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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Sunday, February 22, 2009
MORNING:
"His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob."
-- Genesis 49:24
That strength which God gives to his Josephs is real strength; it is
not a boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, but which
ends in smoke; it is true-divine strength. Why does Joseph stand
against temptation? Because God gives him aid. There is nought that we
can do without the power of God. All true strength comes from "the
mighty God of Jacob." Notice in what a blessedly familiar way God gives
this strength to Joseph-"The arms of his hands were made strong by the
hands of the mighty God of Jacob." Thus God is represented as putting
his hands on Joseph's hands, placing his arms on Joseph's arms. Like as
a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches them that fear him.
He puts his arms upon them. Marvellous condescension! God Almighty,
Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from his throne and lays his hand upon the
child's hand, stretching his arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be
made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is
ascribed to "the mighty God of Jacob." Now, wherever you read of the
God of Jacob in the Bible, you should remember the covenant with Jacob.
Christians love to think of God's covenant. All the power, all the
grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the
things we have, flow to us from the well-head, through the covenant. If
there were no covenant, then we should fail indeed; for all grace
proceeds from it, as light and heat from the sun. No angels ascend or
descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at the top of which
stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be that the archers have sorely
grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but still your bow
abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob's
God.
EVENING:
"The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power."
-- Nahum 1:3
Jehovah "is slow to anger." When mercy cometh into the world she
driveth winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels are red hot with
speed; but when wrath goeth forth, it toileth on with tardy footsteps,
for God taketh no pleasure in the sinner's death. God's rod of mercy is
ever in his hands outstretched; his sword of justice is in its
scabbard, held down by that pierced hand of love which bled for the
sins of men. "The Lord is slow to anger," because he is GREAT IN POWER.
He is truly great in power who hath power over himself. When God's
power doth restrain himself, then it is power indeed: the power that
binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has a strong mind
can bear to be insulted long, and only resents the wrong when a sense
of right demands his action. The weak mind is irritated at a little:
the strong mind bears it like a rock which moveth not, though a
thousand breakers dash upon it, and cast their pitiful malice in spray
upon its summit. God marketh his enemies, and yet he bestirs not
himself, but holdeth in his anger. If he were less divine than he is,
he would long ere this have sent forth the whole of his thunders, and
emptied the magazines of heaven; he would long ere this have blasted
the earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and man would
have been utterly destroyed; but the greatness of his power brings us
mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this evening? Can you by humble
faith look to Jesus, and say, "My substitute, thou art my rock, my
trust"? Then, beloved, be not afraid of God's power; for by faith you
have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify
you, than the shield and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom
he loves. Rather rejoice that he who is "great in power" is your Father
and Friend.
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