Spurgeon: October AM
* 10/12/AM
"I will meditate in Thy precepts."
--Psalm 119:15
There are times when solitude is better than society, and
silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if
we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through
meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in His
service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we
thus get the real nutriment out of them . Truth is something
like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we
must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The
bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else
the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or
else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by
meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the
wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by
merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really
supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone,
is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward
food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not
nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that,
and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading,
marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to
complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth
lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that
some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow
advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets,
and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the
wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but
they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit
hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows
at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such
folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning,
"I will meditate in Thy precepts."