`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