TDR: 27 June (Luke 17:32)

‘Remember Lot’s wife!’ (Luke 17:32)

She received the angels, and hospitably entertained them; she believed their message, and prepared to act upon it; she obeyed their command, and left Sodom and her children behind her. She forsook the ungodly, and went in company with the saints; yet her heart was left in the city, and she looked back.

She was deprived of life for highly prizing life’s comforts. She was cut off by a visible display of God’s judgement. The situation in which she died was instructive; it was not in Sodom, but on the plain; she escaped one judgement, but was overtaken by another. She was left as a sad example of God’s jealousy and displeasure against sin.

Here is a warning to the covetous, whose hearts are set on things below; to the self-willed, who trifle with God’s commands; to the undecided, who stand between Sodom and Zoar. God will be honoured by our obedience or by our sufferings. It is dangerous to trifle with the smallest of God’s commands. We may overcome one temptation and yet fall by another. Let us self-examine: are our hearts detached from the world? Do not be high-minded, rather fear the Lord.

Waiting for our Lord’s returning,
Be it ours His word to keep.
Let our lamps be always burning;
Let us watch while others sleep;
We’re no longer of the night,
We are children of the light.

THE DAILY REMEMBRANCER by James Smith (1802-1862)

Journal Jottings

‘May I never be laid aside from my beloved work, until I am laid in my grave. The Lord is now blessing his word, both to sinners and saints, and on some backsliders he is exerting his power. O to see a glorious work!’