Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
August 2
Morning
"Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will."—Ephesians 1:11.
Our belief in God's wisdom
supposes and necessitates that He has a settled purpose and plan in the work of
salvation. What would creation have been without His design? Is there a
fish in the sea, or a fowl in the air, which was left to chance for its
formation? Nay, in every bone, joint, and muscle, sinew, gland, and blood-vessel, you mark the presence of a God working
everything according to the design of infinite wisdom. And shall God be present
in creation, ruling over all, and not in grace? Shall the new creation
have the fickle genius of free will to preside over it when divine counsel
rules the old creation? Look at Providence! Who knoweth
not that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without
your Father? Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. God weighs the
mountains of our grief in scales, and the hills of our tribulation in balances.
And shall there be a God in providence and not in grace? Shall the shell be
ordained by wisdom and the kernel be left to blind chance. No;
He knows the end from the beginning. He sees in its appointed place, not merely
the corner-stone which He has laid in fair colours,
in the blood of His dear Son, but He beholds in their ordained position each of
the chosen stones taken out of the quarry of nature, and polished by His grace;
He sees the whole from corner to cornice, from base to roof, from foundation to
pinnacle. He hath in His mind a clear knowledge of every stone
which shall be laid in its prepared space, and how vast the edifice
shall be, and when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of "Grace! Grace! unto
it." At the last it shall be clearly seen that in every chosen vessel of
mercy, Jehovah did as He willed with His own; and that in every part of the
work of grace He accomplished His purpose, and glorified His own name.
Evening
"So she
gleaned in the field until even."—Ruth 2:17.
Let me learn from Ruth, the
gleaner. As she went out to gather the ears of corn, so must I go forth into
the fields of prayer, meditation, the ordinances, and hearing the word to gather
spiritual food. The gleaner gathers her portion ear
by ear; her gains are little by little: so must I be content to search for
single truths, if there be no greater plenty of them. Every ear helps to make a
bundle, and every gospel lesson assists in making us wise unto salvation. The
gleaner keeps her eyes open: if she stumbled among the stubble in a dream,
she would have no load to carry home rejoicingly at
eventide. I must be watchful in religious exercises lest they become
unprofitable to me; I fear I have lost much already—O that I may rightly
estimate my opportunities, and glean with greater diligence. The gleaner
stoops for all she finds, and so must I. High spirits criticize and object,
but lowly minds glean and receive benefit. A humble heart is a great help
towards profitably hearing the gospel. The engrafted soul-saving word is not
received except with meekness. A stiff back makes a bad gleaner; down, master pride, thou art a vile robber, not to be endured for a
moment. What the gleaner gathers she holds: if she dropped one ear to
find another, the result of her day's work would be but scant; she is as
careful to retain as to obtain, and so at last her gains are great. How often
do I forget all that I hear; the second truth pushes the first out of my head,
and so my reading and hearing end in much ado about nothing! Do I feel duly the
importance of storing up the truth? A hungry belly makes the gleaner wise; if
there be no corn in her hand, there will be no bread on her table; she labours under the sense of necessity, and hence her tread
is nimble and her grasp is firm; I have even a greater necessity, Lord, help me
to feel it, that it may urge me onward to glean in fields which yield so
plenteous a reward to diligence.