The
sweet wooings of love
I will pour water upon him that
is thirsty.- Isaiah 44:3
When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state
of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by
chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the
way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain
the eagle's wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase
our grace. It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the
seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel
liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards.
Slavish fear brings not back the
backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to
Jesus' bosom. Are you this morning thirsting for the
living God, and unhappy because you cannot find him to the
delight of your heart? Have you lost the joy of religion, and is
this your prayer, 'Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation'?
Are you conscious also that you are barren, like the dry ground;
that you are not bringing forth the fruit unto God which He has
a right to expect of you; that you are not so useful in the
Church, or in the world, as your heart desires to be? Then here
is exactly the promise which you need, 'I will pour water upon
him that is thirsty.' You shall receive the grace you so much
require, and you shall have it to the utmost reach of your
needs. Water refreshes the thirsty: you shall be refreshed; your
desires shall be gratified. Water quickens sleeping vegetable
life: your life shall be quickened by fresh grace. Water swells
the buds and makes the fruits ripen; you shall have fructifying
grace: you shall be made fruitful in the ways of God. Whatever
good quality there is in divine grace, you shall enjoy it to the
full. All the riches of divine grace you shall receive in
plenty; you shall be as it were drenched with it: and as
sometimes the meadows become flooded by the bursting rivers, and
the fields are turned into pools, so shall you be - the thirsty
land shall be springs of water.
- Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and
Evening, 11/6 - AM
