Daily Devotionals

The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions

Devotional: May 6th

May 6—Morning—Genesis 45:4

"And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt."—Genesis 45:4.

What an interview was this, in the first manifestation the governor of Egypt made of himself to his brethren! We are told that he wept aloud. His bowels yearned over them. He had long smothered in his own bosom those he now manifests himself to every poor sinner, whom, by his grace, he makes partaker in the first resurrection on whom the second death hath no power? I am Jesus, your brother, saith that adored Lord; but he doth not add, whom ye sold for worse than a slave. There is no upbraiding, nothing of our baseness and sins. And yet we have all not only sold him, but by our transgressions crucified him. What a beautiful feature this is in the Redeemer; and how much even the love of Joseph falls short of Jesus! And what endears it still more, is the peculiar attention the Redeemer manifesteth upon the occasion. If there be one of his brethren more distressed and discouraged by reason of sin than another, to him Jesus directs his manifestation more immediately. Witness the case of Peter after his fall. Jesus will have the account of his resurrection not only communicated to all, but Peter is mentioned by name. "Go, tell his disciples, and Peter." As if knowing the apostle might fear that. having denied Jesus, he might justly be denied by him No, saith Jesus, let Peter be particularly told the joyful news, to make his heart glad. And dost thou, dearest Lord, speak to my soul? Dost thou say to me, I am your brother? Art thou not ashamed to call such sinners brethren? Oh thou unequalled pattern of unexampled love! add one mercy more to the vast. account, and let a portion of it kindle a flame of love in my soul. I have, indeed, sold them for a slave; nailed thee, by my sins, to the cross, and put thee to an open shame. But since thou hast redeemed me by thy blood, and bought the pardon of my sins so dear; and now, by thy triumph over death, art become the first-born among many brethren, and exalted as a Prince and a Saviour to give blessings infinitely superior to those Joseph was exalted to bestow on his brethren; behold, Lord, to thee do I come: manifest thyself still the forgiving brother, and supply all thy wants. Yes, blessed Jesus! thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; and all thy Father’s children shall fall down before thee.

May 6—Evening—Deuteronomy 34:1

"The top of Pisgah."—Deuteronomy 34:1.

There is somewhat truly interesting in this account of Pisgah, to which Moses ascended before his death. The relation, no doubt, was intended to convey seasonable instruction, of a spiritual nature, to all true believers in Christ, in their Pisgah contemplations of the promised land. My soul! sit down this evening, and see what, under divine teaching, thou canst make of it. Probably thy Lord, thy Jesus, may grant to thy faith, sights yet more glorious than even Moses beheld in open vision, when he went up to Mount Nebo. "The top of Pisgah" afforded to the man of God, a beautiful prospect of Canaan; and as we are told, that "his natural force was not abated, neither his eye become dim;" he might possibly view the boundaries of Israel’s dominions; which, in point of extent, reached but little more than fifty miles in one direction, and about three times that length in another. Indeed, we are informed, that "the Lord shewed him all the land;" and the same power which gave him the prospect, would doubtlessly give him a suited strength of vision for the purpose. But what, my soul, are thy views on Pisgah’s heights? The utmost extent of the imagination cannot be sufficient to take in what is opened before thee, of that "length and depth, and breadth and height, of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge!" And if he, who led Moses to the top of Pisgah, go with thee; if the same Lord that shewed him all the land, shew thee also "the glories to be revealed :" think what blessings will pour in upon thee, of "joy unspeakable and full of glory." It is true, thy Pisgah views are in the distant means of grace, and the ordinances of worship; where, very frequently, clouds arise, and darken thy prospect. Nevertheless the word of God opens a true map of that Judea, which is above, and which is "the glory of all lands;" and God the Holy Ghost can, and will give the seeing eye to see, and the awakened heart "to believe, the glorious things which are spoken of the city of God." And if Moses, from the first moment that the Lord spake to him from the bush, when the visions of God began, had been accustomed to contemplate in every thing the view of Jesus; and, like the other patriarchs, had seen his day afar off, so as to rejoice and be glad; surely, since the Lord first called thee by his grace, and was pleased to reveal his Son in thee, thou hast had increasing desires after Jesus, and increasing knowledge of, and communion with Jesus; and therefore on Pisgah’s top, in thy evening meditation, thou mayest find sweet anticipations of the glories of that kingdom above, which, ere long, thou hopest to enter into the full enjoyment of, amidst the heirs of God, and the joint heirs with Christ. One sweet thought more, the top of Pisgah opens to the mind, in beholding the man of God going up to it: I mean in that he went alone, the divine presence only being with him. Here indeed is the very life of communion. The blessings Jesus imparts, in Pisgah views, to his redeemed, are all personal, and alone. They are joys with which a stranger cannot intermeddle. The white stone, and the new name, and the hidden manna, which Jesus gives, are all in secret: "no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth," Revelation 2:17. My soul! art thou acquainted with these things? Are these among the privileges of the true believer; and dost thou hope, after a few more revolving suns have finished their daily course, and the shades of night are done away, to realize these glories, and enter upon the everlasting possession of them?—Get up then, by faith, in thy evening meditations; yea, hear Jesus calling thee by name, as he did Moses, and saying, get thee up into this mountain, Abarim, and behold the land which I have taken possession of for Israel! Oh! for grace and faith in lively exercise, to look olden "within the veil, whither our glorious forerunner is for us entered," and there behold Jesus on his throne, and speaking in the same precious words, as to the church of old:" To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in his throne," Revelation 3:21. And while these soul-ravishing triumphs of faith are upon the mind, with all the warmth of holy joy, from Pisgah’s heights, surely, like Simeon, the soul will then cry out in the same language as he did, when he caught Jesus in his arms: "Lord, let thy servant now depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."