Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
February 16
Morning
"I have
learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content."—Philippians 4:11.
These words show us that
contentment is not a natural propensity of man. "Ill weeds grow
apace." Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as
thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up
naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so, we need not
teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the
precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must
plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the
gardener's care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we
would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is
the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially
careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace
which God has sown in us. Paul says, "I have learned . . .
to be content;" as much as to say, he did not
know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that
great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down.
And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, "I have learned
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," he was an old,
grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave—a poor prisoner shut up in
Nero's dungeon at Rome. We might well be willing to endure Paul's infirmities,
and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto
his good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning,
or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally,
but a science to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother,
hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the
College of Content.
Evening
"Thy
good Spirit."—Nehemiah 9:20.
Common, too common is the
sin of forgetting the Holy Spirit. This is folly and ingratitude. He deserves
well at our hands, for He is good, supremely good. As God, He is good
essentially. He shares in the threefold ascription of Holy, holy, holy, which
ascends to the Triune Jehovah. Unmixed purity and truth, and grace is He. He is good benevolently, tenderly bearing with
our waywardness, striving with our rebellious wills;
quickening us from our death in sin, and then training us for the skies as a
loving nurse fosters her child. How generous, forgiving, and
tender is this patient Spirit of God. He is good operatively. All
His works are good in the most eminent degree: He suggests good thoughts,
prompts good actions, reveals good truths, applies good promises, assists in
good attainments, and leads to good results. There is no spiritual good in all the world of which He is not the author and sustainer,
and heaven itself will owe the perfect character of its redeemed inhabitants to
His work. He is good officially; whether as Comforter, Instructor,
Guide, Sanctifier, Quickener, or Intercessor, He fulfils His office well, and each work is fraught with the
highest good to the church of God. They who yield to His influences become
good, they who obey His impulses do good, they who
live under His power receive good. Let us then act towards so good a person
according to the dictates of gratitude. Let us revere His person, and adore Him
as God over all, blessed for ever; let us own His power, and our need of Him by
waiting upon Him in all our holy enterprises; let us hourly seek His aid, and
never grieve Him; and let us speak to His praise whenever occasion occurs. The
church will never prosper until more reverently it believes in the Holy Ghost.
He is so good and kind, that it is sad indeed that He should be grieved by
slights and negligences.