Spurgeon: July AM
* 07/25/AM
"He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out."
--Genesis 39:12
In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of
victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of
basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them
easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn
danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away
from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not
even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only
need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant.
Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its
horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself
would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a
storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of
weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near
the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock
without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as
possible in the midst of a safe channel.
This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the
serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a
dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It
is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company,
but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is
not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me
to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no
flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the
wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he
will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or
they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy
Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile
suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh,
and the devil, never overcome us!