Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
April 14
Morning
"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they
shoot out the lip, they shake the head."—Psalm 22:7.
Mockery was a great
ingredient in our Lord's woe. Judas mocked Him in the garden; the chief priests
and scribes laughed Him to scorn; Herod set Him at nought;
the servants and the soldiers jeered at Him, and brutally insulted Him; Pilate
and his guards ridiculed His royalty; and on the tree all sorts of horrid jests
and hideous taunts were hurled at Him. Ridicule is always hard to bear, but
when we are in intense pain it is so heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to
the quick. Imagine the Saviour crucified, racked with
anguish far beyond all mortal guess, and then picture that motley multitude,
all wagging their heads or thrusting out the lip in bitterest contempt of one
poor suffering victim! Surely there must have been something more in the
crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and mingled crowd would
not unanimously have honoured Him with such contempt.
Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its greatest apparent
triumph, that after all it could do no more than mock at that victorious
goodness which was then reigning on the cross? O Jesus, "despised and
rejected of men," how couldst Thou die for men
who treated Thee so ill? Herein is love amazing, love divine, yea, love beyond degree. We, too, have despised Thee in the days
of our unregeneracy, and even since our new birth we
have set the world on high in our hearts, and yet Thou bleedest
to heal our wounds, and diest to give us life. O that
we could set Thee on a glorious high throne in all men's hearts! We would ring
out Thy praises over land and sea till men should as universally adore as once
they did unanimously reject.
Thy creatures wrong Thee, O
Thou sovereign Good! Thou art not loved, because
not understood: This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile Ungrateful
men, regardless of Thy smile.
Evening
"Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be
well with him."—Isaiah 3:10.
It is well with the
righteous ALWAYS. If it had said, "Say ye to the righteous, that it is
well with him in his prosperity," we must have been thankful for so great
a boon, for prosperity is an hour of peril, and it is a gift from heaven to be
secured from its snares: or if it had been written, "It is well with him
when under persecution," we must have been thankful for so sustaining an
assurance, for persecution is hard to bear; but when no time is mentioned, all
time is included. God's "shalls" must be
understood always in their largest sense. From the beginning of the year to the
end of the year, from the first gathering of evening shadows until the day-star shines, in all conditions and under all
circumstances, it shall be well with the righteous. It is so well with him that
we could not imagine it to be better, for he is well fed, he feeds upon
the flesh and blood of Jesus; he is well clothed, he wears the imputed
righteousness of Christ; he is well housed, he dwells in God; he is well
married, his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to Christ; he is well
provided for, for the Lord is his Shepherd; he is well endowed, for heaven
is his inheritance. It is well with the righteous—well upon divine
authority; the mouth of God speaks the comforting assurance. O beloved, if
God declares that all is well, ten thousand devils may declare it to be ill,
but we laugh them all to scorn. Blessed be God for a faith
which enables us to believe God when the creatures contradict Him. It
is, says the Word, at all times well with thee, thou righteous one; then,
beloved, if thou canst not see it, let God's word stand thee in stead of sight;
yea, believe it on divine authority more confidently than if thine eyes and thy feelings told it to thee. Whom God
blesses is blest indeed, and what His lip declares is truth most sure and
steadfast.