Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

 March 30– Evening

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

“Let us search and examine our ways and return to the Lord.” 

—Lamentations 3:40

The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return. To be apart from him is a partial death to her spirit. It is the same way with souls who love the Savior. They must see his face. They cannot bear that he should be away and not be in close communion with them. It is painful for a child to receive even a quick, scolding glance from his father; loving children long to know their father’s smile.

Dear believer, this is how it used to be with you. A text of Scripture, a threatening word, a touch of the rod of affliction and you went to your Father’s feet, crying, “Show me why you contend with me!” Is that how it is now? Are you content to follow Jesus from afar? Can you think of being away from him without alarm? Can you bear to pass by him on the pathway briefly, walking in opposite directions? Have your sins come between you and your God?

O let me tenderly warn you, for it is a dangerous thing when one can be content without gazing upon the Savior’s face. Let us feel what an evil thing this is! Little love to our own dying Savior. Little joy in our precious Jesus. Little fellowship with the One we love!

O Christian, may you hold a true Lenten Season in your soul. Take time to reflect and weep over your hardness of heart. Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross. There, and there only, can your spirit be made alive. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become, let us go again in all the rags, poverty, and defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross; let us look into those graceful eyes; let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood. This will restore our first love, the simplicity of our faith, and the tenderness of our heart. [M&E]