Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

April 25– Morning

 by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.” 

—Song of Solomon 2:10

 

“Listen! I hear the voice of the One I love! He is calling for me! The springtime weather has come, and he calls me to “Rise up” along with it and come away from this world. He is risen, and I am risen in him. From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations of this world, I want to rise toward him.

He calls me by the sweet title of “My love,” and thinks of me as beautiful. I must go to him, getting further and further away from everything selfish, worldly, and sinful– away from mere outward religion that does not truly know him or the mystery of the higher life.

I welcome his call for me to “Come away,” for what is there to keep me in this wilderness of emptiness and sin? But how can I come away? I live among thorns and cannot escape from them as I would like. If it were possible, I would get rid of my eyes, and ears, and heart for sin. To come to you, O Lord, is a call to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging sea, to come to rest after long labor, to come to the goal of all my desires.

But, Lord, can a stone rise by itself? No! You must raise me and draw me. Only your grace can do it. Send your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will leave life and time behind me and come away. [M&E]