June 15 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Matt. 26:38).

Devotional

The spiritual troubles that engulf the Christian are the deepest and most severe of all his trials. What are others in comparison?

Our Lord keenly felt this when he uttered that moving exclamation, "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour" (John 12:27). Galling and agonizing as they were, what to him were the smiting, the scourging, the spitting, and the excruciating torture compared to the sword that was now entering his soul—the mental conflict and spiritual sorrow which, in the hour of atonement, amazed, staggered, and overwhelmed him? Listen again to his moving cry: "My soul is very sorrowful, even unto death" (Matt. 26:38). Then he withdrew himself from his disciples, for the human sympathy on which he had relied in anticipation of the hour of suffering failed him now. Retiring from man, he flung himself upon the bosom of God. Kneeling down, he prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39). Such, my soul, was the conflict that your Savior endured for you!

As partakers of Christ's sufferings, all true believers are acquainted to some degree with some of those soul troubles which thus overwhelmed the Son of God. The suspensions of God's comfort, the hiding of God's countenance, the assaults of Satan, the contact and conflict with sin—all are bitter ingredients in that cup of spiritual sorrow of which we are sometimes called deeply to drink.

O beloved, are you walking in the midst of trouble? Do not imagine that you are alone. May your eye of faith be "anointed with fresh eye-salve" (Rev. 3:18 KJV) to see One walking side by side with you, the same who walked with the three children of Israel through the fiery furnace, "whose form is like the Son of God" (Dan. 3:25 KJV).

Yes! Jesus himself is with you in your trial. Christ himself is with you in your trouble. No matter how narrow it is, your path is not so narrow that your Lord cannot walk it with you, side by side. Your course is not so convoluted that he cannot enable you to thread your way through the labyrinth. There is enough room for you and Christ to walk together. He is with you even though, like the two disciples journeying in mournful communion to Emmaus, your eyes may be too blurred to see him. Yet he is traveling with you along that sad, mournful, lonely, and pensive path.

Christ is in your adversity! Christ is in your cross! Christ is in your burden! Christ is in your suffering! Christ is in your persecution! Christ is in your sickness! Yes, Christ is at your side every step you take, and he will conduct you safely to your Father's house. Even though you walk in the midst of trouble, he will preserve you (Ps. 138:7).

Call Jehovah thy Salvation,
rest beneath th'Almighty's shade,
in his secret habitation
dwell, and never be dismayed:
there no tumult shall alarm thee,
thou shalt dread no hidden snare:
guile nor violence can harm thee,
in eternal safeguard there.

From the sword at noonday wasting,
from the noisome pestilence,
in the depth of midnight blasting,
God shall be thy sure Defense:
he shall charge his angel legions
watch and ward o'er thee to keep;
though thou walk through hostile regions,
though in desert wilds thou sleep.

Since, with pure and firm affection
thou on God hast set thy love,
with the wings of his protection
he will shield thee from above:
thou shalt call on him in trouble,
he will hearken, he will save;
here for grief reward thee double,
crown with life beyond the grave.

(from Psalm 91, James Montgomery, 1822)

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.