DAILY PRAYER (BY SPURGEON)
Lord, we want to live while we live. We do pray that we may not merely groan out an existence here below, nor live as earthworms crawling back into our holes and dragging now and then a withered leaf with us; but oh! give us to live as we ought to live, with a new life that you have put into us, with the divine quickening which has lifted us as much above common men as men are lifted above the beasts that perish.
Do not let us always be hampered like poor half-hatched birds within the egg; may we chip the shell today and get out into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Grant us this, we pray.
Amen.
VERSE OF THE DAY (COMMENTARY BY SPURGEON)
“Sing a song of wisdom, for God is King of the whole earth.” (Psalm 47:7)
The Jewish people of our Savior’s time resented this truth, but had their hearts been right they would have rejoiced in it. They would have kept their God to themselves, and not even have allowed the Gentile dogs to eat the crumbs from under his table. Alas! How selfishness turns honey into wormwood. The Lord is not the God of the Jewish people only, all the nations of the earth are, through the Messiah, yet to own him Lord. Meanwhile his providential throne governs all events beneath the sky.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE
Finding Scripture-saturated hope in the midst of doubt and suffering
For Christians, doubt is often associated with our own experiences of suffering. It is hard to believe in a good and powerful God when we feel so much pain in this broken world.
In the midst of suffering, it is easy to doubt God’s love for us and feel as if he has deserted us. An excellent book to help you find hope and faith through that kind of suffering is Deserted by God? by Sinclair Ferguson.
This book offers several reflections on the Psalms of lament in the Bible, where divinely-inspired authors cried out to God in the midst of their pain.
No matter what trials you are currently going through (or will go through in the future), Deserted by God? will give you the kind of Bible-saturated firm faith you need to endure. I hope you will grab a copy today.