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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008
MORNING:
"The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted."
-- Psalms 104:16
Lebanon's cedars are emblematic of the Christian, in that they owe
their planting entirely to the Lord. This is quite true of every child
of God. He is not man-planted, nor self-planted, but God-planted. The
mysterious hand of the divine Spirit dropped the living seed into a
heart which he had himself prepared for its reception. Every true heir
of heaven owns the great Husbandman as his planter. Moreover, the
cedars of Lebanon are not dependent upon man for their watering; they
stand on the lofty rock, unmoistened by human irrigation; and yet our
heavenly Father supplieth them. Thus it is with the Christian who has
learned to live by faith. He is independent of man, even in temporal
things; for his continued maintenance he looks to the Lord his God, and
to him alone. The dew of heaven is his portion, and the God of heaven
is his fountain. Again, the cedars of Lebanon are not protected by any
mortal power. They owe nothing to man for their preservation from
stormy wind and tempest. They are God's trees, kept and preserved by
him, and by him alone. It is precisely the same with the Christian. He
is not a hot-house plant, sheltered from temptation; he stands in the
most exposed position; he has no shelter, no protection, except this,
that the broad wings of the eternal God always cover the cedars which
he himself has planted. Like cedars, believers are full of sap, having
vitality enough to be ever green, even amid winter's snows. Lastly, the
flourishing and majestic condition of the cedar is to the praise of God
only. The Lord, even the Lord alone hath been everything unto the
cedars, and, therefore David very sweetly puts it in one of the psalms,
"Praise ye the Lord, fruitful trees and all cedars." In the believer
there is nothing that can magnify man; he is planted, nourished, and
protected by the Lord's own hand, and to him let all the glory be
ascribed.
EVENING:
"And I will remember my covenant."
-- Genesis 9:15
Mark the form of the promise. God does not say, "And when ye shall look
upon the bow, and ye shall remember my covenant, then I will not
destroy the earth," but it is gloriously put, not upon our memory,
which is fickle and frail, but upon God's memory, which is infinite and
immutable. "The bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it,
that I may remember the everlasting covenant." Oh! it is not my
remembering God, it is God's remembering me which is the ground of my
safety; it is not my laying hold of his covenant, but his covenant's
laying hold on me. Glory be to God! the whole of the bulwarks of
salvation are secured by divine power, and even the minor towers, which
we may imagine might have been left to man, are guarded by almighty
strength. Even the remembrance of the covenant is not left to our
memories, for we might forget, but our Lord cannot forget the saints
whom he has graven on the palms of his hands. It is with us as with
Israel in Egypt; the blood was upon the lintel and the two side-posts,
but the Lord did not say, "When you see the blood I will pass over
you," but "When I see the blood I will pass over you." My looking to
Jesus brings me joy and peace, but it is God's looking to Jesus which
secures my salvation and that of all his elect, since it is impossible
for our God to look at Christ, our bleeding Surety, and then to be
angry with us for sins already punished in him. No, it is not left with
us even to be saved by remembering the covenant. There is no
linsey-wolsey here-not a single thread of the creature mars the fabric.
It is not of man, neither by man, but of the Lord alone. We should
remember the covenant, and we shall do it, through divine grace; but
the hinge of our safety does not hang there-it is God's remembering us,
not our remembering him; and hence the covenant is an everlasting
covenant.
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