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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Friday, October 12, 2007
MORNING:
"I will meditate in thy precepts."
-- Psalms 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is
wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more
alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word
spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the
things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them.
Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine
from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times.
The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else
the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else
much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation,
tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation
therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the
mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve,
and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by
digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner
life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this,
and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing,
reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to
complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies
for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some
Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in
the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not
thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do
not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into
the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will
not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to
drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve
this morning, "I will meditate in thy precepts."
EVENING:
"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost."
-- John 14:26
This age is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in which
Jesus cheers us, not by his personal presence, as he shall do
by-and-by, but by the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy
Ghost, who is evermore the Comforter of the church. It is his office to
console the hearts of God's people. He convinces of sin; he illuminates
and instructs; but still the main part of his work lies in making glad
the hearts of the renewed, in confirming the weak, and lifting up all
those that be bowed down. He does this by revealing Jesus to them. The
Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the
figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He
heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ's
name and grace. He takes not of his own things, but of the things of
Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete,
as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus
the title of Paraclesis. If the one be the Comforter, the other is the
Comfort. Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should the
Christian be sad and desponding? The Holy Spirit has graciously engaged
to be thy Comforter: dost thou imagine, O thou weak and trembling
believer, that he will be negligent of his sacred trust? Canst thou
suppose that he has undertaken what he cannot or will not perform? If
it be his especial work to strengthen thee, and to comfort thee, dost
thou suppose he has forgotten his business, or that he will fail in the
loving office which he sustains towards thee? Nay, think not so hardly
of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is "the Comforter." He
delights to give the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness. Trust thou in him, and he will surely
comfort thee till the house of mourning is closed for ever, and the
marriage feast has begun.
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