Daily Devotional

June 04

A First Book of Daily Readings

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

Sheep without a shepherd

The Bible ... does not merely record history. It helps us to understand the meaning of history. It teaches certain principles very clearly. The first is that all things, even the evil powers, are under God's hand....

Nothing happens apart from God. "The Lord reigneth."... It is of vital importance that we should grasp the biblical doctrine of Providence. It can be defined as, "That continued exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator upholds all His creatures, is operative in all that transpires in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end." ... In connection with this we have to remember God's permissive will. It is beyond our understanding, but it is clearly taught that He permits certain things to happen for His own purposes.

Another thing we see clearly here is that the whole position of the ungodly is precarious and dangerous. They are in "slippery places."All they have is but temporary.... Age and decay, death and judgment, are certain. The most terrible thing about sin is that it blinds men to the realization of this. They do not see that their pomp and glory is but for a season. . ..


The Psalmist saw this so clearly in the sanctuary of God [Psalm 73] that he not only ceased to be envious of the ungodly, but we get the impression that he even began to feel sorry for them as he realized the truth about their position. Thus, his thinking with respect to the ungodly was put right, and there is perhaps no better test of our own profession of the Christian faith than just this. Do we feel sorry for the ungodly in their blindness? Have we even a sense of compassion for them as we see them as sheep without a shepherd ?
Faith on Trial, p. 55

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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.”