Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

May 22– Evening

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

“You, the one I love, are beautiful.” 

—Song of Solomon 1:16

From every angle, the One we love is most beautiful. Our various experiences are intended by our heavenly Father to give us fresh viewpoints from which to behold the loveliness of Jesus. How friendly are our trials when they carry us to higher ground where we gain clearer views of Jesus than ordinary life could afford us! We have seen him from the top of many mountains and from there have felt the warm sun upon our faces. But we have also seen him from lions’ dens, and, even there, none of his beauty is lost.

From the languishing of a sick bed and from the borders of the grave, we have turned our eyes to our soul’s spouse, and he has never been anything other than “altogether lovely.” Many of his saints have looked upon him from the gloom of dungeons and from the flames of the stake, and yet they have never cursed him but have died extolling his surpassing charms. What a noble and pleasant work it is to be forever gazing at our sweet Lord Jesus!

Is it not unspeakably delightful to view the Savior in all his offices and to perceive him as matchless in each? O, to rotate the kaleidoscope, as it were, and find fresh combinations of new, unmatched graces! In the manger and in heaven, on the cross and on his throne, in the garden and in his kingdom, among thieves or among angels, he is everywhere “altogether lovely.”

Carefully examine every little act of his life and every trait of his character, and he is as lovely in the particular as well as the whole.  Weigh him as you please, but he will not be found lacking. Eternity will not discover even the shadow of a spot in the One we love, but, rather, as ages revolve, his hidden glories will shine forth with yet more inconceivable splendor, and his unutterable loveliness will increasingly ravish all heavenly minds. [M&E]