Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
July 8
Morning
"Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great
strength lieth."—Judges 16:6.
Where lies the secret
strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the
promise is—an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great
heart of God; and faith says, "My God could not have given this promise,
except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain His Word will be
fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who
gave this promise?" It considereth not so
much its greatness, as, "Who is the author of it?" She remembers that
it is God who cannot lie—God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward
she advances in this firm conviction. She remembereth,
why the promise was given,—namely,
for God's glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God's glory is safe, that He
will never stain His own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre
of His own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith
also considereth the amazing work of Christ as
being a clear proof of the Father's intention to fulfil
His word. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Moreover faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have
strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that
God never has failed her; nay, that He never did once fail any of His children.
She recollecteth times of great peril, when
deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found,
and she cries, "No, I never will be led to think that He can change and
leave His servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and He will help me
still." Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver,
and, because she does so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!"
Evening
"Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me: for Thou art the God of my
salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day."—Psalm 25:5.
When the believer has begun
with trembling feet to walk in the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led
onward like a little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves
to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental teaching is the
burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he felt his ignorance, and desired
to be still in the Lord's school: four times over in two verses he applies for
a scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many professors if
instead of following their own devices, and cutting out new paths of thought
for themselves, they would enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth,
and beseech the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and teachable
spirits. "For thou art the God of my salvation." The Three-One
Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation to
His people. Reader, is He the God of your salvation? Do you find in the
Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and in the Spirit's quickening, all the
grounds of your eternal hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for
obtaining further blessings; if the Lord has ordained
to save you, surely He will not refuse to instruct you in His ways. It is a
happy thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which David here
manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and comfort in trial. "On
Thee do I wait all the day." Patience is the
fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait when we are certain
that we shall not wait in vain. It is our duty and our privilege to wait upon
the Lord in service, in worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our
life. Our faith will be tried faith, and if it be of
the true kind, it will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow
weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once
waited for us.