Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
September 21
Morning
"I will
rejoice over them to do them good."—Jeremiah 32:41.
How heart-cheering
to the believer is the delight which God has in His saints! We cannot see any
reason in ourselves why the Lord should take pleasure in us; we cannot take
delight in ourselves, for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of
our sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear that God's people
cannot take much delight in us, for they must perceive so much of our
imperfections and our follies, that they may rather lament our infirmities than
admire our graces. But we love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this
glorious mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so does the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that
God delighteth in the cloud-capped mountains, or the
sparkling stars, but we do read that He delighteth in
the habitable parts of the earth, and that His delights are with the sons of
men. We do not find it written that even angels give His soul delight; nor doth
He say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, "Thou shalt be called Hephzibah,
for the Lord delighteth in thee"; but He does
say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and depraved by
sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by His grace. In what strong language He
expresses His delight in His people! Who could have conceived of the eternal
One as bursting forth into a song? Yet it is written, "He will rejoice
over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing."
As He looked upon the world He had made, He said, "It is very good";
but when He beheld those who are the purchase of Jesus' blood, His own chosen
ones, it seemed as if the great heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no
longer, but overflowed in divine exclamations of joy. Should not we utter our
grateful response to such a marvellous declaration of
His love, and sing, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of
my salvation?"
Evening
"Gather
not my soul with sinners."—Psalm 26:9.
Fear made David pray thus,
for something whispered, "Perhaps, after all, thou mayst
be gathered with the wicked." That fear, although marred by unbelief,
springs, in the main, from holy anxiety, arising from the recollection of past
sin. Even the pardoned man will enquire, "What if at the end my sins
should be remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the
saved?" He recollects his present unfruitfulness—so little grace, so
little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the future, he
considers his weakness and the many temptations which beset
him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to the enemy. A
sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions, compel him to
pray, in fear and trembling, "Gather not my soul with sinners."
Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is taken,
you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with sinners. Have you the
two virtues which David had—the outward walking
in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are you resting upon
Christ's sacrifice, and can you compass the altar of God with humble hope? If
so, rest assured, with the wicked you never shall be gathered, for that
calamity is impossible. The gathering at the judgment is like to like.
"Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn
them: but gather the wheat into my barn." If, then, thou art like
God's people, thou shalt be with God's people. You cannot be gathered
with the wicked, for you are too dearly bought. Redeemed by the blood of
Christ, you are His for ever, and where He is, there
must His people be. You are loved too much to be cast
away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish? Impossible! Hell cannot
hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in thy Surety and fear not!