Spurgeon: October AM
* 10/26/AM
"Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye
brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of
hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man
unto his own house."
--Haggai 1:9
Churlish souls stint their contributions to the ministry and
missionary operations, and call such saving good economy; little
do they dream that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their
excuse is that they must care for their own families, and they
forget that to neglect the house of God is the sure way to bring
ruin upon their own houses. Our God has a method in providence
by which He can succeed our endeavours beyond our expectation,
or can defeat our plans to our confusion and dismay; by a turn
of His hand He can steer our vessel in a profitable channel, or
run it aground in poverty and bankruptcy. It is the teaching of
Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the
miserly to find out that withholding tendeth to poverty. In a
very wide sphere of observation, I have noticed that the most
generous Christians of my acquaintance have been always the most
happy, and almost invariably the most prosperous. I have seen
the liberal giver rise to wealth of which he never dreamed; and
I have as often seen the mean, ungenerous churl descend to
poverty by the very parsimony by which he thought to rise. Men
trust good stewards with larger and larger sums, and so it
frequently is with the Lord; He gives by cartloads to those who
give by bushels. Where wealth is not bestowed the Lord makes the
little much by the contentment which the sanctified heart feels
in a portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to the Lord.
Selfishness looks first at home, but godliness seeks first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, yet in the long run
selfishness is loss, and godliness is great gain. It needs faith
to act towards our God with an open hand, but surely He deserves
it of us; and all that we can do is a very poor acknowledgment
of our amazing indebtedness to His goodness.