Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

June 19– Evening

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

“My Beloved is mine, and I am his: he feeds among the lilies… until the day breaks.” 

—Song of Solomon 2:16, 17

Surely, if there is a happy verse in the Bible, this is it: “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” So peaceful, so full of assurance, so overrunning with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been written by the same hand which penned the twenty-third Psalm.

But even in this blue sky, there is a cloud which casts a shadow. It says, “Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.” And there is a word, too, about the “mountains of Bether,” which means in the original language “the mountains of division.”

Those who belong to Jesus, love him; so anything like division and separation is bitterness to us. Dear reader, this may be your present state of mind. You do not doubt your salvation; you know that Christ is yours. But you are not dining with him. You understand your vital interest in him, so that you have no shadow of a doubt of your being his and of his being yours, but you are not close to him in fellowship. His left hand is not under your head, nor does his right hand embrace you. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart. This may have been caused by some affliction you have experienced, or perhaps it is just the temporary absence of your Lord. In any case, even while you exclaim “I am his,” you are forced to take to your knees and pray until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away, and the One you love can return to you.

Your soul may be asking, “Where is he?” And the answer comes back, “He is feeding among the lilies.” If we would find more of Christ, we must get into communion with his people. We must eat at the table of his ordinance and, thereby, remember him.  Oh, for a glimpse of the One we love today. Oh, to have dinner with him tonight! [M&E]