Daily Devotional

February 03

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)
Reproduced from the OPC website.

Get right with God!

Before the problems of life and of man can be solved, we must first of all realize the true nature of the problem.... We must be prepared for honest thought and a thoroughgoing examination and analysis, which will probe us to the very depths and search our motives as well as our actions. Where are such examination and analysis to be found ?...They are to be found alone in the Bible.... According to this Book, man's troubles are due to the fact that he has sinned and rebelled against God. He was created in a state of happiness which depended upon his relationship to God and his obedience to God's laws and God's will. But man rebelled against God's will and therefore broke the law of his own nature...; happiness follows health. No­where is this succession seen more than in the spiritual and moral realms. Man has become unhealthy. A disease called sin has ravaged his being.


Man refuses to recognize his cor­ruption and resorts to various expedients ... in an attempt to find happiness and peace. But invariably he fails, for the trouble is not only within himself and in his surroundings but also in his relationship to God. Man is fighting against the only One who can give him what he needs and desires. God has said, "There is no peace to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21).

Man, therefore, by fighting God, by resisting and disobeying Him, is robbing himself of the very prize that he covets. And whatever he may do, until a relationship of obedience to God is restored, he will never know health and happiness. He may multiply his wealth and possessions, he may perfect his educational facilities, he may gain the whole world of wealth and know­ledge; but to do so will profit him nothing so long as his relationship to God is not right.

Truth Unchanged, Unchanging, pp. 49-50

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”