The Eleventh of December.

MAKE HASTE --- Luke 19:4-6.

"Behold, we come unto thee." --- Jeremiah 3:22.

"(And) I will come unto you." --- John 14:18.

A lively representation of this happy meeting. See Luke 19:4-6. Zaccheus ran -- and Christ said unto him, "Make haste and come down; for today I must abide at thy house."

O my dear Saviour, since I come to thee, and thou to me, we shall certainly meet one another. Who will oppose and obstruct it? The devil and sin? Oh no! this wall of separation is pulled down. Christ says, "Come unto me; I am not an angry Judge, but a loving Mediator between God and thy frightened conscience; keep to me, and fear not wrath. I sit here, believing in me to make intercession for thee with God, no wrath or disgrace can befall thee. Should wrath and punishment come upon thee, it must first come upon me; wrath is quite impossible;" for Jesus is the dear Son of God, in whom dwells all the fulness of grace; and the Father looking upon him, his wrath must vanish away, and everything in heaven and earth be changed into smiles of love and grace, Ephesians 1:6.

Dangers and conflicts being hot, God hastens with his assistance. At other times he tarries, and the work of our whole renovation goes on little by little; that, improving in the exercise of patience and faith, we must also bear with others, and learn not only to quicken our diligence, but also to wait for him.

In thine own way, O God of love,
We wait the visits of thy grace;
Our soul's desire is to thy name,
And the remembrance of thy face.

Devotion for December 11