April 16 Daily Devotional

... and with all thy mind!

True religion was never meant just to produce some general effect. The Bible is a revelation of God's ways with respect to man. It is meant to give "understanding." ... There are many things that we could do that would make us feel better tem­porarily.

There are many ways of forgetting our troubles for a while. Some go to the cinema, others run to the public-house or to the bottle of whiskey which they keep at home. Under its effect and influence they feel much better and happier; their problem does not seem so acute.... There are many ways of giving temporary relief, but the question is, Do they give understanding; do they really help us to see through our trouble?

Now that sort of false comfort can be given in the house of God. There are some people who seem to think that the right thing to do in the house of God is just to go on singing choruses and a certain type of hymn until you are almost in a state of intoxication. Indeed, the whole service is with a view to "conditioning." You come under some emotional influence and you do feel better....

Let us never forget that the message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the mind, to the understanding. There is nothing about the gospel that is more satisfying than this; ... it enables me to understand life. I have knowledge; I have understanding; I know. I can "give a reason" for the hope that is in me....

Thank God that this man [Psalm 73] when he went into the sanctuary of God found an explanation. It was not merely some temporary relief that he received; it was not some kind of injection that was given to him to assuage the pain just a little for the moment, not a treatment that would leave the problem still there so that when he got home and the effect had passed, he would be back again where he was before. Not at all. Having started to think straight in the Temple of God, he went home and continued to think straight. And it ended in the production of this Psalm!

Faith on Trial, pp. 44-5

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”

Comments on D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A First Book of Daily Readings

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