Spurgeon: January AM
* 01/13/AM
"Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber."
--1 Kings 22:48
Solomon's ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's
vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one,
and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and
at the same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one
time as another. May we have grace to-day, in the remembrance
of this text, to bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber,
as well as for vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us
not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though
we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may
be precious in the Lord's sight, although our schemes end in
disappointment.
The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of
notice, for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the
Lord's people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his
fellowship with sinners. In 2 Chron. 20:37, we are told that the
Lord sent a prophet to declare, "Because thou hast joined
thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works." This was
a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to
him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text we find
him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels
with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat's
experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord's people,
to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life
of misery is usually the lot of those who are united in
marriage, or in any other way of their own choosing, with the
men of the world. O for such love to Jesus that, like Him, we
may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; for
if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said,
"The Lord hath broken thy works."