Morning, April 13 Go To Evening Reading
“A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me.”
—Song of Solomon 1:13
Myrrh may be chosen as the type of Jesus because of its preciousness, perfume, pleasantness, healing, preserving, disinfecting qualities, and connection with sacrifice. But why is he compared to “a bundle of myrrh”? First, for plenty. He is not a drop of it; he is a casket full. He is not a sprig or flower but a whole bundle. There is enough in Christ for all my necessities; let me not be slow to avail myself of him. Our well-beloved is compared to a “bundle” again, for variety: there is in Christ not only the one thing needful, but in “him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” everything needful is in him. Take Jesus in his different characters, and you will see a marvelous variety—Prophet, Priest, King, Husband, Friend, Shepherd. Consider him in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, second advent; view him in his virtue, gentleness, courage, self-denial, love, faithfulness, truth, righteousness—everywhere he is a bundle of preciousness. He is a “bundle of myrrh” for preservation—not loose myrrh to be dropped on the floor or trodden on, but myrrh tied up, myrrh to be stored in a casket. We must value him as our best treasure; we must prize his words and his ordinances; and we must keep our thoughts of him and knowledge of him under lock and key, lest the devil should steal anything from us. Moreover, Jesus is a “bundle of myrrh” for specialty. The emblem suggests the idea of distinguishing, discriminating grace. From before the foundation of the world, he was set apart for his people, and he gives forth his perfume only to those who understand how to enter into communion with him and have close dealings with him. Oh! Blessed people whom the Lord hath admitted into his secrets and for whom he sets himself apart. Oh! Choice and happiness are thus made to say, “A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me.”
Go To Morning Reading Evening, April 13
“And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”
—Leviticus 1:4
Our Lord’s being made “sin for us” is set forth here by the very significant transfer of sin to the bullock, which was created by the people's elders. The laying of the hand was not a mere touch of contact, for in some other places of Scripture, the original word has the meaning of leaning heavily, as in the expression, “thy wrath lieth hard upon me” (Psalm 88:7). Surely this is the very essence and nature of faith, which doth not only bring us into contact with the great Substitute but teaches us to lean upon him with all the burden of our guilt. Jehovah made to meet upon the head of the Substitute all the offenses of his covenant people. Still, each chosen is brought personally to ratify this solemn covenant act when, by grace, he is enabled by faith to lay his hand upon the head of the “Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” Believer, do you remember that rapturous day you first realized pardon through Jesus, the sin-bearer? Can you not make a glad confession and join the writer in saying, “My soul recalls her day of deliverance with delight. Laden with guilt and full of fears, I saw my Saviour as my Substitute, and I laid my hand upon him; oh! How timidly at first, but courage grew, and confidence was confirmed until I leaned my soul entirely upon him. Now it is my unceasing joy to know that my sins are no longer imputed to me but laid on him, and like the debts of the wounded traveler, Jesus, like the good Samaritan, has said of all my future sinfulness, ‘Set that to my account.’ ” Blessed discovery! Eternal solace of a grateful heart!
“My numerous sins transferr’d to him,
Shall never more be found,
Lost in his blood’s atoning stream,
Where every crime is drown’d!”
C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening: Daily Readings (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896).
April 13: The Curious Thing about God’s Work
Deuteronomy 26:1–27:26; 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1; Psalm 40:1–17
Doing God’s work is a curious thing. It requires both mad rushes and patiently waiting.
Christ's followers are meant to think like the psalmist did: “I waited patiently for Yahweh, And he inclined to me and heard my cry for help” (Psa 40:1). Yet Jesus’ followers are also meant to do His work at breakneck speed, as described in Deut 26:1, where the Israelites are told to take possession of the promised land and settle it.
We’re meant to recognize where the answers and timeframe come from God. Giving the first of what we make to God’s work indicates this understanding: “You shall take from the first of all the fruit of the ground that you harvest from your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you … and you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and you shall say, ‘I declare today to Yahweh your God that I have come into the land that Yahweh swore to our ancestors to give to us.’ Then the priest takes the basket from your hand and places it before the altar of Yahweh your God” (Deut 26:2–4).
In ancient Israel, the first fruits weren’t wasted. This sacrifice provided the priest with a livelihood so that he could serve Yahweh by serving others.
God has asked His followers to listen and to act but to leave the timeframe of doing both up to Him. Giving after we complete both tasks shows that we realize that God has given us all we have, and it requires us to understand the purpose of sacrifice.
Just as the Israelites were a wandering people (Deut 26:5), we were also once wandering sinners. For this reason and many others, we must trust God in our patience, speed, and giving.
What is God asking you to be patient about, and where should you make haste? How are you currently neglecting to give?
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).
April 13th
What to do under the conditions
Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Psalm 55:22.
We must distinguish between the burden-bearing that is right and the burden-bearing that is wrong. We ought never to bear the burden of sin or doubt, but there are burdens placed on us by God that He does not intend to lift off, and He wants us to roll them back on Him. “Cast that He hath given thee upon the Lord.” (R.V. marg.) If we undertake work for God and get out of touch with Him, the sense of responsibility will be overwhelmingly crushing. Still, if we roll back on God that He has put upon us, He takes away the sense of responsibility by bringing in the realization of Himself.
Many workers have gone out with high courage and fine impulses, but with no intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ, and before long, they are crushed. They do not know what to do with the burden; it produces weariness, and people say—‘What an embittered end to such a beginning!’
“Roll thy burden upon the Lord”—you have been bearing it all; deliberately put one end on the shoulders of God. “The government shall be upon His shoulder.” Commit to God “that He hath given thee”; not fling it off, but put it over on to Him and yourself with it, and the burden is lightened by the sense of companionship. Never dissociate yourself from the burden.
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year (Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986).
April 13
God … hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
2 Cor. 4:6
Christian! Rest not until you know God's whole, unbroken shining in your heart. To this end, yield to every stirring that shows thee some unconquered and perhaps unconquerable evil. Just bring it to the light; let the light shine upon it, and shine it out. Wait upon the Lord more than watchers for the morning, for “the path of the just is as the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day.” Count upon it that God wants to fill thee with the light of His glory: wait on Him more than watchers for the morning. “Wait, I say, on the Lord.”
Andrew Murray
Samuel G. Hardman and Dwight Lyman Moody, Thoughts for the Quiet Hour (Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997).
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