January 7 Daily Devotional

Devotional:

How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? While nothing is more painful to us than to be falsely condemned, and to endure, at one and the same time, wrongful violence and slander; yet to be ill spoken of for doing well, is an affliction which daily befalls the saints. When a man not only keeps himself from revenging the injuries which he has received, but endeavours to overcome evil by doing good, he manifests one of the graces of a renewed and sanctified nature and in this way proves himself to be one of the children of God; for such meekness proceeds only from the Spirit of adoption. If at any time our uprightness is not seen and acknowledged by the world, we ought not on that account to despond, inasmuch as we have one in heaven to vindicate our cause. If, therefore, we cannot find justice anywhere in the world, the only support of our patience is to look to God, and to rest contented with the equity of his judgment.

Commune with your heart upon your bed, and be still.* Here we learn that, in solitude we can give to any subject a closer attention. David, therefore, exhorts his enemies to withdraw and to be alone, that they may examine themselves more truthfully and honestly. There is nothing to which men are more prone than to deceive one another with empty applause, until each man enter into himself, and commune alone with his own heart.

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. The faithful, forming a low estimate of present good things, rest in God alone, and account nothing of more value than to know from experience that they are interested in his favour. Those only can be truly and perfectly happy who are interested in the favour of God, and they ought to live as strangers and pilgrims in the world, in order through hope and patience to obtain, in due time, a better life. Although the faithful also desire and seek after their worldly comforts, yet they do not pursue them with immoderate and irregular ardour; but can patiently bear to be deprived of them, provided they know themselves to be objects of the divine care. David justly prefers the joy produced by the light of God's fatherly love before all other objects.

Welcome to a one-year devotional by John Calvin (1509-1564) on the Psalms. We are indebted to P & R Publishing for permission to use this copyrighted material from John Calvin: A Heart Aflame on the OPC Web site. In addition to viewing the daily devotional reading here, you may like to purchase a copy of the book A Heart Aflame from P & R Publishing or your local bookstore.

John Calvin, A Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms, is copyright © 1999 by P & R Publishing Company, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations for the purpose of review or comment, without the prior permission of the publisher, P & R Publishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865-0817.

Unless marked by an asterisk, italic Scripture excerpts preceding Calvin's exposition are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House, all rights reserved. Phrases of Scripture within Calvin's exposition are based on an unidentified older translation, or in rare instances modified to conform to the NIV excerpts preceding Calvin's exposition.

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