September • 60 entries
Morning • 9/1
Psalm 73:24
The Psalmist felt his need for divine guidance. He had just been discovering the foolishness of his own heart, and so that he would not be constantly led astray by it, he resolved that God’s counsel should from then on guide him. A sense of our own folly is a great step towards b…
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Evening • 9/1
Psalm 62:8
Faith is as much the rule of temporal as of spiritual life; we should have faith in God for our earthly affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust in God for the supply of all our daily needs that we will live above the world. We are not to be i…
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Morning • 9/2
Mark 1:30
Very interesting is this little glimpse into the house of the Apostolic Fisherman. We see at once that household joys and cares are no hindrance to the full exercise of ministry. Indeed, since they provide an opportunity for personally witnessing the Lord’s gracious work on one’s…
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Evening • 9/2
John 4:48
A craving for marvels was a symptom of the sickly state of people’s minds in our Lord's day; they refused solid nourishment and longed for mere wonder. The gospel, which they so greatly needed, they would not have; the miracles that Jesus did not always choose to give, they eager…
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Morning • 9/3
Song of Solomon 1:7
It is good to be able, without any “if” or “but,” to say of the Lord Jesus, “ You whom my soul loves .” Many can only say of Jesus that they hope they love Him; they trust they love Him; but only a poor and shallow experience will be content to stay here. No one should give any r…
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Evening • 9/3
Psalm 11:5
All events are under the control of Providence; consequently, all the trials of our outward life are traceable at once to the great First Cause. Out of the golden gate of God’s ordinance, the armies of trial march forth in array, clad in their iron armor, and armed with weapons o…
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Morning • 9/4
Mark 1:41
Primeval darkness heard the Almighty fiat, Light be , and immediately light was. The word of the Lord Jesus is equal in majesty to that ancient word of power. Redemption, like Creation, has its word of might: Jesus speaks, and it is done. Leprosy yielded to no human remedies, but…
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Evening • 9/4
Leviticus 19:36
Weights, and scales, and measures were to be all according to the standard of justice. Surely no Christian will need to be reminded of this in their business, for if righteousness were banished from all the world besides, it should find a shelter in believing hearts. There are, h…
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Morning • 9/5
Psalm 120:5
As a Christian, you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry, “Woe is me.” Jesus did not pray that you should be taken out of the world, and what he did not pray for, you need not desire. Far better in the Lord’s strength to meet the d…
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Evening • 9/5
Job 38:16
Some things in nature must remain a mystery to the most intelligent and enterprising investigators. Human knowledge has bounds beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this is so in the things that are seen and temporal, I may rest assured that it is…
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Morning • 9/6
Philippians 2:15
We use lights to make manifest . A Christian man should so shine in his life that a person could not live with him a week without knowing the gospel. His conduct should be such that all who are about him should clearly perceive whose he is and whom he serves; and should see the i…
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Evening • 9/6
Galatians 5:18
He who looks at his own character and position from a legal point of view will not only despair when he comes to the end of his reckoning, but if he is a wise man, he will despair at the beginning ; for if we are to be judged on the basis of the law, there shall no flesh living b…
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Morning • 9/7
Mark 2:4
Faith is full of inventions . The house was full and a crowd blocked the door, but faith found a way of getting to the Lord and placing the paralyzed man before him. If we cannot get sinners where Jesus is by ordinary methods, we must use extraordinary ones. It seems, according t…
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Evening • 9/7
Jeremiah 49:23
We little know what sorrow may be upon the sea at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking the lives of men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every timber groans as the waves beat like ba…
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Morning • 9/8
Hosea 14:8
Our fruit comes from our God with respect to union . The fruit of the branch is directly traceable to the root. Sever the connection, the branch dies, and no fruit is produced. By virtue of our union with Christ, we bring forth fruit. Every bunch of grapes has first been in the r…
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Evening • 9/8
Ephesians 1:19, 20
In the resurrection of Christ, as in our salvation, nothing short of a divine power was exerted. What shall we say of those who think that conversion is accomplished by the free will of man, and is due to his own goodness of disposition? When we see the dead rise from the grave b…
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Morning • 9/9
Jeremiah 33:3
There are different translations of these words. One version renders it, “I will show you great and fortified things.” Another, “Great and reserved things.” Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not equally…
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Evening • 9/9
Revelation 4:4
These representatives of the saints in heaven are said to be around the throne . In the passage in Song of Solomon, where Solomon sings of the King sitting at his table, some render it “a round table.” From this, some expositors, I think, without straining the text, have said, “T…
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Morning • 9/10
Mark 3:13
Here was sovereignty. Impatient spirits may fret and fume because they are not called to the highest places in the ministry; but, reader, you should rejoice that Jesus calls whom He wills. If He should leave me to be a doorkeeper in His house, I will cheerfully bless Him for His…
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Evening • 9/10
Habakkuk 1:8
While preparing this present volume, this particular expression recurred to me so frequently that, to be rid of its constant persistence, I determined to give a page to it. The evening wolf, infuriated by a day of hunger, was fiercer and more ravenous than it would have been in t…
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Morning • 9/11
2 Corinthians 6:17
The Christian, while in the world, is not to be of the world. He should be distinguished from it in the great object of his life . To him, “to live,” should be “Christ.” Whether he eats, or drinks, or whatever he does, he should do all to God’s glory. You may lay up treasure; but…
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Evening • 9/11
Psalms 5:8
Very bitter is the enmity of the world against the people of Christ. Men will forgive a thousand faults in others, but they will magnify the most trivial offense in the followers of Jesus. Instead of vainly regretting this, let us turn it to our advantage, and since so many are w…
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Morning • 9/12
Nahum 1:2
Your Lord is very jealous of your love , O believer. Did he choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure that you should think you are your own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love that…
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Evening • 9/12
Psalm 101:1
Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, with her feet made fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she cries, “I will sing of mercy and of judgment. To you, O Lord, I will sing.” Faith pulls the black mask from…
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Morning • 9/13
Psalm 84:6
This teaches us that the comfort obtained by one person may often prove helpful to another, just as wells would be used by those who came after. We read some book full of consolation, which is like Jonathan’s rod, dropping with honey. Ah! We think our brother has been here before…
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Evening • 9/13
Luke 15:2
Observe the condescension of this fact. This Man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners— this Man receives sinners. This Man, who is no other than the eternal God, before whom angels veil their faces— this Man receives sinners. It ne…
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Morning • 9/14
Mark 4:36
Jesus was the Lord High Admiral of the sea that night, and his presence preserved the whole convoy. It is good to sail with Jesus, even though it is in a little ship. When we sail in Christ’s company, we cannot be sure of fair weather, for great storms may toss the vessel that ca…
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Evening • 9/14
Psalm 32:5
David’s grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible upon his physical body: “his bones waxed old”; “his moisture was turned into the drought of summer.” No remedy could he find, until he made a full confession before the throne of heavenly grace. He tells us that for a tim…
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Morning • 9/15
Psalm 112:7
Christian, you should not dread the arrival of bad news; because if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men? Other men do not have your God to run to; they have never experienced his faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed down wit…
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Evening • 9/15
Psalm 148:14
The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance. When God appeared even to his servant Moses, he said, “Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet” ; and when he manifested himself upon Mount Sinai to his own chosen and separated people, one of the first…
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Morning • 9/16
2 Peter 1:4
To be a partaker of the divine nature is not, of course, to become God. That cannot be. The essence of Deity is not to be participated in by the creature. Between the creature and the Creator there must always be a gulf fixed regarding essence; but as the first man Adam was made…
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Evening • 9/16
Job 7:12
This was a strange question for Job to ask of the Lord. He felt himself to be too insignificant to be so strictly watched and chastened, and he hoped that he was not so unruly as to need to be so restrained. The inquiry was natural from one surrounded with such insupportable mise…
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Morning • 9/17
Mark 9:19
Despairingly, the poor, disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent, in faith, obeyed the Lord Jesus’ word,…
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Evening • 9/17
Deuteronomy 1:38
God employs his people to encourage one another. He did not say to an angel, "Gabriel, my servant Joshua is about to lead my people into Canaan—go, encourage him." God never works needless miracles; if his purposes can be accomplished by ordinary means, he will not use miraculous…
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Morning • 9/18
Galatians 5:25
The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and the walk of faith . He who rightly understands these is not far from being a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian. You will never find true faith unattended by true g…
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Evening • 9/18
John 10:27
We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for he has a right to lead us wherever he pleases . We are not our own; we are bought with a price—let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys hi…
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Morning • 9/19
Galatians 5:1
This “liberty” makes us free to heaven’s charter— the Bible . Here is a choice passage, believer: When thou passest through the rivers, I will be with thee. You are free to that. Here is another: The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depa…
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Evening • 9/19
1 Samuel 1:27
Devout souls delight to look upon those mercies which they have obtained in answer to supplication, for they can see God’s special love in them. When we can name our blessings Samuel, that is, “asked of God,” they will be as dear to us as her child was to Hannah. Peninnah had man…
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Morning • 9/20
Judges 7:20
Gideon ordered his men to do two things: covering up a torch in an earthen pitcher, he commanded them, at an appointed signal, to break the pitcher and let the light shine, and then sound with the trumpet, crying, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! The sword of the Lord, and o…
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Evening • 9/20
Ecclesiastes 11:6
In the evening of the day opportunities are plentiful: men return from their labour, and the zealous soul-winner finds time to share widely the love of Jesus. Have I no evening work for Jesus? If I have not, let me no longer withhold my hand from a service that requires abundant…
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Morning • 9/21
Jeremiah 32:41
How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in His saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened, conscious of our sinfulness, and deplorin…
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Evening • 9/21
Psalm 26:9
Fear made David pray in this way, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, you may be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the pardoned man will inquire, “W…
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Morning • 9/22
Psalm 149:2
Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that your gladness has its spring in the Lord . You have much cause for gladness in your God, for you can sing with David, “God, my exceeding joy.” Be glad that the Lord reigns, that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that he sits upon the throne…
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Evening • 9/22
Psalm 61:2
Most of us know what it is to be overwhelmed in heart; emptied as when a man wipes a dish and turns it upside down; submerged and thrown on our beam ends like a vessel mastered by the storm. Discoveries of inward corruption will do this, if the Lord permits the great deep of our…
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Morning • 9/23
Ephesians 1:6
What a state of privilege! It includes our justification before God, but the term “acceptance” in the Greek means more than that. It signifies that we are the objects of divine complacence , indeed, even of divine delight . How marvelous that we, worms, mortals, sinners, should b…
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Evening • 9/23
Mark 9:23
A certain man had a demoniac son, who was afflicted with a dumb spirit. The father, having seen the futility of the disciples' efforts to heal his child, had little or no faith in Christ. Therefore, when he was told to bring his son to him, he said to Jesus, “If thou canst do any…
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Morning • 9/24
Ezra 8:22
A convoy would have been desirable for the pilgrim band for many reasons, but a holy reluctance would not allow Ezra to seek one. He feared that the heathen king might think his professions of faith in God were mere hypocrisy, or imagine that the God of Israel was unable to prese…
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Evening • 9/24
Song of Solomon 5:2
Paradoxes abound in Christian experience, and here is one—the spouse was asleep, and yet she was awake. Only one who has plowed with the heifer of their own experience can read the believer’s riddle. The two points in this evening’s text are—a mournful sleepiness and a hopeful wa…
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Morning • 9/25
Romans 3:26
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt o…
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Evening • 9/25
1 Corinthians 1:30
Human intellect seeks rest, and by nature, it seeks this rest apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Educated people, even when converted, are inclined to view the simplicities of the cross of Christ with too little reverence and love. They are caught in the same old net that ensnared…
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Morning • 9/26
Zechariah 1:8
The vision in this chapter describes the condition of Israel in Zechariah’s day; but when interpreted in relation to us, it describes the Church of God as we find it now in the world. The Church is compared to a myrtle grove flourishing in a valley. It is hidden , unobserved, sec…
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Evening • 9/26
Zechariah 11:2
When the crash of a falling oak is heard in the forest, it is a sign that the woodman is at work, and every tree in the whole company may tremble that tomorrow the sharp edge of the axe might find it. We are all like trees marked for the axe, and the fall of one should remind us…
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Morning • 9/27
Deuteronomy 33:29
He who affirms that Christianity makes people miserable is himself an utter stranger to it. It would be strange indeed if it made us wretched, for see to what a position it exalts us ! It makes us sons of God. Do you suppose that God will give all the happiness to His enemies and…
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Evening • 9/27
Song of Solomon 5:4
Knocking was not enough, for my heart was too full of sleep, too cold and ungrateful to rise and open the door, but the touch of His effectual grace has made my soul stir itself. Oh, the longsuffering of my Beloved, to linger when He found Himself shut out, and me asleep upon the…
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Morning • 9/28
Psalm 33:13
Perhaps no figure of speech represents God in a more gracious light than when he is spoken of as stooping from his throne, and coming down from heaven to attend to the needs and to witness the woes of mankind. We love him, who, when Sodom and Gomorrah were full of iniquity, would…
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Evening • 9/28
1 Kings 18:43
Success is certain when the Lord has promised it. Although you may have pleaded month after month without evidence of an answer, it is not possible that the Lord should be deaf when His people are earnest in a matter which concerns His glory. The prophet on the top of Carmel cont…
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Morning • 9/29
Leviticus 13:13
This regulation appears strange enough, yet there was wisdom in it, for the throwing out of the disease proved that the constitution was sound. This morning it may be good for us to see the symbolic teaching of such a unique rule. We, too, are lepers, and may read the law of the…
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Evening • 9/29
Song of Solomon 3:4
Does Christ receive us when we come to him, despite all our past sinfulness? Does he never chide us for having tried all other refuges first? And is there no one on earth like him? Is he the best of all the good, the fairest of all the fair? Oh, then let us praise him! Daughters…
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Morning • 9/30
Psalm 66:2
It is not left to our own option whether we should praise God or not. Praise is God’s most righteous due, and every Christian, as the recipient of his grace, is bound to praise God from day to day. It is true we have no authoritative rubric for daily praise; we have no commandmen…
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Evening • 9/30
Ecclesiastes 9:4
Life is a precious thing, and in its humblest form it is superior to death. This truth is eminently certain in spiritual things. It is better to be the least in the kingdom of heaven than the greatest out of it. The lowest degree of grace is superior to the noblest development of…
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