November 16 - Morning"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul." — Lamentations 3:24 It is not "The Lord is partly my portion," nor "The Lord is in my portion"; but He Himself makes up the sum total of my soul's inheritance. Within the circumference of that circle lies all that we possess or desire. The Lord is my portion. Not His grace merely, nor His love, nor His covenant, but Jehovah Himself. He has chosen us for His portion, and we have chosen Him for ours. It is true that the Lord must first choose our inheritance for us, or else we shall never choose it for ourselves; but if we are really called according to the purpose of electing love, we can sing — "Lov'd of my God for Him again The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us. It is not easy to satisfy man's desires. When he dreams that he is satisfied, anon he wakes to the perception that there is somewhat yet beyond, and straightway the horse-leech in his heart cries, "Give, give." But all that we can wish for is to be found in our divine portion, so that we ask, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Well may we "delight ourselves in the Lord" who makes us to drink of the river of His pleasures. Our faith stretches her wings and mounts like an eagle into the heaven of divine love as to her proper dwelling-place. "The lines have fallen to us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage." Let us rejoice in the Lord always; let us show to the world that we are a happy and a blessed people, and thus induce them to exclaim, "We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." November 16 - Evening"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." — Isaiah 33:17
The more you know about Christ the less will you be satisfied with
superficial views of Him; and the more deeply you study His transactions
in the eternal covenant, His engagements on your behalf as the eternal
Surety, and the fulness of His grace which shines in all His offices, the
more truly will you see the King in His beauty. Be much in such outlooks.
Long more and more to see Jesus. Meditation and contemplation are often
like windows of agate, and gates of carbuncle, through which we behold the
Redeemer. Meditation puts the telescope to the eye, and enables us to see
Jesus after a better sort than we could have seen Him if we had lived in the
days of His flesh.
Would that our conversation were more in heaven, and
that we were more taken up with the person, the work, the beauty of our
incarnate Lord. More meditation, and the beauty of the King would flash
upon us with more resplendence. Beloved, it is very probable that we shall
have such a sight of our glorious King as we never had before, when we
come to die. Many saints in dying have looked up from amidst the stormy
waters, and have seen Jesus walking on the waves of the sea, and heard
Him say, "It is I, be not afraid." Ah, yes! when the tenement begins to
shake, and the clay falls away, we see Christ through the rifts, and
between the rafters the sunlight of heaven comes streaming in.
But if we
want to see face to face the "King in His beauty" we must go to heaven for
the sight, or the King must come here in person. O that He would come on
the wings of the wind! He is our Husband, and we are widowed by His
absence; He is our Brother dear and fair, and we are lonely without Him.
Thick veils and clouds hang between our souls and their true life: when
shall the day break and the shadows flee away? Oh, long-expected day,
begin! November 16 |