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February 9 |
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Morning Reading |
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Evening
Reading |
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"And David enquired of the Lord." |
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2 Samuel 5:23 |
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When David made this enquiry he had just
fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up
in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put them to
flight. Note, however, that when they came a second time, David did not go
up to fight them without enquiring of the Lord. Once he had been victorious,
and he might have said, as many have in other cases, "I shall be victorious
again; I may rest quite sure that if I have conquered once I shall triumph
yet again. Wherefore should I tarry to seek at the Lord's hands?" Not so,
David. He had gained one battle by the strength of the Lord; he would not
venture upon another until he had ensured the same. He enquired, "Shall I go
up against them?" He waited until God's sign was given. Learn from David to
take no step without God. Christian, if thou wouldst know the path of duty,
take God for thy compass; if thou wouldst steer thy ship through the dark
billows, put the tiller into the hand of the Almighty. Many a rock might be
escaped, if we would let our Father take the helm; many a shoal or quicksand
we might well avoid, if we would leave to his sovereign will to choose and
to command. The Puritan said, "As sure as ever a Christian carves for
himself, he'll cut his own fingers;" this is a great truth. Said another old
divine, "He that goes before the cloud of God's providence goes on a fool's
errand;" and so he does. We must mark God's providence leading us; and if
providence tarries, tarry till providence comes. He who goes before
providence, will be very glad to run back again.
"I will instruct thee and
teach thee in the way which thou shalt go," is God's promise to his people.
Let us, then, take all our perplexities to him, and say,
"Lord, what wilt
thou have me to do?" Leave not thy chamber this morning without enquiring of
the Lord. |
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Evening Reading |
Go to Morning Reading |
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"Lead us not into temptation; but deliver
us from evil [or, the evil one]." |
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Luke 11:4 |
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What we are taught to seek or shun in prayer,
we should equally pursue or avoid in action. Very earnestly, therefore,
should we avoid temptation, seeking to walk so guardedly in the path of
obedience, that we may never tempt the devil to tempt us. We are not to
enter the thicket in search of the lion. Dearly might we pay for such
presumption. This lion may cross our path or leap upon us from the thicket,
but we have nothing to do with hunting him. He that meeteth with him, even
though he winneth the day, will find it a stern struggle. Let the Christian
pray that he may be spared the encounter. Our Saviour, who had experience of
what temptation meant, thus earnestly admonished his disciples —
"Pray that
ye enter not into temptation."
But let us do as we will, we shall be tempted;
hence the prayer "deliver us from evil." God had one Son without sin; but he
has no son without temptation. The natural man is born to trouble as the
sparks fly upwards, and the Christian man is born to temptation just as
certainly. We must be always on our watch against Satan, because, like a
thief, he gives no intimation of his approach. Believers who have had
experience of the ways of Satan, know that there are certain seasons when he
will most probably make an attack, just as at certain seasons bleak winds
may be expected; thus the Christian is put on a double guard by fear of
danger, and the danger is averted by preparing to meet it. Prevention is
better than cure: it is better to be so well armed that the devil will not
attack you, than to endure the perils of the fight, even though you come off
a conqueror. Pray this evening first that you may not be tempted, and next
that if temptation be permitted, you may be delivered from the evil one. |
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