Daily Devotionals

Music For the Soul

Devotional: November 9th

A SUFFICIENCY FOR ALL NEED

I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. - Psalms 40:17

The joy and triumph which ring through the words of Christ, "I am not alone," suggest the sufficiency of that Divine presence for all the needs of the heart. Christ felt that He was not alone, that the dreariness of the solitude had passed away, because the Father’s presence was enough. He was the loneliest of men, and He was also the most rich in sufficient companionship - the most sad and the most happy. So the surface and the depth of His life present the sharpest contrasts. Opposites meet in Him: He was the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief, "and yet God anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows." He was "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making the world rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." For Him the Father’s presence was sunshine in the darkness; summer in the depth of winter; life in the very jaws of death.

And for you and me the Father’s presence will be enough, too. It will not be exactly the same thing as the society and communion of dear ones, and there may be a sense of loss and pain with us, as there was with Him, but yet the blessed consciousness of God’s presence will satisfy our hearts. So, whether we have to walk a lonely road, or are compassed by lovers and friends, and yet feel often much apart, let us lift our hearts to God in Christ, and He will come to be our companion. God and you will make society enough for you. " Thou hast made me exceeding glad through Thy countenance."

We never know the blessedness of God’s presence till we have felt the loneliness of life. " I was left alone and I saw this great vision." We must detach ourselves from earth, and shut our doors about us before we can have the vision of God. Solitude is the mother of all great and holy thoughts. To enter into thyself, said one of the mystics, is to ascend to Heaven. He who is at all times alone, said another, is worthy of God who is then present. Prayer is the flight of the lonely soul to the alone God.

The blessed communion between Christ and God, the Man Christ Jesus and His Divine Father, was broken once. " My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Broken once - wherefore? How? Because He, in the depth of His love, in the might of His sympathy, in the reality of His union with mankind, so identified Himself with us, in our sins and in their punishment, that the last issue of sin fell upon Him, and He tasted the extremes! bitterness of the cup, in the separation from God, which is eternal death. That was for us and for all men. " I could wish myself accursed," said the servant. The Master did more than wish; He made Himself a curse for us. He bore that last, most awful, consequence of sin, and was left alone, bereft of God, in the darkness, that we might never lose the light of God’s face, nor the strength and joy of our Father’s presence.

Let us bow with hushed and grateful spirits before that miracle and mystery of love, and yield ourselves to Him. Trusting to Him, we shall never be solitary any more, for He hath said, " Lo! I am with you always."