Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
May 30
Morning
"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that
spoil the vines."—Song of Solomon 2:15.
A little thorn may cause
much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines;
and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in
the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that He will
hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot
destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not
walk with His people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, "If
ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love,
even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." Some
Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour's
presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be
separated from his father. Art thou a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on
without seeing thy Father's face? What! thou the
spouse of Christ, and yet content without His company! Surely, thou hast fallen
into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without
her mate, when he has left her. Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ
from thee? He hides His face behind the wall of thy sins. That wall may be
built up of little pebbles, as easily as of great stones. The sea is made
of drops; the rocks are made of grains: and the sea which divides thee from
Christ may be filled with the drops of thy little sins; and the rock which has
well nigh wrecked thy barque, may have been made by
the daily working of the coral insects of thy little sins. If thou wouldst live
with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with
Christ, take heed of "the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines
have tender grapes." Jesus invites you to go with Him and take
them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes at once and easily. Go with
Him to the hunting.
Evening
"That henceforth we should not serve
sin."—Romans 6:6.
Christian, what hast thou
to do with sin? Hath it not cost thee enough already? Burnt child, wilt
thou play with the fire? What! when thou hast already
been between the jaws of the lion, wilt thou step a second time into his den?
Hast thou not had enough of the old serpent? Did he not poison all thy veins
once, and wilt thou play upon the hole of the asp, and put thy hand upon the
cockatrice's den a second time? Oh, be not so mad! so
foolish! Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure? Didst thou find solid
satisfaction in it? If so, go back to thine old
drudgery, and wear the chain again, if it delight
thee. But inasmuch as sin did never give thee what it promised to bestow, but
deluded thee with lies, be not a second time snared by the old fowler—be
free, and let the remembrance of thy ancient bondage forbid thee to enter the
net again! It is contrary to the designs of eternal love, which all have
an eye to thy purity and holiness; therefore run not counter to the purposes of
thy Lord. Another thought should restrain thee from sin. Christians can
never sin cheaply; they pay a heavy price for iniquity. Transgression
destroys peace of mind, obscures fellowship with Jesus, hinders prayer, brings
darkness over the soul; therefore be not the serf and bondman of sin. There is
yet a higher argument: each time you "serve sin" you have "Crucified
the Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Can you bear that
thought? Oh! if you have fallen into any special sin
during this day, it may be my Master has sent this admonition this evening, to
bring you back before you have backslidden very far. Turn thee to Jesus anew;
He has not forgotten His love to thee; His grace is still the same. With
weeping and repentance, come thou to His footstool, and thou shalt be once more
received into His heart; thou shalt be set upon a rock again, and thy goings
shall be established.