Upon the recommendation of a good pastor friend I recently purchased a wonderful daily devotional book entitled, “Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Readings.”  It is a compilation of readings of Puritan pastors & theologians from their writings of the 1600’s or thereabouts.  I highly recommend this book which can be purchased on Amazon Books for $22.  That may seem to be a little pricey, but I have found it well worth the price so far.  This study takes you a little deeper in the application of scripture to our lives than many devotionals.

I wanted to share part of a devotional nugget from the March 17 reading for the day:

“Christ’s love is personal.  He chooses man by name personally and distinctly.  Some have questioned how Christ can love us when he denies many temporal blessings.  Outward blessings however are never a sign of love or hated.  You cannot conclude that Christ hates you because he afflicts; or that he loves you because you are blessed in temporal blessings.  The smallest drop of grace is a greater sign of Christ’s love than all the glory and pleasures of the earth.  Afflictions are far from beings signs of Christ hatred.  Many times they are evidence of His love (Heb. 12:6-11).  The people of God only lack what is bad for them.  God has promised to withhold no good thing.  You can conclude that if you lack something of enjoyment, it is withheld since it is not best for you.  It is no defect in the love of Christ, but a defect in what you are asking for.  God’s love in infinite and eternal, without beginning and without end.  It has no limits to its endurance.  How shall we enter into Christ’s love?  Seek to be like him in holiness and obey all his commands.”  –from David Clarkson, Works, III:38-43