Fri.-Sabbath, 10/2-4/15 Devotion

Hip, hip, hooray—it's almost The Lord's Day (Sunday)! In order to help get us ready for church, here is Thomas Watson, in his book, "The Lord's Prayer":

"The old serpent [Satan] either takes men off from the use of means [of grace], or makes them miscarry in the use of them.

"He labors to take men off from duty, from praying and hearing [sermons], in order to discourage them; and, to do that, he has two artifices [tricks]:

"He discourages them from duty by suggesting to them their unworthiness; that they are not worthy to approach to God, or have any signals of His love and favor. They are sinful, and God is holy, how dare they presume to bring their impure offering to God? That we should see ourselves unworthy, is good, and argues humility; but to think we should not approach God because of unworthiness, is a conclusion of the devil's making. God says, 'Come, though unworthy.' By this temptation, the devil takes many off from coming to the Lord's Table. 'Oh,' says he, 'this is a solemn ordinance, and requires much holiness: how dare you so unworthily come? You will eat and drink un-worthily.' Thus, as Saul kept the people from eating honey, so the devil by this temptation, scares many from this ordinance, which is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb."