Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

September 29– Evening

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

“I found the one my soul loves; I held him and would not let him go.”

—Song of Solomon 3:4

Does Christ receive us when we come to him, not considering all our past sinfulness? Does he never scold us for having tried all other refuges first? And is there none on earth like him? Is he the best of all the good, the finest of all the fine? Since this is so, let us praise him!

Daughters of Jerusalem, extol him with tambourine and harp! Down with your idols; up with the Lord Jesus! Now let the banners of pageantry and pride be trampled underfoot, but let the cross of Jesus, which the world frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for our King Solomon! Let him be set on high forever. Let my soul sit at his footstool, and kiss his feet and wash them with my tears. Oh, how precious is Christ!

How can it be that I have thought so little of him? How is it I can look everywhere else for joy or comfort when he is so full, so rich, so satisfying? Fellow believer, make a covenant with your heart that you will never depart from him, and ask your Lord to seal it. Ask him to set you as a ring upon his finger and as a bracelet upon his arm. Ask him to bind you to himself as the bride outfits herself with ornaments and as the bridegroom puts on his jewels.

I want to live in Christ’s heart; in the clefts of that rock, my soul will eternally live. The sparrow and the swallow make nests in your altar, O Lord my God; so, too, I will make my nest, my home, in you. May my soul never leave you again but nestle close to you, O Jesus, my true and only rest.

• “When I find my precious Lord, all my ardent passions glow.
  I’m bound to Him with loving cords, and I will not let him go.” [M&E]