Morning, March 16 Go To Evening Reading
“I am a stranger with thee.”
—Psalm 39:12
Yes, O Lord, with thee, but not to thee. All my natural alienation from thee, thy grace has effectually removed; now, in fellowship with thyself, I walk through this sinful world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger in thine own world. Man forgets, dishonors, sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows thee not. When thy dear Son came unto his own, his own received him not. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Never was a foreigner so speckled a bird among the denizens of any land as thy beloved Son among his mother’s brethren. It is no marvel, then, if I, who live the life of Jesus, should be unknown and a stranger here below. Lord, I would not be a citizen where Jesus was an alien. His pierced hand has loosened the cords which once bound my soul to earth, and now I find myself a stranger in the land. My speech seems to these Babylonians among whom I dwell an outlandish tongue, my manners are singular, and my actions are strange. A Tartar would be more at home in Cheapside than I could ever be in the haunts of sinners. But here is the sweetness of my lot: I am a stranger with thee. Thou art my fellow sufferer, my fellow pilgrim. Oh, what joy to wander in such a blessed society! My heart burns within me when thou dost speak to me, and though I am a sojourner, I am far more blest than those who sit on thrones and far more at home than those who dwell in their ceiled houses.
“To me remains nor place, nor time:
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there.
While place we seek or place we shun,
The soul finds happiness in none:
But with a God to guide our way,
’Tis equal joy to go or stay.”
Go To Morning Reading Evening, March 16
“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”
—Psalm 19:13
Such was the prayer of the “man after God’s own heart.” Did holy David need to pray thus? How needful must such a prayer be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, “Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong over the precipice of sin.” Like an ill-tempered horse, our evil nature is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks the Lord sets upon us both in providence and grace!
The psalmist’s prayer is directed against the worst form of sin—that which is done with deliberation and wilfulness. Even the holiest need to be “kept back” from the vilest transgressions. Finding the apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome sins is a solemn thing. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” What! Do saints want to warn against such sins as these? Yes, they do. Unless their purity is preserved by divine grace, the whitest robes will be defiled by the blackest spots. Experienced Christian, boast not in your experience; you will trip yet if you look away from him who can keep you from falling. Ye whose love is fervent, whose faith is constant, whose hopes are bright, say not, “We shall never sin,” but rather cry, “Lead us not into temptation.” There is enough tinder in the hearts of the best men to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell unless God quenches the sparks as they fall. Who would have dreamed righteous Lot could be found drunken and committing uncleanness? Hazael said, “Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?” We are very apt to use the same self-righteous question. May infinite wisdom cure us of the madness of self-confidence.
Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.
March 16: It Will Seem Simple in Retrospect
Numbers 17:1–18:32; 1 Corinthians 1:1–31; Psalm 18:1–12
We’re all faced with difficult tasks. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was forced to confront their spiritual problems, which were slowly destroying God’s work among them. Paul was thankful for them (1 Cor 1:4–8), but he was also called to a high purpose as an apostle. His calling meant saying what people didn’t want to hear (1 Cor 1:1).
There were divisions among the Corinthians that would rip their fledgling church apart. Paul implored them to make some complex changes: “Now I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that … there not be divisions among you, and that you be made complete in the same mind with the same purpose. For … there are quarrels among you” (1 Cor 1:10–11). And here’s where something unique happens that we often overlook. Paul, a confident man, and a former Law-abiding Pharisee, could have stated why he was right and moved on, but he does something else:
“Each of you is saying, ‘I am with Paul,’ and ‘I am with Apollos,’ and ‘I am with Cephas,’ and ‘I am with Christ.’ Paul sticks it to them and reminds them that Christ deserves not crucified for you, was he? Has Christ been divided? Paul was of Paul? Or have you baptized in the na all the credit? I give thanks that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that you were baptized in my name” (1 Cor 1:12–15).
We all have moments like this, where we can take credit for someone else’s work—or even worse, for Jesus’ work. Paul had the strength and character that we should all desire.
How are you currently taking credit for other people's work or Jesus’?
John D. Barry
Barry, John D., and Rebecca Kruyswijk. Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan. Print. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012.
March 16th
The master assizes
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. 2 Cor. 5:10
Paul says that we must all, preachers and people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” If you learn to live in the white light of Christ here and now, judgment will finally cause you to delight in the work of God in you. Keep yourself steadily faced by the judgment seat of Christ; walk now in the light of the holiest you know. A lousy temper of mind about another soul will end in the devil's spirit, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment and the end of it is hell in you. Drag it to the light immediately and say—‘My God, I have been guilty there.’ If you don’t, hardness will come all through. The penalty of sin is confirmation of sin. It is not only God who punishes for sin; sin confirms itself in the sinner and gives back full pay. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing some things, and the penalty of evil is that gradually you get used to it and do not know that it is a sin. No power save the incoming of the Holy Ghost can alter the inherent consequences of sin.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light.” For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to our standards for another person. The deadliest Pharisaism today is not hypocrisy but unconscious unreality.
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.
March 16
Come behind in no gift
1 Cor. 1:7
The Scripture gives four names to Christians, taken from the four cardinal graces essential to man’s salvation: Saints for their holiness, believers for their faith, brethren for their love, and disciples for their knowledge.
Thomas Fuller
Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.
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