Spurgeon: November AM
* 11/04/AM
"For my strength is made perfect in weakness."
--2 Corinthians 12:9
A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of
success, and for doing God's work well and triumphantly, is a
sense of our own weakness. When God's warrior marches forth to
battle, strong in his own might, when he boasts, "I know that I
shall conquer, my own right arm and my conquering sword shall
get unto me the victory," defeat is not far distant. God will
not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. He
who reckoneth on victory thus has reckoned wrongly, for "it is
not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts." They who go forth to fight, boasting of their prowess,
shall return with their gay banners trailed in the dust, and
their armour stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must
serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never
accept their service. That which man doth, unaided by divine
strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He
casteth away; He will only reap that corn, the seed of which was
sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of
divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He
will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy
granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat.
The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows
from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His
battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you
mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be
a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee
victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being
filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your
lifting up.
"When I am weak then am I strong,
Grace is my shield and Christ my song."