Springtime Devotional '26 "Universally is He present, and everywhere is His name excellent..."

"Lord, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!” 

Psalm 8:1

    Unable to express the glory of God, the Psalmist utters a note of exclamation. O Yahweh our Lord! We need not wonder at this, for no heart can measure, no tongue can utter, the half of the greatness of our LORD. The whole creation is full of His glory and radiant with the excellency of His power; His goodness and His wisdom are manifested on every hand. The countless myriads of terrestrial beings, from man the head, to the creeping worm at the foot, are all supported and nourished by the Divine bounty. The solid fabric of the universe leans upon His eternal arm. 

Universally is He present, and everywhere is His name excellent. God worketh ever and everywhere. There is no place where God is not. The miracles of His power await us on all sides. Traverse the silent valleys where the rocks enclose you on either side, rising like the battlements of heaven till you can see but a strip of the blue sky far overhead; you may be the only traveler who has passed through that glen; the bird may start up affrighted, and the moss may tremble beneath the first tread of human foot; but God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding yon rocky barriers, filling the flowercups with their perfume, and refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth. Descend, if you will, into the lowest depths of the ocean. where undisturbed the water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is there. Mount to the highest heaven, or dive into the deepest hell, and God is in both hymned in everlasting song, or justified in terrible vengeance. Everywhere, and in every place, God dwells and is manifestly at work. 

Nor on earth alone is Yahweh extolled, for His brightness shines forth in the firmament above the earth. His glory exceeds the glory of the starry heavens; above the region of the stars He hath set fast His everlasting throne, and there He dwells in light ineffable. Let us adore Him "who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; who maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job 9:8-9.) We can scarcely find more fitting words than those of Nehemiah, "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee." 

Returning to the text we are led to observe that this Psalm is addressed to God, because none but the Lord himself can fully know His own glory. The believing heart is ravished with what it sees, but God only knows the glory of God. What a sweetness lies in the little word our, how much is God's glory endeared to us when we consider our interest in Him as our Lord. How excellent is Thy name! no words can express that excellency; and therefore it is left as a note of exclamation. The very name of the LORD is excellent, what must His person be. Note the fact that even the heavens cannot contain His glory, it is set above the heavens, since it is and ever must be too great for the creature to express. When wandering among the Alps, we felt that the Lord was infinitely greater than all His grandest works, and under that feeling we roughly wrote these few lines:—

 

E'en avalanche and thunder lack a voice,

To utter the full volume of His praise.

How then can I declare Him? Where are words

With which my glowing tongue may speak His name?

Silent I bow, and humbly I adore.

 

Charles Hadden Spurgeon

Psalm 8 Sermon

Thanksgiving Devo '25 --"...for though the promise tarry, it can never come too late."

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 

John 14:1

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold trials...Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

1 Peter 1:6, 8

 

God, let Thy mighty heart beat into mine,

And let mine answer as a pulse to Thine.

See, I am low; yea, very low; but Thou

Art high, and Thou canst lift me up to Thee.

I am a child, fool before Thee, God; 

But Thou hast made my weakness as my strength.

I am an emptiness for Thee to fill;

My soul, a cavern for Thy sea. I lie

Diffused, abandoning myself to Thee…

—I will look up, if life should fail in looking.

GEORGE MACDONALD

Within and Without

 

 

Where showers fall most, there the grass is greenest.  I suppose the fogs and mists of Ireland make it "the Emerald Isle"; and whenever you find great fogs of trouble, and mists of sorrow, you always find emerald green hearts; full of the beautiful verdure of the comfort and love of God.  

O Christian, do not thou be saying, "Where are the swallows gone?  They are gone; they are dead."  They are not dead; they have skimmed the purple sea, and gone to a far-off land; but they will be back again by and by.  Child of God, say not the flowers are dead; say not the winter has killed them, and they are gone.  Ah, no!  Though winter hath coated them with the ermine of its snow; they will put up their heads again, and will be alive very soon.  Say not, child of God, that the sun is quenched, because the cloud hath hidden it.  Ah, no; he is behind there, brewing summer for thee; for when he cometh out again, he will have made the clouds fit to drop in April showers, all of them mothers of the sweet May flowers.  

And oh! above all, when thy God hides His face, say not that He hath forgotten thee.  He is but tarrying a little while to make thee love Him better; and when He cometh, thou shalt have joy in the Lord, and shalt rejoice with joy unspeakable.  Waiting exercises our grace; waiting tries our faith; therefore, wait on in hope; for though the promise tarry, it can never come too late.

                                                                                                                    

C.H. Spurgeon

Mornings and Evenings

Good Friday Devotional '25 "Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials..."

  

  'My heart is like wax: it is melted within My breast…'                       

Psalm 22:14

 

        Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God….                    

Hebrews 2:17

 

Jesus, only You know our deepest trials,

You bore the grief of our fallen world.

Your Body was pierced, Your heart full of sorrow;

Our sins fell upon You, so we can be restored.

 

I am a wind-blown reed, weakened and bruised;

You'll not break me, nor quench my flickering flame.

You were crushed and wounded to make me new;

Jesus, my heart overflows for Your Cross of grace.

C. TAYLOR

 

Our Blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting of soul.  'The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?'  Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing.  Well might the suffering Saviour cry to His God, 'Be not far from Me', for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his heart is melted within him because of heaviness.  Believer, come near the cross this morning, and humbly adore the King of glory as having once been brought far lower, in mental distress and inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark His fitness to become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.  Especially let those of us whose sadness springs directly from the withdrawal of a present sense of our Father's love, enter into near and intimate communion with Jesus.  Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark room the Master has passed before us.  Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest.  Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His griefs; but how high ought our love to rise!  Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet forever.

 

 C. H. SPURGEON

Mornings and Evenings

 

      …such is the Lord Jesus, the One who in the first chapter of Hebrews is shown as the unique Son of God, heir of all things, the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, is seen in the second chapter as stooping to be "made like unto His brethren in all things."  God has arranged it that in every conceivable way Jesus has been made like unto His brethren. There are no sufferings that His brethren suffer but that He has suffered them too.  There are no tears that His brethren shed, but that He has shed them too….God has made the Captain of our salvation perfect through suffering.  He would not be an adequate High Priest for us had He not been through everything that we go through….  In our hour of suffering He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.  I am your Brother, I have been made like unto you in everything."

 

 ROY HESSION 1908-87

From Shadow to Substance

Advent Devotional '24 "God is not ashamed to be with those of humble state." -Bonhoeffer

 

"My soul exalts the Lord,

And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

 For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;

For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

For the Mighty One has done great things for me;

And holy is His name…

He has brought down rulers from their thrones,

And has exalted those who were humble.”

Luke 1:46-49, 52

 

For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

And with him who has a contrite and humble spirit…”

Isaiah 57:15

 

 

 

Lord! thou hast told us that there be

Two dwellings that belong to Thee;

And those two — that's the wonder —

Are far asunder.

 

The one the highest heaven is,

The mansions of eternal bliss;

The other's the contrite

And humble sprite.

 

Not like the princes of the earth,

Who think it much below their birth

To come within the door

Of people poor.

 

No, such is Thy humility,

That though Thy dwelling be on high,

Thou dost Thyself abase

To the lowest place.

 

 

Thus Thou wilt him with honor crown

Who in himself is first cast down,

And humbled for his sins,

That Thy love wins.

 

 

O God! since Thou delight'st to rest

Within the humble, contrite breast,

First make me so to be;

Then dwell with me.

~THOMAS WASHBOURNE

 

God is not ashamed to be with those of humble state. He goes into the midst of it all, chooses one person to be His instrument, and does His miracle there, where one least expects it. He loves the lost, the forgotten, the insignificant, the outcasts, the weak, and the broken. Where men say, “lost,” He says “found;” where men say, “condemned,” He says “redeemed;” where men say “no,” He says “yes.” Where men look with indifference or superiority, He looks with burning love, such as nowhere else is to be found.

 

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER 

Sermon on Advent III, 1933

 

         It is not from the insignificance of man that God’s dwelling within him is so strange. It is as much the glory of God to bend His attention on an atom as to uphold the universe. But the marvel is that the habitation which He has chosen for Himself is an impure one. And when He came down from His magnificence to make this world His home, still the same character of condescension was shown through all the life of Christ. Our God selected the society of the outcasts of earth, those whom none else would speak to.

 

F.W. ROBERSTON

Sermons, 3^rd series

 

 

Thanksgiving Devotional '24 "We are to thank God in all things..."

 

And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

Psalm 107:22

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.                                                                                            Hebrews 13:15

Our restless spirits yearn for Thee,

Wherever our changeful lot is cast;

Glad when Thy gracious smile we see,

Blessed when our faith can hold Thee fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay,

Make all our moments calm and bright;

Chase the dark night of sin away,

Shed over the world Thy holy light.

BERNARD of CLAIRVAUX

Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

God's definite will for the believer is that he shall be a fountain of praise and that his life shall be in thanksgiving to God at all times and in all circumstances.  The Lord God, who is the Author of all our blessings, appreciates, desires, and even seeks our praise and thanksgiving.  "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me" (Psalm 50:23).  And the Psalmist also said, "Every day will I bless Thee, and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever" (Psalm 145:2).

      We are to thank God in all things; the Lord knows what is best for us, and He is ordering the course of our life, bringing the details to pass in the time and manner of His desire.  He has never made a mistake, and what He allows to come into the life of His child is for the good of that child and for the glory of God.  Any chastisement that ever reaches us comes for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness (Heb. 12:10).

DONALD GREY BARNHOUSE

To be out of harmony with the things, acts, and events, which God in His providence has seen fit to array around us— that is to say, not to meet them in a humble, believing, and thankful spirit— is to turn from God.  And, on the other hand, to see in them the developments of God's presence, and of the Divine Will, and to accept that Will, is to turn in the opposite direction, and to be in union with Him.

THOMAS  UPHAM

Late Summer Devotional '24 "Open your heart to the love of the Lord Jesus"

 

“And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”

2 Thess. 3:5

 

“If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

1 John 4:12

 

More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make
On bended knee;
This is my earnest plea:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!

 

ELIZABETH PRENTISS

 

 

 

The Love of the things that perish can only be driven out by the strength of superior love. Love is the pure and perfect discipline. He who is perfected in love, the love of the divinely beautiful and good, is perfect in life. He who loves finds sacrifice holy, battle joyous, toil easy; pain has even a sweetness when love imposes it, and tender touches purge all the anguish away. Commence your self-discipline by that which alone can complete it. Open your heart to the love of the Lord Jesus. Loving Him, all lovely things fall into their just proportion, their true relation to your being; while all unlovely things fall into their true contempt and shame. It is the one regnant principle of the free creation. It will make such order in your nature as reigns in the bright universe around you. It shines resplendent as the essential glory in the saints and angels who bow before the eternal throne.

 

J. BALDWIN BROWN

 

 

       The only preservative from this withering of the heart is love. Love is its own perennial fount of strength. The strength of affection is a proof, not of the worthiness of the object, but of the largeness of the soul which loves.

 

F.W. ROBERTSON

Good Friday Devotional '24 "...to despise no one, despair of no one, because Christ despises none and despairs of none..."

 

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;

who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.  For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 2:21-25

 

When the tempest comes; when affliction, fear, anxiety, shame come, then the Cross of Christ begins to mean something to us. For then in our misery and confusion we look up to heaven and ask, “Is there any One in heaven who understands all this? Does God understand my trouble?” Then, does the Cross of Christ bring a message to our heart such as no other thing or being on earth can bring. For it says to us, God does understand thee utterly; for Christ understands thee. Christ feels for thee; Christ feels with thee; Christ has suffered for thee, and suffered with thee. Thou canst go through nothing which Christ has not gone through. He, the Son of God, endured poverty, fear, shame, agony, death for thee, that He might be touched with the feeling of thine infirmity and help thee to endure, and bring thee safe through all to victory and peace. 

On the torturing Cross Christ prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And this is the character many a man may get in the dark deep. To feel for all, to feel with all; to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep, to understand people’s trials and make allowances for their temptations; to put oneself in their place till we see with their eyes, and feel with their hearts, till we judge no man, and have hope for all; to be fair and patient and tender with everyone we meet; to despise no one, despair of no one, because Christ despises none and despairs of none; to look on every one we meet with love, because they too may have been down into the deep….

 

CHARLES KINGLSEY

Good News of God ~1883