Spurgeon: March PM
* 03/31/PM
"And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it
for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water
dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds
of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field
by night."
--2 Samuel 21:10
If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her
prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary
of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove
away the birds of prey, and shall not we chase from our
meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both
our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied?
Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone! She
bore the heats of summer, the night dews and the rains,
unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes: her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her
children! Shall Rizpah thus endure, and shall we start at the
first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we
cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the
wild beasts, with courage unusual in her sex, and will not we be
ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake? These her
children were slain by other hands than hers, and yet she wept
and watched: what ought we to do who have by our sins crucified
our Lord? Our obligations are boundless, our love should be
fervent and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should
be our business, to protect His honour our occupation, to abide
by His cross our solace. Those ghastly corpses might well have
affrighted Rizpah, especially by night, but in our Lord, at
whose cross-foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but
everything attractive. Never was living beauty so enchanting as
a dying Saviour. Jesus, we will watch with Thee yet awhile, and
do Thou graciously unveil Thyself to us; then shall we not sit
beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.