Spurgeon Daily Devotional Bible: January 13

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Spurgeon Daily Devotional Bible: January 13

Today is: Thursday, December 26th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)

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Morning

“Thou God seest me.”

Genesis 16

Gen_16:1

Sarai therefore proposed to Abram that Hagar should become his secondary wife. This was a very usual custom in those days, but it was not a commendable one, and it was an unbelieving act on Sarai’s part to propose it. It is not always easy to patiently wait the Lord’s time. We are all too apt to run to expedients of our own; as if the Lord needed our help to fulfil his promises.

Gen_16:2

Thus those we love best may be the means of leading us astray. The father of mankind sinned by hearkening to his wife, and now the father of the faithful follows his example.

Gen_16:5

It was Sarai who proposed the arrangement, and now she upbraids her husband for. it. It is of no use to lay the blame of our faults upon others, for if we step out of the straight path we shall be sure personally to smart for it.

Gen_16:6

Thus Sarai was first unbelieving to God, next unkind to her husband, and then cruel to her servant; so one wrong step leads to others. Unbelief sins, and produces other sins. Even this holy woman was not without infirmity. “There is none good, save one, that is God.”

Gen_16:8

She did not say where she was going, for she did not know. Let each of us ask himself. “Whither am, I going?”

Gen_16:10

No one could use such language as this but the Angel of the Covenant. Here is a proof of the inspired declaration, “My delights were with the sons of men.”

Gen_16:13

First, God sees us; and then, by his gracious visitations, he leads us to look after himself.

Gen_16:14

The well of the living One, my Seer;

Gen_16:15

But this was not, as he had hoped, the promised heir; on the contrary, he became the occasion of much trial to the family. When we call in legality to help grace, or sight to assist faith, we miss our object, and ensure for ourselves no little sorrow. The whole scene is a painful one, and should warn us that even in a gracious household sin may sow dissension, and cause heartburnings and distress.

Quick as the apple of an eye,

O God, my conscience make!

Awake my soul, when sin is nigh,

And keep it still awake.

Oh may the least omission pain

My well-instructed soul;

And drive me to the blood again,

Which makes the wounded whole!

Evening

“Search me, O God.”

Psalms 139

Hagar in the desert learned the omniscience of God, and exclaimed, “Thou God seest me:” it will profit us if we meditate at this time upon that solemn truth, as we find it written out at large in—

Psa_139:1-3

Rising or resting, God beholds me. Awake or asleep, his eye is upon me!

Psa_139:4

Not only the words on my tongue which have been uttered, but those in my tongue which as yet have not been sounded. The words I mean to speak he knows.

Psa_139:13

The most secret parts of my being thou dost penetrate with a glance:

Psa_139:15

Our bodily frame is like a very skilful piece of embroidery “curiously wrought;” its nerves, veins, and muscles are fashioned with divine art. At our first formation the wisdom of the Lord was present, working all things with benevolent design. He who made the watch understands it, and even thus the Creator knows all the secret workings of our souls.

Psa_139:18

The omniscient eye is not that of an enemy, but an eye which watches over us to do us good. The Lord’s heart is never removed from his people: he thinks upon them to bless them.

Psa_139:19

Since the Lord sees and punishes the wicked, we should not be found in their company, lest we share in their doom.

Psa_139:20

And this they do in the Lord’s own presence, thus provoking him to his face.

Psa_139:22

A faithful servant of God has the same interests, the same friends, and the same enemies as his Master.

Psa_139:23-24

This is the way in which to derive gracious advantage from that attribute of God which to the sinner is full of terror. Since the Lord will pardon all the sins of believers in Jesus, we are glad that he should see them all, so that he may completely and effectually remove them.

Lord, thou hast search’d and seen me through;

Thine eye commands with piercing view

My rising and my resting hours,

My heart and flesh, with all their powers.

Within thy circling power I stand;

On every side I find thy hand;

Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,

I am surrounded still with God.