Spurgeon: April PM
* 04/18/PM
"And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good."
--Genesis 32:12
When Jacob was on the other side of the brook Jabbok, and
Esau was coming with armed men, he earnestly sought God's
protection, and as a master reason he pleaded, "And Thou saidst,
I will surely do thee good." Oh, the force of that plea! He was
holding God to His word--"Thou saidst." The attribute of God's
faithfulness is a splendid horn of the altar to lay hold upon;
but the promise, which has in it the attribute and something
more, is a yet mightier holdfast--"Thou saidst, I will surely do
thee good." And has He said, and shall He not do it? "Let God
be true, and every man a liar." Shall not He be true? Shall
He not keep His word? Shall not every word that cometh out of
His lips stand fast and be fulfilled? Solomon, at the opening
of the temple, used this same mighty plea. He pleaded with God
to remember the word which He had spoken to his father David,
and to bless that place. When a man gives a promissory note, his
honour is engaged; he signs his hand, and he must discharge it
when the due time comes, or else he loses credit. It shall never
be said that God dishonours His bills. The credit of the Most
High never was impeached, and never shall be. He is punctual to
the moment: He never is before His time, but He never is behind
it. Search God's word through, and compare it with the
experience of God's people, and you shall find the two tally
from the first to the last. Many a hoary patriarch has said with
Joshua, "Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which
the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass."
If you have a divine promise, you need not plead it with an
"if," you may urge it with certainty. The Lord meant to fulfil
the promise, or He would not have given it. God does not give
His words merely to quiet us, and to keep us hopeful for awhile
with the intention of putting us off at last; but when He
speaks, it is because He means to do as He has said.