Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 21
Morning
"The
love of Christ constraineth us."—2 Corinthians 5:14.
How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has He ever done anything for
thee? Has He forgiven thy sins? Has He covered thee with a robe of
righteousness? Has He set thy feet upon a rock? Has He established thy goings?
Has He prepared heaven for thee? Has He prepared thee for heaven? Has He
written thy name in His book of life? Has He given thee countless blessings?
Has He laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye
hath not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love.
Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your
Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him, but
kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to His poor
or to His work. Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Why, they say,
"Open rebuke is better than secret love." Who will accept a love so
weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of
generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Think how He has loved you, and given
Himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds
of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. "For Christ's
sake" be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: "for
Christ's sake" be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus to bear
you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make you bold as lions and
swift as eagles in your Lord's service. Love should give wings to the feet of
service, and strength to the arms of labour. Fixed on
God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honour
Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with
an ardour never to be wearied, let us manifest the
constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward
towards itself.
Evening
"Why are
ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?"—Luke 24:38.
Why sayest
thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is hid
from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?" The Lord cares
for all things, and the meanest creatures share in His universal providence,
but His particular providence is over His saints. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him."
"Precious shall their blood be in His sight." "Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." "We know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called
according to His purpose." Let the fact that, while He is the Saviour of all men, He is specially the Saviour
of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are His peculiar care; His
regal treasure which He guards as the apple of His eye; His vineyard over which
He watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all
numbered." Let the thought of His special love to you be a
spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe:
"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God says
that as much to you as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am thy shield,
and thy exceeding great reward." We lose much consolation by the habit of
reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home
to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating
faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, "I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not." Think you see Him walking on the waters of thy
trouble, for He is there, and He is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not
afraid." Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel
them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile—accept the voice
of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers consolation; I
cannot refuse it; I will sit under His shadow with great delight."