Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 31
Morning
"Renew a
right spirit within me."—Psalm 51:10.
A backslider, if there be a
spark of life left in him will groan after restoration. In this renewal the
same exercise of grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance
then; we certainly need it now. We wanted faith that we might come to Christ at
first; only the like grace can bring us to Jesus now. We wanted a word from the
Most High, a word from the lip of the loving One, to end our fears then; we
shall soon discover, when under a sense of present sin, that we need it now. No
man can be renewed without as real and true a manifestation of the Holy
Spirit's energy as he felt at first, because the work is as great, and flesh
and blood are as much in the way now as ever they were. Let thy personal
weakness, O Christian, be an argument to make thee pray earnestly to thy God
for help. Remember, David when he felt himself to be powerless, did not fold
his arms or close his lips, but he hastened to the mercy-seat
with "renew a right spirit within me." Let not the doctrine that you,
unaided, can do nothing, make you sleep; but let it be a goad in your side to
drive you with an awful earnestness to Israel's strong Helper. O that you may
have grace to plead with God, as though you pleaded for your very
life—"Lord, renew a right spirit within me." He
who sincerely prays to God to do this, will prove his honesty by using
the means through which God works. Be much in prayer; live much upon the Word
of God; kill the lusts which have driven your Lord
from you; be careful to watch over the future uprisings of sin. The Lord has
His own appointed ways; sit by the wayside and you
will be ready when He passes by. Continue in all those blessed ordinances which
will foster and nourish your dying graces; and, knowing that all the power must
proceed from Him, cease not to cry, "Renew a right spirit within me."
Evening
"I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great
drought."—Hosea 13:5.
Yes, Lord, Thou
didst indeed know me in my fallen state, and Thou didst even then choose
me for Thyself. When I was loathsome and
self-abhorred, Thou didst receive me as Thy child, and Thou didst satisfy my
craving wants. Blessed for ever be Thy name for this free,
rich, abounding mercy. Since then, my inward experience has often been a
wilderness; but Thou hast owned me still as Thy beloved, and poured streams of
love and grace into me to gladden me, and make me fruitful. Yea, when my outward
circumstances have been at the worst, and I have wandered in a land of
drought, Thy sweet presence has solaced me. Men have not known me when scorn
has awaited me, but Thou hast known my soul in adversities, for no affliction
dims the lustre of Thy love. Most gracious Lord, I
magnify Thee for all Thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I
deplore that I should at any time have forgotten Thee and been exalted in
heart, when I have owed all to Thy gentleness and love. Have mercy upon Thy
servant in this thing!
My soul, if
Jesus thus acknowledged thee in thy low estate, be
sure that thou own both Himself and His cause now that thou art in thy
prosperity. Be not lifted up by thy worldly successes so as to be ashamed of
the truth or of the poor church with which thou hast been associated. Follow
Jesus into the wilderness: bear the cross with Him when the heat of persecution
grows hot. He owned thee, O my soul, in thy poverty and shame—never be so
treacherous as to be ashamed of Him. O for more shame at the thought of being
ashamed of my best Beloved! Jesus, my soul cleaveth
to Thee.
"I'll turn to Thee in days of light,
As well as nights of care,
Thou brightest amid all that's bright!
Thou fairest of the
fair!"