Morning, March 3. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction, Isaiah 48, 10. Come forth, thy self-tried believer, with this thought. God saith, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. Does not the word come like a soft shower assuaging the fury of the flame? Yea, is it not an asbestos armor Against which the heat hath no power, But affliction come, God has chosen me. Poverty, thou mayest stride in at my door, But God is in the house already, And He has chosen me. Sickness, thou mayest intrude, But I have a balsam ready, God has chosen me. Whatever befalls me in this veil of tears, I know that He has chosen me. If, believer, thou requirest still greater comfort, remember that you have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. In that silent chamber of yours there sitteth by your side one whom thou hast not seen, but whom thou lovest, and oft times, when thou knowest it not, he makes all thy bed in thy affliction, and smooths thy pillow for thee. Thou art in poverty, but in that lonely house of thine the Lord of life and glory is a frequent visitor. He loves to come into these desolate places that he may visit thee. Thy friend sticks closely to thee. Thou canst not see him, but thou mayest feel the pressure of his hands. Dost thou not hear his voice? Even in the valley of the shadow of death, he says, Fear not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Remember that noble speech of Caesar? Fear not, thou carriest Caesar and all his fortune. Fear not, Christian, Jesus is with thee. In all thy fiery trials, his presence is both thy comfort and safety. He will never leave one whom he has chosen for his own. Fear not, for I am with thee, is his sure word of promise to his chosen ones in the furnace of affliction. Wilt thou not, then, take fast hold of Christ and say, Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead, I'll follow where he goes. Evening, March 3. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove. Matthew 3, 16. As the Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus, the head, so he also in measure descends upon the members of the mystical body. His descent is to us after the same fashion as that in which it fell upon our Lord. There is often a singular rapidity about it, or ever we are aware. We are impelled onward and heavenward, beyond all expectation. Yet is there none of the hurry of the earthly haste, for the wings of the dove are as soft as they are swift. Quietness seems essential to many spiritual operations. The Lord is in the still, small voice, and like the dew, His grace is distilled in silence. The dove has ever been the chosen type of purity, and the Holy Spirit is holiness itself. Where He cometh, everything that is pure and lovely and of good report is made to abound, and sin and uncleanness depart. Peace. reigns also where the holy dove comes with power. He bears the olive branch, which shows that the waters of divine wrath are assuaged. Gentleness is a sure result of the sacred dove's transforming power. Hearts touched by his benign influence are meek and lowly, henceforth and forever. Harmlessness follows as a matter of course. Eagles and ravens may hunt their prey. The turtle dove can endure wrong, but cannot inflict it. We must be harmless as doves. The dove is an apt picture of love. The voice of the turtle is full of affection. And so the soul visited by the blessed spirit abounds in love to God, in love to the brethren, and in love to sinners, and above all, in love to Jesus. The brooding of the Spirit of God upon the face of the deep first-produced order and life, and in our heart, He causes and fosters new life and light. Blessed Spirit, as Thou didst rest upon our dear Redeemer, even so rest Thou upon us from this time forward. and forever. Morning, March 4. My grace is sufficient for thee. 2 Corinthians 12, 9. If none of God's saints were poor and tried, we should not know half so well the consolations of divine grace. When we find the wanderer who hath not where to lay his head, who yet can say, still will I trust in the Lord, When we see the pauper starving on bread and water who still glories in Jesus, when we see the bereaved widow overwhelmed in affliction and yet having faith in Christ, oh what honor it reflects on the gospel. God's grace is illustrated and magnified in the poverty and trials of believers. Saints bear up under every discouragement. Believing that all things work together for their good and that out of apparent evil a real blessing shall ultimately spring. That their God will either work a deliverance for them speedily or most assuredly support them in the trouble as long as he is pleased to keep them in it. This patience of the saints proves the power of divine grace. There is a lighthouse out at sea. It is a calm night. I cannot tell whether the edifice is firm. The tempest must rage about it, and then I shall know whether it will stand. So with the spirit's work, if it were not on many occasions surrounded with tempestuous waters, we should not know that it was true and strong. If the winds did not blow upon it, We should not know how firm and secure it was. The master works of God are those men who stand in the midst of difficulties, steadfast, unmovable. Calm mid the bewildering cry, confident of victory. He who would glorify his God must set his account upon meeting with many trials. No man can be illustrious before the Lord unless his conflicts be many. If then yours be a much-tried path, rejoice in it, because you will the better show forth the all-sufficient grace of God. As for his failing you, never dream of it. Hate the thought. The God who has been sufficient until now should be trusted. To the end. Evening, March 4. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Psalm 36, 8. Sheba's queen was amazed at the sumptuousness of Solomon's table. She lost all heart when she saw the provision of a single day, and she marveled equally at the company of servants who were feasted at the Royal Board. But what is this to the hospitalities of the God of Grace? Ten thousand thousand of His people are daily fed. Hungry and thirsty, they bring large appetites with them to the banquet, but not one of them returns unsatisfied. There is enough for each, enough for all, enough for evermore. Though the host that feed at Jehovah's table is countless as the stars of heaven, yet each one has his portion of meat. Think how much grace one saint requires, so much that nothing but the infinite could supply him for one day. And yet the Lord spreads his table, not for one, but many saints, not for one day, but for many years, not for many years only, but for generation after generation. Observe the full feasting spoken of in the text. The guests at Mercy's banquet are satisfied, nay, more abundantly satisfied, and that not with ordinary fare, but with fatness, the peculiar fatness of God's own house, and such feasting is guaranteed by a faithful promise to all those children of men who put their trust under the shadow of Jehovah's wings. I once thought if I might but get the broken meat at God's back door of grace, I should be satisfied. Like the woman who said, the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table. But no child of God is ever served with scraps and leaving. Like me, Febbleshack, they all eat from the king's own table. In matters of grace, we all have Benjamin's mess, we all have ten times more than we could have expected, and though our necessities are great, yet are we often amazed at the marvelous plenty of grace which God gives us, experimentally, to enjoy. March 5. Let us not sleep, as others do. 1 Thessalonians 5, 6. There are many ways of promoting Christian wakefulness. Among the rest, let me strongly advise Christians to converse together concerning the ways of the Lord. Christians, and hopeful as they journeyed toward the celestial city, said to themselves, To prevent drowsiness in this place, let us fall into good discourse. Christian inquired, brother, where shall we begin? And hopeful answered, where God began with us. Then Christian sang this song. When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither and hear how these two pilgrims talk together. yea, let them learn of them in any wise, thus to keep ope their drowsy, slumbering eyes. Saints' fellowship, if it be managed well, keeps them awake, and that in spite of hell. Christians who isolate themselves and walk alone are very liable to grow drowsy. Hold Christian company and you will be kept awakeful by it and refreshed and encouraged to make quicker progress in the road to Heaven. But as you thus take sweet counsel with others in the ways of God, take care that the theme of your converse is the Lord Jesus. Let the eye of faith be constantly looking unto Him. Let your heart be full of Him. Let your lips speak of His worth. Friend, live near to the cross, and thou wilt not sleep. Labor to impress thyself with a deep sense of the value of the place to which thou art going. If thou rememberest that thou art going to heaven, thou wilt not sleep on the road. If thou thinkest that hell is behind thee, and the devil pursuing thee, thou wilt not loiter. Would the manslayer sleep with the avenger of blood behind him and the city of refuge before him? Christian, wilt thou sleep while the pearly gates are opened, the songs of angels waiting for thee to join them, a crown of gold ready for thy brow? Ah, no. In holy fellowship, continue to watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. Evening, March 5. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Psalm 35, 3. What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my evening petition, but first let it yield me an instructive meditation. The text informs me, first of all, that David had his doubts. For why should he pray, say unto my soul, I am thy salvation, if he were not sometimes exercised with doubts and fears? Let me then be of good cheer, for I am not the only saint who has to complain of weakness of faith. If David doubted, I need not conclude that I am no Christian, because I have doubts. The text reminds me that David was not content while he had doubts and fears, but he repaired at once to the mercy seat to pray for assurance. For he valued it as much fine gold. I too must labor after an abiding sense of my acceptance in the beloved and must have no joy when his love is not shed abroad in my soul. When my bridegroom is gone from me, my soul must and will fast. I learn also that David knew where to obtain full assurance. He went to his God in prayer, crying, Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I must be much alone with God if I would have a clear sense of Jesus's love. Let my prayers cease and my eye of faith will grow dim. Much in prayer, much in heaven. Slow in prayer, slow in progress. I noticed that David would not be satisfied unless his assurance had a divine source. Say unto my soul, Lord, do thou say it? Nothing short of a divine testimony in the soul will ever content the true Christian. Moreover, David could not rest unless His assurance had a vivid personality about it. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Lord, if thou shouldst say this to all the saints, it were nothing, unless thou shouldst say it to me. Lord, I have sinned. I deserve not thy smile. I scarcely dare to ask it. But, oh, say to my soul, even to my soul, I am thy salvation. Let me have a present, personal, infallible, indisputable sense that I am thine, and that thou art mine. Morning, March 6. Be born again. John 3, 7. Regeneration is a subject which lies at the very basis of salvation and we should be very diligent to take heed that we really are born again. For there are many who fancy they are who are not. Be assured that the name of a Christian is not the nature of a Christian. and that being born in a Christian land and being recognized as professing the Christian religion is of no avail whatever unless there be something more added to it, the being born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. To be born again is a matter so mysterious that human words cannot describe it. The wind bloweth where it listeth. And thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the spirit. Nevertheless, it is a change which is known and felt. Known by works of holiness and felt by a gracious experience. This great work is supernatural. It is not an operation which a man performs for himself. A new principle is infused, which works in the heart, renews the soul, and affects the entire man. It is not a change of my name, but a renewal of my nature, so that I am not the man I used to be, but a new man in Christ Jesus. To wash and dress a corpse is a far different thing from making it alive. Man can do the one, God alone can do the other. If you have then been born again, your acknowledgement will be, O Lord Jesus, the everlasting Father, thou art my spiritual parent. Unless thy spirit had breathed into me the breath of a new holy and spiritual life, I have been to this day dead in trespasses and sins. My heavenly life is wholly derived from thee, to thee I ascribe it. My life is hid with Christ in God. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who liveth in me. May the Lord enable us to be well assured on this vital point. For to be unregenerate is to be unsaved, unpardoned, without God and without hope. Evening, March 6th. Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty. Proverbs 18, 12. It is an old and common saying that coming events cast their shadows before them. The wise man teaches us that a haughty heart is the prophetic prelude of evil. Pride is as safely the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in the weather glass is the sign of rain, and far more infallibly so than that. When men have ridden the high horse, destruction has always overtaken them. Let David's aching heart show that there is an eclipse of a man's glory when he dotes upon his own greatness. 2 Samuel 24 10 See Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty builder of Babylon, creeping on the earth, devouring grass like oxen, until his nails had grown like birds' claws, and his hair like eagles' feathers. Daniel 4 33 Pride made the boaster a beast, as once before it made an angel a devil. God hates high looks and never fails to bring them down. All the arrows of God are aimed at proud hearts. O Christian, is thine heart haughty this evening? For pride can get into the Christian's heart as well as into the sinner's. It can delude him into dreaming that he is rich and increased in goods and hath need of nothing. Art thou glorying in thy graces or thy talents? Art thou proud of thyself that thou hast had holy frames and sweet experiences? Mark thee, reader, there is a destruction coming to thee also. Thy flaunting poppies of self-conceit will be pulled up by the roots. Thy mushroom graces will wither in the burning heat and thy self-sufficiency shall become as straw for the dog tail. If we forget to live at the foot of the cross, in deepest lowliness of spirit, God will not forget to make us smart under his rod. A destruction will come to thee, O unduly exalted believer, the destruction of thy joys and of thy comforts, though there can be no destruction. of thy soul. Wherefore, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Morning, March 7. Have faith in God. Mark 11, 22. Faith is the foot of the soul by which it can march along the road of the commandment. Love can make the feet move more swiftly, but faith is the foot which carries the soul. Faith is the oil enabling the wheels of holy devotion and of earnest piety to move well. And without faith the wheels are taken from the chariot and we drag heavily. With faith I can do all things. Without faith I shall neither have the inclination nor the power to do anything in the service of God. If you would find the men who serve God the best, you must look for the men of the most faith. Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God. Poor little faith could not have fought Apollyon. It needed Christians to do that. Poor Little Faith could not have slain Giant Despair. It required Great Heart's arm to knock that monster down. Little Faith will go to Heaven most certainly, but it often has to hide itself in a nutshell, and it frequently loses all but its jewels. Little Faith says It is a rough road, beset with sharp thorns, and full of dangers, I am afraid to go. But great Faith remembers the promise, Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, as thy days, so shall thy strength be, and so she boldly ventures. Little Faith stands desponding, mingling her tears with the flood, but great Faith sings When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee." And she fords the stream at once. Would you be comfortable and happy? Would you enjoy religion? Would you have the religion of cheerfulness and not that of gloom? Then have faith in God. If you love darkness and are satisfied to dwell in gloom and misery, then be content with little faith. But if you love the sunshine and would sing songs of rejoicing, covet earnestly this best gift, great faith. Evening, March 7. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Psalm 118, 8. Doubtless the reader has been tried with the temptation to rely upon the things which are seen instead of resting alone upon the invisible God. Christians often look to man for help and counsel and mar the noble simplicity of their reliance upon their God. Does this evening's portion meet the eye of a child of God anxious about temporals? Then would we reason with him a while? You trust in Jesus and only in Jesus for your salvation. Then why are you troubled? Because of my great care. Is it not written, cast thy burden upon the Lord? Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication make known your wants unto God? Cannot you trust God for temporals? Ah, I wish I could. If you cannot trust God for temporals, how dare you trust Him for spirituals? Can you trust Him for your soul's redemption and not rely upon Him for a few lesser mercies? Is not God enough for thy need? or is his all-sufficiency too narrow for thy wants? Dost thou want another eye beside that of him who sees every secret thing? Is his heart faint? Is his arm weary? If so, seek another God. But if he be infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why gaddest thou abroad so much to seek another confidence? Why dost thou rake the earth to find another foundation when this is strong enough to bear all the weight which thou canst ever build thereon? Christian, mix not thy wine with water. Do not alloy thy gold of faith with the dross of human confidence. Wait thou only upon God, and let thine expectation be from Him. Covet not Jonah's gourd, but rest in Jonah's God. Let the sandy foundations of terrestrial trust be the choice of fools, but do thou, like one who foresees the storm, build for thyself an abiding place upon the rock of ages. Morning, March 8th. We must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14, 22. God's people have their trials. It was never designed by God when he chose his people that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction. They were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them. But when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot. They were predestinated for us in God's solemn decrees and bequeathed us in Christ's last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands and their orbits fixed by him, so surely are our trials allotted to us. He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles. If they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them. mark the patience of Job, remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them he became the father of the faithful. Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old that The cross of trouble should be engraven on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the king's vessels of honor are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God's children, they have the comfort of knowing that their master has traversed it before them. They have his presence and sympathy to cheer them, his grace to support them, and his example to teach them how to endure. And when they reach the kingdom, it will more than make amends for the much tribulation through which they passed to enter it. Evening, March 8. She called his name Ben-Oni, Son of Sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin, Son of My Right Hand. Genesis 35, 18. To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death. Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see the mercy of the child's birth. It is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its fishes. The wildwood blooms with beauteous flowerettes. The stormy wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distill bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have to kill your skill in discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a trial. If there were only one slew in the world, they would soon be up to their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert, they would hear it roar. About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt at times, like Jacob, to cry, all these things are against me. Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she does not fret over the broken picture, but rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster shell of difficulty, she extracts the rare pearl of honor, and from the deep ocean caves of distress, she uplifts the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hid in the sand. And when her sun of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Benoni to be our living Benjamin. Morning, March 9. Yay, he is altogether lovely. Solomon's Song 5.16 The superlative beauty of Jesus is all-attracting. It is not so much to be admired as to be loved. He is more than pleasant and fair. He is lovely. Surely the people of God can fully justify the use of this golden word, for He is the object of their warmest love. a love founded on the intrinsic excellence of His person, the complete perfection of His charms. Look, O disciples of Jesus, to your Master's lips and say, are they not most sweet? Do not His words cause your hearts to burn within you as He talks with you, by the way? Ye worshippers of Emmanuel, Look up to his head of much fine gold, and tell me, are not his thoughts precious unto you? Is not your adoration sweetened with affection, as ye humbly bow before that countenance which is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars? Is there not a charm in his every feature, and is not his whole person fragrant with such a savor of his good ointments that therefore the virgins love him. Is there one member of his glorious body which is not attractive, one portion of his person which is not a fresh lodestone to our souls, one office which is not a strong cord to bind your heart? Our love is not as a seal set upon his heart of love alone. It is fastened upon his arm of power also. Nor is there a single part of him upon which it does not fix itself. We anoint his whole person with the sweet spikenard of our fervent love. His whole life we would imitate. His whole character we would transcribe. In all other beings we see some lack, in him there is all perfection. The best even of his favored saints have had blots upon their garments and wrinkles upon their brows. He is nothing but loveliness. All earthly suns have their spots, the fair world itself hath its wilderness. We cannot love the whole of the most lovely thing. But Christ Jesus is gold without alloy, light without darkness, glory without clad. Yea, he is altogether lovely. Evening, March 9. Abide in me. John 15, 4. Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the wormwood of woe or the cloying surfeit of earthly delight, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one and satiety from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary importance whether thou livest on the mountain of honor or in the valley of humiliation. Living near to Jesus, thou art covered with the wings of God. and underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Let nothing keep thee from that hallowed intercourse which is the choice privilege of a soul wedded to the well-beloved. Be not content with an interview now and then, but seek always to retain his company, for only in his presence hast thou either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon us now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore. Thou hast a difficult road before thee. See, O traveller to heaven, that thou go not without thy guide. Thou hast to pass through the fiery furnace. Enter it not unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Thou hast the Son of God to be thy companion. Thou hast to storm the Jericho of thine own corruptions. Attempt not the warfare until, like Joshua, thou hast seen the captain of the Lord's hosts with his sword drawn in his hand. Thou art to meet the Esau of thy many temptations. Meet him not until at Jabbok's brook Thou hast laid hold upon the angel and prevailed. In every case, in every condition, thou wilt need Jesus. But most of all, when the iron gates of death shall open to thee, keep thou close to thy soul's husband. Lean thy head upon his bosom. Ask to be refreshed with the spiced wine of his pomegranate. and thou shalt be found of him at the last without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Seeing thou hast lived with him and lived in him here, thou shalt abide with him forever. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. www.SWRB.com It can also be reached by email. at SWRB at SWRB.com by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue Edmonton that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta abbreviated capital A capital B Canada T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions. Since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important. When he says, that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.