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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Saturday, January 24, 2009
MORNING:
"Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler."
-- Psalms 91:3
God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler in two senses.
From, and out of. First, he delivers them from the snare-does not let
them enter it; and secondly, if they should be caught therein, he
delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to
some; the second is the best to others.
"He shall deliver thee from the snare." How? Trouble is often the means
whereby God delivers us. God knows that our backsliding will soon end
in our destruction, and he in mercy sends the rod. We say, "Lord, why
is this?" not knowing that our trouble has been the means of delivering
us from far greater evil. Many have been thus saved from ruin by their
sorrows and their crosses; these have frightened the birds from the
net. At other times, God keeps his people from the snare of the fowler
by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are tempted
to do evil they say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin
against God?" But what a blessed thing it is that if the believer
shall, in an evil hour, come into the net, yet God will bring him out
of it! O backslider, be cast down, but do not despair. Wanderer though
thou hast been, hear what thy Redeemer saith-"Return, O backsliding
children; I will have mercy upon you." But you say you cannot return,
for you are a captive. Then listen to the promise-"Surely he shall
deliver thee out of the snare of the fowler." Thou shalt yet be brought
out of all evil into which thou hast fallen, and though thou shalt
never cease to repent of thy ways, yet he that hath loved thee will not
cast thee away; he will receive thee, and give thee joy and gladness,
that the bones which he has broken may rejoice. No bird of paradise
shall die in the fowler's net.
EVENING:
"Martha was cumbered about much serving."
-- Luke 10:40
Her fault was not that she served: the condition of a servant well
becomes every Christian. "I serve," should be the motto of all the
princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was it her fault that she
had "much serving." We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we
possibly can; let head, and heart, and hands, be engaged in the
Master's service. It was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a
feast for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of
entertaining so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to
throw her whole soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was
that she grew "cumbered with much serving," so that she forgot him, and
only remembered the service. She allowed service to override communion,
and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another. We ought
to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service, and have much
communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier
to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary in fighting with the
Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two
helpers to sustain his hands. The more spiritual the exercise, the
sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the hardest to rear: the
most heavenly graces are the most difficult to cultivate. Beloved,
while we do not neglect external things, which are good enough in
themselves, we ought also to see to it that we enjoy living, personal
fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting at the Saviour's feet is
not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext of doing
him service. The first thing for our soul's health, the first thing for
his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep
ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus, and to see that
the vital spirituality of our religion is maintained over and above
everything else in the world.
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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