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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Tuesday, January 29, 2008
MORNING:
"The things which are not seen."
-- 2 Corinthians 4:18
In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be
looking forward. Forward lies the crown, and onward is the goal.
Whether it be for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring
of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye
of faith. Looking into the future we see sin cast out, the body of sin
and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of
the inheritance of the saints in light. Looking further yet, the
believer's enlightened eye can see death's river passed, the gloomy
stream forded, and the hills of light attained on which standeth the
celestial city; he seeth himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed
as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the
arms of Jesus, glorified with him, and made to sit together with him on
his throne, even as he has overcome and has sat down with the Father on
his throne. The thought of this future may well relieve the darkness of
the past and the gloom of the present. The joys of heaven will surely
compensate for the sorrows of earth. Hush, hush, my doubts! death is
but a narrow stream, and thou shalt soon have forded it. Time, how
short-eternity, how long! Death, how brief-immortality, how endless!
Methinks I even now eat of Eshcol's clusters, and sip of the well which
is within the gate. The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there.
"When the world my heart is rending
With its heaviest storm of care,
My glad thoughts to heaven ascending,
Find a refuge from despair.
Faith's bright vision shall sustain me
Till life's pilgrimage is past;
Fears may vex and troubles pain me,
I shall reach my home at last."
EVENING:
"The dove came in to him in the evening."
-- Genesis 8:11
Blessed be the Lord for another day of mercy, even though I am now
weary with its toils. Unto the preserver of men lift I my song of
gratitude. The dove found no rest out of the ark, and therefore
returned to it; and my soul has learned yet more fully than ever, this
day, that there is no satisfaction to be found in earthly things-God
alone can give rest to my spirit. As to my business, my possessions, my
family, my attainments, these are all well enough in their way, but
they cannot fulfil the desires of my immortal nature. "Return unto thy
rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." It was
at the still hour, when the gates of the day were closing, that with
weary wing the dove came back to the master: O Lord, enable me this
evening thus to return to Jesus. She could not endure to spend a night
hovering over the restless waste, not can I bear to be even for another
hour away from Jesus, the rest of my heart, the home of my spirit. She
did not merely alight upon the roof of the ark, she "came in to him;"
even so would my longing spirit look into the secret of the Lord,
pierce to the interior of truth, enter into that which is within the
veil, and reach to my Beloved in very deed. To Jesus must I come: short
of the nearest and dearest intercourse with him my panting spirit
cannot stay. Blessed Lord Jesus, be with me, reveal thyself, and abide
with me all night, so that when I awake I may be still with thee. I
note that the dove brought in her mouth an olive branch plucked off,
the memorial of the past day, and a prophecy of the future. Have I no
pleasing record to bring home? No pledge and earnest of lovingkindness
yet to come? Yes, my Lord, I present thee my grateful acknowledgments
for tender mercies which have been new every morning and fresh every
evening; and now, I pray thee, put forth thy hand and take thy dove
into thy bosom.
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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