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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Thursday, January 1, 2009
MORNING:
"They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."
-- Joshua 5:12
Israel's weary wanderings were all over, and the promised rest was
attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce Amalekites, and
howling wildernesses: they came to the land which flowed with milk and
honey, and they ate the old corn of the land. Perhaps this year,
beloved Christian reader, this may be thy case or mine. Joyful is the
prospect, and if faith be in active exercise, it will yield unalloyed
delight. To be with Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of
God, is a cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a
double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between
us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already
experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us. Let us
banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with exceeding great joy, in
the prospect that this year we shall begin to be "for ever with the
Lord."
A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do service for
their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is no reason why the
New Year's text should not still be true. "We who have believed do
enter into rest." The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance; he
gives us "glory begun below." In heaven they are secure, and so are we
preserve in Christ Jesus; there they triumph over their enemies, and we
have victories too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord,
and this is not denied to us; they rest in his love, and we have
perfect peace in him: they hymn his praise, and it is our privilege to
bless him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on earthly
ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like the garden of
the Lord. Man did eat angels' food of old, and why not now? O for grace
to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan this
year!
EVENING:
"We will be glad and rejoice in thee."
-- Song of Solomon 1:4
We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will not open the gates of the
year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of
the harp of joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. "O come,
let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of
our salvation." We, the called and faithful and chosen, we will drive
away our griefs, and set up our banners of confidence in the name of
God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening
tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the Lord.
Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in
which thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the
name of Jesus. We WILL, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the
crown of our heart's delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by
mourning in his presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the
skies, let us rehearse our everlasting anthem before we sing it in the
halls of the New Jerusalem. We will BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with
one sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be any
limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of grace find
their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and cinnamon even now,
and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself? We will be glad
and rejoice IN THEE. That last word is the meat in the dish, the kernel
of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus!
What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, aye, and every drop of
their fulness in him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, thou art the present
portion of thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of thy
preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be glad and
rejoice in thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord, and December
close with gladness in Jesus.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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