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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Monday, February 25, 2008
MORNING:
"The wrath to come."
-- Matthew 3:7
It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself;
to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and
to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the
sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a
land where the storm has spent itself upon his Saviour's head, and if
there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distil from clouds of
mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his
destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the approach of a
tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark the birds of
heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as they lay their
heads low in terror; to discern the face of the sky as it groweth
black, and look to the sun which shineth not, and the heavens which are
angry and frowning! How terrible to await the dread advance of a
hurricane-such as occurs, sometimes, in the tropics-to wait in terrible
apprehension till the wind shall rush forth in fury, tearing up trees
from their roots, forcing rocks from their pedestals, and hurling down
all the dwelling-places of man! And yet, sinner, this is your present
position. No hot drops have as yet fallen, but a shower of fire is
coming. No terrible winds howl around you, but God's tempest is
gathering its dread artillery. As yet the water-floods are dammed up by
mercy, but the flood-gates shall soon be opened: the thunderbolts of
God are yet in his storehouse, but lo! the tempest hastens, and how
awful shall that moment be when God, robed in vengeance, shall march
forth in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou hide thy head,
or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy may now lead you to
Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel: his riven side is
the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of him; believe in him, cast
thyself upon him, and then the fury shall be overpast for ever.
EVENING:
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
the Lord, and went down to Joppa."
-- Jonah 1:3
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah
disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are
occasions when God's servants shrink from duty. But what is the
consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence
and comfortable enjoyment of God's love. When we serve our Lord Jesus
as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we have the
whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter?
But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at
sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O my
God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun
thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright shinings of thy
face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I
may rejoice in thy presence." In the next place, Jonah lost all peace
of mind. Sin soon destroys a believer's comfort. It is the poisonous
upas tree, from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life
of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn
for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise of divine
protection, for he was not in God's ways; he could not say, "Lord, I
meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore
help me through them." He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with
his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have
all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in
the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God
than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had
to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us
yield ourselves at once.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
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