Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 18
Morning
"Thy
paths drop fatness."—Psalm 65:11.
Many are "the paths of
the Lord" which "drop fatness," but an especial one is the path
of prayer. No believer, who is much in the closet, will have need to cry,
"My leanness, my leanness; woe unto me." Starving souls live at a
distance from the mercy-seat, and become like the
parched fields in times of drought. Prevalence with God in wrestling prayer is
sure to make the believer strong—if not happy. The nearest place to the
gate of heaven is the throne of the heavenly grace. Much alone, and you will
have much assurance; little alone with Jesus, your religion will be shallow,
polluted with many doubts and fears, and not sparkling with the joy of the Lord.
Since the soul-enriching path of prayer is open to the very weakest saint;
since no high attainments are required; since you are not bidden to come
because you are an advanced saint, but freely invited if you be a saint at all;
see to it, dear reader, that you are often in the way of private devotion. Be
much on your knees, for so Elijah drew the rain upon famished Israel's fields.
There is another especial
path dropping with fatness to those who walk therein, it is the secret walk of
communion. Oh! the delights of fellowship with Jesus!
Earth hath no words which can set forth the holy calm
of a soul leaning on Jesus' bosom. Few Christians understand it, they live in
the lowlands and seldom climb to the top of Nebo: they live in the outer court,
they enter not the holy place, they take not up the
privilege of priesthood. At a distance they see the sacrifice, but they sit not
down with the priest to eat thereof, and to enjoy the fat of the burnt
offering. But, reader, sit thou ever under the shadow of Jesus; come up to that
palm tree, and take hold of the branches thereof; let thy beloved be unto thee
as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, and thou shalt be satisfied as
with marrow and fatness. O Jesus, visit us with Thy salvation!
Evening
"Behold, to obey is better than
sacrifice."—1 Samuel 15:22.
Saul had been commanded to
slay utterly all the Amalekites and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he
preserved the king, and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of
the sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did it with a
view of offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel met him at once with the
assurance that sacrifices were no excuse for an act of direct rebellion. The
sentence before us is worthy to be printed in letters of gold, and to be hung
up before the eyes of the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond of
the fineries of will-worship, but utterly neglect the laws of God. Be it ever
in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the path of your Saviour's command is better than any outward form of
religion; and to hearken to His precept with an attentive ear is better than to
bring the fat of rams, or any other precious thing to lay upon His altar. If
you are failing to keep the least of Christ's commands to His disciples, I pray
you be disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of attachment to
your Master, and all the devout actions which you may
perform, are no recompense for disobedience. "To obey," even in the
slightest and smallest thing, "is better than sacrifice," however
pompous. Talk not of Gregorian chants, sumptuous robes, incense, and banners;
the first thing which God requires of His child is obedience; and though you
should give your body to be burned, and all your goods to feed the poor, yet if
you do not hearken to the Lord's precepts, all your formalities shall profit
you nothing. It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a little child, but it is
a much more blessed thing when one has been taught the lesson, to carry it out
to the letter. How many adorn their temples and decorate their priests, but
refuse to obey the word of the Lord! My soul, come not thou into their secret.