the Third Week after Easter
Click here to join the effort!
Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
March 17—Morning—1 Peter 1:6
"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."—I Pet. i, 6.
My soul! it is too difficult a task to flesh and blood, but it is among the most blessed triumphs of grace, to glory in tribulation, that the power of Jesus may rest upon the soul. Pause over the subject, and see whether in the little exercises of thy life, such things are among thine experiences. A soul must be truly taught of God the Father; truly acquainted with Jesus, and living near to him; and truly receiving the sweet and constant influences of the Holy Ghost; when, in the absence of the streams of all creature comforts, he is solacing himself at the fountain-head; and, amidst also the fiery darts of temptations! But, my soul, if this be thy happy portion, thou must have acquired it in the school of grace. There are some precious marks by which thou wilt ascertain these things. As, first - I must see that the manifold temptations, be they of what kind or number they may, are in the permissions of Jesus must trace the footsteps of Jesus in them, the hand Jesus directing me through them, the voice of Jesus must hear in them; and, in short, his sacred Person regulating and ordering all the several parts of them. If I see his love, his wisdom, his grace, his goodwill, in all the appointment; whatever heaviness the temptations themselves induce, there will still be cause left for joy - yea, for great joy. Moreover, it will be an additional alleviation to soften their pressure, if through the whole of their exercise, the soul be enabled to keep in view, that God’s glory, and my soul’s happiness, will be the sure issue of them. If I can realize Jesus’s presence, as I pass through them, and interpret, with an application to myself that blessed promise, in which the Lord saith, "I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord; thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end;" these mercies mingled with the trial, will sweeten, and almost take away all its bitter. And, lastly, to add no more - If, my soul, the Holy Ghost should lead out thine whole heart upon the Person of Jesus during the conflict, and by making thee sensible of thy weakness, to take shelter in him, and to lean altogether upon his strength; so that thou art able to believe and to depend upon the fulfilment of his promise, when, to the eye of sense, there doth not seem a way by which that promise may be fulfilled; these are foundations for rejoicing, and of great rejoicing too; because they are all out of thyself, and centered in Him, with whom there is no possibility of change. These are, like the Michtams of David, precious, golden things. For this is to live upon Jesus, to rejoice in Jesus, and to find in him a suited strength for every need. Blessed will be these exercises, my soul, if thou art enabled thus to act under manifold temptations.
March 17—Evening—Mark 3:3
"The man which had the withered hand."—Mark 3:3.
Surely the man in the jewish synagogue, which had a withered hand, will, in the history of his disease and cure, furnish me, this evening, with a very improving meditation. Do thou, blessed Jesus, the great healer both of soul and body, render it profitable, by thy gracious instruction to my heart. This poor man had a withered hand, not only sinew-shrunk, but wasting away. He attended divine worship, for Jesus found him in the synagogue. But we do not read that he asked the mercy from Christ. It was Jesus that first looked upon him; and not he on the Lord Jesus. "Stretch forth thine hand," said the Son of God. Instantly the poor man found the powers of nature restored, the shrunk sinew became lengthened, and the hand which had wasted away, was restored. Pause, my soul! look at the subject as it concerns thyself. How long didst thou attend the means of grace under a withered soul? And to this hour, had not Jesus looked on thee, thou wouldest not have looked on him. Were Jesus to suspend his blessings till sinners had prepared themselves for them, or deserved them, never would blessings come at all. And did Jesus speak, as to this poor man, and bid thee live? Did Jesus command thee to stretch forth thy dead and lifeless soul, and say unto thee, "I am thy salvation?" Surely, then, thy God’s commands conveyed with them ability; and the same voice which said," stretch forth thine hand," gave vigour to the hand to lay hold of his mercy. How sweet is this view of thy impotence, and Jesus’s sovereignty! Here we see that scripture most completely fulfilled: "He sent his word, and healed them; and delivered them from their destructions. Oh! that .men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men."- Psalms 107:20-21.
