Dailj) Devotional Home Readings Connected with International Sunday) School Lessons B? FREDERIC W. FARR, D. D.
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SUNDAY, Aug. 1. Psalm 24. 1Ascending the Hill of the Lord. The twenty-fourth Psalm is the last of a sacred triad of holy song, the cross, the sheep-fold and the ascension. It is a triumphal march doubtless composed to celebrate the bringing of the Ark of God to the hill of Zion. Its applica tions and implications however are nob ler and higher. With an outburst of praise it declares that any local place of worship could be no honor to God since he was Lord of all. The four conditions required for entering the Di vine presence are neither Judaic nor ceremonial. They are purely spiritual. Clean hands, outward righteousness, a pure heart, inward holiness, a soul that does not unduly magnify earthly good or gain and one who regards the sanctity of an oath and has no dealing with de ceit. Such an one receives the blessing of God. This is not salvation by works. The blood of the Passover is the sacri fice behind it all, a symbol and token of that which was to come. MONDAY, Aug. 2. 2 Sam. 9:1-13. The Kingly Kindness of David. When Jonathan was slain, his son Mephibosheth was only five years old. David had not been at the court of Saul for six years before this time. David had therefore in all probability never heard of the birth of Jonathan’s son. Mephibosheth was living at Gibeah with his nurse when the news of his father’s death arrived. When she heard what had taken place, she hastened to take him away but in her haste, she let him fall and he received injuries which made him a cripple for life. He was afterward discovered by Ziba, one of Saul’s servants and brought to the court of David. He was reinstated in Saul’s inheritance and given a place of honor at the royal table. Not every king would have thus honored the heir of the dynasty which he dispossessed-: David however, remembered Jonathan and be lieved God. The memory of his former friend bound him to Mephibosheth and his faith in the promise of God through
the prophet Nathan kept him from all fear of losing his throne. TUESDAY, Aug. 3. Ps. 26:1-12. David’s Prayer. This Psalm is David’s appeal to God in view of the trouble and persecution under which he suffers. It runs on three lines, the past, the present and the future. He takes God to witness con cerning his honesty of life and purpose. He has walked in his integrity, not in his own strength for he has trusted in God. He then turns to the future in promise and resolve, mentioning eight things as the subject of his expectation. In the third place he gives his testimony con cerning the present by asking for a judgment day with God. Coming to the surface here and there throughout the Psalm is an expression of his heart’s desire. “ Gather not my soul with sin ners,” neither here nor hereafter. “ Re deem me, be merciful unto me.” Every man needs to be redeemed from the captivity of evil and in view of con stant deficiency, there is need of mercy instead of recompense. WEDNESDAY, Aug. 4. Matt. 25:34-40. Ye Did It Unto Me. Here is recognition of the unity of God and his people and an anticipation of that identification of Christ with his church which is unfolded in the Epistles of the New Testament. There is an inti mation of the same truth in Acts 9:4. “Why persecutest thou me?” It is fully brought out in 1 Cor. 12:27 and Eph. 4:4. The church of Christ is a living body of which He is the risen Head and individual believers are constituent members. When .we sin against a brother, we sin against Christ. 1 Cor. 8: 12. When we minister unto a brother, we minister unto Christ. This dignifies the lowliest service because it is ren dered unto Him. Matt. 10:42. I can ex- •press toy love for Christ and serve him acceptably by ministering unto His peo ple. THURSDAY, Aug. 5. 2 Sam. 7:1-11 David’s Kingly Desire. After David had brought the ark to
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