June 21 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

Devotional

To the soul hungering and thirsting for the Lord Jesus, Jesus presents himself in the Supper. He draws back the shutter; he opens the window; he stands within it; and he looks upon his people, gathered around his Table, desiring to remember his love.

When you are thus looking for your Beloved, the meditation of your soul is, "Precious Jesus! I have come to your ordinance invited by your love, drawn by your Spirit. But what is it to my soul without you? Your minister may open this institution with clarity and power; but if you do not manifest yourself to break and heal my heart—if I don't catch one glimpse of you, my Lord, then it is no means of grace or sweetness to my soul. O Lord, I want by faith to see you in the baptism of your sufferings. I want by your Spirit to feed upon your flesh, and to drink of your blood. I want to enjoy communion with you.

"O Lord, you know my heart. You know the great desire of my soul, that I might enjoy fellowship with you, O Christ. Oh, that I might have more of you; oh, that I might meet with you; oh, that I might have some further manifestation of you; and oh, that I might have my soul closer knit to you. I come thirsting after you, O Lord Jesus, knowing both my infinite need of you and your infinite excellency and fullness to meet my need. My soul starves and perishes without you. But in the enjoyment of you, O Christ, there is more than enough to satisfy my soul.

"That which I have had of you, O Christ, sometimes in your Word and sometimes in prayer, has been sweet to my taste. But I look for closer communion here; I look for a clearer manifestation of you here; for this is the great 'communion of the body and blood of Jesus' (1 Cor. 10:16).

"Behold, O Lord, I approach these windows of your house, a poor, unworthy, backsliding child—tried and tempted. Yet, just as I am, dear Lord, I come. I dare not, I cannot, stay away from you, O Divine lodestone of my heart, precious magnet of my soul! 'Draw me, and then I will run after you' (Song 1:4 KJV). Show yourself in the window and, overcome with your beauty and your love, I exclaim, 'Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me' (Song 6:5).

"Blessed Spirit! I have been taught to believe that you will take the things of Jesus and show them to me. Please open the window of this ordinance and let me behold my soul's Beloved standing within it. I cannot live without him. I cannot die without him. Living or dying I must have Christ. 'I am my Beloved's, and his desire is towards me' (Song 7:10). And truly my soul's desire is towards him. There is no love like Christ's love. There is no voice like Christ's voice. There is no sympathy like Christ's sympathy. There is no friend like this Friend. There is no Christ like my Christ."

The window is open! "The voice of my Beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills" (Song 2:8). He looks forth at the window; and lively faith and ardent love, sweet contrition and holy joy, possess and overwhelm my soul!

Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;
here would I touch and handle things unseen;
here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace,
and all my weariness upon thee lean.

This is the hour of banquet and of song;
this is the heavenly table spread for me;
here let me feast, and feasting, still prolong
the hallowed hour of fellowship with thee.

Here would I feed upon the bread of God,
here drink with thee the royal wine of heaven;
here would I lay aside each earthly load,
here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven.

I have no help but thine; nor do I need
another arm save thine to lean upon;
it is enough, my Lord, enough indeed;
my strength is in thy might, thy might alone.

I have no wisdom save in him who is
my Wisdom and my Teacher both in One;
no wisdom can I lack while thou art wise;
no teaching do I crave save thine alone.

Mine is the sin, but thine the righteousness:
mine is the guilt, but thine the cleansing blood;
here is my robe, my refuge, and my peace;
thy Blood, thy righteousness, O Lord my God!

Too soon we rise; the symbols disappear;
the feast, though not the love, is past and gone.
The bread and wine remove; but thou art here,
nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun.

Feast after feast thus comes and passes by;
yet, passing, points to the glad feast above,
giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,
the Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love.

(Horatius Bonar, 1855)

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.