Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 9
“The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it.”
– Revelation 21:23
Yonder in the better world, the inhabitants are independent of all creature comforts.
- They have no need of raiment; their white robes never wear out, neither shall they ever be defiled.
- They need no medicine to heal diseases, “for the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick.”
- They need no sleep to recruit their frames—they rest not day nor night, but unweariedly praise him in his temple.
- They need no social relationship to minister comfort, and whatever happiness they may derive from association with their fellows is not essential to their bliss, for their Lord’s society is enough for their largest desires.
- They need no teachers there; they doubtless commune with one another concerning the things of God, but they do not require this by way of instruction; they shall all be taught of the Lord.
Ours are the alms at the king’s gate, but they feast at the table itself.
- Here we lean upon the friendly arm, but there they lean upon their Beloved and upon him alone.
- Here we must have the help of our companions, but there they find all they want in Christ Jesus.
- Here we look to the meat which perisheth, and to the raiment which decays before the moth, but there they find everything in God.
- Here we use the bucket to fetch us water from the well, but there they drink from the fountain head, and put their lips down to the living water.
- Here the angels bring us blessings, but we shall want no messengers from heaven then. They shall need no Gabriels there to bring their love-notes from God, for there they shall see him face to face.
Oh! what a blessed time shall that be when we shall have mounted above every second cause and shall rest upon the bare arm of God! What a glorious hour when God, and not his creatures; the Lord, and not his works, shall be our daily joy! Our souls shall then have attained the perfection of bliss.
Continue reading about The City Hath No Need Of The Sun Or Moon To Shine In It
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
August 8
“They weave the spider’s web.”
– Isaiah 59:5
See the spider’s web, and behold in it a most suggestive picture of the hypocrite’s religion.
It is meant to catch his prey: the spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape. Philip baptized Simon Magus, whose guileful declaration of faith was so soon exploded by the stern rebuke of Peter. Custom, reputation, praise, advancement, and other flies, are the small game which hypocrites take in their nets.
A spider’s web is a marvel of skill: look at it and admire the cunning hunter’s wiles. Is not a deceiver’s religion equally wonderful? How does he make so barefaced a lie appear to be a truth? How can he make his tinsel answer so well the purpose of gold? A spider’s web comes all from the creature’s own bowels. The bee gathers her wax from flowers, the spider sucks no flowers, and yet she spins out her material to any length. Even so hypocrites find their trust and hope within themselves; their anchor was forged on their own anvil, and their cable twisted by their own hands. They lay their own foundation, and hew out the pillars of their own house, disdaining to be debtors to the sovereign grace of God.
But a spider’s web is very frail. It is curiously wrought, but not enduringly manufactured. It is no match for the servant’s broom, or the traveller’s staff. The hypocrite needs no battery of Armstrongs to blow his hope to pieces, a mere puff of wind will do it. Hypocritical cobwebs will soon come down when the besom of destruction begins its purifying work. Which reminds us of one more thought, viz., that such cobwebs are not to be endured in the Lord’s house: he will see to it that they and those who spin them shall be destroyed forever.
O my soul, be thou resting on something better than a spider’s web. Be the Lord Jesus thine eternal hiding-place.
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
July 2
“Our heart shall rejoice in Him.”
– Psalm 33:21
Blessed is the fact that Christians can rejoice even in the deepest distress; although trouble may surround them, they still sing; and, like many birds, they sing best in their cages.
The waves may roll over them, but their souls soon rise to the surface and see the light of God’s countenance; they have a buoyancy about them which keeps their head always above the water, and helps them to sing amid the tempest, “God is with me still.”
To whom shall the glory be given? Oh! to Jesus—it is all by Jesus.
Trouble does not necessarily bring consolation with it to the believer, but the presence of the Son of God in the fiery furnace with him fills his heart with joy. He is sick and suffering, but Jesus visits him and makes his bed for him. He is dying, and the cold chilly waters of Jordan are gathering about him up to the neck, but Jesus puts His arms around him, and cries, “Fear not, beloved; to die is to be blessed; the waters of death have their fountain-head in heaven; they are not bitter, they are sweet as nectar, for they flow from the throne of God.”
- As the departing saint wades through the stream, and the billows gather around him, and heart and flesh fail him, the same voice sounds in his ears, “Fear not; I am with thee; be not dismayed; I am thy God.”
- As he nears the borders of the infinite unknown, and is almost affrighted to enter the realm of shades, Jesus says, “Fear not, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Thus strengthened and consoled, the believer is not afraid to die; nay, he is even willing to depart, for since he has seen Jesus as the morning star, he longs to gaze upon Him as the sun in his strength.
Truly, the presence of Jesus is all the heaven we desire.
He is at once:
“The glory of our brightest days;
The comfort of our nights.”
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
July 1
“In summer and in winter shall it be.”
– Zechariah 14:8
The streams of living water which flow from Jerusalem are not dried up by the parching heats of sultry midsummer any more than they were frozen by the cold winds of blustering winter.
Rejoice, O my soul, that thou art spared to testify of the faithfulness of the Lord. The seasons change and thou changest, but thy Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of his love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.
The heats of business cares and scorching trials make me need the cooling influences of the river of His grace; I may go at once and drink to the full from the inexhaustible fountain, for in summer and in winter it pours forth its flood.
The upper springs are never scanty, and blessed be the name of the Lord, the nether springs cannot fail either.
- Elijah found Cherith dry up, but Jehovah was still the same God of providence.
- Job said his brethren were like deceitful brooks, but he found his God an overflowing river of consolation.
- The Nile is the great confidence of Egypt, but its floods are variable; our Lord is evermore the same.
- By turning the course of the Euphrates, Cyrus took the city of Babylon, but no power, human or infernal, can divert the current of divine grace.
- The tracks of ancient rivers have been found all dry and desolate, but the streams which take their rise on the mountains of divine sovereignty and infinite love shall ever be full to the brim.
- Generations melt away, but the course of grace is unaltered.
The river of God may sing with greater truth than the brook in the poem—
“Men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever.”
How happy art thou, my soul, to be led beside such still waters! never wander to other streams, lest thou hear the Lord’s rebuke, “What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink of the muddy river?”
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
June 28
“Looking unto Jesus.”
– Hebrews 12:2
It is ever the Holy Spirit’s work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus; but Satan’s work is just the opposite of this, for he is constantly trying to make us regard ourselves instead of Christ.
He insinuates, “Your sins are too great for pardon; you have no faith; you do not repent enough; you will never be able to continue to the end; you have not the joy of his children; you have such a wavering hold of Jesus.” All these are thoughts about self, and we shall never find comfort or assurance by looking within.
But the Holy Spirit turns our eyes entirely away from self: he tells us that we are nothing, but that “Christ is all in all.”
Remember, therefore,
- it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee—it is Christ;
- it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee—it is Christ;
- it is not even faith in Christ, though that be the instrument—it is Christ’s blood and merits;
therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Jesus, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Jesus, the author and finisher of thy faith.
We shall never find happiness by looking at our prayers, our doings, or our feelings; it is what Jesus is, not what we are, that gives rest to the soul.
If we would at once overcome Satan and have peace with God, it must be by “looking unto Jesus.” Keep thine eye simply on him; let his death, his sufferings, his merits, his glories, his intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look to Him; when thou liest down at night look to Him.
Oh! let not thy hopes or fears come between thee and Jesus; follow hard after Him, and He will never fail thee.
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness:
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
June 26
“Art thou become like unto us?”
– Isaiah 14:10
What must be the apostate professor’s doom when his naked soul appears before God?
How will he bear that voice, “Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from me: I also have banished thee forever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee.” What will be this wretch’s shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked?
See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. “There he is,” says one, “will he preach the gospel in hell?” “There he is,” says another, “he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!” “Aha!” says another, “here comes a psalm-singing Methodist—one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!” No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite’s soul down to perdition.
Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors!
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not.
It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it.
O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside!
Daily Christian Meditation Devotional
Morning by Morning by Charles Spurgeon
June 25
“Get thee up into the high mountain.”
– Isaiah 40:9
Our knowledge of Christ is somewhat like climbing one of our Welsh mountains.
When you are at the base you see but little: the mountain itself appears to be but one-half as high as it really is. Confined in a little valley, you discover scarcely anything but the rippling brooks as they descend into the stream at the foot of the mountain. Climb the first rising knoll, and the valley lengthens and widens beneath your feet.
Go higher, and you see the country for four or five miles round, and you are delighted with the widening prospect. Mount still, and the scene enlarges; till at last, when you are on the summit, and look east, west, north, and south, you see almost all England lying before you. Yonder is a forest in some distant county, perhaps two hundred miles away, and here the sea, and there a shining river and the smoking chimneys of a manufacturing town, or the masts of the ships in a busy port.
All these things please and delight you, and you say, “I could not have imagined that so much could be seen at this elevation.”
Now, the Christian life is of the same order. When we first believe in Christ we see but little of Him. The higher we climb the more we discover of his beauties.
But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, “I know whom I have believed,” for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of him to whom he had committed his soul.
Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain!
Continue reading about Climb Higher Into The Knowledge Of Christ
Recent Comments