Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
August 18– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“And they gave [Jesus] wine to drink mingled with myrrh, but he did not receive it.”
—Mark 15:23
The wine treated with myrrh would have provided Jesus with some level of relief from his suffering, and a golden truth is couched in the fact that the Savior refused to drink it. On the heights of Heaven the Son of God stood in times past, and, as he looked down upon our globe, he measured the long descent he would make to the utmost depths of human misery. He brought to his mind the sum total of all the agonies which the removal of sin would require, and he did not lessen it in the least.
He solemnly determined that, to offer a sufficient atoning sacrifice, he must go the whole way, from the highest to the lowest, from the throne of highest glory to the cross of deepest misery. This myrrh-treated cup, with its dull influence, would have given him a little comfort from the deepest dimension of misery; therefore, he refused it. He would not stop short of all he had accepted to suffer for his people.
Ah, how often we pine after relief to our griefs even when the relief would injure us! Reader, did you never pray to have hard service or suffering taken away with a complaining and willful eagerness? God in his providence has taken from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. What if God gave you the choice and said, “If you so desire it, your loved one will live, but God will be dishonored,” could you have put away the temptation from you, and said, “Your will, O Lord, be done”?
It is sweet to be able to say, “My Lord, I don’t need to suffer unnecessarily, yet, if I can honor you more by suffering, and if the loss of my earthly all will bring You glory, then let it be so. I refuse the comfort if it gets in the way of your honor.” O that we walked more like this in the footsteps of our Lord, cheerfully enduring trial for his sake, promptly and willingly putting away the thought of self and comfort when it would interfere with our finishing the work which he has given us to do. Great grace is needed, but great grace is provided. [M&E]
