Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
January 16
Morning
"I will
help thee, saith the Lord."—Isaiah 41:14.
This morning
let us hear the Lord Jesus speak to each one of us: "I will help
thee." "It is but a small thing for Me, thy
God, to help thee. Consider what I have done already. What! not help thee? Why, I bought thee with My
blood. What! not help thee? I have died for thee; and
if I have done the greater, will I not do the less? Help thee! It is the
least thing I will ever do for thee; I have done more, and will do more.
Before the world began I chose thee. I made the covenant for thee. I laid aside
My glory and became a man for thee; I gave up My life
for thee; and if I did all this, I will surely help thee now. In helping thee,
I am giving thee what I have bought for thee already. If thou hadst need of a thousand times as much
help, I would give it thee; thou requirest
little compared with what I am ready to give. 'Tis
much for thee to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow. 'Help thee?'
Fear not! If there were an ant at the door of thy granary asking for help, it
would not ruin thee to give him a handful of thy wheat; and thou art nothing
but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. 'I will help
thee.'"
O my soul, is
not this enough? Dost thou need more strength than the omnipotence of the
United Trinity? Dost thou want more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love
than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the
influences of the Spirit? Bring hither thine empty
pitcher! Surely this well will fill it. Haste, gather up thy wants, and bring
them here—thine emptiness, thy woes, thy needs.
Behold, this river of God is full for thy supply; what canst thou desire
beside? Go forth, my soul, in this thy might. The Eternal God is thine helper!
"Fear
not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismay'd!
I, I am thy
God, and will still give thee aid."
Evening
"The
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself."—Daniel 9:26.
Blessed be His name, there
was no cause of death in Him. Neither original nor actual sin had defiled Him,
and therefore death had no claim upon Him. No man could have taken His life
from Him justly, for He had done no man wrong, and no man could even have lain
Him by force unless He had been pleased to yield Himself to die. But lo, one
sins and another suffers. Justice was offended by us, but found its
satisfaction in Him. Rivers of tears, mountains of offerings, seas of the blood
of bullocks, and hills of frankincense, could not have availed for the removal
of sin; but Jesus was cut off for us, and the cause of wrath was cut off at
once, for sin was put away for ever. Herein is wisdom, whereby substitution,
the sure and speedy way of atonement, was devised! Herein is condescension,
which brought Messiah, the Prince, to wear a crown of thorns, and die upon the
cross! Herein is love, which led the Redeemer to lay down His life for His
enemies!
It is not enough, however,
to admire the spectacle of the innocent bleeding for the guilty, we must make
sure of our interest therein. The special object of the Messiah's death was the
salvation of His church; have we a part and a lot among those for whom He gave
His life a ransom? Did the Lord Jesus stand as our representative? Are we
healed by His stripes? It will be a terrible thing indeed if we should come
short of a portion in His sacrifice; it were better for us that we had never
been born. Solemn as the question is, it is a joyful circumstance that it is
one which may be answered clearly and without mistake. To all who believe on
Him the Lord Jesus is a present Saviour, and upon
them all the blood of reconciliation has been sprinkled. Let all who trust in
the merit of Messiah's death be joyful at every remembrance of Him, and let
their holy gratitude lead them to the fullest consecration to His cause.