Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–
August 20– Evening
by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff
“And they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.”
—Nehemiah 3:8
Well-fortified cities have broad walls and so did Jerusalem in her glory. The New Jerusalem must, in like manner, be surrounded and preserved by a broad wall of nonconformity to the world and separation from its customs and spirit. The tendency of these days is to break down this holy barrier and make the distinction between the church and the world merely nominal. Professing Christians are no longer zealous for purity; questionable literature is read on all hands; frivolous pastimes are currently indulged, and a general laxity threatens to deprive the Lord’s peculiar people of those sacred practices which separate them from sinners. It will be a sad and sick day for the church and the world when this unholy mixture is complete and the sons of God and the daughters of men intermingle. Then another deluge of
wrath will be ushered in. Dear friend, is it your aim in heart, word, dress, and action to maintain the broad wall, remembering that friendship with this world makes one an enemy of God?
The broad wall was a pleasant place where the inhabitants of Jerusalem could walk and from which they could view the surrounding countryside. This reminds us of the Lord’s exceedingly broad commandments in which we walk at liberty as we commune with Jesus. It is there we can overlook the scenes of earth and gaze upward at the glories of heaven. When we separate ourselves from the world and deny ourselves all ungodliness and fleshly lusts, we are not in prison, nor are we restricted within narrow boundaries. No! We walk at liberty because we keep his precepts.
Come, dear reader, this evening walk with God in his statutes. As friend meets friend upon the city wall, so meet your God in holy prayer and meditation. You have a right to walk on the walls of salvation, for you are a freeman who lives in the royal city, a citizen of the metropolis of the universe. [M&E]
