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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
MORNING:
"Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth."
-- Judges 16:6
Where lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds
on; for faith studies what the promise is-an emanation of divine grace,
an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, "My God could
not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it
is quite certain his Word will be fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who
gave this promise?" It considereth not so much its greatness, as, "Who
is the author of it?" She remembers that it is God who cannot lie-God
omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise
must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction.
She remembereth, why the promise was given,-namely, for God's glory,
and she feels perfectly sure that God's glory is safe, that he will
never stain his own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre of his own crown;
and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith also
considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the
Father's intention to fulfil his word. "He that spared not his own Son,
but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things?" Moreover faith looks back upon the past,
for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her
courage. She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that he
never did once fail any of his children. She recollecteth times of
great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her
day her strength was found, and she cries, "No, I never will be led to
think that he can change and leave his servant now. Hitherto the Lord
hath helped me, and he will help me still." Thus faith views each
promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does
so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life!"
EVENING:
"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of
my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."
-- Psalms 25:5
When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in the way of
the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a little child upheld by
its parent's helping hand, and he craves to be further instructed in
the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the burden of this
prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired to be
still in the Lord's school: four times over in two verses he applies
for a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many
professors if instead of following their own devices, and cutting out
new paths of thought for themselves, they would enquire for the good
old ways of God's own truth, and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them
sanctified understandings and teachable spirits. "For thou art the God
of my salvation." The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of
salvation to his people. Reader, is he the God of your salvation? Do
you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the
Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you
may use this as an argument for obtaining further blessings; if the
Lord has ordained to save you, surely he will not refuse to instruct
you in his ways. It is a happy thing when we can address the Lord with
the confidence which David here manifests, it gives us great power in
prayer, and comfort in trial. "On thee do I wait all the day." Patience
is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we
are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our
privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy,
in trust all the days of our life. Our faith will be tried faith, and
if it be of the true kind, it will bear continued trial without
yielding. We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember
how long and how graciously he once waited for us.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
and preacher Charles Spurgeon. It's part of HEARTLIGHT Magazine,
the leading Christian living e-zine on the Web. Visit HEARTLIGHT
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