December 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Readings:

Exodus 20:8-11, King James Version:
⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Psalm 104:10-15, 21-22, 27-280, KJV:
¹⁰He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
¹²By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
¹³He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
¹⁴He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
¹⁵And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart....
²¹The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
²²The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens....
²⁷These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
²⁸That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

Psalm 145:8-9, 15-16, KJV:
⁸The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
⁹The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works....
¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
¹⁶Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

Isaiah 58:13-14, KJV:
¹³If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
¹⁴Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Ephesians 5:23-33, KJV:
²³For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
²⁴Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
²⁶That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
²⁷That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
²⁸So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
²⁹For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
³⁰For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
³¹For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
³²This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
³³Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

1 Peter 3:7, KJV:
⁷Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Devotional:

In these days of high prices for food and clothing and other necessities of life the Christian should remind himself and others that our economic system is out of joint only because the sin of man renders it so. When granted blessings of common grace man abuses God's gifts so as to make of good things weapons for use in his warfare against his fcllowman. And so it is with God's provisions for man's physical, social. and moral welfare. In creation God made man custodian of properties so that he might reflect the Creator's glory as King of creation. Adam was given a wife, Eve, so that family life might begin and add happiness to a world already filled with the joy of perfect harmony between God and man. And when the heavens and the earth were finished, then on the seventh day God ended his work and rested and thereby established the Sabbath for the benefit of the creature. But what did the creature do with these blessings?

Beginning with the first pair and continuing throughout the generations of their children following them men have perverted the divinely instituted order of things. Instead of using his hands to glorify God, man has sought to glorify himself and in that seeking has brought sorrow and pain upon others. As the poet Burns has written: "Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn." From the womb of pride has come forth a monster, the inordinate craving for the wealth of the world. Arid even though the satisfaction of that appetite means the suffering of other creatures made in the Creator's image, there is no stopping of the sinner's course except by the intervention of special grace.

So beautiful is the marriage relationship begun in the Garden of Eden that poets never consider it trite to dwell upon the theme of conjugal love. But this provision of the Creator for the well-being and happiness of His creatures has been debased so that marital vows are lightly taken and still more lightly kept. Only in the union of a godly man and woman may we see pictured—and that imperfectly—the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ and His beloved bride, the Church. Let us never forget that the institution of marriage is a gift of God the use of which is given us so that we might render praise unto the Creator. He brought male and female together that they might use their powers and privileges for the glory of His name, the continuation of mankind and the seed of the faithful. Stewardship of this blessing is the responsibility placed on all to whom it is given. And that responsibility is no less than the one given to the holder of property of a material sort.

For physical and spiritual rest for man the Lord God who is never weary established the Sabbath Day. By His own example He teaches us to keep one day in seven holy. His law given at Sinai tells man to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Our Lord Jesus' teaching that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath sets forth in the clearest possible terms that this institution is for man's benefit, a blessing from the Creator. Perhaps no clearer evidence can be given of this generation's indifference to God and His Word than its neglect of the proper observance of the Lord's Day. It is a day of "joy and gladness" for many, but the festal spirit which exhibits itself in their activities and games profanes the day. The sacred day is desecrated and misused by those to whom it was given as a means of communion with the Lord God. And when man forgets the Sabbath He forgets the God who made him and the eternal rest which that Sabbath was intended to prefigure.

The glory of the Reformation which we remember this month lies in the rceinphasis laid on God's grace and man's responsibility to a Sovereign God. We could remember in no more impressive style the contribution of the Reformers to the Church than to call once again to the attention of our generation its obligation to use God's gifts to His glory.

We are very happy to make available to you this month these devotionals by the late Rev. LeRoy B. Oliver. They originally appeared in The Presbyerian Guardian during the late 1940's.

The description of his "Your Family Altar" page in The Presbyterian Guardian also fits this Web page: "The page is designed for both private and family use, whichever is most convenient in your case. If you do not have family worship in your home, we hope you will begin, and suggest using these readings. They should not, however, take the place of reading books of the Bible, or the Bible itself, through in regular course." It is those who abide (continue) in the Word who are truly Christ's disciples, who know the truth, and who experience freedom in Him (John 8:31-32). May these devotionals be used for the building up of God's people and to the glory of God.