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\ / Charles Spurgeon's MORNING & EVENING http://www.heartlight.org/
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Thursday, April 30, 2009
MORNING:
"And all the children of Israel murmured."
-- Numbers 14:2
There are murmurers amongst Christians now, as there were in the camp
of Israel of old. There are those who, when the rod falls, cry out
against the afflictive dispensation. They ask, "Why am I thus
afflicted? What have I done to be chastened in this manner?" A word
with thee, O murmurer! Why shouldst thou murmur against the
dispensations of thy heavenly Father? Can he treat thee more hardly
than thou deservest? Consider what a rebel thou wast once, but he has
pardoned thee! Surely, if he in his wisdom sees fit now to chasten
thee, thou shouldst not complain. After all, art thou smitten as hardly
as thy sins deserve? Consider the corruption which is in thy breast,
and then wilt thou wonder that there needs so much of the rod to fetch
it out? Weigh thyself, and discern how much dross is mingled with thy
gold; and dost thou think the fire too hot to purge away so much dross
as thou hast? Does not that proud rebellious spirit of thine prove that
thy heart is not thoroughly sanctified? Are not those murmuring words
contrary to the holy submissive nature of God's children? Is not the
correction needed? But if thou wilt murmur against the chastening, take
heed, for it will go hard with murmurers. God always chastises his
children twice, if they do not bear the first stroke patiently. But
know one thing-"He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children
of men." All his corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to
draw thee nearer to himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the
chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy Father's
hand. For "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as
with sons." "Murmur not as some of them also murmured and were
destroyed of the destroyer."
EVENING:
"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God."
-- Psalms 139:17
Divine omniscience affords no comfort to the ungodly mind, but to the
child of God it overflows with consolation. God is always thinking upon
us, never turns aside his mind from us, has us always before his eyes;
and this is precisely as we would have it, for it would be dreadful to
exist for a moment beyond the observation of our heavenly Father. His
thoughts are always tender, loving, wise, prudent, far-reaching, and
they bring to us countless benefits: hence it is a choice delight to
remember them. The Lord always did think upon his people: hence their
election and the covenant of grace by which their salvation is secured;
he always will think upon them: hence their final perseverance by which
they shall be brought safely to their final rest. In all our wanderings
the watchful glance of the Eternal Watcher is evermore fixed upon us-we
never roam beyond the Shepherd's eye. In our sorrows he observes us
incessantly, and not a pang escapes him; in our toils he marks all our
weariness, and writes in his book all the struggles of his faithful
ones. These thoughts of the Lord encompass us in all our paths, and
penetrate the innermost region of our being. Not a nerve or tissue,
valve or vessel, of our bodily organization is uncared for; all the
littles of our little world are thought upon by the great God.
Dear reader, is this precious to you? then hold to it. Never be led
astray by those philosophic fools who preach up an impersonal God, and
talk of self-existent, self-governing matter. The Lord liveth and
thinketh upon us, this is a truth far too precious for us to be lightly
robbed of it. The notice of a nobleman is valued so highly that he who
has it counts his fortune made; but what is it to be thought of by the
King of kings! If the Lord thinketh upon us, all is well, and we may
rejoice evermore.
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MORNING & EVENING from HEARTLIGHT /\/\
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Morning & Evening is the classic devotional by 19th-century writer
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