August
August 2
TRANSCENDENT SATISFACTION
And ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done.
Ezekiel 14:23
One revels in the thought of this great and eternal vindication of Him whom we love; His ways, His works, His word all justified, and Himself revealed to the silenced universe, henceforth only to receive honor and glory and blessing!
It seems as if we should almost forget our own share in the glory and joy of His coming in this transcendent satisfaction.
Our Father, we long for the glorious day When all shall adore Thee, and all shall obey.
Oh hasten Thy kingdom, oh show forth Thy might, And wave o'er the nations Thy sceptre of right.
Oh make up Thy jewels, the crown of Thy love, And reign in our hearts as Thou reignest above, For Thine is the power!
August 3
FOR OUR SAKES
Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.
Leviticus 8:14
Before the hands of the priests could be filled with the emblems of consecration, they had to be laid upon the emblem of atonement
(Leviticus 8:14, etc.).
That came first.
So the transference of guilt to our Substitute, typified by that act, must precede the dedication of ourselves to God.
My faith ivould lay her hand On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin.
The blood of that Holy Substitute was shed "to make reconciliation upon the altar."
Without that reconciliation we cannot offer and present ourselves to God ; but this being made, Christ Himself presents us.
And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in Jlis sight.
Then Moses "brought the ram for the burnt offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar; it was a burnt-
offering for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord."
Thus Christ's offering was indeed a whole one, body, soul, and spirit, each and all suffering even unto death.
These atoning sufferings, accepted by God for us, are, by our own free act, accepted by us as the ground of our acceptance.
Then, reconciled and accepted, we are ready for consecration for then "he brought the ram, the ram of consecration; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram."
Here we see Christ, "who is consecrated for evermore." We enter by faith into union with Him who said, "For their sakes
I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."
Wounded for my transgression, stricken sore.
That I might "sin no more"; Weak, that I might be always strong in Thee; Bound, that I might be free; Acquainted with grief, that I might only know Fullness of joy in everlasting flow.
Thy cross and passion, and Thy precious death.
While I have mortal breath.
Shall be my spring of love and work and praise.
The life of all my days; Till all this mystery of love supreme Be solved in glory — glory's endless theme.
August 4
BY HIM — TO HIM — IN HIM
. FOR HIM
Whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
Matthew 23:19
Thanks be to God for the Altar that sanctifieth the gift, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself!
By Him we draw nigh unto God; to Him, as one with the Father, we offer our living sacrifice; in Him, as the Beloved of the Father, we know it is accepted.
So, dear friends, when once He has wrought in us the desire to be altogether His own, and put into our hearts the prayer, "Take my life," let us go on our way rejoicing, believing that He has taken our lives, our hands, our feet, our voices, our intellects, our wills, our whole selves, to be ever, only, all for Him.
Let us consider that a blessedly settled thing; not because of anything we have felt, or said, or done, but because we know that He heareth us, and because we know that He is true to His Word.
Only a mortal's powers, weak at their fullest strength; Only a few swift-flashing hours, short at their fullest length.
All! for far more I owe than all I have to bring; All! for my Saviour loves me so!
All! for I love my King!
August ^ "COME"
. "NOW"
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
Isaiah 1:18
The Holy Ghost saith. To day.
Hebrews 3:7
And he [Pharaoh] said. To morrow.
Exodus 8:10
"Come now!"
Nothing can be plainer.
Therefore, if you postpone coming, you are calmly disobeying God. When we bid a child to "come," we do not count it obedience unless he comes at once, then and there.
It is not obedience if he stops to consider, and coolly tells you he is really thinking about coming, and waits to see how long you will choose to go on calling him.
What right have we to treat our holy Lord as we would not think of letting a naughty child treat us?
He says, "Come now."
And "now" does not mean tomorrow.
"Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."
Put it to yourself, what if this night God should require your soul of you, and you had not "come"? What if the summons find you still far off, when the precious blood was ready, by which you might have been brought nigh?
Precious, precious blood of Jesus, Shed on Calvary; Shed for rebels, shed for sinners.
Shed for me.
Precious blood, whose full atonement Makes us nigh to God!
Precious blood, our song of glory.
Praise and laud.
August 6
JUSTICE AND MERCY FROM GOD'S LOVE
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9
We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19
First, He loves us.
Then the discovery of this leads us to love Him, Then, because He loves us. He claims us, and desires to have us wholly yielded to His will, so that the operations of love in and for us may find no hindrance.
Then, because we love Him we recognize His claim and yield ourselves.
Then, being thus yielded, He draws us nearer to Him and admits us, so to speak, into closer intimacy, so that we gain nearer and truer views of His perfections.
Then the unity of these
perfections becomes clearer to us. Now we not only see His justice and mercy flowing in an undivided stream from the cross of Christ, but we see that they never were divided, though the strange distortions of the dark, false glass of sin made them appear so, but that both are but emanations of God's holy love.
Then having known and believed this holy love, we see further that His will is not a separate thing, but only love (and therefore all His attributes) in action; love being the primary essence of His being, and all the other attributes manifestations and combinations of that ineffable essence, for God is Love.
He hath loved thee, and He knows All thy fears and all thy foes; Victor thou shalt surely be Ever through His love to thee.
Rest in quiet joy on this — Greater love hath none than His:
And may this thy life-song be, Love to Him that loveth thee!
August 7
PROMISES IN PRESENT EXPERIENCE
His heart is established, he shall not be afraid.
Psalm 112:8
The Gracious One bears with us, and gives line upon line to His poor little children. And so He says, "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus." And again, "Thy thoughts shall be established."
And again, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee." And to prove to us that these promises can be realized in present experience He seads down to us through nearly three thousand years the words of the man who prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, God," and lets us hear twice over the new song put by the same Holy Spirit into his mouth: "My heart is fixed, God, my heart is fixed."
That waiting One, who now is letting us try again; Watching us with the patient brow that bore the wreath of pain;
Thoroughly teaching what He would teach.
Line upon line.
Thoroughly doing His work in each.
Then let our hearts be still, though our task is turned today, Oh let Him teach us what He will in His own gracious way.
Till, sitting only at Jesus' feet.
As we learn each line.
The hardest is found all clear and sweet!
August 8
BETTER FIRST THAN LAST
I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.
Psalm 57:2
Does He mean as much as this?
Well, He has caused it to be written for us "that we might have hope"
; and what more do we want? Then let Him do it.
Let Him perform all things for us.
Not some things, but all things ; or the very things which we think there is no particular need for Him to perform will be all failures — wood, hay and stubble to be burnt up.
One by one let us claim this wonderful word ; "the thing of a day in his day," "as the matter shall require," being always brought to Him with the God-given petition, "Do Thou for me."
Do not wait to feel very much oppressed before you say, "0 Lord, undertake for me."
Far better say that at first than at last, as we have too often done !
Bring the prayer in one hand, and clasp the promise in the other, joining them in the faith-clasp of "Do as Thou hast said I" And put both the hands into the hand of Him whom the Father heareth always, saying, "Do
Thou for me, Lord God, for Thy name's sake," for the sake of Jehovah-Jesus, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, yet the Saviour of sinners.
And there was calm I O Saviour, I have proved That Thou to help and save art really near:
How else this quiet rest from grief, and fear.
And all distress?
The cross is not removed, I must go forth to bear it as before.
But, leaning on Thine arm, I dread its weight no more.
August 9
CHRIST MUST BE EVERYTHING
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:1.''> Does it not almost seem as if we were at times trusting to our trust, making everything hinge upon it, and thereby only removing a subtle dependence upon ourselves one step farther back, disguising instead of renouncing it?
If Christ's keeping depends upon our trusting, and our continuing to trust depends upon ourselves, we are in no better or safer position than before, and shall only be landed in a fresh series of disappointments.
The old story, something for the sinner to do, crops
up again here, only with the ground shifted from works to trust.
Said a friend to me, "I see now!
I did trust Jesus to do everything else for me, but I thought that this trusting was something that I had to do." And so, of course, what she had to do had been a perpetual effort and frequent failure. We can no more trust and keep on trusting than we can do anything else of ourselves.
Even in this it must be "Jesus only"
; we are not to look to Him only to be the Author and Finisher of our faith, but we are to look to Him for all the intermediate fulfillment of the work of faith
(2 Thessalonians 1 :11) ; we must ask Him to go on fulfilling it in us, committing even this to His power.
Distrust thyself, but trust His strength; In Him thou shalt be strong:
His weakest ones may learn at length A daily tiiumph song.
Distrust thyself, but trust alone In Him, for all — for ever!
And joyously thy heart shall own That Jesus faileth never.
August 10
DO YOU WANT THE BLESSING?
Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him In store, as God hath prospered him.
1 Corinthians 16:2
The very act of literally fulfilling this apostolic command seems to bring a blessing with it, as all simple obedience does.
I wish, dear friends, you would try it!
You will find it a sweet reminder on His own day of this part of your consecration. You will find it an immense help in making the most of your little charities. The regular inflow will guide the outflow, and insure your always having something for any sudden call for your Master's cause. Do not say you are afraid you could not keep to it.
What has a consecrated life to do with being afraid?
Some of us could tell of such sweet and singular lessons of trust in this matter, that they are written in golden letters of love on our memories. Of course, there will be trials of our faith in this, as well as in everything else.
But every trial of our faith is but a trial of His faithfulness, and is "much more precious than gold which perisheth."
Called to suffer with our Master, patiently to run His race; Called a blessing to inherit, called to holiness and grace; Called to fellowship with Jesus, by the Ever-faithful One;
Called to His eternal glory, to the kingdom of His Son.
August
THE ROYAL INVITATION
Come unto me.
Matthew 11:28
This is the royal invitation.
For it is given by the King of kings.
We are so familiar with the words that we fail to realize them. May the Holy Spirit open our ear that we may hear the voice of our King in them, and that they may reach our souls with imperative power.
Then "they shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak."
Think of the day when the Great White Throne is set, and when the Son of man shall come in His glory; .
. and know that it is "this same Jesus" who now says to you, "Come unto Me!"
Is it for me to listen to Thy beloved voice And hear its sweetest music bid even me rejoice?
Is it for me. Thy welcome, Thy gracious "Enter in"?
For me. Thy "Come, ye blessed!" for me, so full of sin?
August 12
AGED THROUGH SUFFERING
The things which he suffered.
Hebrews 5:8
If we have some dear one gone before, who "suffered many things," there is neither comfort nor help to be had by dwelling on them.
He would be a poor comforter who reminded you of them, and brought them back in detail to your scarred memory.
One would rather do one's utmost to turn your thoughts away from them, leading you to dwell only on the present bliss, and one would fain blot out your painful remembrance of a past which it does no good to recall.
Not so does our Divine Comforter work.
When He takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us, we feel that the things which He suffered are precious exceedingly, and the Spirit-wrought remembrance of them powerful beyond all else.
This pathetic plural is full of suggestion.
How much may be hidden under the supposition of the Jews that He was nearly fifty years of age, when so little beyond thirty !
How sharp must have been the experiences which graved such lines upon the visage so marred more than any man
Think of all that must have gone on under the surface of His home life, where "neither did His brethren believe in Him."
Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.
Think what temptation must have been to the Holy One, and what the concentration of malice and great rage when
the prince of darkness went forth to do his worst against the lonely Son of Man, whom he knew to be the Son of God.
Think of Jesus alone with Satan!
Oh, what things He suffered before He came to the agony and bloody sweat, the cross and passion, which filled up the cup which His Father gave Him to drink for us men and for our salvation!
All this, that He might be made a perfect Saviour, having learnt by personal experience the suffering from which He saves as well as the suffering in which He supports and with which He sympathizes; having learnt by personal experience the obedience by which "many shall be made righteous," and which is at once our justification and our example.
All this, that He might be a perfect Captain of our salvation, knowing all and far more than all the hardships of the rank and file.
All this, that He might be the Author of eternal salvation to them that obey Him, to you and me!
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee!
Sure and sweet and all-sufficient Shall His presence be.
All God's billows overwhelmed Him In the great Atoning Day; Now He only leads thee through them, With thee all the way.
August 13
A VISTA OF BRIGHTNESS
At evening time it shall be light.
Zechariah 14:7
We should have said. "At evening time it shall be shadow"; God says, "At evening time it shall be light."
We are not to look for a very dismal afternoon of life with only some final sunset-glow, for He says it "shineth more and more unto the perfect day"
; and "more and more" leaves no dark intervals; we are to expect a continual brightening path.
"The future is one vista of brightness and blessedness" to those who are willing only "to walk in the light."
Just think, when you are seven, or ten, or twenty years older, that will only mean seven or ten or twenty years' more experience of His love and faithfulness, more light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and still the "more and more unto the perfect day," will be opening out before us
We are "confident of this very thing"
Fear not the westering shadows, O children of the day!
For brighter still and brighter shall be your homeward way.
Resplendent as the morning, with fuller glow and power, And clearer than the noonday, shall be vour sunset hour.
August 11
WHY NOT YIELD TO IT?
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.
1 John 4:16
Do not wrong, and wound, and insult that tremendous love by refusing to believe it.
He is at this moment giving you the personal proof of it, by drawing you even for these few minutes.
Do not resist the half-formed wish to come to Jesus.
It is very solemn to realize that this is no less than the Father's own drawing of you to His dear Son. Without it you could not come, because you know you would have refused to come; but with it, if only you yield to it, you shall come.
Holy brethren, called and chosen by the sovereign Voice of Might, See your high and holy calling out of darkness into light!
Called according to His purpose and the riches of His love; Won to listen by the leading of the gentle heavenly Dove!
August 18
WHAT SHALL THE HARVEST BE?
Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain:
. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Psalm 39:6,7 "Yes, this is all very well for some people, or for older people, but I am not ready for it; 1 can't say I see my way to this sort of thing."
I am going to take the lowest ground for a minute, and appeal to your "past experience."
Are you satisfied with your experience of the other "sort of thing"?
Your pleasant pursuits, your harmless recreations, your nice occupations, even your improving ones, what fruit are you having from them?
Your social intercourse, your daily talks and walks, your investments of all the time that remains to you over and above the absolute duties God may have given you, what fruit that shall remain have you from all this? Day after day passes on, and year after year, and what shall the harvest be? What is even the present return?
Are you getting any real and lasting satisfaction out of it all?
Are you not finding that things lose their flavor, and that you are spending your strength day after day for nought; that you are no more satisfied than you were a year ago — rather less so, if anything?
Does not a sense of hollowness and weariness come over you as you go on in the same round, perpetually getting through things only to begin again?
It cannot be otherwise.
Over even the freshest and purest earthly fountains the Hand that
never makes a mistake has written, "He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again."
Look into your own heart and you will find a copy of that inscription already traced, "Shall thirst again." And the characters are being deepened with every attempt to quench the inevitable thirst and weariness in life, which can only be satisfied and rested in full consecration to God.
For "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and the heart never resteth till it findeth rest in Thee."
Today I tell you of a brighter and happier life, whose inscription is, "Shall never thirst," a life that is no dull round-and-round in a circle of unsatisfactorinesses, but a life that has found its true and entirely satisfactory center, and set itself towards a shining and entirely satisfactory goal, whose brightness is cast over every step of the way.
Will you not seek it?
Springs of peace, when conflict heightens, thine uplifted eye shall see; Peace that strenglhens, calms, and brightens, peace, itself a victory.
Springs of comfort, strangely springing, thro' the bitter wells of woe; Founts of hidden gladness, bringing joy that earth can ne'er bestow.
August 19
WITHOUT EXCUSE
The king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me?
2 Samuel 19:25
"With me!" To be with our King will be our highest bliss for eternity; and surely it is the position of highest honor and gladness now.
But if we would always be with Him, we must sometimes be ready to go with Him.
"The Son of God goes forth to war" nowadays.
Do we go with Him?
His cross is "without the gate."
Do we go "forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach"? Do we really go with Him every day and all day long, following "the Lamb whithersoever He goeth"? What about this week — this day?
Have we loyally gone with our King wherever His footsteps go before?
If the voice of our King is heard in our hearts, "Wherefore wentest thou not with me?" — thou who hast eaten "continually at the King's table," — thou who hast had a place among "the King's sons," — thou unto whom the King has shown "the kindness of God," we have no "because" to offer. He would have healed the spiritual lameness that hindered, and we might have run after Him. We are without excuse.
The Lord of Hosts, in whom alone our weakness shall be strong, Shall lead us on to conquest with a mighty battle song;
And soon the warfare shall be past, the glorious triumph won.
The kingdoms of this world shall be the kingdoms of His Son.
August 20
LIFE — OR DEATH?
Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
John 5:40
So long as you are not willing, i.e., not actually and actively willing to come (for that is the meaning of the original), of course you cannot come.
And without coming to Jesus you cannot have life. And if you do not have life, there is nothing but death for you — the second death with all its unknown terrors, into the realities of which any moment may plunge you.
Your not believing this makes no difference as to the fact.
Your doubting it makes no difference to its certainty.
I assert it on the authority of the Word of God.
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death .
. therefore choose life"
(Deuteronomy 30:19).
For in not willing life, you are willing death, and "why will ye die?"
You could not do without Him, if once He made you see The fetters that enchain you, till He hath set you free.
If once you saw the fearful load of sin upon your soul The hidden plague that ends in death, unless He makes you whole!
What will you do without Him, when death is drawing near?
Without His love — the only love that casts out every fear; When the shadow-valley opens, unlighted and unknown.
And the terrors of its darkness must be all passed alone!
August 21
WHEN SILENCE IS NEGATIVE
David the king also rejoiced with great joy.
Chronicles 29:9
Do not let us think of the joy of our King over His people as only future.
While we cannot look forward too much to the day when He shall present us "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy," let us not overlook the present gladness which we, even we, who have so often grieved
Him, may give to our King.
Elsewhere we hear of the joy of angels over repenting sinners; here we have a glimpse of the joy of the King of angels over His consecrated ones.
Look at the whole passage—it is full of typical light—and let us take it for our learning.
"Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?"
Silence is negative here; there must be a definite heart response if we are willing.
Are you?
If so, when?
The king's question says nothing of some
day, but of "this day."
And the question is put to you: if never before, it is sounding in your ears now.
Shall your service be His "this day," and henceforth, or not?
Shall not "this day" be "the day of the gladness of His heart"?
Will you not consecrate your service today unto Him?
For then, "He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing."
As our own hearts are filled with the intense joy of consecration to our Lord, a yet intenser glow will come as we remember that His joy is greater than ours, for He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows.
O the gladness of the spirit, when the true and only Light Pours in radiant resplendence, making all things new and bright!
When the love of Jesus shineth in its overcoming power.
When the secret sweet communion hallows every passing hour.
August 22
IMPUTED BEAUTY
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.
Psalm 45:11
Can this be? What beauty have we that the King can desire?
For the more we have seen of His beauty, the more we have seen of our own ugliness.
What, then, can He see? "My comeliness which I had put upon thee."
"The beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." For "He will beautify the meek with salvation."
And so the desire of the King is set upon us.
Perhaps it is upon the emphatic "so," as pointing to the context, that the intensity of the emphatic "greatly" hinges.
It is when the bride forgets her own people and her father's house—that is, when her life and love are altogether given to her Royal Bridegroom—that He shall greatly desire her beauty.
When His glorious beauty has so filled our eyes, and His incomprehensible love has so filled our hearts, that He is first, and most, and dearest of all — when we can say noi merely, "The desire of our souls is to Thy name," but "There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee"—when thus we are, to the very depth of our being, really and entirely our Beloved's, then we may add, in solemn, wondering gladness, "And His desire is toward me."
O love surpassing thought So bright, so grand, so clear, so true, so glorious; Love infinite, love tender, love unsought.
Love changeless, love rejoicing, love victorious!
And this great love for us in boundless store; Christ's everlasting love!
What wouldst thou more?
August 23
"LORD, SHOW ME MYSELF"
Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.
Psalm 85:7
Return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy.
Isaiah 55:7
People do not come for what they do not want.
Until the HolySpirit shows us our need of mercy, and puts reality into the prayer, "Have mercy upon us miserable sinners," we shall never come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy.
He that into God's kingdom comes, Must enter by this door.
So, if you have never yet felt that you could sincerely say, "God be merciful to me a sinner" and therefore have never yet felt particularly anxious to come to the throne of grace to obtain it, I would urgently entreat you to pray, "Lord, show me myself!" When the Holy Spirit answers that prayer, you will be eager enough to come and obtain mercy !
It will be the one thing then that you will be particularly anxious about.
Return!
O wanderer from My side!
Soon droops each blossom of the darkening wild, Soon melts each meteor which thy steps beguiled, Soon is the cistern dry which thou hast hewn.
And thou wilt weep in bitterness full soon.
Return! ere gathering night shall shroud the way Thy footsteps yet may tread, in this accepted day.
August 24
CONTINUAL AND CONSISTENT CARE
He careth for you.
1 Peter 5:7
It is so pleasant to be cared for; to have some kind relatives and friends who show that they love you by their care for you.
But all earthly care for you comes because "He careth for you." He planned and arranged everything, without your having anything to do with it, so that you shall be cared for.
And He did not arrange it once for all, and then leave things to go on as might happen.
No!
Every day, every moment.
He careth^ goes on caring, for you.
Not only thinking of you and watching you, but working for you ; making things come right, so that everything should be just the best that could happen to you.
Not managing the great things, and leaving the little things to arrange themselves; but giving loving
care to the least, the very least that concerns you.
Even in small troubles which no one else seems to care about, "He careth"
; or when every one else is too much taken up with other things to attend to you, "He careth for you."
You can never get beyond God's care, for it always reaches you; you can never be outside of it, for it is always enfolding you.
Who will take care of me? darling, you say!
Lovingly, tenderly watched as you are!
Listen!
I give you the answer today, One who is never forgetful or far.
He will take care of you! all through the year.
Crowning each day with His kindness and love.
Sending you blessing and shielding from fear, Leading you on to the bright home above.
August 23
CHRIST FIRST; OTHERS SECOND; ME LAST
I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done.
John 13:15
Do you really wish to follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus?
Have you asked God to make you more like Hiin?
Are you ready to begin today?
Then here is a motto for today, "Even Christ pleased not Himself."
Will you take it, and try to imitate Him? You are sure to have plenty of opportunities of acting upon it, and thus proving not only to others, but to the Saviour Himself that you mean what you say, and mean what you pray. You cannot tell, till you have fairly tried, how happy you can feel when you have cheerfully given up to another, for Jesus' sake, something which you would have liked for yourself, nor how happy you can be, when of your own free will, and by God's grace, you have chosen to do what your conscience tells you would please the Lord Jesus instead of what would have pleased yourself.
If you have never tried it yet, begin today, and you will find it is quite a new happiness. What would have become of us if Christ had only pleased Himself, and stayed in His glorious home instead of coming down to save us?
Think of that when you are tempted to please yourself instead of pleasing Him, and the remembrance that even He pleased not Himself, because He so loved you, will help you to try and please Him, and to please others for His sake.
If washed in Jesus' blood, then bear His likeness too!
And as you onward press, ask, "What would Jesus do?"
Give with a full, free hand; God freely gives to you!
And check each selfish tho't with, "What would Jesus do?"
August 26
CLAIM THE PROMISES
There hath not failed one word of all his good promise.
1 Kings 8:56
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.
Peter 1:4
Unclaimed promises are like uncashed checks; they will keep us from bankruptcy, but not from want.
But if not, why not?
What right have we to pick out one of His faithful sayings, and say we don't expect Him to fulfill that? What defense can we bring, what excuse can we invent, for so doing?
If you appeal to experience against His faithfulness to His word, I will appeal to experience too, and ask you. Did you ever really trnxst Jesus to fulfill any word of His to you, and find your trust deceived?
Whatever you did really trust Him to keep, He has kept; and the unkept things were never really entrusted.
Scrutinize this past experience as you will, and it will only bear witness against your unfaithfulness, never against His absolute faithfulness.
Master, I set my seal that Thou art true, Of Thy good promise not one thing hath failed!
And I would send a ringing challenge forth.
To all who know Thy name, to tell it out.
Thy faithfulness to every written word.
Thy lovingkindness crowning all the days To say and sing with me:
"The Lord is good.
His mercy is forever, and His truth Is written on each page of all my life!"
August 21
TONGUES — A MIGHTY INFLUENCE
Talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Psalm 105:2
Just consider what a power in the world talking is!
Words dropped, caught up, repeated, then ventilated, combined, developed, set brains and pens to work; these again set the tongues to work; the talking spreads, becomes general, public opinion is formed and inflamed, and the results are engraved in the world's history.
This is what talking can do when exercised about the affairs of "the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them."
And we, who have been translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son — we have tongues too, and what have we been talking about?
How have we used this same
far-spreading power?
Only suppose that for every time each English-speaking Christian had talked about the day's news of the kingdoms of this world, he had spent the same breath in telling the last news of the kingdom of Jesus Christ to his friends and casual acquaintances!
God intends and commands us to do this. We often quote "All Thy works shall praise Thee, Lord, and Thy saints shall bless Thee."
That sounds tolerably easy; but what next?
"They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power."
Is this among the things that we ought to have done and have left undone?
Are we not verily guilty as to this command?
"Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law!"
Are you shining for Jesus, dear one, so that the holy light May enter the hearts of others, and make them glad and bright?
Have you spoken a word for Jesus, and told to some around, Who do not care about Him, what a Saviour you have found?
Have you lifted the lamp for others, that has guided your own glad feet?
Have you echoed the loving message, that seemed to you so sweet?
August 28
HANDS — A MIGHTY MECHANISM
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Let us lift up our .
. hands unto God in the heavens.
Lamentations 3:41
Stay a minute, and look at your hand, the hand that holds this little book as you read it.
See how wonderfully it is made ; how perfectly fitted for what it has to do ; how ingeniously connected with the brain, so as to yield that instantaneous and instinctive obedience without which its beautiful mechanism would be very little good to us!
Your hand, do you say? Whether it is soft and fair with an easy life, or rough and strong with a working one, or white and weak with illness, it is the Lord Jesus Christ's.
It is not your own at all ; it belongs to Him. He made it, for without Him was not anything made that was made, not even your hand. And He has the added right of purchase—He has bought it that it might be one of His own instruments. We know this very well, but have we realized it?
Have we really let Him have the use of these hands of ours? and have we ever simply and sincerely asked Him to keep them for His own use?
Jesus, Master, whom I serve, though so feebly and so ill, Strengthen hand and heart and nerve all Thy bidding to fulfill; Open Thou mine eyes to see all the work Thou hast for me.
August 29 o
EXCEEDING SORROWFUL
. EXCEEDING GLAD
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.
Isaiah 53:4
The sorrows of the past, the very sorrow that may be pressing heavily at this moment; all yours, all mine; all the sorrows of all His children all through the groaning generations ; all that were "too heavy" for them—Jesus bore them all.
"Is it nothing to you?"
It is when the Lord says, "Now will I gather them"
(the rebels and wanderers), that He adds, "And they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the King of princes."
Have we this proof that He has indeed gathered us?
But look forward !
Because He has drunk "of the brook in the way, therefore shall He lift up the head."
Already the "exceeding sorrowful" is exchanged for "Thou hast made Him [the King] exceeding glad"
; and when the ransomed and gathered of the Lord shall return with everlasting joy, "their King also shall pass before them."
"He suffered!"
Was it, Lord, indeed for me, The Just One for the unjust; Thou didst bear The weight of sorrow that I hardly dare To look upon, in dark Gethsemane?
"He suffered!"
Thou, my near and gracious Friend, And yet my Lord, my God!
Thou didst not shrink.
August 30
WOULD YOU WELCOME THE KING NOW?
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.
Zechariah 9:9
That our King should let us come to Him is condescension indeed.
But have we praised Him for His still more wonderful condescension: "Thy King cometh unto thee"?
"Unto thee," rebel, traitor, faithless subject, coward, and coldhearted follower; for where is the life that has not fallen under these charges, when seen in the double light of the King's perfect law and the King's great love?
Yes, He cometh unto thee, and it is enough to break our hearts when we get one contrasted glimpse of this undeserved grace and unparalleled condescension. His great promise has had its first fulfillment "unto thee."
Thy King has come, and His own voice has given the objects of His coming.
But you want a further fulfillment — you want a present coming of your King.
You have His most sweet word, "I will come to you"
; and you respond, "Oh, ichen wilt Thou
come unto me?"
Are you ready to receive the King's own answer now? Do you so desire His coming, that you do not want it postponed at all?
Can you defer all other comers, and say in reality, ''Let my Beloved come"?
Is it for me. dear Saviour, Thy glory and Thy rest?
For me, so weak and sinful, oh shall I thus be blessed?
Is it for me to see Thee in all Thy glorious grace.
And gaze in endless rapture on Thy beloved face?
Behold Thee in Thy beauty, behold Thee face to face; Behold Thee in Thy glory, and reap Thy smile of grace;
And be with Thee forever, and never grieve Thee more!
Dear Saviour, I must praise Thee, and lovingly adore.
August 31
A GOOD ARGUMENT
He hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
Joel 2:23
This principle (and it is a very delightful one) of arguing from what God has done for us to what He will do for us, comes up perpetually in all parts of His Word.
If He hath given us the former rain, it is the pledge and proof that "He ivill cause to come down for us the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain"
; the blessing already given shall be continued or repeated, and a fuller future one shall be certainly added.
Manoah's wife argued well:
"If the Lord were pleased to kill us. He would not .
. have showed us all these things, nor told us such things as these."
Oh, consider ivhat things the Lord has shown and told you and me!
Are they not abounding proofs of His purposes towards us? David made frequent use of the thought, arguing from the less to the greater: "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear.
He will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine." Paul gives a close parallel, rising from temporal to spiritual deliverance:
"I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work."
He, who hath won thy heart, will keep it true and free; He, who hath shown thee what thou art. will show Himself to thee.
He, who hath bid thee live, and made thy life His own.
Life more abundantly will give, and keep it His alone.
He loveth always, faileth never; so rest on Him, today, forever!
He, who hath made thee nigh, will draw thee nearer still; He, who hath given the first supply, will satisfy and fill.
He, who hath given thee grace, yet more and more will send; He, who hath set thee in the race, will speed thee to the end.
He loveth always, faileth never; so rest on Him, today, forever.