October 12 - Morning"I will meditate in Thy precepts." — Psalm 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser
than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting
upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual
strength for labour in His service. We ought to muse upon the things of
God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is
something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we
must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's
feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not
flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious
liquid will be wasted.
So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of
truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are
not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process
which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the
bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food
becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely
by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of
divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly
digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth
lies for the most part in meditating upon it.
Why is it that some Christians,
although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine
life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate
on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would
have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the
fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at
their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O
Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in Thy
precepts." October 12 - Evening"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost." — John 14:26
This age is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in which Jesus
cheers us, not by His personal presence, as He shall do by-and-by, but by
the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Ghost, who is evermore
the Comforter of the church. It is His office to console the hearts of God's
people. He convinces of sin; He illuminates and instructs; but still the main
part of His work lies in making glad the hearts of the renewed, in
confirming the weak, and lifting up all those that be bowed down. He does
this by revealing Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the
consolation.
If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but
Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy
ointment of Christ's name and grace. He takes not of His own things, but
of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of
Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord
Jesus the title of Paraclesis. If the one be the Comforter, the other is the
Comfort. Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should the
Christian be sad and desponding?
The Holy Spirit has graciously engaged
to be thy Comforter: dost thou imagine, O thou weak and trembling
believer, that He will be negligent of His sacred trust? Canst thou suppose
that He has undertaken what He cannot or will not perform? If it be His
especial work to strengthen thee, and to comfort thee, dost thou suppose
He has forgotten His business, or that He will fail in the loving office
which He sustains towards thee? Nay, think not so hardly of the tender
and blessed Spirit whose name is "the Comforter." He delights to give the
oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of
heaviness. Trust thou in Him, and He will surely comfort thee till the
house of mourning is closed for ever, and the marriage feast has begun. October 12 |