Morning, May 8 Go To Evening Reading
“He that was healed wist not who it was.”
—John 5:13
Years are short to the happy and healthy, but thirty-eight years of disease must have dragged a very weary length along the life of the poor, impotent man. When Jesus healed him by a word while he lay at the pool of Bethesda, he was delightfully sensible of a change. Even so, the sinner who has for weeks and months been paralyzed with despair, and has wearily sighed for salvation, is very conscious of the change when the Lord Jesus speaks the word of power and gives joy and peace in believing. The evil removed is too great to be removed without our discerning it; the life imparted is too remarkable to be possessed and remain inoperative; and the change wrought is too marvelous not to be perceived. Yet the poor man was ignorant of the author of his cure; he knew not the sacredness of his person, the offices he sustained, or the errand which brought him among men. Much ignorance of Jesus may remain in hearts, yet feel his blood's power. We must not hastily condemn men for lack of knowledge, but where we can see the faith which saves the soul, we must believe that salvation has been bestowed. The Holy Spirit makes men penitents long before he makes them divines, and he who believes what he knows shall soon know more clearly what he thinks. Ignorance is an evil, for this poor man was much tantalized by the Pharisees and unable to cope with them. It is good to be able to answer gainsayers, but we cannot do so if we do not know the Lord Jesus clearly and with understanding. However, the cure of his ignorance soon followed the treatment of his infirmity, for he was visited by the Lord in the temple. After that gracious manifestation, he was found testifying that “it was Jesus who had made him whole.” Lord, if thou hast saved me, show me thyself, that I may declare thee to the sons of men.
Go To Morning Reading Evening, May 8
“Acquaint now thyself with him.”
—Job 22:21
If we rightly “acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace,” we must know him as he has revealed himself, not only in the unity of his essence and subsistence but also in the plurality of his persons. God said, “Let us make man in our own image”—let not man be content until he knows something of the “us” from whom his being was derived. Endeavour to know the Father; bury your head in his bosom in deep repentance, and confess that you are not worthy to be called his son; receive the kiss of his love; let the ring which is the token of his eternal faithfulness be on your finger; sit at his table and let your heart make merry in his grace. Then press forward and seek to know much of the Son of God who is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and yet in unspeakable condescension of grace became man for our sakes; know him in the singular complexity of his nature: eternal God, and yet suffering, finite man; follow him as he walks the waters with the tread of deity, and as he sits upon the well in the weariness of humanity. Be not satisfied unless you know much of Jesus Christ as your Friend, Brother, Husband, and all. Forget not the Holy Spirit; endeavor to obtain a clear view of his nature, character, attributes, and works. Behold that Spirit of the Lord, who first of all moved upon chaos and brought forth order; who now visits the chaos of your soul and creates the order of holiness. Behold him as the Lord and giver of spiritual life, the Illuminator, the Instructor, the Comforter, and the Sanctifier. Behold him as, like holy unction, he descends upon the head of Jesus and then rests upon you as the skirts of his garments. Such an intelligent, scriptural, and experimental belief in the Trinity in Unity is yours if you truly know God, and such knowledge brings peace indeed.
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
April 17: It’s Actually Quite Simple
Deuteronomy 31:30–32:52; 2 Corinthians 8:8–15; Psalm 45:1–17
“May my teaching trickle like the dew, my words like rain showers on tender grass … For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just; he is a faithful God, and without injustice; righteous and upright is he” (Deut 32:2–4).
We all teach in some way. Some of us teach at church, and others teach co-workers or employees. Some teach the children in their household, and others teach simply by doing (although we don’t always acknowledge these roles). If we all lived by Moses’ prayer, things would be different. Imagine a world where we proclaimed Yahweh’s greatness in all we say and do.
Moses’ words also teach us something about God. If we’re looking for perfection in our work, we should look to the one who manifests it. If we want to be faithful, we should rely on the one who is faithful in all He does. If we desire the right actions in our lives and the world, we should seek the upright one.
Undoubtedly, the problems in our lives and world are complicated. They can’t be understood, and the problematic stories can’t be told too often. But there is a place to look when we need guidance and revitalization. There is a rock to stabilize us; we have a firm foundation (compare Matt 7:24–27).
The first-century Corinthian church was tasked with carrying out Paul’s work of bringing many in Corinth to Jesus and listening to the Spirit so that they could be God’s hands and feet in the city. Like the Corinthian church, we have work to finish (2 Cor 8:10–12).
God has given us action steps as individuals and as communities. And if we doubt that, it is our job to seek answers from Him. We are often unsure because we aren’t listening to Him or seeking His will.
May we feel like Moses about our teaching work, proclaiming Jesus in what we do and say. May we make God's exact requests?
Then, may your words trickle down like rain showers on tender grass. May you find the words God wishes to speak through you, and may you find the people whom you are meant to teach.
Who are you tasked with teaching? What work has God given you? How can you improve that work and make it more glorifying to Him?
John D. Barry
John D. Barry and Rebecca Kruyswijk, Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
May 7th
Building for eternity
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Luke 14:28.
Our Lord refers not to a cost we have to count but to a price which He has counted. The price was those thirty years in Nazareth, those three years of popularity, scandal, and hatred, the deep unfathomable agony in Gethsemane, and the onslaught at Calvary—the pivot upon which the whole of Time and Eternity turns. Jesus Christ has counted the cost. Men will not laugh at Him at last and say—“This man began to build and was unable to finish.”
The conditions of discipleship laid down by Our Lord in vv. 26, 27, and 33 mean that the men and women He will use in His mighty building enterprises are those in whom He has done everything. “If any man come to Me, and hate not …, he cannot be My disciple.” Our Lord implies that the only men and women He will use in His building enterprises are those who love Him personally, passionately, and devotedly beyond any of the closest ties on earth. The conditions are stern, but they are glorious.
All that we build is going to be inspected by God. Is God going to detect in His searching fire that we have built some enterprise of our own on the foundation of Jesus? These are days of tremendous enterprises when we try to work for God, and therein is the snare. Profoundly speaking, we can never work for God. Jesus takes us over for His enterprises and building schemes entirely, and no soul has any right to claim where he shall be put.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
May 8
The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul
Prov. 13:25
Christ must satisfy; if we are not satisfied, it must be because we are not feeding on Him wholly and only. The fault is not in the provision that is made.
Frances Ridley Havergal
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
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