Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
September 15
Morning
"He
shall not be afraid of evil tidings."—Psalm 112:7.
Christian, you ought not to
dread the arrival of evil tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what
do you more than other men? Other men have not your God to fly to; they
have never proved His faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if
they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of
another spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart
lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be
distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which you profess to
have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature which you claim to
possess?
Again, if you should be
filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins
so common to others under trying circumstances. The ungodly, when they are
overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and think that God
deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the
Lord as they do?
Moreover, unconverted men
often run to wrong means in order to escape from difficulties, and you will be
sure to do the same if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the
Lord, and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at
the Red Sea, "Stand still and see the salvation of God." For if you
give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will be unable to meet the
trouble with that calm composure which nerves for duty, and sustains under
adversity. How can you glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often
sung God's high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding, as
if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage, and
relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant God,
"let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
Evening
"A
people near unto him."—Psalm 148:14.
The dispensation of the old
covenant was that of distance. When God appeared even to His servant Moses, He
said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet";
and when He manifested Himself upon Mount Sinai, to His own chosen and
separated people, one of the first commands was, "Thou shalt set bounds
about the mount." Both in the sacred worship of the tabernacle and the
temple, the thought of distance was always prominent.
The mass of the people did not even enter the outer court. Into the inner court
none but the priests might dare to intrude; while into the innermost place, or
the holy of holies, the high priest entered but once in the year. It was as if
the Lord in those early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome
to Him, that He must treat men as lepers put without the camp; and when He came
nearest to them, He yet made them feel the width of the separation between a
holy God and an impure sinner. When the gospel came, we were placed on quite
another footing. The word "Go" was exchanged for "Come";
distance was made to give place to nearness, and we who aforetime were afar
off, were made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. Incarnate Deity has no wall
of fire about it. "Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," is the joyful proclamation
of God as He appears in human flesh. Not now does He teach the leper his
leprosy by setting him at a distance, but by Himself suffering the penalty of
His defilement. What a state of safety and privilege is this nearness to God
through Jesus! Do you know it by experience? If you know it, are you living in
the power of it? Marvellous is this nearness, yet it
is to be followed by a dispensation of greater nearness still, when it shall be
said, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He doth dwell among
them." Hasten it, O Lord.