Morning & Evening Daily Devotional Reading

February 29

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Revised and Edited by William C. Neff

“With lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

—Jeremiah 31:3

The thunders of the law and the terrors of judgment are all used to bring us to Christ. But the final victory is secured through His loving kindness– His tender mercy. The prodigal first set out to his father’s house from a sense of need, but his father saw him down the road and ran to meet him. And the last steps the son took towards his father’s house were with the kiss still warm upon his cheek and the welcome still musical in his ears.

One night a master came to his servant’s door and knocked with the iron hand of the law. The door shook and trembled upon its hinges. But the man inside piled every piece of furniture he could find against the door and said to himself, “I will not let him in!” The master turned away, but sometime later he came back, and with his own soft hand he knocked again softly and tenderly– mostly with the part of his hand that had been pierced with nails. And this time the door didn’t shake, but, strangely enough, it opened. There upon his knees the man who had been defiant now received his master with rejoicing. His heart was moved, and he said, “I yield to you, master; your love has won my heart!”

So, in every case loving kindness wins the day. What Moses with the tablets of stone could never do Christ does with his pierced hand. This is the doctrine of Effectual Calling. Do I understand it experientially in my own life? Can I say, “He gathered me, and I followed, gladly confessing his name?” If so, may He keep on drawing me until I meet Him face to face. [M&E]