Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: May 9th

He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. - Isaiah 5:2.

WAS God, then, disappointed? He was, and he was not. We must make a distinction. We must distinguish between disappointment in fact, and disappointment in right. As to disappointment in fact, God is never liable to it. His understanding is infinite; he sees the end from the beginning. But as to disappointment in right, observe, if a man expect a crop by sowing upon the sand of the sea, it would be very unreasonable; but not so if he manured and improved the soil, and gave it every kind of advantage and culture: he would have a right then to look for produce according to his expenditure and pains. So it is here, and therefore God may justly complain. He is denied his right. To the same purpose is the parable of our Saviour. He one day said, “A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he, answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it, and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”

We are not told whether this intercession was successful; but we have every reason to believe that it was, and that the vine-dresser did not pray in vain, for the Father “heard him always,” and God is long-suffering, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Some years ago, a minister had in his garden a tree that never bore. One day he was going thither with the axe in his hand to fell it: his wife met him in the pathway, and pleaded for it, saying, “Why, the spring is now very near; stay and see whether there may not be some change, and if not, you can deal with it accordingly.” As he never repented following her advice, he yielded to it now: and what was the consequence? In a few weeks the tree was covered with blossoms, and in a few weeks more it was bending with fruit. “Ah!” said he, “this should teach me; I will learn a lesson from hence, not to cut down too soon; that is, not to consider persons incorrigible or abandoned too soon, so as to give up hope, and the use of means and prayer in their behalf.”

A member of the church at Broadmead, Bristol, had behaved very improperly, and when reproved was very perverse, and showed such a disposition that at the church meeting it was resolved to excommunicate him. The Sabbath before, Caleb Evans, the pastor, preached in the morning from the words, “Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?” and the man was there, and seemed hardened and resentful. But it so happened that a stranger was engaged to preach in the afternoon, and, without knowing what had occurred, he took the following words:-“Let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.” The man was again present, but now his very heart was broken, and he wept bitterly, and went into the vestry, and confessed freely his guilt, and threw himself upon the mercy of the church, and they were satisfied with only suspending him for a season. Here we may see how the goodness of God leadeth to repentance.

No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. - John 6:44.

THERE are three things here deserving our regard. The first regards our coming to Christ; implying absence, accessibleness, and application. The second regards man’s inability without divine agency; this inability is moral and universal. The third, the influence by which the soul is brought to the Saviour: it is by an influence divine; it is by the Father, who hath sent the Saviour; it is by the Father’s drawing him. This is not always an alluring and gentle influence. When God is dealing with the souls of men in bringing them to the Saviour they often feel something besides pleasing and gentle attraction. This was the case with the jailor, when tremblingly he exclaimed, “What must I do to be saved?” and with the three thousand, when they were pricked in the heart, and cried out, “Men and brethren, what must we do?” In a general way (for there are some little variations) the work may be described thus.

First, There is conviction of sin: the man is made to see the nature, the pollution, and the number of his transgressions.

This produces, Secondly, Distress and fear: he sees the curse of the law hanging over his offences, and that he is ready to perish. His conscience is awakened, it condemns him; a burden too heavy for him oppresses him. The world no longer can charm him; he feels his need of something now which he never felt before, and he feels that it cannot be derived from himself.

Hence, Thirdly, Self renunciation and despair: he sees that he can do nothing to atone for his former transgressions, to deliver him from the condemnation of the law, and to renew him in the Spirit of his mind.

Yet, Fourthly, Along with all this there is some hope founded upon the declarations and examples of Scripture. This hope for a time may be very weak and trembling, just sufficient to keep him from despair and afterwards from turning back to perdition, and to induce him, as with a rope upon his neck, to go forward towards the merciful King of Israel, saying, “I will go in unto the king: and if I perish, I perish.”

Fifthly, With all this there are new and earnest desires after Jesus; a hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Now he sees the Saviour’s all-sufficiency and his suitableness. His desires are naturally drawn towards him, as those of a hungry man after food, or those of a thirsty man after water. Oh, says he, whatever I may be denied, “that I may but know him, and the power of his resurrection.”

And therefore, Lastly, He is now willing to receive Jesus Christ, as he is presented in the gospel-a holy and gracious Saviour, at once the destroyer of sin and of self; and not only now does he feel a readiness to submit to this plan, but he is able to acquiesce in it, to glory in it, and to say with the Apostle, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”