Devotional: God’s Forever Servants

[I have enjoyed the Morning and Evening devotionals of the late 1800’s Particular Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, but find them a bit archaic in presentation. So I have re-written them in more modern fashion for modern ears, in some cases even modifying them.]

I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. (Isaiah 41:9, NIV)

If we have received the grace of God in our hearts, its practical effect has been to make us God’s servants. We may be unfaithful servants, we certainly are unprofitable ones, but yet, blessed be his name, we are his servants, wearing His servant’s uniform, feeding at His table, and obeying His commands. We were once the servants of sin, but He who made us free has now taken us into His family and taught us obedience to His will.

We do not serve our Master perfectly, but we would if we could. As we hear God’s voice saying unto us, “You are my servant,” we can answer with David, “I am your servant; you have loosed my bonds.”

But the Lord calls us not only his servants, but his chosen ones–“I have chosen you.” We have not chosen him first, but he has chosen us. If we are now God’s servants, we were not always so. To sovereign grace the change must be ascribed. The eye of sovereignty singled us out, and the voice of unchanging grace declared, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). Long before time began or space was created, God had written upon his heart the names of his elect people, had predestined them to be conformed to the image of his Son, and ordained them heirs of all the fulness of his love, his grace, and his glory.

What comfort is here! Has the Lord loved us so long, and will he yet cast us away? He knew how stiff-necked we should be; he understood that our hearts were evil, and yet he made the choice. Ah! our Savior is no fickle lover. He doesn’t feel enchanted momentarily with some gleams of beauty from his church’s eye, and then afterwards cast her off because of her unfaithfulness. No, he married her for all eternity; and it is written of Jehovah, “He hates divorce” (Malachi 2:16). This eternal choice is a bond upon our gratitude and upon his faithfulness which neither can disown.