Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

November 24– Evening

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

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; in this way your poverty will come.”

—Proverbs 24:33, 34

Even the worst of sluggards only asks for a “little” rest; indeed, they become indignant if accused of always being lazy. A little folding of the hands to sleep is all they crave, and they have a crowd of reasons to show that this indulgence is right and proper. Yet, little by little, the day ebbs away, and the time for any labor vanishes; and soon the field is grown over with weeds.

It is by little procrastinations that men ruin their souls. They have no intention to delay for years— a few months will bring a more convenient season; tomorrow they will attend to serious things; but the present hour is so occupied and so altogether unsuitable that they beg to be excused. Like sands from an hourglass, time passes; life is wasted by driblets, and seasons of grace are lost by little slumbers.

Oh, to be wise— to catch the fleeting hour and the moments that seem to fly by! May the Lord teach us this sacred wisdom, for otherwise a poverty of the worst sort awaits us— even an eternal poverty which will yearn for a drop of water and beg for it to no avail. Like a traveler steadily pursuing his journey, poverty overtakes the slothful, and ruin overthrows the undecided; each hour brings the dreaded pursuer nearer, never pausing along the way, for he is on his master’s business. As an armed man enters with authority and power, so will poverty come to the idle and death to the impenitent, and there will be no escape.

O that men were wise to the present opportunities to seek carefully for the Lord Jesus before the solemn day dawns— when it will be too late to plough and sow, too late to repent and believe. In harvest it is useless to cry over the fact that the seeds never got planted. While there is still time for faith and holy decision, may we obtain them tonight. [M&E]