September 15

Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days. — Prov 19:20 BSB

What slow learners we are, needing lessons day after day, learning bit by bit, “line upon line, here a little, and there a little.” Oh, how slow, forgetful, and stubborn we are as spiritual pupils! No student in any school, whether young or old, could learn as little about earthly things as we seem to have learned about spiritual things, despite so many years of instruction, so many sermons, so many prayers, and so much talk about religion. How little growth we have compared to all we have read, heard, and talked about!

But it’s a mercy that the Lord saves whom he will, and that we are saved by free grace, and free grace alone, through the blood and righteousness of the Son of God. “He is made for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,” so that if we have him, we have everything. If we don’t have him, we have nothing. When these truths are felt, they stir up our souls, leading to many prayers and pleadings with the God of all mercies. All this strips us of the shallow, superficial, and flimsy kind of faith that seems so common in our time.