Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: May 10th

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee. - Zephaniah 3:17.

THE name of the church is Jehovah-shammah,-the Lord is there. “But will God in very deed dwell with men upon the earth?” This was the language of Solomon at the dedication of the temple; and it was not the language of uncertainty and doubt, but of wonder and admiration. When we reflect upon God’s greatness, his excellency and his holiness, and upon our meanness and vileness, we may well exclaim, with Solomon’s father, “Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” But is he not everywhere? “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” saith the Lord. “Whither can we go from his Spirit, or flee from his presence?” David recognises him as about his path, and as being acquainted with all his ways, and words, and thoughts. Yes, and we should remember that when his presence is spoken of in a way of promise and privilege it is to be always distinguished from the perfection of his nature or his omnipresence. It is his special and gracious presence which is then intended, in which sense he is said to be “far from the wicked,” but “nigh unto all them that call upon his name, to all that call upon him in truth.” Not as a mere observer and witness,-this is common to the wicked, as well as to themselves,-but as their Friend, their Helper, and their Saviour. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

Thus he is in the midst of the church universal; and thus he is in the midst of every assembly of his people; and thus he is in the midst of every individual believer, dwelling in his heart by faith. Thus he is in the midst of them, as the sun is in the midst of a garden, producing the fragrance, and the flowers, and the fruits; and in the midst of them as the soul is in the midst of the body, enlivening every member and penetrating every part. Upon this principle it was that Isaiah called upon the church to praise God:-“Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” Hence their security and happiness:-“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early.”

Hence the great groundlessness of the believer’s fears:-“Fear not, for I am with thee;” “He is at thy right hand, and therefore thou shalt not be moved.” The disciples in the storm imagined they were going to the bottom, and they repaired to the Saviour, saying, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” What faithlessness! what folly! Was not he on board? If they sunk, he must sink too. His presence, therefore, was their security; and it is ours; and, “because he lives, we shall live also.”

And when they had prayed, the place teas shaken where they were assembled together. - Acts 4:31.

OBSERVE here the occasion of the prayer. Peter and John had been apprehended, and had successfully defended themselves; so, when the council had further threatened them, “they were let go, finding nothing how they could punish them.” Like attracts like, and “being let go they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them;” and the persecuted disciples immediately gave themselves to prayer. Prayer is enjoined upon us in our distresses.” “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” “Is any afflicted, let him pray.”

Observe the substance of their prayer. It was very seasonable, very suitable, and very short, as all Bible prayers are. It was also very exemplary; though they had been so evil entreated, yet they felt no disposition for revenge. They remembered the instructions of him who had said, “Love your enemies; bless them that curse you.” They had imbibed the Spirit of him who, “when he was reviled, reviled not again; but committed himself into the hands of him that judgeth righteously.” And therefore you see they besought God to stretch forth his hand, not to strike and punish, but “to heal.”

There was something very extraordinary in this prayer. Though the Jews acted so wickedly in putting the Saviour to death, yet they did it” according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.” Here is a chain thrown across a river; we can see the two opposite ends, but not the union in the midst; but were the chain raised, or the water lowered, we could see the connection as well as the extremities. All our knowledge of the affair begins and ends here-God’s foreknowledge and man’s free agency harmonize really, but inexplicably. Then we see the success of the prayer; and God hath never said to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. The sign of the acceptance of the prayer seems strange-“The place was shaken.” This seemed much more likely to produce dread than to engender hope. But God would so teach us that he is “greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints,” that he will be sanctified of all them that come nigh to him, and that there was something awful in the dispensation of his mercy and his grace; as Watts says:-

“Terrors attend the wond’rous way

That brings our blessings down.”