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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Monday, August 11, 2008
MORNING:
"Oh that I were as in months past."
-- Job 29:2
Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but regard the
present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the days which they
have passed in communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the
best they have ever known, but as to the present, it is clad in a sable
garb of gloom and dreariness. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now
they feel that they have wandered from him, and they say, "O that I
were as in months past!" They complain that they have lost their
evidences, or that they have not present peace of mind, or that they
have no enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so
tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God's glory. The causes
of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may arise through a
comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected closet is the beginning
of all spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The
heart has been occupied with something else, more than with God; the
affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things
of heaven. A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; he
must be loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of his
presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found in
self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in the heart, and
self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot of the cross.
Christian, if you are not now as you "were in months past," do not rest
satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once
to seek your Master, and tell him your sad state. Ask his grace and
strength to help you to walk more closely with him; humble yourself
before him, and he will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy
the light of his countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while
the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a certainty of
recovery for the worst cases.
EVENING:
"Everlasting consolation."
-- 2 Thessalonians 2:16
"Consolation." There is music in the word: like David's harp, it charms
away the evil spirit of melancholy. It was a distinguished honour to
Barnabas to be called "the son of consolation"; nay, it is one of the
illustrious names of a greater than Barnabas, for the Lord Jesus is
"the consolation of Israel." "Everlasting consolation"-here is the
cream of all, for the eternity of comfort is the crown and glory of it.
What is this "everlasting consolation"? It includes a sense of pardoned
sin. A Christian man has received in his heart the witness of the
Spirit that his iniquities are put away like a cloud, and his
transgressions like a thick cloud. If sin be pardoned, is not that an
everlasting consolation? Next, the Lord gives his people an abiding
sense of acceptance in Christ. The Christian knows that God looks upon
him as standing in union with Jesus. Union to the risen Lord is a
consolation of the most abiding order; it is, in fact, everlasting. Let
sickness prostrate us, have we not seen hundreds of believers as happy
in the weakness of disease as they would have been in the strength of
hale and blooming health? Let death's arrows pierce us to the heart,
our comfort dies not, for have not our ears full often heard the songs
of saints as they have rejoiced because the living love of God was shed
abroad in their hearts in dying moments? Yes, a sense of acceptance in
the Beloved is an everlasting consolation. Moreover, the Christian has
a conviction of his security. God has promised to save those who trust
in Christ: the Christian does trust in Christ, and he believes that God
will be as good as his word, and will save him. He feels that he is
safe by virtue of his being bound up with the person and work of Jesus.
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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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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