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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, March 30
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" - Psalm 22:1
We here behold the Saviour in the depth of his sorrows. No other place so well
shows the griefs of Christ as Calvary, and no other moment at Calvary is so
full of agony as that in which his cry rends the air-"My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" At this moment physical weakness was united with acute
mental torture from the shame and ignominy through which he had to pass; and to
make his grief culminate with emphasis, he suffered
spiritual agony surpassing all expression, resulting from the departure of his
Father's presence. This was the black midnight of his horror; then it was that
he descended the abyss of suffering.
No man can enter into the full meaning of these words. Some of us think at
times that we could cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" There are
seasons when the brightness of our Father's smile is eclipsed by clouds and
darkness; but let us remember that God never does really forsake us. It is only
a seeming forsaking with us, but in Christ's case it was a real forsaking. We
grieve at a little withdrawal of our Father's love; but the real turning away
of God's face from his Son, who shall calculate how deep the agony which it
caused him?
In our case, our cry is often dictated by unbelief: in his case, it was the
utterance of a dreadful fact, for God had really turned away from him for a
season. O thou poor, distressed soul,
who once lived in the sunshine of God's face, but art now in darkness, remember
that he has not really forsaken thee. God in the clouds is as much our God as
when he shines forth in all the lustre of his grace; but since even the thought
that he has forsaken us gives us agony, what must the woe of the Saviour have
been when he exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Evening, March 30
"Lift them up for ever." - Psalm 28:9
God's people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have no
wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the
pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with
silver, and with feathers of yellow gold.
By nature sparks fly upward, but the sinful souls of men fall downward. O Lord,
"lift them up for ever!" David himself said, "Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my
soul," and he here feels the
necessity that other men's souls should be lifted up as well as his own. When
you ask this blessing for yourself, forget not to seek it for others also.
There are three ways in which God's people require to be lifted up. They
require to be elevated in character. Lift them up, O Lord; do not suffer thy
people to be like the world's people! The
world lieth in the wicked one; lift them out of it! The world's people are
looking after silver and gold, seeking their own pleasures, and the
gratification of their lusts; but, Lord, lift thy people up above all this;
keep them from being "muck-rakers," as John Bunyan calls the man who was always
scraping after gold!
Set thou their hearts upon their risen Lord and the heavenly heritage!
Moreover, believers need to be prospered in conflict.
In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased to give them the
victory. If the foot of the foe be upon their necks for a moment, help them to
grasp the sword of the Spirit, and eventually to win the battle. Lord, lift up
thy children's spirits in the day of conflict; let them not sit in the dust,
mourning for ever. Suffer not the adversary to vex them sore, and make them
fret; but if they have been, like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the
mercy of a delivering God.
We may also ask our Lord to lift them up at the last! Lift them up by taking
them home, lift their bodies from the tomb, and raise their souls to thine
eternal kingdom in glory.
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, March 31
"The precious blood of Christ." - 1 Peter 1:19
Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all
distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of its
redeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned
for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one
with him.
Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power; it "cleanseth from
all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
Through Jesus' blood there is not a
spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains.
O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant
iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding
the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is
likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying
angel under the sprinkled blood.
Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being
spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is
still the same. The blood of
Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence.
The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action,
quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the
commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams
from the veins of Jesus.
And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an
overcoming power.
It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb. "
How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus,
fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at
its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of
Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust
its power!
Evening, March 31
"And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." - Exodus 17:12
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of
Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were
needed.
No, in the soul's conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour
and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle
with your sin, but the major part
of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses',
holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord.
The rod was the emblem of God's working with Moses, the symbol of God's
government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the
oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the
rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your
prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other,
and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation,
will persevere and prevail.
Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far
easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private.
It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow
weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is
for flesh and blood to
maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God,
who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to
continue with our hands steady
"until the going down of the sun;" till the evening of life is over; till we
shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed
up in praise.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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