the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions
June 11—Morning—Jeremiah 31:14
"And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord."—Jeremiah 31:14.
Examine thine heart, my soul, this morning, and see whether this blessed promise is really and truly fulfilled in thy experience. Art thou satisfied with Jehovah’s goodness? Yes, if so be thou hast so received that goodness as manifested and treasured up in the person and work of Christ, and art so believing as to be living wholly upon it. This is a grand thing to do; and when it comes to be strictly enquired into, few, very few, are living so wholly upon it, and so completely satisfied with it, as to be seeking for no additional satisfaction elsewhere. Now, my soul, as there are but few that are so fully satisfied with the Lord’s goodness in every thing that concerns salvation, both in providence and grace, let thy morning thoughts be directed to see whether thou art one of that happy few. I will, for the sake of shortening the inquiry, take up the subject from this ground; that thou art satisfied thou hast an interest in Jesus. Thou hast a long time since been driven by thy necessities to Christ as a complete Saviour; and thou art resting all thy hopes, joys, and expectations, upon his blood and righteousness. I will consider this point as fairly and fully determined. Why then, perhaps, my soul, thou wilt say, is not this to be satisfied with Jehovah’s goodness? Alas, here is the great defect of God’s people! Though resting on this foundation, how often may they find their hearts exercised with endless perplexities how this grace is to be improved, or how that gift is to be employed. And according as it appears to their view they have improved the one, or employed the other, their peace and comfort is proportioned. My soul, do you not see that this is self-satisfaction, and not being satisfied with God’s goodness? This is setting up the comforts of Jesus’s graces and Jesus’s gifts above the glorious author of those gifts and graces. To be really satisfied with God’s goodness, implies living upon that goodness; and that is Christ himself. Living upon Jesus, acting faith upon Jesus, perceiving all our fresh springs to be in Jesus, and therefore drawing all from him. And, my soul, if thou art thus satisfied with God’s goodness, thou wilt find it is injurious to the comfort and blessedness of this life of faith to be ever looking off Jesus to any thing his grace and goodness worketh in thee, lest in the view of the work itself, be it what it may, the source of that work is overlooked, and self-satisfaction, instead of Christ-exalting, should creep into thy soul. In every act, my soul, see to it then that all thy satisfaction is in Jesus, as the goodness of Jehovah. Lord, fulfil this sweet promise, and make me satisfied with thy goodness!
June 11—Evening—Exodus 13:21-22
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."—Exodus 13:21-22.
My soul, look back this evening to the church’s history in the wilderness, and behold how Jesus watched over his people then as he doth now. Surely it is sweet, it is blessed, to mark the same evidences of the Redeemer’s love, and to observe, that in affection to his people (as in person so in love) he is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Among many precious testimonies to this effect, that of the pillar of the cloud by day, and of fire by night, in the camp of Israel, is not the least. We are told in this scripture, that the Lord was in this cloud; and another scripture confirms it, saying, that Jehovah "spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar." It is wonderful to conceive what effect must have been wrought on the minds of the people by this constant display of the Lord’s goodness. Contrary to all other clouds, it was always stationary, always near the tabernacle, and acted as the reverse of all other clouds, in that it shone bright by night, and was dark as a cloud to obscure the sun’s brightness and scorching rays by day. Besides these and other wonderful properties, its movements became the token for the camp of Israel to move, and when it rested, it implied that Israel was to rest also. And thus, not for a short transient march or two, not on any particular emergency, did it become the guide and protection of Israel, for forty years together, until all the people of God arrived in the promised land. Pause my soul, and ponder over the grace of thy covenant God in Christ, in this standing miracle; and when thou hast duly considered the wonderful subject, say, was not Jesus then as much, in type and figure, preached to the church of old, as he is now in sum and substance? Was the Lord veiled in a cloud then, and hath he not since veiled himself in our flesh? Did he go before the people then, and doth he not the same now? Was he stationary then, that is, ever with them, and is he not with his people "always, even unto the end of the world?" Was the cloud in the wilderness the reverse of all other clouds, shining by night, but becoming a grateful screen by day? And is not Jesus all this and more; shining most bright upon his people when they are in darkness, and sheltering them when the heat of persecution or distress is at the height? Did the cloud never deport from the people during their forty years’ journey through the wilderness until they arrived at Canaan? And doth not our Lord go before, and follow his redeemed, all the way of their pilgrimage, until he hath brought them home safe to heaven? Oh! thou glorious, gracious, great I AM! be thou, dearest Lord, still the light, the way, the truth, and the life, to alt thy redeemed. And as now, since thou hast finished redemption-work by thine open presence upon earth, in substance of our flesh, and "washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning:" do thou, Lord, fulfil that sweet promise, and "create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence!" Isaiah 4:4-5.
