C. H. Spurgeon

Go to the One and Only

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

“Unto Thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1

The Psalmist knew to whom he would go in prayer.  He knew the LORD would accept only his whole being.  Lifted hands, and adoring hearts are great in worship, but only if you are giving the soul of your being in that worship as well.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, of this verse, wrote in THE TREASURY OF DAVID,

“Unto thee, O Lord.” – See how the holy soul flies to its God like a dove to its cote. When the storm-winds are out, the Lord’s vessels put about and make for their well-remembered harbour of refuge. What a mercy that the Lord will condescend to hear our cries in time of trouble, although we may have almost forgotten him in our hours of fancied prosperity. “Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up my soul.” It is but mockery to uplift the hands and the eyes unless we also bring our souls into our devotions. True prayer may be described as the soul rising from earth to have fellowship with heaven; it is taking a journey upon Jacob’s ladder, leaving our cares and fears at the foot, and meeting with a covenant God at the top. Very often the soul cannot rise, she has lost her wings, and is heavy and earth-bound; more like a burrowing mole than a soaring eagle. At such dull seasons we must not give over prayer, but must, by God’s assistance, exert all our power to lift up our hearts. Let faith be the lever and grace be the arm, and the dead lump will yet be stirred. But what a lift it has sometimes proved! With all our tugging and straining we have been utterly defeated, until the heavenly loadstone of our Saviour’s love has displayed its omnipotent attractions, and then our hearts have gone up to our Beloved like mounting flames of fire.

From e-Sword edition

Come to the LORD.  He has made the way, and that way is the way of the cross of Jesus Christ.  There and there alone can you worship the One and only GOD.

The LORD My Strength

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.” Psalm 18:1 (KJV)

For us to love GOD is the desire of His heart, and should be the desire of our heart.  The first four of the Ten Commandments have to do with our loving Him.  Yet true love for God cannot be legislated it must come from the heart.

David loved the LORD.  It was due to God’s love for David.  That is why we love God.  He first loved us.

The title of this song is given as,

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,

We too have been delivered from our enemy; that is sin and death; through the death, burial and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ God’s holy Son.

Charles Spurgeon’s commentary in THE TREASURY OF DAVID of this verse,

“I will love thee, O Lord.” With strong, hearty affection will I cling to thee; as a child to its parent, or a spouse to her husband. The word is intensely forcible, the love is of the deepest kind. “I will love heartily, with my inmost bowels.” Here is a fixed resolution to abide in the nearest and most intimate union with the Most High. Our triune God deserves the warmest love of all our hearts. Father, Son and Spirit have each a claim upon our love. The solemn purpose never to cease loving naturally springs from present fervour of affection. It is wrong to make rash resolutions, but this when made in the strength of God is most wise and fitting. “My strength.” Our God is the strength of our life, our graces, our works, our hopes, our conflicts, our victories. This verse is not found in 1 Sam 22, and is a most precious addition, placed above all and after all to form the pinnacle of the temple, the apex of the pyramid. Love is still the crowning grace.

Remember that we can only love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).  He loved us even when we were yet His enemies, and sent His Son to be our payment for our sin.  Now love God.

Help, LORD

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

“Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.” Psalm 12:1 (KJV)

Help.  A cry for some aid from someone.  Some times anyone will do.  For the Psalmist the cry is made to the LORD – to Jehovah – “Help, LORD”.  Such a simple prayer; a simple request.  O how we need to realize we need His help.

The need David had was that he saw godly men passing away.  Godliness among people was ceasing.  I believe we can see that in our culture, in society today.  I endeavor to be a godly man.  I know other men who endeavor to be godly.

It seems that evil is taking over.  Oh, how we need to plea for godly men and women to rise up, be faithful, and yield to the leadership of the Spirit of God and His Word.

Let me close with words from THE TREASURY OF DAVID,

“For the godly man ceaseth;” the death, departure, or decline of godly men should be a trumpet-call for more prayer, They say that fish smell first at the head, and when godly men decay, the whole commonwealth will soon go rotten. We must not, however, be rash in our judgment on this point, for Elijah erred in counting himself the only servant of God alive, when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve. The present times always appear to be peculiarly dangerous, because they are nearest to our anxious gaze, and whatever evils are rife are sure to be observed, while the faults of past ages are further off, and are more easily overlooked. Yet we expect that in the latter days, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,” and then we must the more thoroughly turn from man, and address ourselves to the Churches’ Lord, by whose help the gates of hell shall be kept from prevailing against us.

Let the people of God rise up, and live godly through the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Being godly is being different from the world in which we live.  Different in our dress, our speech, our actions, all of life.

Trust in the LORD

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

“In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?” Psalm 11:1 (KJV)

Of this verse C. H. Spurgeon in THE TREASURY OF DAVID, has written,

When Satan cannot overthrow us by presumption, how craftily will he seek to ruin us by distrust!  He will employ our dearest friends to argue us out of our confidence, and he will use such plausible logic, that unless we once for all assert our immovable trust in Jehovah, he will make us like the timid bird which flies to the mountain whenever danger presents itself.  How forcibly the ease is put!  The bow is bent, the arrow is fitted to the string; “Flee, flee, thou defenceless bird, thy safety lies in flight: begone, for thine enemies will send their shafts into thy heart;  haste, haste, for soon wilt thou be destroyed!  David seems to have felt the force of the advice, for it came home to his soul; but yet he would not yield, but would rather dare the danger than exhibit a distrust in the Lord his God.

Are you in a difficult position, situation or circumstance today?  God is with you.  Do not heed the “advice” of those who would tell you to “Flee” by doubting the LORD. Be as David.  Trust the LORD.

Begin at the cross of Jesus Christ.