Evening and
Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
September
17
Morning
"Bring
him unto me."—Mark 9:19.
Despairingly the poor
disappointed father turned away from the disciples to their Master. His son was
in the worst possible condition, and all means had failed, but the miserable
child was soon delivered from the evil one when the parent in faith obeyed the
Lord Jesus' word, "Bring him unto me." Children are a precious gift
from God, but much anxiety comes with them. They may be a great joy or a great
bitterness to their parents; they may be filled with the Spirit of God, or
possessed with the spirit of evil. In all cases, the Word of
God gives us one receipt for the curing of all their ills, "Bring him unto me." O for more agonizing prayer
on their behalf while they are yet babes! Sin is there,
let our prayers begin to attack it. Our cries for our offspring should precede
those cries which betoken their actual advent into a
world of sin. In the days of their youth we shall see sad tokens of that dumb
and deaf spirit which will neither pray aright, nor
hear the voice of God in the soul, but Jesus still commands, "Bring them
unto me." When they are grown up they may wallow in sin and foam with
enmity against God; then when our hearts are breaking we should remember the
great Physician's words, "Bring them unto me." Never must we cease to
pray until they cease to breathe. No case is hopeless while Jesus lives.
The Lord sometimes suffers
His people to be driven into a corner that they may experimentally know how
necessary He is to them. Ungodly children, when they show us our own
powerlessness against the depravity of their hearts, drive us to flee to the
strong for strength, and this is a great blessing to us. Whatever our morning's
need may be, let it like a strong current bear us to
the ocean of divine love. Jesus can soon remove our sorrow,
He delights to comfort us. Let us hasten to Him while
He waits to meet us.
Evening
"Encourage
him."—Deuteronomy 1:38.
God employs His people to
encourage one another. He did not say to an angel, "Gabriel, my servant
Joshua is about to lead my people into Canaan—go, encourage him."
God never works needless miracles; if His purposes can be accomplished by
ordinary means, He will not use miraculous agency. Gabriel would not have been
half so well fitted for the work as Moses. A brother's sympathy is more
precious than an angel's embassy. The angel, swift of wing, had better known
the Master's bidding than the people's temper. An angel had never experienced
the hardness of the road, nor seen the fiery serpents, nor had he led the
stiff-necked multitude in the wilderness as Moses had done. We should be glad
that God usually works for man by man. It forms a bond of brotherhood, and
being mutually dependent on one another, we are fused more completely into one
family. Brethren, take the text as God's message to you. Labour
to help others, and especially strive to encourage them. Talk cheerily
to the young and anxious enquirer, lovingly try to
remove stumblingblocks out of his way. When you find
a spark of grace in the heart, kneel down and blow it into a flame. Leave the young
believer to discover the roughness of the road by degrees, but tell him of the
strength which dwells in God, of the sureness of the promise, and of the charms
of communion with Christ. Aim to comfort the sorrowful, and to animate the
desponding. Speak a word in season to him that is weary, and encourage those
who are fearful to go on their way with gladness. God encourages you by His
promises; Christ encourages you as He points to the heaven He has won for you,
and the spirit encourages you as He works in you to will and to do of
His own will and pleasure. Imitate divine wisdom, and encourage others,
according to the word of this evening.