Spurgeon: September AM
* 09/13/AM
"Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain
also filleth the pools."
--Psalm 84:6
This teaches us that the comfort obtained by a one may
often prove serviceable to another; just as wells would be used
by the company who came after. We read some book full of
consolation, which is like Jonathan's rod, dropping with honey.
Ah! we think our brother has been here before us, and digged
this well for us as well as for himself. Many a "Night of
Weeping," "Midnight Harmonies," an "Eternal Day," "A Crook in
the Lot," a "Comfort for Mourners," has been a well digged by a
pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as useful to others.
Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that beginning,
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" Travellers have been
delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we
love to see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing through the
vale of tears.
The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from
the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the
blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but
heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day
of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected
with the end, but they do not of themselves produce it. See here
the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become useful as
reservoirs for the water; labour is not lost, but yet it does
not supersede divine help.
Grace may well be compared to rain for its purity, for its
refreshing and vivifying influence, for its coming alone from
above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or
withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the
wells they have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means
and ordinances without the smile of heaven! They are as clouds
without rain, and pools without water. O God of love, open the
windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing!