September 15—Morning—Psalm 40:17
"As for me, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me." — Psalm 40:17

My soul, sit down and reckon up your true riches. See what your outward circumstances are, and take an inventory of all your inward wealth. By nature and practice, you are a child of a bankrupt father, even Adam, who lived insolvent and died wretchedly poor in himself, having left only an inheritance of sin, misery, and death, with the loss of divine favor, upon the whole race of his children. By nature and by practice, you are poor in the sight of God, despised by angels because of your loathsome disease of sin; your understanding is darkened, your will is corrupt, and your passions are impetuous, proud, and self-willed—all in opposition to the law of God; exposed to all present evil and everlasting evil; a slave to Satan, a willing captive in his drudgery; hastening daily to death, to the second death, with an insensitivity that is enough to make every heart mourn that beholds you.

Such, my soul, was your state by nature; and such, and far worse, would have been your state forever, had not Jesus intervened, looked upon you, and loved you when you were cast out to perish, with no eye to pity you or help you from your ruin. My soul, can you now say, though poor and needy, the Lord thinks upon you? Oh, blessed Jesus! You do indeed think upon me, provide for me, and have given me the grace to see, to feel my poverty, need, and misery, and to live wholly upon You and Your alms from day to day. Yes, Jesus! I would be poor, I would be needy; I would feel more and more my nothingness, worthlessness, poverty, and wretchedness, that Jesus may be increasingly precious and Your salvation increasingly dear.

Oh, for grace, as a poor needy debtor, daily to increase my awareness of my debt, so that my consciousness of need may make You and Your fullness increasingly blessed. Let it be my daily motto: "As for me, I am poor and needy; but the Lord thinks upon me."

September 15—Evening—Psalm 84:10
"A doorkeeper in the house of my God." — Psalm 84:10

My soul, have you ever considered the blessedness of such an appointment, of such an office, when truly carried out? If Jesus indeed appoints it, and both teaches the nature of it and gives grace for the faithful discharge of it, then it is most honorable and truly blessed. A doorkeeper is supposed to know the various rooms of the house and to be well acquainted with his Lord and Master, in whose service he ministers. He is also expected to know who goes out and who comes in; whether his Lord is at home, and how his fellow servants are employed in their ministry. And if he is a faithful doorkeeper, he will willingly open to none but those whom his Lord approves, but will gladly show all who come in his Lord's name, and are welcome to his Lord, the way to his Lord's presence and his Lord's table.

What do you say, my soul, to such an office? Surely, to be "a hewer of wood and a drawer of water in the service of the sanctuary" is an honorable employment; and how much more to be "a doorkeeper in the house of God!" The man after God's own heart, David, was so delighted with the thought of God's house that he seemed to envy the constant abode of the birds that made their nests at the altar. Poor David, though a king in Israel, could only go up to the house of God now and then, but these birds rested there. And under the full impression of the happiness resulting from a constant residence, he broke out in a hymn of praise: "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house," whose home, whose abode, whose constant employment is there; for "they will be still praising You."

Pause, my soul! Do you have the same views as David? Consider where this blessedness consists: the servants of the Lord, who dwell in their Lord's house, are blessed, not because they receive wages; not because their bountiful Lord provides a table for them; but because He gives them employment, and His praises are their meat and drink: "they will be still praising You," says David. Yes! The house of God is indeed a heaven below, where the servants of the Lord find their joy and happiness in the everlasting praises of God and the Lamb!

But, alas! if the servants of the Lord's house, in any or all of the departments, from the highest to the lowest, dwell there not to glorify the Lord and promote His honor, but to serve their own desires, and, like a signpost to the traveler, stand to direct him on his way but move not a step themselves, far from being blessed, they will find that the heaviest of all condemnations will follow in the end!

Blessed Lord Jesus! You were a doorkeeper indeed to Your own house, that in all things You might have the preeminence! You, for the love You had for Your Master, Your church, Your bride, and Your children, like the Jewish servant, submitted to have Your ear bored at the doorpost, to go out no more free, but to remain forever. Oh, for grace to cry out, in the review of such love that passes knowledge, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." (See Exodus 21:5-6).