Crosswalk - Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions, September 22, 2003
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Morning, September 22
"I will rejoice over them to do them good."
- Jeremiah 32:41
How heart-cheering to the believer is the delight which God has
in his saints! We cannot see any reason in ourselves why the Lord
should take pleasure in us; we cannot take delight in ourselves,
for we often have to groan, being burdened; conscious of our
sinfulness, and deploring our unfaithfulness; and we fear that
God's people cannot take much delight in us, for they must
perceive so much of our imperfections and our follies, that they
may rather lament our infirmities than admire our graces. But we
love to dwell upon this transcendent truth, this glorious
mystery: that as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so does
the Lord rejoice over us. We do not read anywhere that God
delighteth in the cloud-capped mountains, or the sparkling stars,
but we do read that he delighteth in the habitable parts of the
earth, and that his delights are with the sons of men.
We do not find it written that even angels give his soul delight;
nor doth he say, concerning cherubim and seraphim, "Thou shalt be
called Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in thee"; but he does
say all that to poor fallen creatures like ourselves, debased and
depraved by sin, but saved, exalted, and glorified by his grace.
In what strong language he expresses his delight in his people!
Who could have conceived of the eternal One as bursting forth
into a song? Yet it is written, "He will rejoice over thee with
joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with
singing. " As he looked upon the world he had made, he said, "It
is very good"; but when he beheld those who are the purchase of
Jesus' blood, his own chosen ones, it seemed as if the great
heart of the Infinite could restrain itself no longer, but
overflowed in divine exclamations of joy. Should not we utter our
grateful response to such a marvellous declaration of his love,
and sing, "I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of
my salvation?"
Evening, September 22
"Gather not my soul with sinners."
- Psalm 26:9
Fear made David pray thus, for something whispered, "Perhaps,
after all, thou mayst be gathered with the wicked." That fear,
although marred by unbelief, springs, in the main, from holy
anxiety, arising from the recollection of past sin. Even the
pardoned man will enquire, "What if at the end my sins should be
remembered, and I should be left out of the catalogue of the
saved?" He recollects his present unfruitfulness-so little grace,
so little love, so little holiness, and looking forward to the
future, he considers his weakness and the many temptations which
beset him, and he fears that he may fall, and become a prey to
the enemy.
A sense of sin and present evil, and his prevailing corruptions,
compel him to pray, in fear and trembling, "Gather not my soul
with sinners." Reader, if you have prayed this prayer, and if
your character be rightly described in the Psalm from which it is
taken, you need not be afraid that you shall be gathered with
sinners. Have you the two virtues which David had-the outward
walking in integrity, and the inward trusting in the Lord? Are
you resting upon Christ's sacrifice, and can you compass the
altar of God with humble hope? If so, rest assured, with the
wicked you never shall be gathered, for that calamity is
impossible.
The gathering at the judgment is like to like. "Gather ye
together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them:
but gather the wheat into my barn." If, then, thou art like God's
people, thou shalt be with God's people.
You cannot be gathered with the wicked, for you are too dearly
bought. Redeemed by the blood of Christ, you are his for ever,
and where he is, there must his people be. You are loved too much
to be cast away with reprobates. Shall one dear to Christ perish?
Impossible! Hell cannot hold thee! Heaven claims thee! Trust in
thy Surety and fear not!
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