Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: November 18th

Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. - Psalms 89:19.

LET us consider, First, That we need help. This help refers to our spiritual welfare,-not to the things of time and sense. It refers to us not as mere creatures, but as fallen creatures. God does nothing in vain, and therefore he would not have been at the. expense of providing a Saviour if we had not been lost.

Christianity does three things for us. First, It tells us that this was not our original state; that “God made man upright, but he sought out many inventions.”

Secondly, It checks much of the evils of depravity now, by its direct influence in many cases, and by its indirect influence in many more. It has done more for men than all human institutions in the aggregate besides. Through its means what efforts have been made to meet every kind of distress or woe! Then,

Thirdly, and above all, It tells us of a remedy for all human depravity, which is placed within our reach if we will avail ourselves of it; and therefore, if we perish in this state, the blame will be our own.

Secondly, We observe that, as we need help, so God has provided it. This is the grand peculiarity of the dispensation of the gospel, and it is the delightful office of its ministers to report this, and to show unto men the way of salvation. It is infinitely adapted to all our wants and weaknesses; it is also all-sufficient to meet the ravages of the evil. “Yea,” said the apostle, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

This help includes, First, Redemption. “With the Lord there is plenteous redemption.” “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” Thus the burden too heavy to be borne is rolled off the conscience, and we now “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have now received the atonement.”

Secondly, It includes justification. Our relief from condemnation does not entitle us to glory, neither does the pardon of sin; but we must have a title to heaven before we can obtain it; and from whence is this to be derived, but from the righteousness of Christ by faith which is unto and upon all that believe?

Thirdly, It takes in renovation. Man is not only guilty, but depraved; therefore he cannot be happy while in his natural state and under the dominion and love of sin. In this condition it is impossible for him to serve God or hold communion with him; therefore he must be renewed, he must become spiritually-minded.

Fourthly, In strength. The Christian’s duties are arduous; they are numerous and various, and he is inadequate to any one of them; but, says the Saviour, “My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” The blessed Spirit also is promised and enjoyed; and now the man lives in the Spirit, and walks in the Spirit, and prays in the Spirit, who also helps his infirmities.

Lastly, It takes in persevering grace; for he only “that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Perseverance is not only required of us as a duty, but is insured to us as a privilege. We are not only commanded to be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” but we have the promise, “The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.

The gentleness of Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:1.

IT was predicted of the Saviour, that “a bruised reed he should not break, and the smoking flax he should not quench.” And when his person and work were typified, the image under which he was set forth was a lamb, and the emblem of his Spirit “a dove;” and his whole mission consisted in “going about doing good,” and in “giving his life a ransom for many.” If we turn to his miracles there were displays of his grace and compassion, as there were also of his omnipotence. Who can read his history without feeling this?

Here he has compassion upon the multitude because they had nothing to eat, and had come from afar and he made the hungry-men, women, and children, in a secluded scenery, on a fine summer evening-sit upon the grass, and miraculously fed them with five barley loaves and a few small fishes. Here a blind beggar sitting by the wayside, finding that he was passing by, cried, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me;” and “the multitude rebuked him, and told him to hold his peace; but Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be brought to him.” The sun in nature once stood still to enable a great general to finish a great victory; here the Sun of Righteousness stands still while an act of kindness is performed, and he the performer too. “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” “Lord, that I might receive my sight.” And Jesus said unto him, “Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.”

There is one thing worthy of special notice with regard to the character of our Saviour’s miracles; it may be called the tenderness and the delicacy of kindness they displayed. For example, the young man of Nain was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; had our Saviour, when he had compassion on her, ordered him to become his follower and attendant, and taken him away, she even then would be grateful. She might have said, “He would have been the greatest support on which I could have leaned as I walk down into the valley of years, and travel toward the tomb of my husband; but it is enough; he is alive.” But what did Jesus? “He delivered him to his mother.” When the demoniac was dispossessed he came to the Saviour, and besought him that he might be with him; and he would have been a monument of his power, a trophy of his mercy; but the poor man had been more than dead to all his friends and relations a long time, and they would be glad at heart to see him, and therefore Jesus says, “No; go home to thy house, and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee; and how he hath had mercy on thee.”

We see the gentleness of Jesus Christ in his behaviour towards those who were his own disciples; though they often tried him and offended him, yet he bore with their miscarriages; hence it is said, “Having loved his own which were with him in the world, he loved them unto the end.” When in the garden of Gethsemane he found them sleeping, he said, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” When Peter denied him, he turned and looked upon him with a look of love that melted him into contrition, for the look said to him, Peter, with all thy faults, I love thee still, and am going to die for thee; and Peter “went out and wept bitterly.”

Nor was this grace and goodness confined to his disciples; “He went about doing good.” To the woman who was a sinner weeping over her sins, he said, “Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee; go in peace.” When the Jews rejected him he wept over them. When they were driving the nails through his hands and feet, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” and when a malefactor, a thief, and probably a murderer, who was hanging by his side, prayed, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,” then he heard the gracious answer, “Verily I say unto thee, to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”