September 11—Morning—Isaiah 25:4
"For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is like a storm against the wall." — Isaiah 25:4

Who is as poor as Jesus's poor? Who is as needy as the needy of the Redeemer? The world does not know them, because it did not know Him. And as the Master was, so are His servants in this world. But, my soul, observe how sweetly Jesus is all this—a strength to the poor in their distress by taking all the storm Himself. He is a shadow from the heat, the heat of the wrath of a broken law, which Jesus bore Himself when He died to expiate the breaches of it. His blood and righteousness cool the heat of sin and quench all the fiery darts of the wicked—these terrible ones that beat upon a poor sinner like a storm against the wall. Moreover, when the showers of wrath fall on the wicked at the last day, when that horrible tempest of fire and brimstone, spoken of by the Psalmist, comes down on the ungodly, Jesus will be a hiding place from the storm and a cover from the tempest; not a drop can fall on those who are under Him and sheltered by His blood and righteousness. As the church is now said to sit under His shadow with great delight in this wilderness state, and His fruit is sweet to her taste, so when she has fully come up out of it, having all along leaned upon her Beloved, and having entered with Him into His glory, there will be both security and delight, everlasting safety and joy. Precious Jesus, You have been a strength indeed to my poor soul, and You will be my portion forever. Oh, give me to see my daily need of You, to feel my poverty and weakness; the trials of persecution, both outside and within; that from all the terrors of the law, the alarms of guilt in the conscience, the remnants of indwelling sin in a body of death, which is virtually all sin—the accusations of Satan, the just judgments of God; in You, You one glorious ordinance of heaven, precious Lord Jesus, I may behold myself secure in You, and continually cry out, in the language of Your servant the prophet, "Surely shall one say, in the Lord I have righteousness and strength; even to You do I come; and never shall I be ashamed or confounded, world without end."

September 11—Evening—Mark 16:3-4
"And they said among themselves, 'Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb?' (But when they looked, they saw that the stone had been rolled away) for it was very large." — Mark 16:3-4

My soul, how very often, like these poor women at the door of our Lord's tomb, have you been at a loss to think where help would come from to support you in your time of need? And how often, like them, have you found, when looking again, all the difficulties you had imagined removed! And with you, the mercy has been, if possible, even more striking. For you not only needed the stone to be rolled away from the door of the tomb, that you might see Jesus, but to have the stone taken away from your heart, that you might love and believe in Jesus to the salvation of your soul. Is it so then, that whenever you are putting forth the question and inquiry, full of doubt, fear, and uncertainty, who shall help in this or that difficulty; and when you look again, behold, the Lord has been better to you than all your fears, and "every mountain before your great Zerubbabel has become a plain?" Will you not learn from this that your Lord Jesus, with all His benefits, is not only set before you and revealed to you, but made over to you, to be received, enjoyed, and used by you for all and every purpose in which His glory and your salvation are concerned? The stone is indeed very large in every heart by nature, and immovable by natural strength. But look again. He who arose from the dead and broke open the tomb can and will take it away, according to that sweet promise in Ezekiel 36:26. And if the stone is removed, and the fountain of life broken up, in the person, glory, and triumphs of Jesus, come then, my soul, "and draw water out of those wells of salvation." Oh! How truly blessed it is to see Jesus in all things and to enjoy Jesus in all things; for then, whatever great obstacles seem to lie in the way, the Lord Himself does and will remove them. "He brings the blind by a way they did not know. He causes them to walk in places they have not known. Crooked things are made straight, and rough places plain: and all His redeemed then see the salvation of our God!"