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Daily devotionals from Charles H. Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening"
November 24
Morning
"The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad
rivers and streams."
- Isa_33:21
Broad rivers and streams produce fertility, and
abundance in the land. Places near broad rivers are remarkable for
the variety of their plants and their plentiful harvests. God is all
this to his Church. Having God she has abundance. What can she ask
for that he will not give her? What want can she mention which he
will not supply? "In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto
all people a feast of fat things." Want ye the bread of life? It
drops like manna from the sky. Want ye refreshing streams? The rock
follows you, and that Rock is Christ. If you suffer any want it is
your own fault; if you are straitened you are not straitened in him,
but in your own bowels. Broad rivers and streams also point to
commerce. Our glorious Lord is to us a place of heavenly
merchandise. Through our Redeemer we have commerce with the past;
the wealth of Calvary, the treasures of the covenant, the riches of
the ancient days of election, the stores of eternity, all come to us
down the broad stream of our gracious Lord. We have commerce, too,
with the future. What galleys, laden to the water’s edge, come to us
from the millennium! What visions we have of the days of heaven upon
earth! Through our glorious Lord we have commerce with angels;
communion with the bright spirits washed in blood, who sing before
the throne; nay, better still, we have fellowship with the Infinite
One. Broad rivers and streams are specially intended to set forth
the idea of security. Rivers were of old a defence. Oh! beloved,
what a defence is God to his Church! The devil cannot cross this
broad river of God. How he wishes he could turn the current, but
fear not, for God abideth immutably the same. Satan may worry, but
he cannot destroy us; no galley with oars shall invade our river,
neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
Evening
"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little
folding of the hands to sleep: so shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth; and thy want as an armed man."
- Pro_24:33,Pro_24:34
The worst of sluggards only ask for a little slumber;
they would be indignant if they were accused of thorough idleness. A
little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they
have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is a very
proper one. Yet by these littles the day ebbs out, and the time for
labour is all gone, and the field is grown over with thorns. It is
by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no
intention to delay for years-a few months will bring the more
convenient season-to-morrow if you will, they will attend to serious
things; but the present hour is so occupied and altogether so
unsuitable, that they beg to be excused. Like sands from an
hour-glass, time passes, life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of
grace lost by little slumbers. Oh, to be wise, to catch the flying
hour, to use the moments on the wing! May the Lord teach us this
sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us,
eternal poverty which shall want even a drop of water, and beg for
it in vain. Like a traveller steadily pursuing his journey, poverty
overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided: each hour
brings the dreaded pursuer nearer; he pauses not by the way, for he
is on his master’s business and must not tarry. As an armed man
enters with authority and power, so shall want come to the idle, and
death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape. O that men
were wise be-times, and would seek diligently unto the Lord Jesus,
or ere the solemn day shall dawn when it will be too late to plough
and to sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest, it is vain
to lament that the seed time was neglected. As yet, faith and holy
decision are timely. May we obtain them this night.
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