Spurgeon: July PM
* 07/21/PM
"Why go I mourning?"
--Psalm 42:9
Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason
why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield
to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would
never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances
would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues
of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of
thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and
ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of
despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood
comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope
thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not
know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this?
Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and
God's love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest
moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as
much as thou dost; He only cares to use it for that reason which
should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works
thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob's ladder with the
angels, and behold Him who sits at the top of it--thy covenant
God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget
the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who
led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them.
Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while
passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting
joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then
"for ever with the Lord," thy bliss shall never wane.
"Faint not nor fear, His arms are near,
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
Only believe and thou shalt see,
That Christ is all in all to thee."