Evening and Morning
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
February 9
Morning
"And
David enquired of the Lord."—2 Samuel 5:23.
When David made this
enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The
Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily
put them to flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did
not go up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been
victorious, and he might have said, as many have in other cases, "I shall
be victorious again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I
shall triumph yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord's
hands?" Not so, David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the
Lord; he would not venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He
enquired, "Shall I go up against them?" He waited until God's sign
was given. Learn from David to take no step without God. Christian, if thou
wouldst know the path of duty, take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer
thy ship through the dark billows, put the tiller into the hand of the
Almighty. Many a rock might be escaped, if we would let our Father take the
helm; many a shoal or quicksand we might well avoid, if we would leave to His
sovereign will to choose and to command. The Puritan said, "As sure as
ever a Christian carves for himself, he'll cut his own fingers;" this is a
great truth. Said another old divine, "He that goes before the cloud of
God's providence goes on a fool's errand;" and so he does. We must mark
God's providence leading us; and if providence tarries, tarry till providence
comes. He who goes before providence, will be very
glad to run back again. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way
which thou shalt go," is God's promise to His people. Let us, then, take
all our perplexities to Him, and say, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to
do?" Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of the Lord.
Evening
"Lead us
not into temptation; but deliver us from evil [or, the evil one]."—Luke 11:4.
What we are taught to seek
or shun in prayer, we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly,
therefore, should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path
of obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to
enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us
from the thicket, but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even though he winneth
the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian pray that he may be
spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had experience
of what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished His
disciples—"Pray that ye enter not into temptation."
But let us do as we will,
we shall be tempted; hence the prayer "deliver us
from evil." God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without
temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, and
the Christian man is born to temptation just as certainly. We must be always on
our watch against Satan, because, like a thief, he gives no intimation of his
approach. Believers who have had experience of the ways of Satan, know that
there are certain seasons when he will most probably make an attack, just as at
certain seasons bleak winds may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a
double guard by fear of danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet
it. Prevention is better than cure: it is better to be so well armed that the
devil will not attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even though
you come off a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted,
and next that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil
one.