June 13 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"...they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (Isa. 40:31).

Devotional

Those who are conscious of a relapsed state of soul often ask, "Should I still go through the motions of spiritual duties and enjoyments even though I am aware that my heart is in a state of backsliding from God?" To this we reply—the warrant of a Christian's duty is not the measure of his grace, but the commands of his God.

Since this is so, then—no matter low your state of soul may be—you are bound to meet all those obligations and to discharge all those duties which a profession of Christ enjoins. You are to do so in spite of the spiritual and mental fluctuations to which your soul is always exposed.

Unless you are alert to his scheme, Satan will gain a great advantage over you here. Assuming the form of an angel of light, and with angelic gentleness and plausibility, he will suggest that your frame of soul is too numb and lifeless and dull to draw near to God. He will insinuate that your affections are too frigid, your love is too hard, your heart is too carnal, your mind is too groveling, your pursuits are too earthly, your backslidings are too great, and your neglects are too many to take to Christ. He will point out the folly, the hypocrisy, and the inconsistency of being found in the employment and use of holy and spiritual duties while your soul thus cleaves to the dust. But do not listen to his false suggestions, and do not heed his plausible but misleading reasoning, no, not for a moment.

It is only in the way of waiting upon God that you will be recovered from the lapsed state of your soul. In the way of worship, of meditation, of confession, of tears, of prayer, of fellowship, you may yet rise from the dust, and with bolder pinions and richer plumage and sweeter song soar to the gate of heaven and return again, scattering around you its blessings and reflecting its glory.

Oh! Go to Jesus, then, however low and discouraging your spiritual state may be. Do not relax in using a single means of grace.

The Spirit breathes upon the Word,
and brings the truth to sight;
precepts and promises afford
a sanctifying light.

A glory gilds the sacred page,
majestic, like the sun:
it gives a light to ev'ry age;
it gives, but borrows none.

The Hand that gave it still supplies
the gracious light and heat:
his truths upon the nations rise;
they rise, but never set.

Let everlasting thanks be thine
for such a bright display
as makes a world of darkness shine
with beams of heav'nly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue
the steps of him I love.
till glory break upon my view
in brighter worlds above.

(William Cowper, 1779)

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.