Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) went to seminary and became a pastor before he became a Christian! He tried to get people to be good but failed until he suffered a serious illness and his sister died. He then gave himself to a careful study of Christianity and was born again! The result was a mighty sermon titled “The Explosive Power of a New Affection” in which he pointed out that he had found that the people to whom he preached became good when they came to love Jesus as He is offered in the gospel. Today’s devotional makes the same point in poetry. Try to read it slowly, aloud, and see if you are not richly blessed. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

• Psalm 45:1-8

  Psalm 45:1-8 (ESV)
  Your Throne, O God, Is Forever
  To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil[a] of the Sons of Korah; a love song.
  45 My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
  I address my verses to the king;
  my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.
  2 You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
  grace is poured upon your lips;
  therefore God has blessed you forever.
  3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
  in your splendor and majesty!
  4 In your majesty ride out victoriously
  for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
  let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
  5 Your arrows are sharp
  in the heart of the king’s enemies;
  the peoples fall under you.
  6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
  The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
  7     you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
  with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
  8     your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
  From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;

Psalm 45:1-8

“Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, Known Him?

Is not thine a captured heart?

Chief among ten thousand own Him;

Joyful choose the better part.

Idols once they won thee, charmed thee,

Lovely things of time and sense;

Gilded thus does sin disarm thee,

Honeyed lest thou turn thee thence.

What has stripped the seeming beauty

From the idols of the earth?

Not a sense of right or duty,

But the sight of peerless worth.

Not the crushing of those idols,

With its bitter void and smart;

But the beaming of His beauty,

The unveiling of His heart.

Who extinguishes their taper

Till they hail the rising sun?

Who discards the garb of winter

Till the summer has begun?

‘Tis that look that melted Peter,

‘Tis that face that Stephen saw,

‘Tis that heart that wept with Mary,

Can alone from idols draw:

Draw and win and fill completely,

Till the cup o’er flow the brim,

What have we to do with idols

Who have companied with Him?

Captivated by His beauty,

Worthy tribute haste to bring;

Let His peerless worth constrain thee,

Crown Him now unrivaled King.”

[Ora Rowan, (1834-1879]