PEACE WITH GOD

 
January 3.
 
The Lord of peace himself give you peace 

   always by all means.
                            II Thessalonians 3:16
 

By thy passion on the tree,

Let my grief and trouble cease;

O remember Calvary,

And give me holy peace.

 
Peace with God is an invaluable blessing;
  it flows from the atonement,
  and is the antidote for human misery.
 
James Smith

SEARCH O LORD

 

January 2.

Search me, O God, and know my heart:
  try me, and know my thoughts.  Psalms 139 23
 

Search, O Lord, and cleanse, and save us;

Heal us by thy power divine;

Burst the bonds that here enslaves us,

That we may be wholly thine.

 
An honest heart will expose itself to God's all searching eye,
 and desire to be examined as well as cleansed and comforted.
 
James Smith

 

JANUARY 1.
 
LORD, let it alone this year also. Luke 13:8
 

Lord, melt our hearts to mourn the past,

   And let us henceforth faithful be ;

And if this year should be our last,

  O may our souls repose with thee.

 
The intercession of Jesus brings down innumerable blessings upon us; and it is employed for us tonight; let us, therefore, look up to an interceding Savour, and expect blessings from his hands.

THERE HATH NOT FAILED ONE WORD OF ALL HIS GOOD PROMISE.

 

 
There hath not failed one word of all his good promise.
I Kings 8:56
 
THIS is the day of review;
  let us look back.
 
This is the day to compare God's conduct with God's promises.
 
He has kept his promise in his eye every day of this year,
  though we have often lost sight of it.
 
We have been unbelieving,
  but he has been faithful.
 
We have backslidden,
  but he has kept his covenant with us.
 
We have ten thousand times deserved his wrath,
  but here we are, the monuments of his mercy.
 
What forbearance he has shown,
  what patient he has exercise,
  what sympathy he has manifested;
    how true to his character,
    how faithful to his word,
    how tender to our souls, he has been.
 
We have failed in almost every point;
  but he has not failed in one;
  we have broken our word a thousand times;
  but he has never broken his once.
 
Not one thing hath failed of all that he had promised.
 
In temporals, our bread has been given us,
  and our water has been sure.
 
In spirituals, he has pardoned our sins,
  revived our graces,
  corrected our follies,
  restored our souls,
  born are manners, and
    manifested a Father’s love.
 
Beloved, is not God true?
 
Has he not been faithful?
 
Ought we not to trust him?

 

Let suns or stars forget to rise,

Or quit their stations in the skies;

Let heaven and earth both pass away,

Eternal truth shall ne’er decay.

 

James Smith 1849

HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD

 
 
DECEMBER 30.
 
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
Romans 4:20
 
IF Abraham did not, we have:
  yet we have far less reason than he had.
 
The promises are given to us of free grace.
 
They are supported by the holiness and immutability of God.
 
They demand our credit and confidence.
 
But, through unbelief, we often object, or dispute;
  they are too great, or too good for us.
 
They are for eminent persons,
  not for such poor, sinful, unworthy creatures as we are.
 
It is not probable that they will ever be fulfilled in our experience.
 
This is unbelief.
 
This is staggering.
 
Now we are all unsteady; and
  this affects our hope,
  our prayers, and
  our obedience;
  for steady faith is the root of lively hope,
   fervent prayer, and evangelical obedience.
 
Unbelief draws all its arguments from sense,
  reason, appearances, circumstances, or delays.
 
But faith should take God's promises
  as the gift of God's grace,
  hold it fast, because God is faithful; and
  expects its fulfillment, because God is true.
 
Let us watch against unbelief,
  which dishonours God, and distresses us.
 
Let us seek faith from God,
  that we may exercise faith in God; and
  let a set Abraham before us as our example.

 

Faith has for its foundation broad

A stable rock, on which I stand,

The truth and faithfulness of God;

All other ground is sinking sand.

 
James Smith 1849

THE LAW OF FAITH

 
DECEMBER 29.
 
The law of faith.
Romans 3:27
 
THIS is just the opposite of the law of works.
 
THAT was intended for perfect persons;
  THIS is for sinners.
 
THAT required obedience in order to life;
  THIS presents life in order to obedience.
 
THAT says, “Do;” THIS says, “Believe.”
 
THAT says, “Work;” THIS says, “Trust.”
 
THIS is a law of love - it is it flows from the love of God,
  breathes love to men,
  requires love of men, and
    produces love in man.
 
It is the law of peace - by which peace and reconciliation with God
  is published and enjoyed.
 
It is a law of grace - proclaiming that every sinner shall be pardoned,
  on confession;
  shall be justified freely on believing;
  shall be saved perfectly, by trusting;
  and be dignified eternally, by receiving.  John 1:12
 
It is a law of holiness – it contains precepts, requiring;
  cautions, warning;
  exhortations, urging; and threatening, alarming.
 
It is intended to exhibit God’s mercy, and
  to prevent man’s ruin,
  the sinner’s boasting, and
    Satan’s designs.
 
It lays us under everlasting obligations.
 
Every Christian should carefully observe the law of faith,
   and learn to distinguish it from the law of works.
 
True faith always takes Christ’s law, and obeys it.

 

By the works of the law, we can never obtain

Salvation and peace, or God’s favour regain;

But believing in Jesus, each blessing is given

To fit us for duty, and meeten for heaven.

 
James Smith 1849
 

IN THY NAME. SHALL THEY REJOICE ALL THE DAY

 
DECEMBER 28.

 
In thy name shall they rejoice all the day.
Psalm 89:16

 
WE cannot rejoice in health, for it is often lost;
  in wealth, for we have it not;
  in wisdom, for we daily discover our folly;
  in our strength, for we are perfect weakness;
  in our worldly prospects, for they are often very gloomy; or
    in our experience, for it is often very dreary.
 
If therefore we rejoice,
  it must be in something without us,
    in something above us.
 
We may rejoice in God's name,
  especially as it is written out in the word of his grace,
  and illustrated in the life of his Son.
 
Here his nature is revealed,
  his purposes are made known, and
  provisions for our guilt, fears, and wants, is presented to us.
 
Here we have a warrant for faith,
  a foundation for hope, and
  an object of love.
 
Here is that in which we may rejoice all the day long,
  for it includes all we need,
  is calculated to prevent all we fear, and
    can never know a change.
 
Let us then fix our eye and our hearts upon God's mercy,
  and rejoice in it;
  in private, or in public;
  in prosperity, or and adversity;
    at home, and abroad.
 
Believers really have caused to be happy.
 
The cause of their happiness is always the same.
 
 

Salvation in that name is found,

Balm of my grief and care;

A medicine for my every wound,

All, all I want is there.

 
James Smith 1849