Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
May 19
Morning
"I have seen servants upon horses, and princes
walking as servants upon the earth."—Ecclesiastes 10:7.
Upstarts frequently usurp
the highest places, while the truly great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle
in providence whose solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright;
but it is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should fall to
our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although He is the Prince of the
kings of the earth, yet He walked the footpath of weariness and service as the
Servant of servants: what wonder is it if His followers, who are princes of the
blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and contemptible persons?
The world is upside down, and therefore, the first are last and the last first.
See how the servile sons of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they
ride! How they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while
Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while Saul reigns in
state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while Jezebel is boasting in the
palace; yet who would wish to take the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand, might not envy the despised
saints? When the wheel turns, those who are lowest rise, and the highest sink.
Patience, then, believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.
Let us not fall into the
error of letting our passions and carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our
nobler powers walk in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the
members of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy Spirit loves order,
and He therefore sets our powers and faculties in due rank and place, giving
the highest room to those spiritual faculties which link us with the great King;
let us not disturb the divine arrangement, but ask for grace that we may keep
under our body and bring it into subjection. We were not new created to allow
our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings, may reign in Christ Jesus
over the triple kingdom of spirit, soul, and body, to the glory of God the
Father.
Evening
"And he requested for himself that he might
die."—1 Kings 19:4.
It was a remarkable thing
that the man who was never to die, for whom God had ordained an infinitely
better lot, the man who should be carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, and
be translated, that he should not see death—should thus pray, "Let
me die, I am no better than my fathers." We have here a memorable proof
that God does not always answer prayer in kind, though He always does in
effect. He gave Elias something better than that which he asked for, and thus
really heard and answered him. Strange was it that the lion-hearted Elijah
should be so depressed by Jezebel's threat as to ask to die, and blessedly kind
was it on the part of our heavenly Father that He did not take His desponding
servant at his word. There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer of faith.
We are not to expect that God will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know
that we sometimes ask, and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If we ask for
that which is not promised—if we run counter to the spirit which the Lord
would have us cultivate—if we ask contrary to His will, or to the decrees
of His providence—if we ask merely for the gratification of our own ease,
and without an eye to His glory, we must not expect that we shall receive. Yet,
when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we receive not the precise thing
asked for, we shall receive an equivalent, and more than an equivalent, for it.
As one remarks, "If the Lord does not pay in
silver, He will in gold; and if He does not pay in gold, He will in
diamonds." If He does not give you precisely what you ask for, He will
give you that which is tantamount to it, and that which you will greatly
rejoice to receive in lieu thereof. Be then, dear reader, much in prayer, and
make this evening a season of earnest intercession, but take
heed what you ask.