Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: January 28th

And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. - 2 Chronicles 35:23-24.

WE do not infer from thence that Josiah perished forever. Far from it; the manner of his death was indeed a divine correction; and this is the law of God’s house. “While the Lord in his dealings with his people takes vengeance on their inventions, yet, as David observes, “He forgives their iniquities.” He therefore received Josiah to himself; and his death, though a violent one, was in one sense even a privilege to himself, and so it had been spoken of in an earlier announcement, where God said, “Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord. Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place.” He, therefore, died at peace with God, and was spared the sight of the desolation of Jerusalem, and the destruction of his country.

Thus, the Lord often removes his servants from the evil to come, and calls home his ambassadors before he declares war. But, though it was only a correction to himself, it was really a punishment to the people. They were unworthy of the reign of such a prince, and they were no longer to be borne with. Hence it was that God suffered him to be so infatuated as to expose his precious life, that by his death he might remove the hinderance that kept back the judgments of God which were ready to be poured in upon the land. For the godly are, as Jeremiah says, those who “stand in the breach,” and who keep back invading calamities. Yea, they are called “the repairers of the breach, the restorers of paths to dwell in.” Yea, they are called “the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.”

But observe the impression his death made:-“And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel, and, behold, they are written in the Lamentations.” Some may not wonder that Jeremiah should have mourned over him; he was “the weeping prophet,” and he foresaw what would be the consequence of this dispensation. But perhaps they do wonder that “all Judah and Jerusalem” should have so mourned, and that it was made even an ordinance to learn and to sing the mournful dirges for the occasion.

But good men have a witness in the consciences of bad men. Witness Balaam, who said, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!” “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” And want endears and increases worth. As Young says,-

“How mercies brighten as they take their flight!”

While the living minister is neglected, the dying one may be lamented, and lamented the more when dead because he was neglected while living. The children of Israel were always complaining of Moses, and frequently threatening him; yet they wept for him on the plains of Moab thirty days, and, we are persuaded, sincerely.

I create the fruit of the lips. - Isaiah 57:19.

TWO inquiries must be here made. What is intended by the fruit of the lips, and how it is produced? With regard to the first, we know, from the authority of Hosea, and also of the Apostle to the Gentiles, that this intended praise and thanksgiving. The latter, speaking of Christ, says, “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise unto God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto his name.”

And respecting the second God says, “I create the fruit of the lips.” He does this two ways: HE produces the subject of this praise; that is, providence, with its unnumbered mercies, and the gospel, with all its abundant privileges, promises, and blessings. The former good is often the result of human instrumentality employed by God’s agency. The latter is entirely produced from “the good pleasure of his goodness.” “He hath saved us. and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” This, therefore, is entirely supernatural; this comes alone from him without interference on our side, opposed to all our desert, and distinguished from all desire and preparation for the reception of it. Nothing can deserve our praise like the gospel. It is owing to the gospel that our country has risen to such distinction and preeminence. Oh that we esteemed it more highly than we do! God also produces the disposition itself.

The application of the gospel is from him as well as the existence of it. “Not unto us, therefore,” we are constrained to say, “not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be the glory, for thy mercy and thy truth’s sake,” if a Saviour has not only been provided for us, but received by us. While we praise him for the seasons of the year, the beauties of nature, and the bounties of providence, let us adore and bless him for the unsearchable riches of Christ. In thus blessing God that we have been enabled to receive the gospel in the love and in the blessedness of it, we shall be yielding unto him the fruit of our lips, and he who thus “creates the fruit of the lips” will accept and honour it, for he says, “Whosoever offereth praise glorifieth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.”