Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
March 8
MORNING
ÒWe must through
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.Ó — Acts 14:22
GodÕs people have their trials. It
was never designed by God, when He chose His people, that they should be
an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were
never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the
pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the
charter of privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they
should inevitably be heirs. Trials are a part of our lot; they were
predestinated for us in ChristÕs last legacy. So surely as the stars are
fashioned by His hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are our trials
allotted to us: He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity
and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape
troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors
have been without them. Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had
his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the ÒFather of the
faithful.Ó Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles,
and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy,
who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction. It is ordained of old
that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the
royal mark whereby the KingÕs vessels of honour are
distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of GodÕs children,
they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before
them; they have His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support
them, and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach Òthe
kingdom,Ó it will more than make amends for the Òmuch tribulationÓ through
which they passed to enter it.
March 8
EVENING
ÒShe called his
name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his father called
him Benjamin (son of my right hand).Ó — Genesis 35:18
To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark
side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death;
Jacob, though weeping the motherÕs loss, could see the mercy of the childÕs
birth. It is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith
triumphs in divine faithfulness. SamsonÕs lion yielded honey, and so will our
adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its
fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous flowerets; the stormy wind sweeps
away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distil
bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found
in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in discovering the most
disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a trial; if there were
only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to their necks in it, and
if there were only one lion in the desert they would hear it roar. About us all
there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt, at times, like Jacob,
to cry, ÒAll these things are against me.Ó FaithÕs way of walking is to cast
all care upon the Lord, and then to anticipate good results from the worst
calamities. Like GideonÕs men, she does not fret over the broken pitcher, but
rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of
difficulty she extracts the rare pearl of honour, and
from the deep oceancaves of distress she uplifts the
priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds
treasures hid in the sands; and when her sun of delight goes down, she turns
her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself
appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus
making our dying Benoni to be our living
Benjamin.