Spurgeon: May AM
* 05/19/AM
"I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as
servants upon the earth."
--Ecclesiastes 10:7
Upstarts frequently usurp the highest places, while the truly
great pine in obscurity. This is a riddle in providence whose
solution will one day gladden the hearts of the upright; but it
is so common a fact, that none of us should murmur if it should
fall to our own lot. When our Lord was upon earth, although He
is the Prince of the kings of the earth, yet He walked the
footpath of weariness and service as the Servant of servants: what wonder is it if His followers, who are princes of the
blood, should also be looked down upon as inferior and
contemptible persons? The world is upside down, and therefore,
the first are last and the last first. See how the servile sons
of Satan lord it in the earth! What a high horse they ride! How
they lift up their horn on high! Haman is in the court, while
Mordecai sits in the gate; David wanders on the mountains, while
Saul reigns in state; Elijah is complaining in the cave while
Jezebel is boasting in the palace; yet who would wish to take
the places of the proud rebels? and who, on the other hand,
might not envy the despised saints? When the wheel turns, those
who are lowest rise, and the highest sink. Patience, then,
believer, eternity will right the wrongs of time.
Let us not fall into the error of letting our passions and
carnal appetites ride in triumph, while our nobler powers walk
in the dust. Grace must reign as a prince, and make the members
of the body instruments of righteousness. The Holy Spirit loves
order, and He therefore sets our powers and faculties in due
rank and place, giving the highest room to those spiritual
faculties which link us with the great King; let us not disturb
the divine arrangement, but ask for grace that we may keep under
our body and bring it into subjection. We were not new created
to allow our passions to rule over us, but that we, as kings,
may reign in Christ Jesus over the triple kingdom of spirit,
soul, and body, to the glory of God the Father.