Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
October 9
Morning
"Able to
keep you from falling."—Jude 24.
In some sense
the path to heaven is very safe, but in other respects there is no road so
dangerous. It is beset with difficulties. One false step (and how easy it
is to take that if grace be absent), and down we go. What a slippery path is
that which some of us have to tread! How many times have we to exclaim with the
Psalmist, "My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped."
If we were strong, sure-footed mountaineers, this would not matter so much; but
in ourselves, how weak we are! In the best roads we soon falter,
in the smoothest paths we quickly stumble. These feeble knees of ours can
scarcely support our tottering weight. A straw may throw us, and a pebble can
wound us; we are mere children tremblingly taking our first steps in the walk
of faith, our heavenly Father holds us by the arms or we should soon be down.
Oh, if we are kept from falling, how must we bless the patient power which watches over us day by day! Think, how prone we
are to sin, how apt to choose danger, how strong our tendency to cast ourselves
down, and these reflections will make us sing more sweetly than we have ever
done, "Glory be to Him, who is able to keep us from falling." We
have many foes who try to push us down. The road
is rough and we are weak, but in addition to this, enemies lurk in ambush, who rush out when we least expect them, and labour to trip us up, or hurl us down the nearest
precipice. Only an Almighty arm can preserve us from these unseen foes, who are seeking to destroy us. Such an arm is engaged for
our defence. He is faithful that hath promised, and
He is able to keep us from falling, so that with a deep sense of our utter
weakness, we may cherish a firm belief in our perfect safety, and say, with
joyful confidence,
"Against
me earth and hell combine,
But on my
side is power divine;
Jesus is all,
and He is mine!"
Evening
"But He
answered her not a word."—Matthew 15:23.
Genuine seekers
who as yet have not obtained the blessing, may take comfort from the story
before us. The Saviour did not at once bestow the
blessing, even though the woman had great faith in Him. He intended to give it,
but He waited awhile. "He answered her not a word." Were not her prayers
good? Never better in the world. Was not her case needy? Sorrowfully
needy. Did she not feel her need sufficiently? She felt it
overwhelmingly. Was she not earnest enough? She was intensely so. Had she no
faith? She had such a high degree of it that even Jesus wondered, and said,
"O woman, great is thy faith." See then, although it is true that
faith brings peace, yet it does not always bring it instantaneously. There may
be certain reasons calling for the trial of faith, rather than the reward of
faith. Genuine faith may be in the soul like a hidden seed, but as yet it may
not have budded and blossomed into joy and peace. A painful silence from the Saviour is the grievous trial of many a seeking soul, but
heavier still is the affliction of a harsh cutting reply such as this, "It
is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." Many in
waiting upon the Lord find immediate delight, but this is not the case with
all. Some, like the jailer, are in a moment turned from darkness to light, but
others are plants of slower growth. A deeper sense of sin may be given to you
instead of a sense of pardon, and in such a case you will have need of patience
to bear the heavy blow. Ah! poor heart, though Christ
beat and bruise thee, or even slay thee, trust Him; though He should give thee
an angry word, believe in the love of His heart. Do not, I beseech thee, give
up seeking or trusting my Master, because thou hast not yet obtained the
conscious joy which thou longest for. Cast thyself on Him, and perseveringly
depend even where thou canst not rejoicingly hope.