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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Friday, August 1, 2008
MORNING:
"Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn."
-- Ruth 2:2
Downcast and troubled Christian, come and glean to-day in the broad
field of promise. Here are abundance of precious promises, which
exactly meet thy wants. Take this one: "He will not break the bruised
reed, nor quench the smoking flax." Doth not that suit thy case? A
reed, helpless, insignificant, and weak, a bruised reed, out of which
no music can come; weaker than weakness itself; a reed, and that reed
bruised, yet, he will not break thee; but on the contrary, will restore
and strengthen thee. Thou art like the smoking flax: no light, no
warmth, can come from thee; but he will not quench thee; he will blow
with his sweet breath of mercy till he fans thee to a flame. Wouldst
thou glean another ear? "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." What soft words! Thy heart is tender,
and the Master knows it, and therefore he speaketh so gently to thee.
Wilt thou not obey him, and come to him even now? Take another ear of
corn: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord and
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." How canst thou fear with such a
wonderful assurance as this? Thou mayest gather ten thousand such
golden ears as these! "I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and
like a thick cloud thy transgressions." Or this, "Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool." Or this, "The Spirit and the Bride
say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him
take the water of life freely." Our Master's field is very rich; behold
the handfuls. See, there they lie before thee, poor timid believer!
Gather them up, make them thine own, for Jesus bids thee take them. Be
not afraid, only believe! Grasp these sweet promises, thresh them out
by meditation and feed on them with joy.
EVENING:
"Thou crownest the year with thy goodness."
-- Psalms 65:11
All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us;
both when we sleep and when we wake his mercy waits upon us. The sun
may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God never ceases to shine
upon his children with beams of love. Like a river, his lovingkindness
is always flowing, with a fulness inexhaustible as his own nature. Like
the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth, and is always
ready to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all
his creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and
have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with beams
more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain
seasons swollen by the rain, and as the atmosphere itself is sometimes
fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than
heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours;
its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifieth his grace before the
sons of men. Amongst the blessings of the nether springs, the joyous
days of harvest are a special season of excessive favour. It is the
glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are then abundantly
bestowed; it is the mellow season of realization, whereas all before
was but hope and expectation. Great is the joy of harvest. Happy are
the reapers who fill their arms with the liberality of heaven. The
Psalmist tells us that the harvest is the crowning of the year. Surely
these crowning mercies call for crowning thanksgiving! Let us render it
by the inward emotions of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed; let our
spirits remember, meditate, and think upon this goodness of the Lord.
Then let us praise him with our lips, and laud and magnify his name
from whose bounty all this goodness flows. Let us glorify God by
yielding our gifts to his cause. A practical proof of our gratitude is
a special thank-offering to the Lord of the harvest.
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