Day 4 - Wednesday - Daily Devotions - Logos

 Morning, March 1 Go To Evening Reading

“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.”

—Song of Solomon 4:16

Anything is better than the dead calm of indifference. Our souls may wisely desire the north wind of trouble if that alone can be sanctified to the drawing forth of the perfume of our graces. So long as it cannot be said, “The Lord was not in the wind,” we will not shrink from the most wintry blast that ever blew upon plants of grace. Did not the spouse in this verse humbly submit herself to the reproofs of her Beloved, only entreating him to send forth his grace in some form and making no stipulation as to the peculiar manner in which it should come? Did she not, like ourselves, become so utterly weary of deadness and unholy calm that she sighed for any visitation which would brace her to action? Yet she desires the warm south wind of comfort, the smiles of divine love, the joy of the Redeemer’s presence; these are often mightily effectual to arouse our sluggish life. She desires either one or the other so that she may but be able to delight her Beloved with the spices of her garden. She cannot endure being unprofitable, nor can we. How cheering a thought that Jesus can find comfort in our poor feeble graces. Can it be? It seems far too good to be true. Well, may we court trial or even death itself if we shall be aided to make Immanuel’s heart glad? O that our hearts were crushed to atoms if only our sweet Lord Jesus could be glorified by such bruising. Graces unexercised are as sweet perfumes slumbering in the cups of the flowers: the wisdom of the great Husbandman overrules diverse and opposite causes to produce the one desired result and makes both affliction and consolation draw forth the grateful odors of faith, love, patience, hope, resignation, joy, and the other fair flowers of the garden. May we know by sweet experience what this means?

Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 1

“He is precious.”

—1 Peter 2:7

As all the rivers run into the sea, all delights center in our Beloved. The glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no fragrance is like the breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by his preciousness. Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did not and could not tell us how special he is, nor could we compute the value of God’s unspeakable gift. Words cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to his people nor fully tell how essential he is to their satisfaction and happiness. Believer, have you not found a sore famine in the midst of plenty if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining, but Christ had hidden, and all the world was black to you, or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light. What a howling wilderness this world is without our Lord! If once he hideth himself from us, withered are the flowers of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth’s candles cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness is eclipsed. He is our soul, the light of our light, the life of our life. Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without him when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day’s battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home jaded and weary if there were no door of fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed be his name; he will not suffer us to try our lot without him, for Jesus never forsakes his own. Yet, let the thought of life without him enhance his preciousness.

 Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.

March 1: A Bold God and a Bold People

Numbers 1:1–46; John 11:1–27; Psalms 1:1–6

Imagine a God so bold that He would say, “Take a census of the entire community of the children of Israel according to their clans and their ancestors’ house … from twenty years old and above, everyone in Israel who can go to war. You and Aaron must muster them for their wars. A man from each tribe will be with you, each man the head of his family” (Num 1:2–4). Hearing God tells you you must be quickly ready for war w.

Yet our daily decisions to follow God are not so different than the decisions and preparations Moses had to make. Every day we have opportunities to choose God—or not. It’s easy to agree to this as a principle, but living it is an entirely different story. How often do distractions deter us from actually hearing God? Yet if we can’t listen to Him, we can’t obey Him.

It’s also easy to be distracted by sin, but following sinful ways will only make us like “the chaff that the wind scatters” (Psa 1:4). We must be a people constantly seeking God instead—a people that makes His law our “delight” (Psa 1:2). We must “meditate” upon it “day and night” (Psa 1:2).

We’re also distracted by wicked people prospering. It’s easy to think, “Why is that person moving up in the world while I seem to be falling back?” But we must remember that this world is not “the dream,” and God will bring justice: “for Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Psa 1:6).

What’s distracting you from listening to God and following Him? What are you going to do about it?

John D. Barry

 Barry, John D., and Rebecca Kruyswijk. Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan. Print. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.

March 1st

The undeviating question

Lovest thou Me? John 21:17.

Peter declares nothing now (cf. Matthew 26:33–35 ). Natural individuality professes and proclaims; the love of the personality is only discovered by the hurt of the question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good man. That is temperamental love; it may go deep into individuality but does not touch the person's center. True love never professes anything. Jesus said—“Whosoever shall confess Me before men,” i.e., confess his love not merely by his words but by everything he does.

Unless we get hurt right out of every deception about ourselves, the word of God is not having its way with us. The word of God hurts as no sin can ever hurt because sin blunts feeling. The question of the Lord intensifies feeling until to be broken by Jesus is the most exquisite hurt conceivable. It hurts not only in natural and profound personal ways. The word of the Lord pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; no deception is left. There is no possibility of being sentimental with the Lord’s question; you cannot say nice things when the Lord speaks directly to you, and the hurt is too terrific. It is so hurt that it stings every other concern out of account. There never can be any mistake about the pain of the Lord’s word when it comes to his child, but the point of the hurt is the great point of revelation.

 Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.

March 1

Come up in the morning … and present thyself unto me in the top of the mount.

Exod. 34:2

The morning is the time fixed for my meeting the Lord. This very word, morning, is a cluster of rich grapes. Let me crush them and drink the sacred wine.

In the morning! Then God means to me to be at my best in strength and hope. I have not climbed in my weakness. In the night, I have buried yesterday’s fatigue, and in the morning, I take a new lease of energy.

Sweet morning! There is hope in its music. Blessed is the day whose morning is sanctified! Victorious is the day whose first victory was won in prayer! Holy is the day whose dawn finds thee on the top of the mount! Health is established in the morning. Wealth is won in the morning. The light is brightest in the morning. “Wake, psaltery, and harp; I will awake early.”

Joseph Parker

 Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.