Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.Psalm 19:13 Such was the prayer of the “man after God’s own heart.” Did holy David need to pray like this? How needful, then, such a prayer must be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, “Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong…

I will guard my ways.Psalm 39:1 Fellow-pilgrim, do not say in your heart, “I will go here and there, and I will not sin,” for you are never so out of danger of sinning as to boast of security. The road is very muddy; it will be hard to pick your path so as not…

So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him.Genesis 8:9 Tired out by her wanderings, the dove finally returns to the ark as her only resting place. How heavily she flies—she will drop—she will never reach the ark! But she struggles on. Noah has been looking out…

You shall be called Sought Out.Isaiah 62:12 The surpassing grace of God is seen very clearly in that we were not only sought, but sought out. Men seek for a thing that is lost upon the floor of the house, but in such a case there is only seeking, not seeking out. The loss is…

John 15:4 Communion with Christ is a certain cure for every ill. Whether it be the woodworm of sadness or the smothering impact of earthly treasure, close fellowship with the Lord Jesus will take bitterness from the one and excess from the other. Live near to Jesus, Christian, and it is a matter of secondary…

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.Psalm 118:8 No doubt the reader has been tempted to rely upon the things that are seen instead of resting alone upon the invisible God. Christians often look to man for help and advice, and so spoil the noble simplicity of their…

Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty.Proverbs 18:12 It is an old and common saying that “coming events cast their shadows before them.” The wise man teaches us that a haughty heart is the precursor of evil. Pride is as clearly the sign of destruction as the change of mercury in the barometer is the…

Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation!’Psalm 35:3 What does this sweet prayer teach me? It shall be my evening’s petition; but first let it grant me an instructive meditation. The text informs me first of all that David had his doubts; for why should he pray, “Say to my soul, ‘I am your…

They feast on the abundance of your house.Psalm 36:8 Sheba’s queen was amazed at the sumptuousness of Solomon’s table. She lost all heart when she saw the provision of a single day; and she marveled equally at the company of servants who enjoyed the king’s feast. But what is this in comparison to the abundance…

He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.Matthew 3:16 As the Spirit of God descended upon the Lord Jesus, the head, so He also, in measure, descends upon the members of the mystical body. His descent is to us after the same fashion as that in which it fell upon our Lord. There…