The Lord Our Righteousness
Author: Robert Murray M'Cheyne
Tune: How Firm A Foundation

1. I once was a stranger to grace and to God,
I knew not my danger; I felt not my load;
Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree,
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU was nothing to me.

2. Like tears from the daughters of Zion did roll,
I wept when the waters went over His soul;
Yet thought not that my sins nailed Him to the tree
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU, `twas nothing to me.

3. When free grace awoke me, by light from on high,
My works surely shook me, I trembled to die;
No refuge, no safety in self could I see,
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU my Savior must be.

4. My terrors all vanished before His sweet name;
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink from the Fountain, life-giving and free;
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU is all things to me!

5. JEHOVAH TSIDKENU! my Treasure and Boast,
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU! I ne'er can be lost;
In Thee I shall conquer by flood and by field,
My Cable, my Anchor, my Breast-plate and Shield!

6. Even treading the valley, the shadow of death,
This watchword shall rally my faltering breath;
For while from life's fever my God sets me free,
JEHOVAH TSIDKENU, my death song shall be.
*****

Your Beloved?
Every soul has a beloved; something or someone in which to glory, rejoice, and enjoy. With some it is THE WORLD (its vanity, materialism, and honors). With others it is THE FLESH. They live to entertain the flesh, to satisfy the flesh, and to pamper the flesh. With others it is THE FAMILY. Close and distant relatives, family trees, family reunions make up their past, present, and future. With others it is RELIGION and works of righteousness. Their religion is not a PERSON; it is a CAUSE to which they are devoted in hope of a suitable reward. And with some it is SELF, pure and simple; what can we do for me?
To a believer, it is CHRIST! He worships, loves, rejoices, and glories in the Lord Jesus above all things.
Christ is my Beloved and I am His.
Christ; His fellowship, His love, and His approval, are preferred above people, possessions, pleasures, or pursuits. Could One so illustrious and supreme deserve any less?
"Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee!" Psalm 73:25
By Henry Mahan
*****

Christ is our Jonah!
“So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.” Jonah 1:15
Christ is our Jonah, who threw Himself into the sea of His Father's wrath to save us from everlasting perdition! --William Dyer
*****

For me!
"the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave Himself for me!" Galatians 2:20
Is Jesus precious to my heart? Is He the object of my supreme admiration and delight? Does He have my warmest affection?
Do I love Jesus above all?
I must light the torch of my affection for Christ - at the altar of Calvary. I must go there, and learn and believe what the love of Jesus is to me - the vastness of that love - the self-sacrifice of that love - how that love of Jesus . . .
labored for me,
and wept for me,
and bled for me,
and suffered for me,
and died for me!
Can I stand before this love - this love . . .
so precious,
so great,
so enduring,
so self-consuming,
so changeless
- and know that . . .His sin-atoning sacrifice was for me, His cross was for me, His agony was for me, His scorn and insult was for me, His death was for me - and feel no sensibility, no emotion, no love to Jesus? Impossible!
Do not be cast down, then, in vain regrets that your love to Christ is so frigid, so fickle, so dubious. Go and muse upon the reality and the greatness of the Savior's love to you - and if love can inspire love - while you muse, the fire will burn, and your soul shall be all in flame with love to Jesus! --Octavius Winslow