New.Demonstration

Starting today I will be posting “Daily Devotions” from various saints of old, Lord willing from the present as well. I hope that in some small way you would be able to find spiritual help in posts like this.

I found this particular one from a friend on Facebook, though I am not sure if it’s from a Devotional book. Nevertheless it has great devotional content that gives much to meditate on.

Peruse slowly and feel the weight of the language Sir Octavius employs to make known our Lord who does all things well.

“He has done all things well.”—Mark 7:37

Yes, from first to last, from our cradle to our grave, from the earliest pang of sin’s conviction to the last thrill of sin’s forgiveness, from earth to heaven; this will be our testimony in all the way the Lord our God has led us in the wilderness: “He has done all things well.”

In providence and in grace,
in every truth of His Word,
in every lesson of His love,
in every stroke of His rod,
in every sunbeam that has shone,
in every cloud that has shaded,
in every element that has sweetened,
in every ingredient that has embittered,
in all that has been mysterious, inscrutable, painful, and humiliating;
in all that He gave,
in all that He took away,

—this testimony is His just due, and this our grateful acknowledgment through time and through eternity:

“He has done all things well.”

Has He converted us through grace by a way we had thought the most improbable?

Has He torn up all our earthly hopes by the roots?

Has He thwarted our schemes, frustrated our plans, disappointed our expectations?

Has He taught us in schools most trying, by a discipline most severe, and lessons most humbling to our nature?

Has He withered our strength by sickness, reduced us to poverty by loss, crushed our heart by bereavement?

And have we been tempted to exclaim, “All these things are against me?” Ah! no! faith will yet obtain the ascendancy, and sweetly sing:

“I know in all things that befell,
My Jesus has done all things well.”

Beloved, it must be so, for Jesus can do nothing wrong. Study the way of His providence and grace with the microscopic eye of faith, view them in every light, examine them in their minutest detail, as you would the petal of a flower, or the wing of an insect; and, oh, what wonders, what beauty, what marvellous adaptation would you observe in all the varied dealings with you of your glorious Lord!

I’ll sing of Jesus crucified,
The Lamb of God who bled and died,
A healing balm, a crimson tide,
Flowed from His head, His feet, His side!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

He sought me in the wilderness,
And found me there in deep distress;
He changed and washed this heart of mine,
And filled me with His love Divine!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

For what the Lord has done for me,
For boundless grace so rich and free,
For all His mercies that are past,
I’ll praise Him while my life shall last!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

When sorrow’s waves around me roll,
His promises my mind console;
When earth and hell my soul assail,
His grace and mercy never fail.
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

When death shall steal upon my frame,
To damp and quench the vital flame,
I’ll look into my Savior’s breast,
And there recline and sweetly rest.
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

And when we join the ransomed throng,
To chant the sweet immortal song,
With tuneful heart, and voice, and tongue,
We’ll roll the lofty note along!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

To Him who washed us in His blood,
And made us kings and priests to God;
Hosanna we will ever sing,
And make the heavenly arches ring!
Above the rest this note shall swell,
‘My Jesus has done all things well.’

“He has done all things well.”—Mark 7:37

—adapted from Octavius Winslow‘s, “The Sigh of Christ”

Thanks to Patte Smith, Found in GraceGems.org