November 2 - Morning"I am the Lord, I change not." — Malachi 3:6
It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom
change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow
mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed — all things
are changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old;
the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and
earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth a
garment; but there is One who only hath immortality, of whose years there
is no end, and in whose person there is no change. The delight which the
mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he
steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when,
amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his faith
upon this truth — "I am the Lord, I change not."
The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained a
hold-fast, is like that which the Christian's hope affords him when it fixes
itself upon this glorious truth. With God "is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning." What ever His attributes were of old, they are now;
His power, His wisdom, His justice, His truth, are alike unchanged. He has
ever been the refuge of His people, their stronghold in the day of trouble,
and He is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in His love. He has loved
His people with "an everlasting love"; He loves them now as much as ever
He did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the last
conflagration, His love will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the
assurance that He changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its
axle is eternal love.
"Death and change are busy ever, November 2 - Evening"Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake Thy law." — Psalm 119:53
My soul, feelest thou this holy shuddering at the sins of others? for
otherwise thou lackest inward holiness. David's cheeks were wet with
rivers of waters because of prevailing unholiness; Jeremiah desired eyes
like fountains that he might lament the iniquities of Israel, and Lot was
vexed with the conversation of the men of Sodom. Those upon whom the
mark was set in Ezekiel's vision, were those who sighed and cried for the
abominations of Jerusalem. It cannot but grieve gracious souls to see what
pains men take to go to hell. They know the evil of sin experimentally, and
they are alarmed to see others flying like moths into its blaze.
Sin makes
the righteous shudder, because it violates a holy law, which it is to every
man's highest interest to keep; it pulls down the pillars of the
commonwealth. Sin in others horrifies a believer, because it puts him in
mind of the baseness of his own heart: when he sees a transgressor he cries
with the saint mentioned by Bernard, "He fell to-day, and I may fall
to-morrow." Sin to a believer is horrible, because it crucified the Saviour;
he sees in every iniquity the nails and spear. How can a saved soul behold
that cursed kill-Christ sin without abhorrence? Say, my heart, dost thou
sensibly join in all this? It is an awful thing to insult God to His face.
The good God deserves better treatment, the great God claims it, the
just God will have it, or repay His adversary to his face. An awakened heart
trembles at the audacity of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of
its punishment. How monstrous a thing is rebellion! How direful a doom is
prepared for the ungodly! My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries, lest thou
come to smile at sin itself. It is thine enemy, and thy Lord's enemy —
view it with detestation, for so only canst thou evidence the possession of
holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. November 2 |