Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

April 5– Evening

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

“Before honor comes humility.” 

—Proverbs 15:33

Humiliation of the soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion with Christ should remember the word of the Lord: “I will look to the one who is poor and contrite in spirit; the one who trembles at my word.” If you wish to climb to heaven, then stoop down; fall to your knees! Do we not say of Jesus, “He descended that he might ascend?” Yes. And so must you. You must grow downwards to grow upwards, for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls and by them alone.

God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The whole treasury of God will be transferred by deed as a gift to the soul which is humble enough to receive it without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it may be because it is not safe for you to have one. If your unhumbled spirit were to win a victory, you would use the benefits of the crown for yourself. You are kept low for your own safety.

When a man is sincerely humble and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace and equips us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which adorns any garden. It is a sauce which should be used to improve every dish of life. Whether in prayer or praise, work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess. [M&E]