Morning  “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors.” / Romans 8:12

As God’s creatures, we are all debtors to him: to obey him with all our body,  and soul, and strength. Having broken his commandments, as we all have, we are  debtors to his justice, and we owe to him a vast amount which we are not able  to pay. But of the Christian it can be said that he does not owe God’s justice  anything, for Christ has paid the debt his people owed; for this reason the  believer owes the more to love. I am a debtor to God’s grace and forgiving  mercy; but I am no debtor to his justice, for he will never accuse me of a  debt already paid. Christ said, “It is finished!” and by that he meant, that  whatever his people owed was wiped away forever from the book of remembrance.  Christ, to the uttermost, has satisfied divine justice; the account is  settled; the handwriting is nailed to the cross; the receipt is given, and we  are debtors to God’s justice no longer. But then, because we are not debtors  to our Lord in that sense, we become ten times more debtors to God than we  should have been otherwise. Christian, pause and ponder for a moment. What a  debtor thou art to divine sovereignty! How much thou owest to his  disinterested love, for he gave his own Son that he might die for thee.  Consider how much you owe to his forgiving grace, that after ten thousand  affronts he loves you as infinitely as ever. Consider what you owe to his  power; how he has raised you from your death in sin; how he has preserved your  spiritual life; how he has kept you from falling; and how, though a thousand  enemies have beset your path, you have been able to hold on your way. Consider  what you owe to his immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, he  has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every  attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast–yield thyself  as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service.

Evening  “Tell me … where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.”

/ Song of Solomon 1:7

These words express the desire of the believer after Christ, and his longing  for present communion with him. Where doest thou feed thy flock? In thy house?  I will go, if I may find thee there. In private prayer? Then I will pray  without ceasing. In the Word? Then I will read it diligently. In thine  ordinances? Then I will walk in them with all my heart. Tell me where thou  feedest, for wherever thou standest as the Shepherd, there will I lie down as  a sheep; for none but thyself can supply my need. I cannot be satisfied to be  apart from thee. My soul hungers and thirsts for the refreshment of thy  presence. “Where dost thou make thy flock to rest at noon?” for whether at  dawn or at noon, my only rest must be where thou art and thy beloved flock. My  soul’s rest must be a grace-given rest, and can only be found in thee. Where  is the shadow of that rock? Why should I not repose beneath it? “Why should I  be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?” Thou hast  companions–why should I not be one? Satan tells me I am unworthy; but I  always was unworthy, and yet thou hast long loved me; and therefore my  unworthiness cannot be a bar to my having fellowship with thee now. It is true  I am weak in faith, and prone to fall, but my very feebleness is the reason  why I should always be where thou feedest thy flock, that I may be  strengthened, and preserved in safety beside the still waters. Why should I  turn aside? There is no reason why I should, but there are a thousand reasons  why I should not, for Jesus beckons me to come. If he withdrew himself a  little, it is but to make me prize his presence more. Now that I am grieved  and distressed at being away from him, he will lead me yet again to that  sheltered nook where the lambs of his fold are sheltered from the burning sun.