Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

December 16– Evening

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

“You don’t listen; you don’t understand; as long I can remember your ears have been closed.”

—Isaiah 48:8

It is painful to remember that, to a certain degree, this accusation can be laid at the door of believers who too often are spiritually dull of hearing. We may well deplore ourselves that we do not hear the voice of God as we should. There are gentle workings of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are disregarded by us; there are whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are unobserved by our dull intellects. Sadly, we have been carelessly ignorant.

Because we have not listened, it is no wonder that we haven’t come to understand as we should. There are matters within which we ought to have seen, corruptions which have been allowed to grow, going unnoticed; sweet affections which are being blighted like flowers in the frost, unattended; glimpses of the divine face which we might have seen if we did not pull the shades over the windows of our soul. We “do not understand.”

As we think about all of this, we are humbled with the deepest self-humiliation. How much we adore the grace of God as we consider that all of this foolishness and ignorance on our part was foreknown by him; and yet, even though he knew all of this, he has been pleased to deal with us in his great mercy!

Admire his marvelous, sovereign grace which chose us in view of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew how we would act! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as unbelieving, regressing, cold of heart, indifferent, careless, lax in prayer, and yet he said, “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Since you were precious in my sight, you have been treated with honor, and I have loved you.” O redemption, how wondrously you shine with splendor into our darkness. O Holy Spirit, from now on, give us ears to hear and a heart to understand! [M&E]