home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
BibleWare
/
BibWare.bin
/
bibstudy
/
morneven.exe
/
ME01.PM
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1993-12-22
|
63KB
|
1,159 lines
* 01/01/PM
"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee."
--Song of Solomon 1:4
We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the
gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to
the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding
cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us
make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the
called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs,
and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let
others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening
tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the
Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the
temples in which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring
and blessing the name of Jesus. _We_ WILL, we are resolved about
it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart's delight; we will
not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are
ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our
everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New
Jerusalem. _We will_ BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one
sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be
any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of
grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and
cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven
itself? _We will be glad and rejoice_ IN THEE. That last word is
the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the
text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of
infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their
fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present
portion of Thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of
Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be
glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord,
and December close with gladness in Jesus.
* 01/02/PM
"Let the people renew their strength."
--Isaiah 41:1
All things on earth need to be renewed. No created thing
continueth by itself. "Thou renewest the face of the year," was
the Psalmist's utterance. Even the trees, which wear not
themselves with care, nor shorten their lives with labour, must
drink of the rain of heaven and suck from the hidden treasures
of the soil. The cedars of Lebanon, which God has planted, only
live because day by day they are full of sap fresh drawn from
the earth.Neither can man's life be sustained without renewal
from God. As it is necessary to repair the waste of the body by
the frequent meal, so we must repair the waste of the soul by
feeding upon the Book of God, or by listening to the preached
Word, or by the soul-fattening table of the ordinances.How
depressed are our graces when means are neglected! What poor
starvelings some saints are who live without the diligent use of
the Word of God and secret prayer! If our piety can live without
God it is not of divine creating; it is but a dream; for if God
had begotten it, it would wait upon Him as the flowers wait upon
the dew. Without constant restoration we are not ready for the
perpetual assaults of hell, or the stern afflictions of heaven,
or even for the strifes within. When the whirlwind shall be
loosed, woe to the tree that hath not sucked up fresh sap, and
grasped the rock with many intertwisted roots.When tempests
arise, woe to the mariners that have not strengthened their
mast, nor cast their anchor, nor sought the haven. If we suffer
the good to grow weaker, the evil will surely gather strength
and struggle desperately for the mastery over us; and so,
mayhap, a painful desolation, and a lamentable disgrace may
follow. Let us draw near to the footstool of divine mercy in
humble entreaty, and we shall realize the fulfillment of the
promise, "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their
strength."
* 01/03/PM
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight."
--Luke 3:4
The voice crying in the wilderness demanded _a way for the
Lord, a way prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness_. I
would be attentive to the Master's proclamation, and give Him a
road into my heart, cast up by gracious operations, through the
desert of my nature. The four directions in the text must have
my serious attention.
_Every valley must be exalted_. Low and grovelling thoughts
of God must be given up; doubting and despairing must be
removed; and self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken.
Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of grace must be
raised.
_Every mountain and hill shall be laid low_. Proud creature-
sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled,
to make a highway for the King of kings. Divine fellowship is
never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded sinners. The Lord hath
respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart, but
the lofty are an abomination unto Him. My soul, beseech the Holy
Spirit to set thee right in this respect.
_The crooked shall be made straight_. The wavering heart must
have a straight path of decision for God and holiness marked out
for it. Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth. My
soul, take heed that thou be in all things honest and true, as
in the sight of the heart-searching God.
_The rough places shall be made smooth_. Stumbling-blocks of
sin must be removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be
uprooted. So great a visitor must not find miry ways and stony
places when He comes to honour His favoured ones with His
company. Oh that this evening the Lord may find in my heart a
highway made ready by His grace, that He may make a triumphal
progress through the utmost bounds of my soul, from the
beginning of this year even to the end of it.
* 01/04/PM
"And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him."
--Genesis 42:8
This morning our desires went forth for growth in our
acquaintance with the Lord Jesus; it may be well to-night to
consider a kindred topic, namely, _our heavenly Joseph's
knowledge of us_. This was most blessedly perfect long before we
had the slightest knowledge of Him. "His eyes beheld our
substance, yet being imperfect, and in His book all our members
were written, when as yet there was none of them." Before we had
a being in the world we had a being in His heart. When we were
enemies to Him, He knew us, our misery, our madness, and our
wickedness. When we wept bitterly in despairing repentance, and
viewed Him only as a judge and a ruler, He viewed us as His
brethren well beloved, and His bowels yearned towards us. He
never mistook His chosen, but always beheld them as objects of
His infinite affection. "The Lord knoweth them that are His," is
as true of the prodigals who are feeding swine as of the
children who sit at the table.
But, alas! _we knew not our royal Brother_, and out of this
ignorance grew a host of sins. We withheld our hearts from Him,
and allowed Him no entrance to our love. We mistrusted Him, and
gave no credit to His words. We rebelled against Him, and paid
Him no loving homage. The Sun of Righteousness shone forth, and
we could not see Him. Heaven came down to earth, and earth
perceived it not. Let God be praised, those days are over with
us; yet even now it is but little that we know of Jesus compared
with what He knows of us. We have but begun to study Him, but He
knoweth us altogether. It is a blessed circumstance that the
ignorance is not on His side, for then it would be a hopeless
case for us. He will not say to us, "I never knew you," but He
will confess our names in the day of His appearing, and
meanwhile will manifest Himself to us as He doth not unto the
world.
* 01/05/PM
"And God saw the light."
--Genesis 1:4
This morning we notic