Evening, February 10
Go To Morning Reading
“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as
a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.”
Isaiah 44:22
Attentively observe the instructive similitude : our sins are like a cloud . As clouds are of many shapes and shades, so are our transgressions.
As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and darken the landscape beneath,
so do our sins hide from us the light of Jehovah’s face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born
things, and rise from the miry places of our nature; and when so collected
that their measure is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest.
Alas! that, unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers, but
rather threaten to deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. O
ye black clouds of sin, how can it be fair weather with our souls
while ye remain?
Let our joyful eye dwell upon the notable act of divine mercy—“blotting out.” God himself appears upon the scene, and in divine benignity, instead
of manifesting his anger, reveals his grace: he at once and forever
effectually removes the mischief, not by blowing away the cloud, but
by blotting it out from existence once for all. Against the justified
man no sin remains, the great transaction of the cross has eternally
removed his transgressions from him. On Calvary’s summit the great deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was forever
put away, was completely and effectually performed.
Practically let us obey the gracious command , “ return unto me .” Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God? If
we have been forgiven all our sins, let no legal fear withhold us
from the boldest access to our Lord. Let backslidings be bemoaned,
but let us not persevere in them. To the greatest possible nearness
of communion with the Lord, let us, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
strive mightily to return. O Lord, this night restore us!