Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
August 27
Morning
"How
long will it be ere they believe me?"—Numbers 14:11.
Strive with all diligence
to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonours Christ,
that He will withdraw His visible presence if we insult Him by indulging it. It
is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we can never entirely extract from the
soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance. Among hateful
things it is the most to be abhorred. Its injurious nature is so venomous that
he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it is
exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it
is most wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in
doubting Him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, He may well cry out,
"Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves."
This is crowning His head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel
for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is
needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground
for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is
uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has
unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust
all-sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most
hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by our
eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust His fulness, but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits
have drawn their supplies from Him, and not one of them has murmured at the
scantiness of His resources. Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for
his only errand is to cut the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour. Bunyan tells us that unbelief has "as many
lives as a cat:" if so, let us kill one life now, and continue the work
till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou traitor, my heart abhors
thee.
Evening
"Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O
Lord God of truth."—Psalm 31:5.
These words have been frequently used by holy men in their hour of
departure. We may profitably consider them this evening. The object of the
faithful man's solicitude in life and death is not his body or his estate, but
his spirit; this is his choice treasure—if this be
safe, all is well. What is this mortal state compared with the soul? The
believer commits his soul to the hand of his God; it came from Him, it is His
own, He has aforetime sustained it, He is able to keep it, and it is most fit
that He should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah's hands; what we
entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that day of days towards
which we are hastening. It is peaceful living, and glorious dying, to repose in
the care of heaven. At all times we should commit our all to Jesus' faithful
hand; then, though life may hang on a thread, and adversities may multiply as
the sands of the sea, our soul shall dwell at ease, and delight itself in quiet
resting places.
"Thou
hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." Redemption is a solid basis for confidence.
David had not known Calvary as we have done, but temporal redemption cheered
him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more sweetly console us? Past deliverances
are strong pleas for present assistance. What the Lord has done He will do
again, for He changes not. He is faithful to His promises, and gracious to His
saints; He will not turn away from His people.
"Though
Thou slay me I will trust,
Praise Thee
even from the dust,
Prove, and
tell it as I prove,
Thine unutterable love.
Thou mayst chasten and correct,
But Thou
never canst neglect;
Since the
ransom price is paid,
On Thy love
my hope is stay'd."