Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t27800

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27801
 February 1                                               Morning

 \\"They shall sing in the ways of the Lord."\\
                                                    --Psalm 138:5

    The time when Christians begin to sing in the ways of the
 Lord is when they first lose their burden at the foot of the
 Cross. Not even the songs of the angels seem so sweet as the
 first song of rapture which gushes from the inmost soul of the
 forgiven child of God. You know how John Bunyan describes it. He
 says when poor Pilgrim lost his burden at the Cross, he gave
 three great leaps, and went on his way singing--

         "Blest Cross! blest Sepulchre! blest rather be
         The Man that there was put to shame for me!"

 Believer, do you recollect the day when \\your\\ fetters fell
 off? Do you remember the place when Jesus met you, and said, "I
 have loved thee with an everlasting love; I have blotted out as
 a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins; they
 shall not be mentioned against thee any more for ever." Oh! what
 a sweet season is that when Jesus takes away the pain of sin.
 When the Lord first pardoned my sin, I was so joyous that I
 could scarce refrain from dancing. I thought on my road home
 from the house where I had been set at liberty, that I must tell
 the stones in the street the story of my deliverance. So full
 was my soul of joy, that I wanted to tell every snow-flake that
 was falling from heaven of the wondrous love of Jesus, who had
 blotted out the sins of one of the chief of rebels. But it is
 not only at the commencement of the Christian life that
 believers have reason for song; as long as they live they
 discover cause to sing in the ways of the Lord, and their
 experience of his constant lovingkindness leads them to say, "I
 will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually
 be in my mouth." See to it, brother, that thou magnifiest the
 Lord \\this day\\.

              "Long as we tread this desert land,
              New mercies shall new songs demand."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27901
 # Le 1:1 - 3:17 * Daily Bible Reading
27802
 February 2                                               Morning

 \\"Without the shedding of blood is no remission."\\
                                                   --Hebrews 9:22

    This is the voice of unalterable truth. In none of the Jewish
 ceremonies were sins, even typically, removed without blood-
 shedding. In no case, by no means can sin be pardoned without
 atonement. It is clear, then, that there is no hope for me out
 of Christ; for there is no other blood-shedding which is worth a
 thought as an atonement for sin. Am I, then, believing in him?
 Is the blood of his atonement truly applied to my soul? All men
 are on a level as to their need of him. If we be never so moral,
 generous, amiable, or patriotic, the rule will not be altered to
 make an exception for us. Sin will yield to nothing less potent
 than the blood of him whom God hath set forth as a propitiation.
 What a blessing that there is the one way of pardon! Why should
 we seek another?

    Persons of merely formal religion cannot understand how we
 can rejoice that all our sins are forgiven us for Christ's sake.
 Their works, and prayers, and ceremonies, give them very poor
 comfort; and well may they be uneasy, for they are neglecting
 the one great salvation, and endeavouring to get remission
 without blood. My soul, sit down, and behold the justice of God
 as bound to punish sin; see that punishment all executed upon
 thy Lord Jesus, and fall down in humble joy, and kiss the dear
 feet of him whose blood has made atonement for thee. It is in
 vain when conscience is aroused to fly to feelings and evidences
 for comfort: this is a habit which we learned in the Egypt of
 our legal bondage. The only restorative for a guilty conscience
 is a sight of Jesus suffering on the cross. "The blood is the
 life thereof," says the Levitical law, and let us rest assured
 that it is the life of faith and joy and every other holy grace.

               "Oh! how sweet to view the flowing
               Of my Saviour's precious blood;
               With divine assurance knowing
               He has made my peace with God."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27902
 # Le 4:1 - 6:30 * Daily Bible Reading
27803
 February 3                                               Morning

 \\"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors."\\
                                                    --Romans 8:12

    As God's creatures, we are all debtors to him: to obey him
 with all our body, and soul, and strength. Having broken his
 commandments, as we all have, we are debtors to his justice, and
 we owe to him a vast amount which we are not able to pay. But of
 the \\Christian\\ it can be said that he does not owe God's
 \\justice\\ anything, for Christ has paid the debt his people
 owed; for this reason the believer owes the more to \\love\\. I
 am a debtor to God's grace and forgiving mercy; but I am no
 debtor to his justice, for he will never accuse me of a debt
 already paid. Christ said, "It is finished!" and by that he
 meant, that whatever his people owed was wiped away for ever
 from the book of remembrance. Christ, to the uttermost, has
 satisfied divine justice; the account is settled; the
 handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we
 are debtors to God's justice no longer. But then, because we are
 not debtors to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more
 debtors to God than we should have been otherwise. Christian,
 pause and ponder for a moment. What a debtor thou art to divine
 \\sovereignty\\! How much thou owest to his disinterested love,
 for he gave his own Son that he might die for thee. Consider how
 much you owe to his forgiving \\grace\\, that after ten thousand
 affronts he loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you
 owe to his \\power\\; how he has raised you from your death in
 sin; how he has preserved your spiritual life; how he has kept
 you from falling; and how, though a thousand enemies have beset
 your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider what
 you owe to his \\immutability\\. Though you have changed a
 thousand times, he has not changed once. Thou art as deep in
 debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou
 owest thyself, and all thou hast--yield thyself as a living
 sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27903
 # Le 7:1 - 8:36 * Daily Bible Reading
27804
 February 4                                               Morning

 \\"The love of the Lord."\\
                                                      --Hosea 3:1

    Believer, \\look back\\ through all thine experience, and
 think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the
 wilderness, and how he hath fed and clothed thee every day--how
 he hath borne with thine ill manners--how he hath put up with
 all thy murmurings, and all thy longings after the flesh-pots of
 Egypt--how he has opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee
 with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how his grace
 has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles--how his blood
 has been a pardon to thee in all thy sins--how his rod and his
 staff have comforted thee. When thou hast thus looked back upon
 the love of the Lord, then let faith survey his love \\in the\\
 \\future\\, for remember that Christ's covenant and blood have
 something more in them than the \\past\\. He who has loved thee
 and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon. He is
 Alpha, and he shall be Omega also: he is first, and he shall be
 \\last\\. Therefore, bethink thee, when thou shalt pass through
 the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no evil,
 for he is with thee. When thou shalt stand in the cold floods of
 Jordan, thou needest not fear, for death cannot separate thee
 from his love; and when thou shalt come into the mysteries of
 eternity thou needest not tremble, "For I am persuaded, that
 neither death; nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
 depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now, soul,
 is not thy love refreshed? Does not this make thee love Jesus?
 Doth not a flight through illimitable plains of the ether of
 love inflame thy heart and compel thee to delight thyself in the
 Lord thy God? Surely as we meditate on "the love of the Lord,"
 our hearts burn within us, and we long to love him more.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27904
 # Le 9:1 - 10:20 * Daily Bible Reading
27805
 February 5                                               Morning

 \\"The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world."\\
                                                    --1 John 4:14

    It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not come forth
 without his Father's permission, authority, consent, and
 assistance. He was sent of the Father, that he might be the
 Saviour of men. We are too apt to forget that, while there are
 distinctions as to the \\persons\\ in the Trinity, there are no
 distinctions of \\honour\\. We too frequently ascribe the honour
 of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence,
 more to Jesus Christ than we do the Father. This is a very great
 mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not his Father send him? If he
 spake wondrously, did not his Father pour grace into his lips,
 that he might be an able minister of the new covenant? He who
 knoweth the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost as he should
 know them, never setteth one before another in his love; he sees
 them at Bethlehem, at Gethsemane, and on Calvary, all equally
 engaged in the work of salvation. O Christian, hast thou put thy
 confidence in the Man Christ Jesus? Hast thou placed thy
 reliance solely on him? And art thou united with him? Then
 believe that thou art united unto the God of heaven. Since to
 the Man Christ Jesus thou art brother, and holdest closest
 fellowship, thou art linked thereby with God the Eternal, and
 "the Ancient of days" is thy Father and thy friend. Didst thou
 ever consider the depth of love in the heart of Jehovah, when
 God the Father equipped his Son for the great enterprise of
 mercy? If not, be this thy day's meditation. The \\Father\\ sent
 him! Contemplate that subject. Think how Jesus works what the
 \\Father\\ wills. In the wounds of the dying Saviour see the
 love of the great I AM. Let every thought of Jesus be also
 connected with the Eternal, ever-blessed God, for "It pleased
 the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27905
 # Le 11:1 - 13:59 * Daily Bible Reading
27806
 February 6                                               Morning

 \\"Praying always."\\
                                                 --Ephesians 6:18

    What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first
 moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer
 for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and
 blot out our sin. He heard us. But when he had blotted out our
 sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We
 have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and
 restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh
 assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the
 promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in
 the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial. We have
 been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars
 asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God, you have
 never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All
 the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all
 the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living
 rock--Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in
 itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of
 God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range
 of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were
 innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely
 great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have
 been countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the
 Lord, because he hath heard the voice of my supplication"? For
 as your prayers have been many, so also have been God's answers
 to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has
 strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured him
 by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and
 let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus
 graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my
 soul, and forget not all his benefits."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27906
 # Le 14:1 - 15:33 * Daily Bible Reading
27807
 February 7                                               Morning

 \\"Arise, and depart."\\
                                                     --Micah 2:10

    The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as
 it comes to all--"Arise, and go forth from the home in which
 thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy
 business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy
 last journey." And what know we of the journey? And what know we
 of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read
 thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but
 how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that
 there is a black and stormy river called "Death." God bids us
 cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what
 cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight?
 What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller
 has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly
 land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and
 gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth
 on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through
 the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall
 be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall
 be going to our Father's house--to our Father's home, where
 Jesus is--to that royal "city which hath foundations, whose
 builder and maker is God." This shall be our last removal, to
 dwell for ever with him we love, in the midst of his people, in
 the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will
 help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This
 vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this
 world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

              "Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
              For thy bright courts on high;
              Then bid our spirits rise, and join
              The chorus of the sky."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27907
 # Le 16:1 - 18:30 * Daily Bible Reading
27808
 February 8                                               Morning

 \\"Thou shalt call his name Jesus."\\
                                                   --Matthew 1:21

    When a person is dear, everything connected with him becomes
 dear for his sake. Thus, so precious is the person of the Lord
 Jesus in the estimation of all true believers, that everything
 about him they consider to be inestimable beyond all price. "All
 thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia," said David,
 as if the very vestments of the Saviour were so sweetened by his
 person that he could not but love them. Certain it is, that
 there is not a spot where that hallowed foot hath trodden--there
 is not a word which those blessed lips have uttered--nor a
 thought which his loving Word has revealed--which is not to us
 precious beyond all price. And this is true of the \\names\\ of
 Christ--they are all sweet in the believer's ear. Whether he be
 called the Husband of the Church, her Bridegroom, her Friend;
 whether he be styled the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
 world--the King, the Prophet, or the Priest--every title of our
 Master--Shiloh, Emmanuel, Wonderful, the Mighty Counsellor--
 every name is like the honeycomb dropping with honey, and
 luscious are the drops that distil from it. But if there be one
 name sweeter than another in the believer's ear, it is the name
 of \\Jesus\\. Jesus! it is the name which moves the harps of
 heaven to melody. Jesus! the life of all our joys. If there be
 one name more charming, more precious than another, it is this
 name. It is woven into the very warp and woof of our psalmody.
 Many of our hymns begin with it, and scarcely any, that are good
 for anything, end without it. It is the sum total of all
 delights. It is the music with which the bells of heaven ring; a
 song in a word; an ocean for comprehension, although a drop for
 brevity; a matchless oratorio in two syllables; a gathering up
 of the hallelujahs of eternity in five letters.

               "Jesus, I love thy charming name,
               'Tis music to mine ear."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27908
 # Le 19:1 - 21:24 * Daily Bible Reading
27809
 February 9                                               Morning

 \\"And David enquired of the Lord."\\
                                                  --2 Samuel 5:23

    When David made this enquiry he had just fought the
 Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came
 up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put
 them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second
 time, David did not go up to fight them without enquiring of the
 Lord. Once he had been victorious, and he might have said, as
 many have in other cases, "I shall be victorious again; I may
 rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph
 yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord's
 hands?" Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength
 of the Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had
 ensured the same. He enquired, "Shall I go up against them?" He
 waited until God's sign was given. Learn from David to take no
 step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of
 duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship
 through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the
 Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our
 Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well
 avoid, if we would leave to his sovereign will to choose and to
 command. The Puritan said, "As sure as ever a Christian carves
 for himself, he'll cut his own fingers;" this is a great truth.
 Said another old divine, "He that goes before the cloud of God's
 providence goes on a fool's errand;" and so he does. We must
 mark God's providence leading us; and if providence tarries,
 tarry till providence comes. He who goes before providence, will
 be very glad to run back again. "I will instruct thee and teach
 thee in the way which thou shalt go," is God's promise to his
 people. Let us, then, take all our perplexities to him, and say,
 "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Leave not thy chamber this
 morning without enquiring of the Lord.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27909
 # Le 22:1 - 23:44 * Daily Bible Reading
27810
 February 10                                              Morning

 \\"I know how to abound."\\
                                               --Philippians 4:12

    There are many who know "how to be abased" who have not
 learned "how to abound." When they are set upon the top of a
 pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The
 Christian far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity
 than in adversity. It is a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The
 crucible of adversity is a less severe trial to the Christian
 than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what leanness of soul and
 neglect of spiritual things have been brought on through the
 very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of
 necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound.
 When he had much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled
 him to bear abundant prosperity. When he had a full sail he was
 loaded with much ballast, and so floated safely. It needs more
 than human skill to carry the brimming cup of mortal joy with a
 steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he declares,
 "In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
 hungry." It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the
 Israelites were full once, but while the flesh was yet in their
 mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Many have asked for
 mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts' lust. Fulness
 of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought
 on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God's providential
 mercies, it often happens that we have but little of God's
 grace, and little gratitude for the bounties we have received.
 We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are
 content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder to know
 how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry--so desperate
 is the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of
 God. Take care that you ask in your prayers that God would teach
 you "how to be full."

             " Let not the gifts thy love bestows
             Estrange our hearts from thee."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27910
 # Le 24:1 - 25:55 * Daily Bible Reading
27811
 February 11                                              Morning

 \\"And they took knowledge of them, that they had been with\\
 \\Jesus."\\
                                                      --Acts 4:13

    A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ.
 You have read lives of Christ, beautifully and eloquently
 written, but the best life of Christ is his living biography,
 written out in the words and actions of his people. If we were
 what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be
 pictures of Christ; yea, such striking likenesses of him, that
 the world would not have to hold us up by the hour together, and
 say, "Well, it seems somewhat of a likeness;" but they would,
 when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus; he
 has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very
 idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his
 life and every-day actions." A Christian should be like Christ
 in his \\boldness\\. Never blush to own your religion; your
 profession will never disgrace you: take care you never disgrace
 \\that\\. Be like Jesus, very valiant for your God. Imitate him
 in your \\loving\\ spirit; think kindly, speak kindly, and do
 kindly, that men may say of you, "He has been with Jesus."
 Imitate Jesus in his \\holiness\\. Was he zealous for his
 Master? So be you; ever go about doing good. Let not time be
 wasted: it is too precious. Was he self-denying, never looking
 to his own interest? Be the same. Was he devout? Be you fervent
 in your prayers. Had he deference to his Father's will? So
 submit yourselves to him. Was he patient? So learn to endure.
 And best of all, as the highest portraiture of Jesus, try to
 forgive your enemies, as he did; and let those sublime words of
 your Master, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
 do," always ring in your ears. Forgive, as you hope to be
 forgiven. Heap coals of fire on the head of your foe by your
 kindness to him. Good for evil, recollect, is godlike. Be
 godlike, then; and in all ways and by all means, so live that
 all may say of you, "He has been with Jesus."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27911
 # Le 26:1 - 27:34 * Daily Bible Reading
27812
 February 12                                              Morning

 \\"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our\\
 \\consolation also aboundeth by Christ."\\
                                              --2 Corinthians 1:5

    There is a blessed proportion. The Ruler of Providence bears
 a pair of scales--in this side he puts his people's trials, and
 in that he puts their consolations. When the scale of trial is
 nearly empty, you will always find the scale of consolation in
 nearly the same condition; and when the scale of trials is full,
 you will find the scale of consolation just as heavy. When the
 black clouds gather most, the light is the more brightly
 revealed to us. When the night lowers and the tempest is coming
 on, the Heavenly Captain is always closest to his crew. It is a
 blessed thing, that when we are most cast down, then it is that
 we are most lifted up by the consolations of the Spirit. One
 reason is, because \\trials make more room for consolation\\.
 Great hearts can only be made by great troubles. The spade of
 trouble digs the reservoir of comfort deeper, and makes more
 room for consolation. God comes into our heart--he finds it
 full--he begins to break our comforts and to make it empty; then
 there is more room for grace. The humbler a man lies, the more
 comfort he will always have, because he will be more fitted to
 receive it. Another reason why we are often most happy in our
 troubles, is this--\\then we have the closest dealings with\\
 \\God\\. When the barn is full, man can live without God: when
 the purse is bursting with gold, we try to do without so much
 prayer. But once take our \\gourds\\ away, and we want our
 \\God\\; once cleanse the idols out of the house, then we are
 compelled to honour Jehovah. "Out of the depths have I cried
 unto thee, O Lord." There is no cry so good as that which comes
 from the bottom of the mountains; no prayer half so hearty as
 that which comes up from the depths of the soul, through deep
 trials and afflictions. Hence they bring us to God, and we are
 happier; for nearness to God is happiness. Come, troubled
 believer, fret not over your heavy troubles, for they are the
 heralds of weighty mercies.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27912
 # Nu 1:1 - 2:34 * Daily Bible Reading
27813
 February 13                                              Morning

 \\"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,\\
 \\that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world\\
 \\knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we\\
 \\the sons of God."\\
                                                   --1 John 3:1,2

    "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
 us. Consider who we were, and what we feel ourselves to be even
 now when corruption is powerful in us, and you will wonder at
 our adoption. Yet we are called "\\the sons of God\\." What a
 high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it
 brings! What care and tenderness the son expects from his
 father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all
 \\that\\, and more than that, we now have through Christ. As for
 the temporary drawback of suffering with the elder brother, this
 we accept as an honour: "Therefore the world knoweth us not,
 because it knew him not." We are content to be unknown with him
 in his humiliation, for we are to be exalted with him.
 "\\Beloved, now are we the sons of God\\." That is easy to read,
 but it is not so easy to feel. How is it with your heart this
 morning? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption
 rise within your spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark
 trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not,
 it is neither your graces nor feelings on which you are to live:
 you must live simply by faith on Christ. With all these things
 against us, now--in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we
 may be--\\now\\, as much in the valley as on the mountain,
 "Beloved, \\now\\ are we the sons of God." "Ah, but," you say,
 "see how I am arrayed! my graces are not bright; my
 righteousness does not shine with apparent glory." But read the
 next: \\"It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know\\
 \\that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him\\." The Holy
 Spirit shall purify our minds, and divine power shall refine our
 bodies, then shall \\we see him as he is\\.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27913
 # Nu 3:1 - 4:49 * Daily Bible Reading
27814
 February 14                                              Morning

 \\"And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the\\
 \\king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life."\\
                                                  --2 Kings 25:30

    Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a
 store to last him for months, but his provision was given him as
 a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of
 all the Lord's people. A daily portion is \\all that a man\\
 \\really wants\\. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day
 has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst
 which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be
 quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have
 enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want.
 Sufficient for the day is \\all that we can enjoy\\. We cannot
 eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and
 raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the
 anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller,
 but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as
 good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly
 enjoy. This is \\all that we should expect\\; a craving for more
 than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more,
 we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case
 is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion \\given us of the\\
 \\king\\, a \\gracious\\ portion, and a \\perpetual portion\\.
 Here is surely ground for thankfulness.

    Beloved Christian reader, in matters of grace \\you need a\\
 \\daily supply\\. You have no store of strength. Day by day must
 you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that \\a\\
 \\daily portion is provided for you\\. In the word, through the
 ministry, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God you
 shall receive renewed strength. In Jesus all needful things are
 laid up for you. Then \\enjoy your continual allowance\\. Never
 go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of
 mercy.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27914
 # Nu 5:1 - 6:27 * Daily Bible Reading
27815
 February 15                                              Morning

 \\"To him be glory both now and forever."\\
                                                   --2 Peter 3:18

    Heaven will be full of the ceaseless praises of Jesus.
 Eternity! thine unnumbered years shall speed their everlasting
 course, but forever and for ever, "to him be glory." Is he not a
 "Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek"? "To him be
 glory." Is he not king for ever?--King of kings and Lord of
 lords, the everlasting Father? "To him be glory \\for ever\\."
 Never shall his praises cease. That which was bought with blood
 deserves to last while immortality endures. The glory of the
 cross must never be eclipsed; the lustre of the grave and of the
 resurrection must never be dimmed. O Jesus! thou shalt be
 praised for ever. Long as immortal spirits live--long as the
 Father's throne endures--for ever, for ever, unto thee shall be
 glory. Believer, you are anticipating the time when you shall
 join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are
 you glorifying him \\now\\? The apostle's words are, "To him be
 glory both now and for ever." Will you not this day make it your
 prayer? "Lord, help me to glorify thee; I am poor, help me to
 glorify thee by contentment; I am sick, help me to give thee
 honour by patience; I have talents, help me to extol thee by
 spending them for thee; I have time, Lord, help me to redeem it,
 that I may serve thee; I have a heart to feel, Lord, let that
 heart feel no love but thine, and glow with no flame but
 affection for thee; I have a head to think, Lord, help me to
 think \\of\\ thee and \\for\\ thee; thou hast put me in this
 world for something, Lord, show me what that is, and help me to
 work out my life-purpose: I cannot do much, but as the widow put
 in her two mites, which were all her living, so, Lord, I cast my
 time and eternity too into thy treasury; I am all thine; take
 me, and enable me to glorify thee \\now\\, in all that I say, in
 all that I do, and with all that I have."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 27915
 # Nu 7:1 - 7:89 * Daily Bible Reading
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