Evening
Time: 11:24 PM PST
"I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go."
--Song of Solomon 3:4
Does Christ receive us when we come to Him, notwithstanding all our past
sinfulness? Does He never chide us for having tried all other refuges first? And
is there none on earth like Him? Is He the best of all the good, the fairest of
all the fair? Oh, then let us praise Him! Daughters of Jerusalem, extol Him with
timbrel and harp! Down with your idols, up with the Lord Jesus. Now let the
standards of pomp and pride be trampled under foot, but let the cross of Jesus,
which the world frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory
for our King Solomon! let Him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit at
His footstool, and kiss His feet, and wash them with my tears. Oh, how precious
is Christ! How can it be that I have thought so little of Him? How is it I can
go abroad for joy or comfort when He is so full, so rich, so satisfying. Fellow
believer, make a covenant with thine heart that thou wilt never depart from Him,
and ask thy Lord to ratify it. Bid Him set thee as a signet upon His finger, and
as a bracelet upon His arm. Ask Him to bind thee about Him, as the bride decketh
herself with ornaments, and as the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I would
live in Christ's heart; in the clefts of that rock my soul would eternally
abide. The sparrow hath made a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where
she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God;
and so too would I make my nest, my home, in Thee, and never from Thee may the
soul of Thy turtle dove go forth again, but may I nestle close to Thee, O Jesus,
my true and only rest.
"When my precious Lord I find,
All my ardent passions glow;
Him with cords of love I bind,
Hold and will not let Him go."