Devotion of the Day

Spoken Against

This child is set…for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Luke 2:34.

As concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.
Acts 28:22.

Blessed are ye when men shall…say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:11.

The Saviour was spoken against. The Sect of His followers was spoken against. The Saints of any age are spoken against. We share His shame and reproach. They hated Him and they will hate us. The world hath hated us because we are not of the world. But if we be reproached as Christians, let us be happy and not ashamed (I Pt. 4:13-16).

The Beatitude of the Spoken Against has two qualifications. We are blessed not merely because we are spoken against. The charges must be false—sometimes what “they say” is true!—and it must be for Christ’s sake.

The trend today is to try to make the Saviour, the Sect, and the Saints popular. But such is not the Scriptural reputation they bear. When the persecuted become the popular they are powerless. The church prospers in persecution, but pines in prosperity.

Devotion of the Day

The End of the Lord

Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord.
James 5:11.

The Lord turned the captivity of Job and blessed the latter end of his life more than the beginning, but all that is not the climax of the book. It is not an anticlimax but it is a sort of postscript. Job arrived at the peak when he saw God. After that, whether he got well or not, or whether or not he recovered his prosperity, was incidental. He had got through to God. The main purpose of God was not to explain Job’s suffering or suffering in general. Job got through to illumination, which is better than explanation.

God does not always restore our lost prosperity. Some of the greatest saints die in their poverty, their adversity and their boils. But if they have got through to God Himself, they have reached life’s greatest goal. What happens after that is incidental. They are ready to say:

“Now Thee alone I seek;
Give what is best.”

Do not pine away in your adversity, seeking explanation or restoration of your former prosperity. Seek to know God and thenceforth enjoy Him forever, whatever happens to your belongings and your boils!