Daily Devotional

July 24

A First Book of Daily Readings

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

Fixed on this blissful centre

Every time we take a step in the direction of God [James 4:8] ... God will take a step in our direction.... If we approach Him truly, if we approach Him honestly, we can always be certain that God will meet us. He is the God of salvation. That is a very good reason for drawing near to Him. He has every blessing that we need. There is nothing we can ever stand in need of but God has it.... He is the Giver of ‘every good gift and every perfect gift’. He has put them all in Christ, and He has given us Christ. ‘All things are yours’, says Paul to the Corinthians. Why? Because ‘ye are Christ’s’. It is an inevitable piece of logic.... It is only when I am near to God in Christ that I know my sins are forgiven. I feel His love, I know I am His child and I enjoy the priceless blessings of peace with God and peace within and peace with others. I am aware of His love and I am given a joy that the world can neither give nor take away.

Anyone who has ever tasted of these things must say that there is nothing comparable to being near to God.
Look back across your life. Pick out the most glorious moments in your experience, the moments of supreme peace and joy. Have they not been the times when you have been nearest to God? There is nothing to equal the happiness and joy and peace which result from being near to God. There you are lifted up above your circumstances.... You are made independent of circumstances and accident and chance, independent of all things. It is good to be near to God because it is the place of salvation, because it is the place where you experience all the blessings. It means that you are immersed in the ocean of God’s love and are staying there. Let us adopt this man’s resolve to keep near to God.

Faith on Trial, pp. 122–3

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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.”