Morning “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the

earth.”  Ecclesiastes 10:7

Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly great pine in

obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose solution will one day gladden

the hearts of the upright; but it is so common a fact, that none of us should

murmur if it should fall to our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although

he is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet he walked the footpath of

weariness and service as the Servant of servants: what wonder is it if his

followers, who are princes of the blood, should also be looked down upon as

inferior and contemptible persons? The world is upside down, and therefore, the

first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons of Satan lord it in

the earth! What a high horse they ride! How they lift up their horn on high!

Haman is in the court, while Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the

mountains, while Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while

Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take the places of the

proud rebels? and who, on the other hand, might not envy the despised saints?

When the wheel turns, those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience,

then, believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.

 

Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and carnal appetites ride

in triumph, while our nobler powers walk in the dust. Grace must reign as a

prince, and make the members of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy

Spirit loves order, and he therefore sets our powers and faculties in due rank

and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual faculties which link us

with the great King; let us not disturb the divine arrangement, but ask for

grace that we may keep under our body and bring it into subjection. We were not

new created to allow our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings, may

reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit, soul, and

body, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Evening   “And he requested for himself that he might die.”    1 Kings 19:4

It was a remarkable thing that the man who was never to die, for whom God had

ordained an infinitely better lot, the man who should be carried to heaven in a

chariot of fire, and be translated, that he should not see death–should thus

pray, “Let me die, I am no better than my fathers.” We have here a memorable

proof that God does not always answer prayer in kind, though he always does in

effect. He gave Elias something better than that which he asked for, and thus

really heard and answered him. Strange was it that the lion-hearted Elijah

should be so depressed by Jezebel’s threat as to ask to die, and blessedly kind

was it on the part of our heavenly Father that he did not take his

desponding servant at his word. There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer

of faith. We are not to expect that God will give us everything we choose to ask

for. We know that we sometimes ask, and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If

we ask for that which is not promised–if we run counter to the spirit which the

Lord would have us cultivate–if we ask contrary to his will, or to the decrees

of his providence–if we ask merely for the gratification of our own ease, and

without an eye to his glory, we must not expect that we shall receive. Yet, when

we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we receive not the precise thing asked

for, we shall receive an equivalent, and more than an

equivalent, for it. As one remarks, “If the Lord does not pay in silver, he

will in gold; and if he does not pay in gold, he will in diamonds.” If he does

not give you precisely what you ask for, he will give you that which is

tantamount to it, and that which you will greatly rejoice to receive in lieu

thereof. Be then, dear reader, much in prayer, and make this evening a season of

earnest intercession, but take heed what you ask.