Morning, October 31 Go To Evening Reading
“Renew a right spirit within me.”
—Psalm 51:10
A backslider, if there is a spark of life left in him, will groan after restoration. In this renewal, the same exercise of grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance then; we certainly need it now. We wanted faith that we might come to Christ at first; only the like grace can bring us to Jesus now. We wanted a word from the Highest, a word from the lip of the loving One, to end our fears; we shall soon discover, under a sense of present sin, that we need it now. No man can be renewed without as real and genuine a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s energy as he felt at first because the work is as great, and flesh and blood are as much in the way now as ever. Let thy personal weakness, O Christian, be an argument to make thee pray earnestly to thy God for help. When he felt powerless, David did not fold his arms or close his lips, but he hastened to the mercy seat to “renew a right spirit within me.” Let not the doctrine that you, unaided, can do nothing make you sleep, but let it be a goad in your side to drive you with an awful earnestness to Israel’s strong Helper. O, you may have the grace to plead with God, as though you pleaded for your very life—“Lord, renew a right spirit within me.” He who sincerely prays to God to do this will prove his honesty by using the means through which God works. Be much in prayer; live much upon the Word of God; kill the lusts which have driven your Lord from you; be careful to watch over the future uprisings of sin. The Lord has his own appointed ways; sit by the wayside, and you will be ready when he passes by. Continue in all those sacred ordinances which will foster and nourish your dying graces, and, knowing that all the power must proceed from him, cease not to cry, “Renew a right spirit within me.”
Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.
“I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought.”
—Hosea 13:5
Yes, Lord, thou didst indeed know me in my fallen state, and thou didst even then choose me for thyself. When I was loathsome and self-abhorred, thou didst receive me as thy child, and thou didst satisfy my craving wants. Since then, my inward experience has often been a wilderness; but thou hast owned me still as thy beloved and poured streams of love and grace into me to gladden me and make me fruitful. When my outward circumstances have been at the worst, and I have wandered in a land of drought, thy sweet presence has solaced me. Men have not known me when scorn has awaited me, but thou hast known my soul in adversities, for no affliction dims the luster of thy love. Most gracious Lord, I magnify thee for all thy faithfulness to me in trying circumstances, and I deplore that I should at any time have forgotten thee and been exalted in the heart when I have owed all to thy gentleness and love. Have mercy upon thy servant in this thing! Blessed forever be thy name for this free, prosperous, abounding mercy.
My soul, if Jesus thus acknowledged thee in thy low estate, be sure that thou own both himself and his cause now that thou art in thy prosperity. Be not lifted up by thy worldly successes to be ashamed of the truth or of the poor church with which thou hast been associated. Follow Jesus into the wilderness: bear the cross with him when the heat of persecution grows hot. He owned thee, O my soul, in thy poverty and shame—never be so treacherous as to be ashamed of him. O for more shame at the thought of being ashamed of my best Beloved! Jesus, my soul cleaveth to thee.
“I’ll turn to thee in days of light,
As well as nights of care,
Thou brightest amid all that’s bright!
Thou fairest of the fair!”
Spurgeon, C. H. Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1896. Print.
October 31: Speaking the Truth
Daniel 11:1–12:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:1–18; Job 42:10–17
“And now I will reveal the truth to you” (Dan 11:2). How much better would our world be if more of us were willing to take this kind of stand—to make these kinds of statements?
The truth Daniel refers to is the prophecies foretelling what will happen in the Persian Empire. Great power and wealth are coming, and with them comes the fear of how that power and wealth may be used. If we read between the lines of the prophet’s statements in Dan 11, we can feel the trepidation. He is concerned that wickedness will once again sweep over the land.
Such was the case for Paul: “Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may progress and be honored … and that we may be delivered from evil and wicked people, for not all have the faith” (2 Thess 3:1–2). Paul was aware that unbelievers would seek his life. He wasn’t sure what the future would look like. We can imagine the fear that he must have felt, wondering, “What is next? What is coming? Who is my friend? Who is my enemy?”
If you have ever been in a situation where it seems you have more enemies than friends, you know that speaking the truth becomes increasingly difficult over time. The prophecies in Dan 11 suggest a time like this, and Paul’s words tell us that life for the early Christians was uncertain. Many Christians today lead relatively safe and effortless lives. For Christians in some parts of the world, though, Paul’s situation is far too familiar. But no matter our present situation, we must boldly speak the truth.
What is God asking you to say?
John D. Barry
Barry, John D., and Rebecca Kruyswijk. Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012. Print.
October 31st
Discernment of faith
Faith as a grain of mustard seed.… Matthew 17:20
We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith; it may be so in the initial stages, but we do not earn anything by faith. Faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives God His opportunity. God has frequently knocked the bottom board out of your experience if you are a saint to get you into contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of sentimental enjoyment of His blessings. Your earlier life of faith was narrow and intense, settled around a little sunspot of experience that had as much sense as faith, full of light and sweetness; then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to walk by faith. You are worth far more to Him now than in your days of conscious delight and compelling testimony.
By its very nature, faith must be tried, and the actual trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God but that God’s character has to be cleared in our minds. Faith in its actual working out has to go through spells of unsyllabled isolation. Never confound the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life. Much of what we call the practice of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith in the Bible is faith in God against everything that contradicts Him—‘I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.’ “Though He slays me, yet will I trust Him”—this is the most sublime utterance of faith in the whole of the Bible.
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering, 1986. Print.
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened
Eph. 1:17, 18
We were coming down a mountain in Switzerland one evening when a black thunderstorm blotted out the day, and all things were suddenly plunged into darkness. We could only dimly see the narrow, dusty footpaths and the downsides that were swallowed up in deeper gloom. All was darkness. Then came the lightning—not flashes, but the blazing of the whole sky, incessant and on every side. What recesses of glory we gazed into! What marvels of splendor shone out of the darkness! What, then, of the majesty all about us, heights, depths, and wonders?
Think how with us, in us, is One who comes to make the standard, dusty ways of a life resplendent, illuminating our dull thoughts by the light of the glory of God; clearing the vision of the soul, and then revealing the greatness of the salvation that is ours in Christ.
Mark Guy Pearse
Hardman, Samuel G., and Dwight Lyman Moody. Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA: Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1997. Print.
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