Category Archives: Evening’s With Spurgeon

“The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”~ Song of Solomon 2:12 ~ Sweet is the season of spring: the long and dreary winter helps us to appreciate its genial warmth, and its promise of summer enhances its present delights. After periods… (more…)

“Lo, in the midst of the throne . . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”~ Revelation 5:6 ~ Why should our exalted Lord appear in His wounds in glory? The wounds of Jesus are His glories, His jewels, His sacred ornaments. To the eye of the believer, Jesus is passing fair because He is “white and ruddy”… (more…)

“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night.”~ Psalm 91:5 ~ What is this terror? It may be the cry of fire, or the noise of thieves, or fancied appearances, or the shriek of sudden sickness or death. We live in the world of death and sorrow, we may therefore look for ills as well in the night-watches… (more…)

“Who is even at the right hand of God.”~ Romans 8:34 ~ He who was once despised and rejected of men, now occupies the honourable position of a beloved and honoured Son. The right hand of God is the place of majesty and favour. Our Lord Jesus is His people’s representative. When He died for them they had rest; He… (more…)

“Fight the Lord’s battles.”~ 1 Samuel 18:17 ~ The sacramental host of God’s elect is warring still on earth, Jesus Christ being the Captain of their salvation. He has said, “Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Hark to the shouts of war! Now let the people of God stand fast in their ranks,… (more…)

“The Amen.”~ Revelation 3:14 ~ The word AMEN solemnly confirms that which went before; and Jesus is the great Confirmer; immutable, for ever is “the Amen” in all His promises. Sinner, I would comfort thee with this reflection. Jesus Christ said, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” If you… (more…)

“And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” ~ Genesis 32:12 ~ When Jacob was on the other side of the brook Jabbok, and Esau was coming with armed men, he earnestly sought God’s protection, and as a master reason he pleaded, “And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.” Oh, the force of that plea! He was… (more…)

“We would see Jesus.”~ John 12:21 ~ Evermore the worldling’s cry is, Who will show us any good?” He seeks satisfaction in earthly comforts, enjoyments, and riches. But the quickened sinner knows of only one good. “O that I knew where I might find HIM!” When he is truly awakened to feel his guilt, if you could pour the gold… (more…)

“And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”~ Exodus 17:12 ~ So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. No, in the soul’s conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join… (more…)

“Lift them up for ever.”~ Psalm 28:9 ~ God’s people need lifting up. They are very heavy by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have, they are like the dove of old which lay among the pots; and they need divine grace to make them mount on wings covered with silver, and with feathers of yellow gold. By… (more…)

“Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him.”~ Isaiah 3:10 ~ It is well with the righteous ALWAYS. If it had said, “Say ye to the righteous, that it is well with him in his prosperity,” we must have been thankful for so great a boon, for prosperity is an hour of peril, and it is… (more…)

“And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”~ Leviticus 1:4 ~ Our Lord’s being made “sin for us” is set forth here by the very significant transfer of sin to the bullock, which was made by the elders of the people. The laying of… (more…)

“The king’s garden.”~ Nehemiah 3:15 ~ Mention of the king’s garden by Nehemiah brings to mind the paradise which the King of kings prepared for Adam. Sin has utterly ruined that fair abode of all delights, and driven forth the children of men to till the ground, which yields thorns and briers unto them. My soul, remember the fall, for… (more…)

“Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”~ Psalm 25:18 ~ It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins when, being under God’s hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow… (more…)

“For there stood by me this night the angel of God.”~ Acts 27:23. ~ Temptest and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought the crew of the vessel into a sad case; one man alone among them remained perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man who had heart enough… (more…)

“Thy gentleness hath made me great.“~ Psalm 18:35 ~ The words are capable of being translated, “Thy goodness hath made me great.” David gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but the goodness of God. “Thy providence,” is another reading; and providence is nothing more than goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is… (more…)

“I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.”~ Psalm 23:4 ~ Behold, how independent of outward circumstances the Holy Ghost can make the Christian! What a bright light may shine within us when it is all dark without! How firm, how happy, how calm, how peaceful we may be, when the world shakes to and fro, and the… (more…)

“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.”~ Psalm 51:14 ~ In this solemn confession it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy… (more…)

“In the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”~ Psalm 118:12 ~ Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but to the entire man. He contemplated in His passion the sanctification of us wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom He Himself might reign supreme without… (more…)

“Before honour is humility.”~ Proverbs 15:33 ~ Humiliation  of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self God will fill them with His love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a… (more…)

God’s Hornets“And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee” ~ Exodus 23:28 ~ That the hornets were we need not consider. They were God’s own army which He sent before His people to sting their enemies and render Israel’s conquest easy. Our God by His own chosen… (more…)

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”~ Isaiah 53:6 ~ Here a confession of sin common to all the elect people of God. They have all fallen, and therefore, in common chorus, they all say, from the first who… (more…)

“He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.”~ Isaiah 53:10 ~ Plead for the speedy fulfillment of this promise, all ye who love the Lord. It is easy work to pray when we are grounded and bottomed, as to our desires, upon God’s own promise. How can… (more…)

“It is time to seek the Lord.”~ Hosea 10:12 ~ This month of April is said to derive its name from the Latin verb aperio, which signifies to open, because all the buds and blossoms are now opening, and we have arrived at the gates of the flowery year. Reader, if you are yet unsaved, may your heart, in accord… (more…)

“And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.”~ 2 Samuel 21:10 ~ If the love of a… (more…)

“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”~ Lamentations 3:40 ~ The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return; a long protracted separation from her Lord is a semi-death to her spirit: and so with souls who love the Saviour much, they must see His face, they cannot bear that He… (more…)

I called him, but he gave me no answer.~ Song of Solomon 5:6 ~ Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered his servants… (more…)

I will accept you with your sweet savour.~ Ezekiel 20:41 ~ The merits of our great Redeemer are as sweet savour to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a sweet savour in his active life by which he honoured the law of God, and made… (more…)

“And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”~ Matthew 15:27 ~ This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking GREAT THOUGHTS OF CHRIST. The Master had talked about the children’s bread: “Now,” argued she, “since Thou art the Master of the table of grace, I know that Thou art… (more…)

“When He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”~ Mark 8:38 ~ If we have been partakers with Jesus in His shame, we shall be sharers with Him in the lustre which shall surround Him when He appears again in glory. Art thou, beloved one, with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to Him?… (more…)

“The Son of man.”~ John 3:13 ~ How constantly our Master used the title, the “Son of man!” If He had chosen, He might always have spoken of Himself as the Son of God, the Everlasting Father, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Prince of Peace; but behold the lowliness of Jesus! He prefers to call Himself the Son of man.… (more…)

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.”~ Luke 10:21 ~ The Saviour was “a man of sorrows,“ but every thoughtful mind has discovered the fact that down deep in His innermost soul He carried an inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly joy. Of all the human race, there was never a man who had a deeper, purer, or more abiding… (more…)

“I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”~ Luke 19:40 ~ But could the stones cry out? Assuredly they could if He who opens the mouth of the dumb should bid them lift up their voice. Certainly if they were to speak, they would have much to testify in praise of Him… (more…)

“Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.”~ John 17:24 ~ O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If thou must use thine axe, use it upon… (more…)

“Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?”~ Job 38:31 ~ If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak… (more…)