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- 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
- 27816
- next 27851
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