GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 21

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

    JESUS, YOU……ESTABLISH MY STEPS AND DELIGHT IN THEM –Psalm 37:23

      JESUS, YOU…… WILL HEAR ME — Micah 7:7

       JESUS, YOU……CHANGE THE VALLEY OF ACHOR (TROUBLE) INTO A DOOR OF HOPE —Hosea 2:15

********** * **

THE WORD FOR TODAY

Exodus 16:4

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.”

The new chapter today is “Day by Day” in Andrew Murray’s beloved book, “Abiding in Christ”

(Some versions say of the daily verse above, “gather the portion ‘of the day in its day.’ This is what is the focus on Pastor Murray’s  writing about this chapter.)

The day’s portion in its day: such was the rule for God’s giving and man’s working in the ingathering of the manna.  It is still the law in all the dealings of God’s grace with His children.  A clear insight into the beauty and application of this arrangement is a wonderful help in understanding how one, who feels himself utterly weak, can have the confidence and the perseverance to hold on brightly through all the years of his earthly course.  A doctor was once asked by a patient who had met with a serious accident, “Doctor how long will I have to lie here?” The answer, “Only a day at a time,” taught the patient a precious lesson.  It was the same lesson God had recorded for His people of all ages long before: the day’s portion in its day.

It was, without doubt, with a view to this and to meet man’s weakness, that God graciously appointed the change of the day and night.  If time had been given to man in the form of one long unbroken day, it would have exhausted and overwhelmed him; the change of day and night continually recruits and recreates his powers.  As a child easily masters the lessons in a book when each day he is only given one lesson to learn, but would be utterly hopeless if the whole book were given him at once, so it would be with man if there were no divisions in time.  Broken small and divided into fragments, he can bear them; only the care and the work of each day have to be undertaken – the day’s portion in its day.  The rest of the night fits him for making a fresh start with each new morning;  the mistakes of the past can be avoided, its lessons improved.  Each day he has only to be faithful for the one short day, and long years and a long life take care of themselves without the sense of their length or their weight ever being a burden.

Most sweet is the encouragement to be derived from this truth in the life of grace.  Many a soul is disquieted with the thought as to how it will be able to gather and to keep the manna needed for all its years of travel through a barren wilderness.  It has never learned that unspeakable comfort there is in the thought: the day’s portion for its day.  It takes away all care for tomorrow most completely.  Only today is yours;  tomorrow is the Father’s.  The question – What security have you that during all the years in which you have to contend with the coldness, temptations and trials of the world, you will always abide in Jesus? – is one you need not, yes, and may not, ask.  Manna, as your food and strength, is given only by the day; to fill the present faithfully is your only security for the future.  Accept and enjoy, and fulfill with your whole heart the part you have this day to perform.  His presence and grace enjoyed today will remove all doubt whether you can entrust tomorrow to Him too.

Published by liveinthelightofourlord

View all posts by liveinthelightofourlord