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Daily devotions for 08-06-2005:
Devotion: Morning and Evening
Morning Title: Assurance of Goodness
Evening Title: Obligation to Serve
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Morning: Assurance of Goodness
"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God."
--Romans 8:28
Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure.
He knows, for instance, that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when it
rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is always on the world's tiller,
and that wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring
knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and sees
the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice saying, "It is
I, be not afraid." He knows too that God is always wise, and, knowing this, he
is confident that there can be no accidents, no
mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, "If I
should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if God so
wills: the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that could befall
to me if God ordains it."
"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." The
Christian does not merely hold this as a theory, but he knows it as a matter of
fact. Everything has worked for good as yet; the poisonous drugs mixed in fit
proportions have worked the cure; the sharp cuts of the lancet have cleansed
out the proud flesh and facilitated the healing.
Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results; and so,
believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out
of evil, the believer's heart is assured, and he is enabled calmly to meet each
trial as it comes. The believer can in the spirit of true resignation pray,
"Send me what thou wilt, my God, so long as it comes from Thee; never came
there an ill portion from Thy table to any of Thy children."
"Say not my soul, 'From whence can God relieve my care?
Remember that Omnipotence has servants everywhere.
His method is sublime, His heart profoundly kind,
God never is before His time, and never is behind.'"
Evening: Obligation to Serve
"Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?" --Numbers 32:6
Kindred has its obligations. The Reubenites and Gadites would have been
unbrotherly if they had claimed the land which had been conquered, and had left
the rest of the people to fight for their portions alone. We have received much
by means of the efforts and sufferings of the saints in years gone by, and if
we do not make some return to the church of Christ by giving her our best
energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in
her ranks.
Others are combating the errors of the age manfully, or excavating perishing
ones from amid the ruins of the fall, and if we fold our hands in idleness we
had need be warned, lest the curse of Meroz fall upon us. The Master of the
vineyard saith, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" What is the idler's
excuse? Personal service of Jesus becomes all the more the duty of all because
it is cheerfully and abundantly rendered by some.
The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us if we sit
still in indolence.
Shrinking from trial is the temptation of those who are at ease in Zion: they
would fain escape the cross and yet wear the crown; to them the question for
this evening's meditation is very applicable. If the most precious are tried in
the fire, are we to escape the crucible? If the diamond must be vexed upon the
wheel, are we to be made perfect without suffering? Who hath commanded the wind
to cease from blowing because
our bark is on the deep? Why and wherefore should we be treated better than our
Lord?
The firstborn felt the rod, and why not the younger brethren? It is a cowardly
pride which
would choose a downy pillow and a silken couch for a soldier of the cross.
Wiser far is he who, being first resigned to the divine will, groweth by the
energy of grace to be pleased with it, and so learns to gather lilies at the
cross foot, and, like Samson, to find honey in the lion.
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, August 7
"The breaker is come up before them." - Micah 2:13
Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been
had he never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the
way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior.
Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies. Dost
thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. Dost thou fear death? He has
been the death of Death.
Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his
children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition.
Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome.
There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their
fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there
are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to
fire.
The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments
of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has
taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt
us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your
journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand.
What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are
vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true,
often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head
is broken; he may
attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his
malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond
all count.
"Proclaim aloud the Saviour's fame,
Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name;
Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell."
Evening, August 7
"If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the
standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire
shall surely make restitution." - Exodus 22:6
But what restitution can he make who casts abroad the fire-brands of error, or
the coals of lasciviousness, and sets men's souls on a blaze with the fire of
hell? The guilt is beyond estimate, and the result is irretrievable. If such an
offender be forgiven, what grief it will cause him in the retrospect, since he
cannot undo the mischief which he has done! An ill example may kindle a flame
which years of amended character cannot quench. To burn the food of man is bad
enough, but how much worse to destroy the soul! It may be useful to us to
reflect how far we may have been guilty in the past, and to enquire whether,
even in the present, there may not be evil in us which has a tendency to bring
damage to the souls of our relatives, friends, or neighbours.
The fire of strife is a terrible evil when it breaks out in a Christian church.
Where converts were multiplied, and God was glorified, jealousy and envy do the
devil's work most effectually. Where the golden grain was being housed, to
reward the toil of the great Boaz, the fire of enmity comes in and leaves
little else but smoke and a heap of blackness.
Woe unto those by whom offences come. May they never come through us, for
although we cannot make restitution, we shall certainly be the chief sufferers
if we are the chief offenders. Those who feed the fire deserve just censure,
but he who first kindles it is most to blame.
Discord usually takes first hold upon the thorns; it is nurtured among the
hypocrites and base professors in the church, and away it goes among the
righteous, blown by the winds of hell, and no one knows where it may end. O
thou Lord and giver of peace, make us peacemakers, and never let us aid and
abet the men of strife, or even unintentionally cause the least division among
thy people.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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