May 13 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"...the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30).

Devotional

The believer will never lose the sealing of the Spirit. The impression of God's pardoning love, made upon the heart by the Holy Spirit, can never be entirely effaced.

We do not say that there are no moments when the "comforts of God are small" (Job 15:11) with the believer. We do not say that there are no times you shall have no severe "fighting without and fear within" (2 Cor. 7:5) or when the experience of the church shall be yours: "I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer" (Song 5:6). You may experience all this and still not lose the sealing of the Spirit.

In the midst of it all, even in the lowest depths, you shall have the abiding conviction of an interest in God's love. This abiding conviction will sustain, animate, and comfort. You will see—as in to the case of the church alluded to above—that, even though she was conscious of her beloved's withdrawal—even though he was gone, and she sought him but could not find him, called him but he gave her no answer—yet not for one moment did she lose the impression that he was still her beloved. Here was the glorious triumph of faith in the hour when all was loneliness, desolation, and joylessness. Here was the sealing of the Spirit which never left her, even though her "beloved had turned and gone." And while not a beam of his beauty shone upon her soul, nor a note of his voice fell upon her ear, still she could look up and exclaim, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" (Song 6:3).

Oh mighty power of faith, that can anchor the soul firm on Jesus in the darkest and wildest tempest! And this is but the sealing of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit so deeply impressing on the heart a sense of pardoning love, so firmly establishing it in the faithfulness of God, the finished work of Christ, the stability of the covenant, and the soul's adoption into the one family that in the gloomiest hour, and under the most trying dispensation, there is that which keeps the soul steady to its center—Jehovah-Jesus! And even should his sun go down behind a mist, he has the sustaining assurance that it will rise upon another world, in peerless, cloudless splendor.

O yes! The sealing of the Spirit is a permanent, abiding impression. It is "for the day of redemption"—the day when there shall be no more conflict, no more darkness, no more sin. It is not to the day of pardon—for you can never be more entirely pardoned than you now are. It is not to the day of acceptance—for you cannot be more fully accepted than now. No, it is to the glorious "day of redemption"—the day of complete emancipation longed for by the redeemed children of God, and even sighed for by the whole creation. "And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:23).

Oh, you sealed of the Lord, shout for joy! You tried and afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! You who find the wilderness to be but a wilderness, a valley of tears—the way rougher and rougher, narrower and narrower! Lift up your heads with joy, the hour of "your redemption is drawing near" (Luke 21:28) and "your days of mourning shall be ended" (Isa. 60:20). And this is your security—a faithful, covenant-keeping God, "who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Cor. 1:22).

Come to our poor nature's night,
with thy blessed inward light,
Holy Ghost, the Infinite,
Comforter Divine.

We are sinful—cleanse us, Lord;
sick and faint—thy strength afford;
lost—until by thee restored,
Comforter Divine.

Like the dew thy peace distill;
guide, subdue our wayward will,
things of Christ unfolding still,
Comforter Divine.

With us, for us, intercede,
and, with voiceless groanings, plead
our unutterable need,
Comforter Divine.

In us Abba, Father! cry,
earnest of the bliss on high,
seal of immortality,
Comforter Divine.

Search for us the depths of God;
upwards by the starry road,
bear us to thy high abode,
Comforter Divine.

(George Rawsom, 1807–1889)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.