Morning    “I will rejoice over them to do them good.” / Jeremiah 32:41

How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has in his saints!
We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us;
we cannot take delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being
burdened; conscious of our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and
we fear that God’s people cannot take much delight in us, for they must
perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they may rather
lament our infirmities than admire our graces. But we love to dwell upon this
transcendent truth, this glorious mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that
God delighteth in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars, but we
do read that he delighteth in the habitable parts of the earth, and that his
delights are with the sons of men. We do not find it written that even angels
give his soul delight; nor doth he say, concerning cherubim and seraphim,
“Thou shalt be called Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in thee”; but he does
say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by
sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by his grace. In what strong language
he expresses his delight in his people! Who could have conceived of the
eternal One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, “He will rejoice
over thee with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with
singing.” As he looked upon the world he had made, he said, “It is very good”;
but when he beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus’ blood, his own chosen
ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no
longer, but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy. Should not we utter our
grateful response to such a marvellous declaration of his love, and sing, “I
will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation?”

Evening   “Gather not my soul with sinners.” / Psalm 26:9

Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, “Perhaps, after all, thou
mayst be gathered with the wicked.” That fear, although marred by unbelief,
springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past
sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, “What if at the end my sins should be
remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the saved?” He
recollects his present unfruitfulness–so little grace, so little love, so
little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he considers his weakness
and the many temptations which beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and
become a prey to the enemy. A sense of sin and present evil, and his
prevailing corruptions, compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, “Gather not
my soul with sinners.” Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your
character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken, you need
not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the two
virtues which David had–the outward walking in integrity, and the inward
trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon Christ’s sacrifice, and can you
compass the altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the
wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is impossible. The
gathering at the judgment is like to like. “Gather ye together first the
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my
barn.” If, then, thou art like God’s people, thou shalt be with God’s people.
You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought.
Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are his forever, and where he is, there
must his people be. You are loved too much to be cast away with reprobates.
Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven
claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!