Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: March 26th

March 26—Morning—Solomon 4:2

"Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honey-comb."—Song of Solomon 4:2.

While Jesus is so precious to his people, that they seek him in every thing that is lovely, and indeed can discover nothing to be lovely until they have found Jesus in it, what an endearment is it to the soul of a believer, when he discovers Jesus looking upon him, eyeing him, and even commending Jesus’s own graces, which he hath imparted to the soul, brought out into exercises again by the influences of his own Holy Spirit. My soul, canst thou really be led to believe that Jesus is speaking to his church, to his fair one, his spouse, to every individual soul of his redeemed and regenerated ones, in those sweet words of the song? Doth Jesus, the Son of God, call thee his spouse; and doth he say, thy lips drop as the honey-comb? Pause, my soul, and ponder over these gracious words of thy God. By thy lips, no doubt, Jesus means thy words; of which Solomon saith - "pleasant words are as an honey-comb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. "Proverbs 16:24. Do thy lips drop in prayer, in praise, in conversation, in christian fellowship, in ordinances, and in all the ordinary intercourse of life? Is Jesus thy one theme; his name, his love, his grace, his work, his salvation; what he hath done, what he hath wrought; how he hath loved, how he hath lived, how he hath died, how he now lives again to appear in the presence of God for his people; and to give out of his fuluess, his mercies, his treasures: in visits, in manifestations, and the ten thousand numberless, nameless, ways by which he proves himself to be Jesus? Do thy lips, my soul, drop in these topics when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, when thou risest up, and when thou goest in before the presence of God, in the public worship of the temple, or the private closet, where no eye seeth thee but him that seeth in secret? And doth thy Jesus really mark these things? Doth he condescend to notice his poor creature, and to esteem these droppings as the sweetness of the honey? Precious God, precious Jesus! what a love is here. O for grace, for love, for life, for every suited gift of my God and Saviour, that my lips, from the abundance of the heart, may drop indeed as the honey-comb - sweetly, freely, not by constraint, except the constraint of thy love; but constantly, unceasingly, for ever, as the drops of the honey-comb which follow one another; that prayer may follow praise, and praise succeed to prayer; and that there may be a succession in magnifying and adoring the riches of grace; that the name of Jesus may be always in my mouth; and from that one blessed source, that Jesus lives in my heart, and rules, and reigns, and is formed there the hope of glory.

March 26—Evening—Exodus 3:13-14

"And Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, what is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM, THAT I AM. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the chldren of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."—Exodus 3:13-14.

My soul, hast thou fully considered, so as to rest in the full assurance of faith upon it, on what the whole foundation of covenant promises and engagements rest? It is not the greatness of the promise, no, nor the greatness of the deliverance wrought out for poor sinners, by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, on which faith founds its claim; for, in fact, the more astonishing, and great, and unexpected the mercy is, as in the case of redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, the more difficult would it be for a poor self-condemned sinner to trust in it, with full assurance of faith; but the great foundation for thee, and for every poor sinner to ground his hopes of redemption by Jesus Christ upon, is the faithfulness of that God which cannot lie, having promised, as appears, from the beautiful instance this precious scripture records. The Lord was going to send Moses, as his minister, to bring out his people Israel from Egyptian bondage; Moses desires the Lord to give him the commission with his name; whence, by the way we may learn, that they who stand up in the Lord’s name, ought themselves to know who the Lord is, and from a proper acquaintance with the Lord, to recommend him to those among whom they proclaim him, as one they themselves know and trust in. To the inquiry of Moses concerning the name by which he should hold him forth to his people, the Lord condescends to give this answer; I AM THAT I AM: intimating the self existence, the eternity, and faithfulness of JEHOVAH. As if God had said, I AM, and therefore by virtue of this underived being, which I possess in myself, I give being to all my promises. My soul! often call to remembrance this grand and glorious truth. Thou hast not only the perfect and covenant redemption of thy Christ’s blood and righteousness to confide in; but thou hast this other pillar and ground of the truth to confirm thy faith; I AM hath engaged for it also. So that both the blessedness of the promise, and the faithfulness of the Almighty Promiser, are with thee. Plead both before the throne, for Jehovah will ever be mindful of, glory in, and prove faithful to, all his covenant promises in Christ, to a thousand generations. Hallelujah! Amen.