Spurgeon: September AM
* 09/15/AM
"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings."
--Psalm 112:7
Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil
tidings; because if you are distressed by them, what do you
more than other men ? Other men have not your God to fly to;
they have never proved His faithfulness as you have done, and it
is no wonder if they are bowed down with alarm and cowed with
fear: but you profess to be of another spirit; you have been
begotten again unto a lively hope, and your heart lives in
heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen to be
distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which
you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new
nature which you claim to possess?
Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are,
you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others
under trying circumstances . The ungodly, when they are
overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against God; they murmur, and
think that God deals hardly with them. Will you fall into that
same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?
Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order
to escape from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same
if your mind yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord,
and wait patiently for Him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses
did at the Red Sea, "Stand still and see the salvation of God."
For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you
will be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure
which nerves for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you
glorify God if you play the coward? Saints have often sung God's
high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and
desponding, as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most
High? Then take courage, and relying in sure confidence upon the
faithfulness of your covenant God, "let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid."