Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
September 1
Morning
"Thou
shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory."—Psalm 73:24.
The Psalmist felt his need
of divine guidance. He had just been discovering the foolishness of his own
heart, and lest he should be constantly led astray by it, he resolved that
God's counsel should henceforth guide him. A sense of our own folly is a great step
towards being wise, when it leads us to rely on the wisdom of the Lord. The
blind man leans on his friend's arm and reaches home in safety, and so would we
give ourselves up implicitly to divine guidance, nothing doubting; assured that
though we cannot see, it is always safe to trust the All-seeing God. "Thou
shalt," is a blessed expression of confidence. He was sure that the
Lord would not decline the condescending task. There is a word for thee, O
believer; rest thou in it. Be assured that thy God will be thy counsellor and friend; He shall guide thee; He will direct
all thy ways. In His written Word thou hast this assurance in part fulfilled,
for holy Scripture is His counsel to thee. Happy are
we to have God's Word always to guide us! What were the mariner
without his compass? And what were the Christian without the Bible? This is the
unerring chart, the map in which every shoal is described, and all the channels
from the quicksands of destruction to the haven of
salvation mapped and marked by one who knows all the way. Blessed be Thou, O
God, that we may trust Thee to guide us now, and guide us even to the end!
After this guidance through life, the Psalmist anticipates a divine reception
at last—"and afterward receive me to glory." What a
thought for thee, believer! God Himself will receive thee to
glory—thee! Wandering, erring, straying, yet He will bring thee
safe at last to glory! This is thy portion; live on it this day, and if
perplexities should surround thee, go in the strength of this text straight to
the throne.
Evening
"Trust
in Him at all times."—Psalm 62:8.
Faith is as much the rule
of temporal as of spiritual life; we ought to have faith in God for our earthly
affairs as well as for our heavenly business. It is only as we learn to trust
in God for the supply of all our daily need that we shall live above the world.
We are not to be idle, that would show we did not trust in God,
who worketh hitherto, but in the devil, who is the
father of idleness. We are not to be imprudent or rash; that were to trust
chance, and not the living God, who is a God of economy and order. Acting in
all prudence and uprightness, we are to rely simply and entirely upon the Lord
at all times.
Let me commend to you a
life of trust in God in temporal things. Trusting in God, you will not be
compelled to mourn because you have used sinful means to grow rich. Serve God
with integrity, and if you achieve no success, at least no sin will lie upon
your conscience. Trusting God, you will not be guilty of self-contradiction. He
who trusts in craft, sails this way to-day, and that way the next, like a
vessel tossed about by the fickle wind; but he that trusteth
in the Lord is like a vessel propelled by steam, she cuts through the waves,
defies the wind, and makes one bright silvery straightforward track to her
destined haven. Be you a man with living principles within; never bow to the
varying customs of worldly wisdom. Walk in your path of integrity with
steadfast steps, and show that you are invincibly strong in the strength which
confidence in God alone can confer. Thus you will be delivered from carking
care, you will not be troubled with evil tidings, your
heart will be fixed, trusting in the Lord. How pleasant to float along the
stream of providence! There is no more blessed way of living than a life of
dependence upon a covenant-keeping God. We have no care, for He careth for us; we have no troubles, because we cast our
burdens upon the Lord.