Spurgeon: January PM
* 01/03/PM
"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his paths straight."
--Luke 3:4
The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the
Lord, a way prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness . I
would be attentive to the Master's proclamation, and give Him a
road into my heart, cast up by gracious operations, through the
desert of my nature. The four directions in the text must have
my serious attention.
Every valley must be exalted . Low and grovelling thoughts
of God must be given up; doubting and despairing must be
removed; and self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken.
Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of grace must be
raised.
Every mountain and hill shall be laid low . Proud creature-
sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled,
to make a highway for the King of kings. Divine fellowship is
never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded sinners. The Lord hath
respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart, but
the lofty are an abomination unto Him. My soul, beseech the Holy
Spirit to set thee right in this respect.
The crooked shall be made straight . The wavering heart must
have a straight path of decision for God and holiness marked out
for it. Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth. My
soul, take heed that thou be in all things honest and true, as
in the sight of the heart-searching God.
The rough places shall be made smooth . Stumbling-blocks of
sin must be removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be
uprooted. So great a visitor must not find miry ways and stony
places when He comes to honour His favoured ones with His
company. Oh that this evening the Lord may find in my heart a
highway made ready by His grace, that He may make a triumphal
progress through the utmost bounds of my soul, from the
beginning of this year even to the end of it.