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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Saturday, March 1, 2008
MORNING:
"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out."
-- Song of Solomon 4:16
Anything is better than the dead calm of indifference. Our souls may
wisely desire the north wind of trouble if that alone can be sanctified
to the drawing forth of the perfume of our graces. So long as it cannot
be said, "The Lord was not in the wind," we will not shrink from the
most wintry blast that ever blew upon plants of grace. Did not the
spouse in this verse humbly submit herself to the reproofs of her
Beloved; only entreating him to send forth his grace in some form, and
making no stipulation as to the peculiar manner in which it should
come? Did she not, like ourselves, become so utterly weary of deadness
and unholy calm that she sighed for any visitation which would brace
her to action? Yet she desires the warm south wind of comfort, too, the
smiles of divine love, the joy of the Redeemer's presence; these are
often mightily effectual to arouse our sluggish life. She desires
either one or the other, or both; so that she may but be able to
delight her Beloved with the spices of her garden. She cannot endure to
be unprofitable, nor can we. How cheering a thought that Jesus can find
comfort in our poor feeble graces. Can it be? It seems far too good to
be true. Well may we court trial or even death itself if we shall
thereby be aided to make glad Immanuel's heart. O that our heart were
crushed to atoms if only by such bruising our sweet Lord Jesus could be
glorified. Graces unexercised are as sweet perfumes slumbering in the
cups of the flowers: the wisdom of the great Husbandman overrules
diverse and opposite causes to produce the one desired result, and
makes both affliction and consolation draw forth the grateful odours of
faith, love, patience, hope, resignation, joy, and the other fair
flowers of the garden. May we know by sweet experience, what this
means.
EVENING:
"He is precious."
-- 1 Peter 2:7
As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in our
Beloved. The glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his
face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no fragrance is like the
breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are
worthless things when measured by his preciousness. Peter tells us that
Jesus is precious, but he did not and could not tell us how precious,
nor could any of us compute the value of God's unspeakable gift. Words
cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to his people, nor
fully tell how essential he is to their satisfaction and happiness.
Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty a sore famine if
your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining, but Christ had hidden
himself, and all the world was black to you; or it was night, and since
the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so
much as a ray of light. What a howling wilderness is this world without
our Lord! If once he hideth himself from us, withered are the flowers
of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their
songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth's candles cannot
make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He is the soul
of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our life. Dear reader,
what wouldst thou do in the world without him, when thou wakest up and
lookest forward to the day's battle? What wouldst thou do at night,
when thou comest home jaded and weary, if there were no door of
fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed be his name, he will not
suffer us to try our lot without him, for Jesus never forsakes his own.
Yet, let the thought of what life would be without him enhance his
preciousness.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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