October 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness" (Heb. 12:10).

Devotional

Beloved reader, have you long asked for the removal of some secret, heavy, painful cross? Perhaps you are still urging your request; and yet the Lord seems not to answer you. And why? Because the request may not be in itself wise. Were he now to remove that cross, he may, in taking away the cross, close up a channel of mercy which you would never cease to regret. Oh, what secret and immense blessing may that painful cross be the means of conveying into your soul!

Is it health you have long petitioned for? And is the request denied you? It is wisdom that denies. It is love, too, tender, unchangeable love to your soul, that refuses a petition which a wise and gracious God knows, if granted, would not be for your real good and his glory. Do you not think that there is enough love and tenderness in the heart of Jesus to grant you what you desire, and ten thousand times more, if he saw that it would promote your true holiness and happiness? Could he resist that request, that desire, that sigh, that tear, that beseeching look, if infinite wisdom did not guide him in all his dealing with your soul? Oh no!

But he gives you an equivalent to the denied request. He gives you himself. Can he give you more? His grace sustains you. His arm supports you. His love soothes you. His Spirit comforts you. And your chamber of solitude, though it may not be the scene of health and buoyancy and joyousness, may yet be the secret place where a covenant God and Father puts his grace into your soul—where Jesus seeks to meet you with the choicest unfoldings of His love.

Could he not, would he not, heal you in a moment, were it for your good? Then, ask for a submissive spirit, a will swallowed up in God the Father's. And it may be, when the lesson of secret and filial submission is learned, so that health shall no longer be desired but as a means of glorifying God, he may put forth his healing power, and grant you your request.

But, do not forget that the Lord knows best what will most promote his own glory! You may have thought that health of body would better enable you to glorify him. He may think that the chamber of solitude or the bed of languishing most produce glory to his Name. The patience, resignation, meek submission, child-like acquiescence, which his blessed Spirit through this means works in your soul, may more glorify him than all the active graces that ever were brought into exercise.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the Potter; I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in thy presence humbly I bow.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power—all power—surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me, Saviour divine!

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

(Adelaide A. Pollard, 1902)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2011.