisation of it.

And, lastly, That the Lord’s doings will go on attracting the notice and eliciting the adoring admiration of his people, until “all flesh shall see the salvation of our God together.” Oh, there is nothing of which we can be more sure than that the cause of Christ, on whose behalf the Lord’s doings are specially put forth, is the noblest of his works in the world; and that of the day in which they shall become objects of universal interest and admiration we as yet have only witnessed the dawn; but that this dawn will shine more and more unto the perfect day.