“Lamentations 5:1–16 Is any afflicted? Let him pray; and let him in prayer pour out his complaint to God. The people of God do so here; they complain not of evils feared, but of evils felt. If penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of our fathers, we may expect that He who punishes, will return in mercy to us. They acknowledge, Woe unto us that we have sinned! All our woes are owing to our own sin and folly. Though our sins and God’s just displeasure cause our sufferings, we may hope in his pardoning mercy,…
Sunday Morning Calls to Worship
Call to Worship May 7, 2023
“Isaiah 13:1–5 The threatenings of God’s word press heavily upon the wicked, and are a sore burden, too heavy for them to bear. The persons brought together to lay Babylon waste, are called God’s sanctified or appointed ones; designed for this service, and made able to do it. They are called God’s mighty ones, because they had their might from God, and were now to use it for him. They come from afar. God can make those a scourge and ruin to his enemies, who are farthest off, and therefore least dreaded. Verses 6–18 We have here the terrible desolation…
Call to Worship April 30, 2023
“Psalm 146:3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help This verse inclines Clarke to think that the Psalm refers to the change which came over Cyrus, who at first was a warm and decided friend to the Jews, but afterwards was disinclined to aid them. His paraphrase is: ‘Cyrus may change: but God will not: trust therefore in Him.’ But in comparison with God all princes are unworthy of confidence. The best of them may die at the very time when we most build upon their aid. The best…
Call to Worship April 23, 2023
“Lamentations 3:21–36 Having stated his distress and temptation, the prophet shows how he was raised above it. Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. We should observe what makes for us, as well as what is against us. God’s compassions fail not; of this we have fresh instances every morning. Portions on earth are perishing things, but God is a portion for ever. It is our duty, and will be our comfort and satisfaction, to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. Afflictions do and will…
Call to Worship April 16, 2023
“Psalm 91:1–8 He that by faith chooses God for his protector, shall find all in him that he needs or can desire. And those who have found the comfort of making the Lord their refuge, cannot but desire that others may do so. The spiritual life is protected by Divine grace from the temptations of Satan, which are as the snares of the fowler, and from the contagion of sin, which is a noisome pestilence. Great security is promised to believers in the midst of danger. Wisdom shall keep them from being afraid without cause, and faith shall keep them…
Call to Worship April 9, 2023
“Isaiah 53:1–3 No where in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied, that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. But to this day few discern, or will acknowledge, that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded. The low condition he submitted to, and his appearance in the world, were not agreeable to the ideas the Jews had formed of the Messiah. It was expected that he should come in pomp;…
Call to Worship March 19, 2023
“Psalm 135:1–4 The subject-matter of praise, is the blessings of grace flowing from the everlasting love of God. The name of God as a covenant God and Father in Christ, blessing us with all spiritual blessings in him, is to be loved and praised. The Lord chose a people to himself, that they might be unto him for a name and a praise. If they do not praise him for this distinguishing favour, they are the most unworthy and ungrateful of all people. Verses 5–14 God is, and will be always, the same to his church, a gracious, faithful, wonder-working…
Call to Worship March 12, 2023
“Job 38:1–3 Job had silenced, but had not convinced his friends. Elihu had silenced Job, but had not brought him to admit his guilt before God. It pleased the Lord to interpose. The Lord, in this discourse, humbles Job, and brings him to repent of his passionate expressions concerning God’s providential dealings with him; and this he does, by calling upon Job to compare God’s being from everlasting to everlasting, with his own time; God’s knowledge of all things, with his own ignorance; and God’s almighty power, with his own weakness. Our darkening the counsels of God’s wisdom with our…
Call to Worship March 5 2023
“Job 9:1–13 In this answer Job declared that he did not doubt the justice of God, when he denied himself to be a hypocrite; for how should man be just with God? Before him he pleaded guilty of sins more than could be counted; and if God should contend with him in judgment, he could not justify one out of a thousand, of all the thoughts, words, and actions of his life; therefore he deserved worse than all his present sufferings. When Job mentions the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints. We are unfit to judge of…
Call to Worship February 26 2023
“Psalm 87 The foregoing psalm was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood. It is an encomium of Zion, as a type and figure of the gospel-church, to which what is here spoken is very applicable. Zion, for the temple’s sake, is here preferred, I. Before the rest of the land of Canaan, as being crowned with special tokens of God’s favour (v. 1–3). II. Before any other place or country whatsoever, as being replenished with more eminent men and with a greater plenty of divine blessings (v. 4–7). Some think it…