Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: March 8th

March 8—Morning—Haggai 2:19

"From this day will I bless thee."—Haggai 2:19.

My soul, what day is the memorable day to thee from whence commenced thy blessings? No doubt from everlasting the Lord hath blessed his people in Jesus. But the commencement of thy personal enjoyment of those blessings, was at the time the Lord graciously laid the foundation of his spiritual temple in thee; the blessed, the gracious, the auspicious, the happy day, when the Lord made thee willing in the day of his power? Oh! blessed day, never, never to be forgotten! A day of light; when the light of Jesus first broke in upon me. A day of life; when the Lord Jesus quickened my poor soul, which before was laying dead in trespasses and sins. A day of love; when his love first was made known to my soul, who so loved me as to give his dear and ever-blessed Son for me: and his love was sweetly manifested, who so loved me as to give himself for me. A day of the beginning of victory, over death and hell, and the grave. A day of liberty; when the Lord Jesus opened my prison doors and brought me out. A day of wonder, love and praise; when my eyes first saw the King in his beauty, and my whole soul was overpowered in the contemplation of the grace, the glory, the beauty, the loveliness, the suitableness, the all-sufficiency of his glorious Person and glorious work. A day, Oh what dear name shall I term it to be? A day of grace, a jubilee, a salvation day! the day of my espousals to Jesus, and of the gladness of my Redeemer’s heart! And, my soul, did thy God, did thy Jesus say, that from that day he would bless thee? And hath he not done it? Oh, yes, yes; beyond all conception of blessing. He hath blessed thee in thy basket and thy store. All the blessings, even in temporal mercies, which were all forfeited in Adam, are now sweetly restored, and blessed, and sanctified, in Jesus: nay, even thy very crosses have the-curse taken out of them by thy Jesus; and thy very tears have the spiced wine of the pomegranate. And as to spiritual blessings, God thy Father hath blessed thee with all in his dear Son. Thy Father hath made over himself, in Jesus, with all his love and favour. And Jesus is thine, with all his fulness, sweetness, all-sufficiency. And God the Spirit, with all his gracious influences and comforts. And the present enjoyment of these unspeakable mercies becomes the sure earnest of blessings which are eternal. Jesus himself hath declared, that it is the Father’s own gracious will that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father hath given him; and therefore eternal life must be the sure portion of all his redeemed. "He that believeth in the Son hath indeed everlasting life; and Jesus will raise him up at the last day." Pause, my soul, and view the vast heritage to which thou art begotten from the day of thy new birth in Jesus, Oh! most gracious Father, let me never lose sight of those sweet words, nor the feeling sense of my interest in them, in which thou hast said, "From this day will I bless thee."

March 8—Evening—Psalms 38

"A psalm of David to bring to remembrance."—Psalms 38 : in the title.

This psalm, as well as the seventieth, is particularly marked in the title, and distinguished from every other; and it will be worth while to seek into the cause. A great light will be thrown upon it, if we connect with this title, the character of the great author, under whose inspiration David, as the penman, wrote it: I mean, that sweet and blessed office of the Holy Ghost, the Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus. "He shall teach you"(saith the Lord Jesus, when describing the blessed Spirit in his offices) "all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you:" John 14:26. Now, if this psalm be found, on examination, to be speaking much of the person and character of Christ, ought it not, when read under the divine teaching of its Almighty Author, to act as a psalm to bring to remembrance, how Jesus thus suffered, thus groaned, bled, and died for his people? He it was, as this psalm represents, whose lovers and friends stood aloof from him, in his sorrows; for in the trying hour, all his disciples forsook him and fled: and he was the only person of whom it could be said, that as a deaf man who heard not, and as a dumb man who opened not his mouth, so Jesus stood, as a lamb before her shearers, when in the hall of Pilate, he was accused and condemned without opening his mouth. If then the great design of this psalm is to bring to remembrance the Redeemer, in those solemn seasons; shall we make application of the contents of it to David, king of Israel, and overlook David’s Lord? Oh! thou great and divine Remembrancer of the Lord Jesus! I beseech thee, thou matchless Instructor! to cause every thing, and every incident, to call my poor forgetful heart to remember its Lord! Lord, I blush to think how men of the world feel interested in the most minute concerns of the histories of any characters of supposed eminence, which in former ages have lived among them; every memorandum of them that can be gathered, is treasured up with more avidity than gold: if a letter, or the hand-writing can be found, how they expressed themselves, or how their hours were engaged, with all, or any of the little events which marked their lives; Oh! what attention it gains in the world! But, as if to shew their indifference to him, who, strictly speaking, is the only one worthy regard, what heart is alive to the ever blessed Jesus? Do thou, I beseech thee, thou eternal Spirit, in this gracious office of thine, as the Remembrancer of my Lord, make this psalm, as oft as I read it, a psalm to bring Jesus to remembrance in all his endearments: and also cause all thy sacred word to minister to this one great end! Here let me learn a lesson from men of the world; and while they feel rapture in the me, morandums and reliques of poor sinners, whose places know them no more; let my soul delight in the views his sacred word affords concerning Jesus. ’Thus Jesus spake,’ I would say: and ’thus he stood;’ and ’thus he was encircled by the astonished multitude, who witnessed the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.’ Every incident then in his divine life, will be as a psalm to bring to remembrance; and I shall enjoy a thousand things, when the Holy Ghost, as his Remembrancer, brings them forth to view, which, without his gracious office and word, would be lost to my poor forgetful mind.