Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 26
“He hath commanded his covenant forever.”
– Psalms 111:9
The Lord’s people delight in the covenant itself…
It is an unfailing source of consolation to them so often as the Holy Spirit leads them into its banqueting house and waves its banner of love.
They delight to contemplate the antiquity of that covenant, remembering that before the day-star knew its place, or planets ran their round, the interests of the saints were made secure in Christ Jesus.
It is peculiarly pleasing to them to remember the sureness of the covenant, while meditating upon “the sure mercies of David.” They delight to celebrate it as “signed, and sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.” It often makes their hearts dilate with joy to think of its immutability, as a covenant which neither time nor eternity, life nor death, shall ever be able to violate—a covenant as old as eternity and as everlasting as the Rock of ages.
They rejoice also to feast upon the fullness of this covenant, for they see in it all things provided for them. God is their portion, Christ their companion, the Spirit their Comforter, earth their lodge, and heaven their home. They see in it an inheritance reserved and entailed to every soul possessing an interest in its ancient and eternal deed of gift. Their eyes sparkled when they saw it as a treasure-trove in the Bible; but oh! how their souls were gladdened when they saw in the last will and testament of their divine kinsman, that it was bequeathed to them!
More especially it is the pleasure of God’s people to contemplate the graciousness of this covenant. They see that the law was made void because it was a covenant of works and depended upon merit, but this they perceive to be enduring because grace is the basis, grace the condition, grace the strain, grace the bulwark, grace the foundation, grace the topstone.
The covenant is a treasury of wealth, a granary of food, a fountain of life, a store-house of salvation, a charter of peace, and a haven of joy!
Continue reading about He Hath Commanded His Covenant Forever
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 21
“He that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
– Proverbs 11:25
We are here taught the great lesson…
- that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter;
- that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and
- that in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others.
In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness.
We have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to light by exercise. Our strength for labor is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord’s battles, or to climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow’s tears, and soothe the orphan’s grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves.
Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away blushing that we knew so little of them. In our converse with poor saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So that watering others makes us humble.
We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it; and how much the poor saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also increased by our working for others. We endeavor to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Like the two men in the snow; one chafed the other’s limbs to keep him from dying, and in so doing kept his own blood in circulation, and saved his own life. The poor widow of Sarepta gave from her scanty store a supply for the prophet’s wants, and from that day she never again knew what want was.
Give then, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.
Continue reading about He That Watereth Shall Be Watered Also Himself
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 20
“The sweet psalmist of Israel.”
– 2 Samuel 23:1
Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive character.
In David’s history we meet with trials and temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and hence he is all the more suggestive a type of our Lord. David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men.
- The kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown:
- the peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd’s crook:
- the wanderer has many hardships, and David abode in the caves of Engedi:
- the captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him.
The psalmist was also tried in his friends, his counselor Ahithophel forsook him, “He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me.” His worst foes were they of his own household: his children were his greatest affliction. The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honor and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace, and from within to mar his joy.
David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another; no sooner emerged from one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought into the lowest depths, and all God’s waves and billows rolled over him. It is probably from this cause that David’s psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions.
He was an able master of the human heart, because he had been tutored in the best of all schools—the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David’s psalms, and find them to be “green pastures.”
My soul, let David’s experience cheer and counsel thee this day.
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 3
“The Lamb is the light thereof.”
– Revelation 21:23
Quietly contemplate the Lamb as the light of heaven.
Light in Scripture is the emblem of joy. The joy of the saints in heaven is comprised in this: Jesus chose us, loved us, bought us, cleansed us, robed us, kept us, glorified us: we are here entirely through the Lord Jesus. Each one of these thoughts shall be to them like a cluster of the grapes of Eshcol.
Light is also the cause of beauty. Nought of beauty is left when light is gone. Without light no radiance flashes from the sapphire, no peaceful ray proceedeth from the pearl; and thus all the beauty of the saints above comes from Jesus. As planets, they reflect the light of the Sun of Righteousness; they live as beams proceeding from the central orb. If he withdrew, they must die; if his glory were veiled, their glory must expire.
Light is also the emblem of knowledge. In heaven our knowledge will be perfect, but the Lord Jesus himself will be the fountain of it. Dark providences, never understood before, will then be clearly seen, and all that puzzles us now will become plain to us in the light of the Lamb. Oh! what unfoldings there will be and what glorifying of the God of love!
Light also means manifestation. Light manifests. In this world it doth not yet appear what we shall be. God’s people are a hidden people, but when Christ receives his people into heaven, he will touch them with the wand of his own love, and change them into the image of his manifested glory. They were poor and wretched, but what a transformation! They were stained with sin, but one touch of his finger, and they are bright as the sun, and clear as crystal. Oh! what a manifestation!
All this proceeds from the exalted Lamb. Whatever there may be of effulgent splendour, Jesus shall be the centre and soul of it all.
Oh! to be present and to see him in his own light, the King of kings, and Lord of lords!
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
July 18
“They shall go hindmost with their standards.”
– Numbers 2:31
The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march.
The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Someone must be hindmost in honor and esteem, someone must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and “go hindmost with my standard.”
The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons.
Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.
The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost.
My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day?
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
July 10
“Fellow citizens with the saints.”
– Ephesians 2:19
What is meant by our being citizens in heaven? It means that we are under heaven’s government.
Christ the king of heaven reigns in our hearts; our daily prayer is, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The proclamations issued from the throne of glory are freely received by us: the decrees of the Great King we cheerfully obey.
Then as citizens of the New Jerusalem, we share heaven’s honors. The glory which belongs to beatified saints belongs to us, for we are
- already sons of God,
- already princes of the blood imperial;
- already we wear the spotless robe of Jesus’ righteousness;
- already we have angels for our servitors, saints for our companions, Christ for our Brother, God for our Father, and a crown of immortality for our reward.
We share the honors of citizenship, for we have come to the general assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written in heaven. As citizens, we have common rights to all the property of heaven.
- Ours are its gates of pearl and walls of chrysolite;
- ours the azure light of the city that needs no candle nor light of the sun;
- ours the river of the water of life,
- and the twelve manner of fruits which grow on the trees planted on the banks thereof;
there is nought in heaven that belongeth not to us. “Things present, or things to come,” all are ours.
Also as citizens of heaven we enjoy its delights.
- Do they there rejoice over sinners that repent—prodigals that have returned? So do we.
- Do they chant the glories of triumphant grace? We do the same.
- Do they cast their crowns at Jesus’ feet? Such honors as we have we cast there too.
- Are they charmed with his smile? It is not less sweet to us who dwell below.
- Do they look forward, waiting for his second advent? We also look and long for his appearing.
If, then, we are thus citizens of heaven, let our walk and actions be consistent with our high dignity.
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
July 9
“Forget not all His benefits.”
– Psalm 103:2
It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints, and to observe
- His goodness in delivering them,
- His mercy in pardoning them, and
- His faithfulness in keeping his covenant with them.
But would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of his goodness and of his truth, as much a proof of his faithfulness and veracity, as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before?
We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts, and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints who are now upon the earth.
Let us review our own lives. Surely in these we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God.
- Have you had no deliverances?
- Have you passed through no rivers, supported by the divine presence?
- Have you walked through no fires unharmed?
- Have you had no manifestations?
- Have you had no choice favors?
- The God who gave Solomon the desire of his heart, hath he never listened to you and answered your requests?
- That God of lavish bounty of whom David sang, “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things,” hath he never satiated you with fatness?
- Have you never been made to lie down in green pastures?
- Have you never been led by the still waters?
Surely the goodness of God has been the same to us as to the saints of old.
Let us, then, weave his mercies into a song. Let us take the pure gold of thankfulness, and the jewels of praise and make them into another crown for the head of Jesus. Let our souls give forth music as sweet and as exhilarating as came from David’s harp, while we praise the Lord whose mercy endureth forever.
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