Spurgeon: December PM
* 12/16/PM
"Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that
time that thine ear was not opened."
--Isaiah 48:8
It is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this
accusation may be laid at the door of believers , who too often
are in a measure spiritually insensible . We may well bewail
ourselves that we do not hear the voice of God as we ought,
"Yea, thou heardest not." There are gentle motions of the Holy
Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us: there are
whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are
alike unobserved by our leaden intellects. Alas! we have been
carelessly ignorant --"Yea, thou knewest not." There are
matters within which we ought to have seen, corruptions which
have made headway unnoticed; sweet affections which are being
blighted like flowers in the frost, untended by us; glimpses of
the divine face which might be perceived if we did not wall up
the windows of our soul. But we "have not known." As we think of
it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement. How must we
adore the grace of God as we learn from the context that all
this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown by God ,
and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased
to deal with us in a way of mercy! Admire the marvellous
sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the sight of all
this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew
what we should be! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as
unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless,
lax in prayer, and yet He said, "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Saviour . . . Since thou wast precious in My
sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life"! O
redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost thou shine when we
think how black we are! O Holy Spirit, give us henceforth the
hearing ear, the understanding heart!