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Charles Spurgeon's Daily DevotionalThis morning devotional prepared for January, 1st.
"They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."--Joshua 5:12
Israel's weary wanderings were all over, and the promised
rest was attained. No more moving tents, fiery serpents, fierce
Amalekites, and howling wildernesses: they came to the land
which flowed with milk and honey, and they ate the old corn of
the land. Perhaps this year, beloved Christian reader, this may
be thy case or mine. Joyful is the prospect, and if faith be in
active exercise, it will yield unalloyed delight. To be with
Jesus in the rest which remaineth for the people of God, is a
cheering hope indeed, and to expect this glory so soon is a
double bliss. Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls
between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we
have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can
cause us. Let us banish every fearful thought, and rejoice with
exceeding great joy, in the prospect that this year we shall
begin to be "for ever with the Lord."
A part of the host will this year tarry on earth, to do
service for their Lord. If this should fall to our lot, there is
no reason why the New Year's text should not still be true. "We
who have believed do enter into rest." The Holy Spirit is the
earnest of our inheritance; He gives us "glory begun below." In
heaven they are secure, and so are we preserve in Christ Jesus;
there they triumph over their enemies, and we have victories
too. Celestial spirits enjoy communion with their Lord, and this
is not denied to us; they rest in His love, and we have perfect
peace in Him: they hymn His praise, and it is our privilege to
bless Him too. We will this year gather celestial fruits on
earthly ground, where faith and hope have made the desert like
the garden of the Lord. Man did eat angels' food of old, and why
not now ? O for grace to feed on Jesus, and so to eat of the
fruit of the land of Canaan this year!
This afternoon devotional prepared for January, 1st.
"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee."--Song of Solomon 1:4
We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the
gates of the year to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to
the sweet strains of the harp of joy, and the high sounding
cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us
make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the
called and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs,
and set up our banners of confidence in the name of God. Let
others lament over their troubles, we who have the sweetening
tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify the
Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the
temples in which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring
and blessing the name of Jesus. _We_ WILL, we are resolved about
it, Jesus must have the crown of our heart's delight; we will
not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His presence. We are
ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our
everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New
Jerusalem. _We will_ BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one
sense, double joy, blessedness upon blessedness. Need there be
any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now? Do not men of
grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and
cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven
itself? _We will be glad and rejoice_ IN THEE. That last word is
the meat in the dish, the kernel of the nut, the soul of the
text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus! What rivers of
infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their
fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present
portion of Thy people, favour us this year with such a sense of
Thy preciousness, that from its first to its last day we may be
glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with joy in the Lord,
and December close with gladness in Jesus.
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