Encouragement from Spurgeon…
Monday, August 29, 2011
Are your weary hands drooping?
Is your heart sinking under the weight of a burden?
Do you feel alone?
Do you feel isolated?
Read these words from Charles H. Spurgeon and see if you do not believe that God may have specifically sent this wonderful quote just for you. Hold fast dear Christian. God is with you. He will not abandon you. He will quicken and vivify your faith. I am thankful to my dear brother Bob Bradshaw for sending to me these words of hope and encouragement as he saw my shoulders drooping and my heart weary. I am reminded that His yoke is easy, His burden is light. It is only heavy when I carry it on my own.
‘Here and there we meet with one to whom it is given to believe in God with mighty faith. As soon as such a man strikes out a project, or sets about a work that none but men of his mold would venture upon, straightaway there arises a clamor: ‘The man is overzealous,’ or he will be charged with an innovating spirit, rashness, fanaticism, or absurdity. Should the work go on, the opposers whisper together, ‘Wait a little while, and you’ll see the end of all this wildfire.’ That said the sober semi-faithful men to Luther? The monk had read in the scriptures this passage: ‘A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ’ (Gal 2:16). He went to a venerable divine to ask him about it, and at the same time he complained of the enormities of Rome. What was the good but weak brother’s reply? Go to your cell, and pray and study for yourself, and leave these weighty matters alone.’ Here it would have ended had the brave reformer continued to consult with flesh and blood. But his faith enabled him to go forward alone, if none would accompany him. He nailed up his theses on the church door and showed that one man at least had faith in the gospel and in its God. Then trouble came, but Luther minded it not, because the Father was with him. We also must be prepared, if God gives us strong faith, to ride far ahead, like spiritual light cavalry, who bravely pioneer the way for the rank and file of the army. It were well if the church of God had more of the fleet-footed sons of Asabel - bolder than lions, swifter than eagles in their Lord’s service - men who can do and dare alone till laggards take courage and follow in their track. These Valiant-for-Truths will pursue a solitary path full often, but let them console themselves with this thought: ‘I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me’ (John 8:16). If we can believe in God, He will never be in arrears with us; if we can dare, God will do; if we can trust, God will never suffer us to be confounded, world without end. It is sweet beyond expression to climb where only God can lead, and to plant the standard on the highest towers of the foe. ‘
*Don’t you love the picture of Spurgeon smiling? It is the only one I have ever seen and it gives me joy to see the joy in his face, not simply the somber characterization that is often portrayed of this ‘Prince of Preachers.’ No man could ever preach grace and the Gospel as he did without laughter and joy in his heart!
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Comments
Anonymous | August 23 2011 at 9:14 am
Hey, I thought of Spurgeon’s Sword & Trowel when I read your post this morning and saw the pictures of the construction going on behind the plywood from your tweet. Those devotionals were based on this verse from Nehemiah 4:17: “Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.” You’ve definitely got both hands full, but I’m glad you found rest from your burdens in Bob’s encouragement!