Morning, September 15
Go To Evening Reading
“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.”
Psalm 112:7
Christian, you ought not to dread the arrival of evil tidings; because
if you are distressed by them, what do you more than other men ? Other men have not your God to fly to; they have never proved his
faithfulness as you have done, and it is no wonder if they are bowed
down with alarm and cowed with fear: but you profess to be of another
spirit; you have been begotten again unto a lively hope, and your
heart lives in heaven and not on earthly things; now, if you are seen
to be distracted as other men, what is the value of that grace which
you profess to have received? Where is the dignity of that new nature
which you claim to possess?
Again, if you should be filled with alarm, as others are, you would, doubtless, be led into the sins so common to others under trying circumstances . The ungodly, when they are overtaken by evil tidings, rebel against
God; they murmur, and think that God deals hardly with them. Will
you fall into that same sin? Will you provoke the Lord as they do?
Moreover, unconverted men often run to wrong means in order to escape
from difficulties, and you will be sure to do the same if your mind
yields to the present pressure. Trust in the Lord, and wait patiently
for him. Your wisest course is to do as Moses did at the Red Sea,
“Stand still and see the salvation of God.” For if you give way to fear when you hear of evil tidings, you will
be unable to meet the trouble with that calm composure which nerves
for duty, and sustains under adversity. How can you glorify God if
you play the coward? Saints have often sung God’s high praises in the fires, but will your doubting and desponding,
as if you had none to help you, magnify the Most High? Then take courage,
and relying in sure confidence upon the faithfulness of your covenant
God, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”