Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

 February 17– Evening

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

“The Lord God was there.” 

—Ezekiel 35:10

The leaders of Edom (a neighboring country of Judah) saw how the Babylonians had destroyed Judah and Israel and left them desolate. Edom cheered that destruction and planned to benefit from it. But there was one great difficulty in their way— namely, that “The Lord God was there.” In the presence of God, Judah and Israel found their ultimate security. The saints belong to God; he is among his people, and he will protect his own.

What comfort this assurance yields us in our troubles and spiritual conflicts! We are constantly opposed, and yet perpetually preserved! How often Satan shoots his arrows against our faith, but our faith defies them; they are not only turned aside but are extinguished upon its shield for “the Lord God is there.”

Our good works are the subjects of Satan’s attacks. A saint never yet had a virtue or a grace which was not the target for the Enemy’s hellish bullets—whether it was hope bright and sparkling, or love warm and fervent, or patience all-enduring, or zeal flaming like coals of fire. The only reason why anything virtuous or lovely survives in us is because “the Lord is there.”

If the Lord be with us through life, we need not fear for our dying confidence; for when we come to die we shall find that “the Lord is there;” where the winds are most tempestuous, and the rivers are high and cold, we shall feel the river’s floor and know that our feet are standing upon the Rock of Ages while time is passing away.

Beloved, from the first of a Christian’s life to the last, the only reason why he does not perish is because “the Lord is there.” When the God of everlasting love changes and leaves his elect to perish, then may the Church of God be destroyed; but not until then, because it is written, “The Lord is there.” [M&E]