Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Saturday Morning, January 21
And so all Israel shall be saved.
Romans 11:26
Then Moses sang at the Red Sea, it was his joy to know that all Israel were safe. Not a drop of spray fell from that solid wall until the last of God's Israel had safely planted his foot on the other side the flood. That done, immediately the floods dissolved into their proper place again, but not till then. Part of that song was, Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. In the last time, when the elect shall sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and of the Lamb, it shall be the boast of Jesus, Of all whom thou hast given me, I have lost none. In heaven there shall not be a vacant throne.
For all the chosen race Shall meet around the throne, Shall bless the conduct of his grace, And make his glories known.
As many as God hath chosen, as many as Christ hath redeemed, as many as the Spirit hath called, as many as believe in Jesus, shall safely cross the dividing sea. We are not all safely landed yet:
Part of the host have crossed the flood, And part are crossing now.
The vanguard of the army has already reached the shore. We are marching through the depths; we are at this day following hard after our Leader into the heart of the sea. Let us be of good cheer: the rear-guard shall soon be where the vanguard already is; the last of the chosen ones shall soon have crossed the sea, and then shall be heard the song of triumph, when all are secure. But oh! if one were absent--oh! if one of his chosen family should be cast away--it would make an everlasting discord in the song of the redeemed, and cut the strings of the harps of paradise, so that music could never be extorted from them.
Evening, January 21
He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst?
Judges 15:18
Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was totally different from any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! but when the thirst was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so specially been delivered. It is very usual for God's people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes halting on his thigh! Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when he said, I have slain a thousand men. His boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of humbling his people. Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he said, I am this day weak, though anointed king. You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson's thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson's words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long.
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… continued
HOW SHALL I STUDY MY BIBLE?
BY FREDERIC W. FARR, D. D.
Copyright 1919
Reverent Humility
Sixth: Humility reverent humility. "If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing as he ought to know." This is only another name for docility. This is the characteristic of an ideal disciple. Disciple is the word those who followed Jesus first received. Disciple means learner. They entered the school of faith and of life. The Latin word from which humility comes means near the ground. An old writer said, "There are two safe places in the universe, the heavens and the dust. Of these two, the dust is the safer place, for there have been those who fell out of heaven, but who ever heard of any one falling out of the dust? Where could he fall?" Be clothed with humility, a new style of dress goods, prices not gone up on account of the war. "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble." But alas! When the consciousness of humility goes into the heart, the grace of humility goes out. Life is for learning, and there is no privilege greater than going to school. Christ is the Teacher, and we graduate into the High School of heaven to sit at His feet throughout eternity. Gifted godly men can teach you much, but by and by on the heaven side bank of the river of death, you'll sit down with Paul and Abraham and Noah and Enoch, and they'll give you Bible teaching that is worth looking forward to. That is a post-graduate course that awaits us on the other side. Humility is necessary because it tends to self-depreciation. There is no dogmatism or bigotry as hard and bitter as that of ignorance. Lord Bason said, "A little learning tendeth to self-conceit, but much learning tendeth to humility." The men who know most think they know the least, and the men who know the least think they know it all.
Socrates was declared to be the wisest man in Greece. He was asked,
"What do you know?" "I don't know anything." "That is very strange. The oracle declared you to be the wisest man in the entire world." They went back to dispute the oracle. "Socrates declares he knows nothing." The oracle replied, "Others know not that."
Ceaseless Prayer
Seventh and last: Ceaseless prayer. (Jer. 33:3.) "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and hidden things which thou knowest not." Suppose you ponder long on a passage of Scripture, and the meaning is vague. What shall you do? Consult commentaries? Yes, but get down on your knees and pray. Say "Lord, what does this passage mean?" Then get up and study it some more. If it still baffles you, get down and pray about it some more and plead the promise. Open your Bible to James 1:5, put your finger on this passage, and say "Lord, I plead this particular promise. I confess my lack of wisdom. O, Thou Spirit of Light and Truth, illumine me." Then get up and go to work, and while you work and while you pray, light will filter in, and thought will come from God. Have you ever wondered where thought comes from? Is not the origin of thought as great a mystery as the origin of life? Who can explain it? We say life comes from God. Doesn't thought come from God? You hold your mind against a problem, and keep it there. From the north and from the south and from the east and from the west ideas come like doves flocking to the window? Whence come they if not from God? Luther's motto was, "To have prayed well is to have studied well." The time you spend in prayer is an immense advantage, not a hindrance, not a handicap, but an indispensable help to the understanding of God's Word. Consider the seven conditions under which Bible study may be pursued: Regeneration, baptism of the Holy Spirit, ravenous appetite, unflagging industry, implicit obedience, reverent humility, ceaseless prayer.
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Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
by C. H. Spurgeon
Sunday Morning, January 22
Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Ezekiel 15:2
These words are for the humbling of God's people; they are called God's vine, but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God's goodness, have become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to his glory; but what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art now. Doth not thy conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and tell thee that thou art unworthy to be called his son? And if he hath made thee anything, art thou not taught thereby that it is grace which hath made thee to differ? Great believer, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made thee to differ. O thou who
art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee. Therefore, be not proud, though thou hast a large estate--a wide domain of grace, thou hadst not once a single thing to call thine own except thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that thou, who hast borrowed everything, shouldst think of exalting thyself; a poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of thy Saviour, one who hath a life which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie on thee, O silly heart!
Evening, January 22
Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:9
This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of old, but there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with justice, for they love God after a fashion because he prospers them; but if things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God. If they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor carnal way; but if they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in the next life, and to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old covenant is adversity. Remember Christ's words--Every branch in me that beareth not fruit--What? He purgeth it, that it may bring forth fruit. If you bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction. Alas! you say, that is a terrible prospect. But this affliction works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus. Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod. Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from clinging to the present, and made to long for those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the future.
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Meditate on Christ, No Matter the Cost - Tim Conway
http://vimeo.com/28241529
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