`Spurgeon: A Happy Christian

And the LORD shall guide you continually
   and satisfy your desire in scorched places
   and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
   like a spring of water,
   whose waters do not fail. ~ Isaiah 58:11

"Jehovah shall guide you continually. Notice the word shall - "the Lord shall guide thee" How certain this makes it! How sure it is that God will not forsake us! His precious "shalls" and "wills" are better than man's oaths. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; I will never forsake thee." Then observe that adverb "continually". We are not to be guided only sometimes, but we are to have a perpetual monitor; not occasionally to be left to our own understanding, and so to wander, but we are continually to hear the guiding voice of the Great Shepard; and as we follow close at his heels we shall not err, but be led by a right way to a city to dwell in. You have been, perhaps, in a maze, and you know how difficult it is to find your way to the centre. But, sometimes there is one perched aloft who sees the whole of the maze spread out before like on a map, and he calls out to you to turn either to the right or to the left, and if you attend to his directions you soon find the way. Even so the maze of life is only a maze to us, but God can see it all. He rules over all, looks down upon it as men look down upon a map; and if we will but look to him, and if our communion be constantly kept up we shall never err, but we shall come to the goal of our hopes right speedily but following his voice."

This is another Spurgeon passage from my reading the other day. I had never fully thought upon this particular Scripture before but, it is a comforting one to meditate on. And, as always, Spurgeon adds his incredible insight causing even more of an impact on meaning.

"He shall guide you continually". Think on that and as Spurgeon urges, think specifically on that word, "shall". Is that not such a joy to know? Right here, we have this promise that God, the God of all creation and who placed the earth into existence, will be with us - each one of us that knows and follows Him - in every aspect and little detail of our lives. That, to me, is mind - blowing. After reading and digesting this glorious promise, let us move on.

" . . . and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail". Even in the driest times of our lives, God will still be there. We will still have His Word, His love, His promises. He will guide us through, satisfying us. When we are weak, He will be there to make us strong ( But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31). Again, a beautiful, beautiful promise that I cannot read and think upon without being humbled and amazed. 

Last night as I was preparing for bed I was thinking about my boyfriend. I love him and he loves me. We tell each other this all the time. We are constantly amazing at how much we love each other and even though we do, our love is going to continue to grow more and more everyday. But, then, you compare this with the love of Christ. Christ loves us so much - so much more than Stephen and I will ever, in our lifetime, love each other. This, to me,  is mind -blowing because I do love Stephen so much but, Christ loves infinitely more. And, this will never, never change. Christ will love us, unconditionally, for all eternally. Us. The ones who despised, mocked, hated His Name before repenting. Throw that into the mix! Stephen and I have never done anything to each other that would cause our love to waver. But, we, all people, have to Christ. And, yet, He suffered a horrible, painful, ghastly death on a cross just for us; for our sins. If that's not love, I don't know what it is!   

I could dwell and write on this for pages. And, I will . . . but, another post. (: For now, I will leave you with two quotes from C. S. Lewis and some passages of Scripture:

"Christ didn't die for us because we're worth dying for, but because He is intrinsically love, & loves infinitely."~ C.S. Lewis

"Jesus is not proud. He will have
us even though we have shown that we prefer everything else to Him." ~ C.S. Lewis

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~ Galations 2:20

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort as the firstfruitsyour hearts and establish them in every good work and word. ~ 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17

Spurgeon: A Tempted Savior - our best succour

This was in my Spurgeon devotional today:

"For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Hebrews 4:14-16

Suggested further reading: Hebrews 4:14-16

I am certain of this, that when through the deep waters he shall cause you to go, or you are made to pass through furnace after furnace, you cannot want a better rod and staff, nor a better table prepared for you in the wilderness than this my text: "In that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted". Hang this text up in your house; read it every day; take it before God in prayer every time you bend the knee, and you shall find it to be like the widow's cruse, which failed not, and like her handful of meal, which wasted not: it shall be unto you till the last of December what now it is when we begin to feed upon it in January. Will not my text suit the awakened sinner as well as the saint? These are timid souls here. They cannot say they are saved; yet here is a loophole of comfort here for you, you poor troubled ones that are not yet able to get a hold of Jesus. "He is able to succour them that are tempted". Go and tell him you are tempted; tempted, perhaps, to despair; tempted to self-destruction; tempted to go back to your old sins; tempted to think that Christ cannot save you. Go and tell him that he himself has suffered being tempted, and that he is able to succour you. Believe that he will, and he will, for you can never believe anything too much of the love and goodness of my Lord. He will be better than your faith to you. If you can trust him with all your heart to save you, he will do it; if you believe he is able to put away you sin, he will do it.

For Meditation: Of all who have lived on earth the Lord Jesus Christ had the greatest experience possible of exposure to temptation, but was the one and only total stranger to sin. In this dual capacity he is uniquely and ideally qualified to help us in our ongoing conflicts with both temptation and sin (Hebrews 4:15). Are you one of those who seek his help?

Our God is greater and stronger than any power on earth. He can defeat any enemy, any raging storm, any temptation. You just have to believe that God will. One of the lines that stood out to me in this passage is the sentence towards the end : "Believe that He will, and He will, for you can never believe anything too much of the love and goodness of my Lord".