Daily Devotionals
Charles Spurgeon's "Morning & Evening"
Devotional: March 31st

Morning

“Bring forth fruits meet for repentance.”

Judges 2:6-16

We will now return to the Bible narrative.

Judges 2:6

After a good sermon, the fittest thing is diligent practice.

Judges 2:7

Mighty is the influence of good men. Pray that God may preserve to us useful ministers and holy men in the church. They act as anchors to the church, which else might drift into error. How well is it for the good cause that our great Joshua never dies.

Judges 2:8 , Judges 2:9

The best of men must finish their course in due season: even those who live longest die at last, and so must we.

Judges 2:12 , Judges 2:13

Gross infatuation, to leave the true God for idols, the work of men’s hands.

Judges 2:14 , Judges 2:15

Sin must be chastened in God’s people. Even though others transgress with impunity, the Lord’s chosen shall not. Alas! what misery comes of departing from the Lord.

Judges 2:16

He was far more ready to deliver them than to smite them. He delighteth in mercy.

Judges 2:1-5

Judges 2:1

Was not this the great angel of the covenant, even the Lord Jesus? Who could use such language but one who is equal with God?

Judges 2:2 , Judges 2:3

Their sin was to be their punishment. If we will not smite our sins, our sins will smite us.

Judges 2:4 , Judges 2:5

And they called the name of that place Bochim or weepers

Tears will not serve, there must be sacrifice also. Blessed are they who with broken heart compass the altar of the Lord. May the Holy Spirit work in each of us a sacred sorrow for all sin. Amen.

Why, O my soul! why weepest thou?

Tell me from whence arise

Those briny tears that often flow,

Those groans that pierce the skies?

Is sin the cause of thy complaint,

Or the chastising rod?

Dost thou an evil heart lament,

And mourn an absent God?

Lord, let me weep for naught but sin!

And after none but thee!

And then I would O that I might,

A constant weeper be!

Evening

“I have chosen you out of the world.”

Judges 3:1-15 , Judges 3:31

Judges 3:1 , Judges 3:2

Surrounded as they were by warlike nations, the Lord meant his people to be expert in war, and therefore kept them in marching order, by leaving certain nations near at home to be a trouble to them. The church also is meant to be a militant army, and therefore the Lord will not allow everything to go smoothly with us.

Judges 3:6

Ungodly marriages are the source of abounding evil. We must maintain the separated condition of the people of God, or else we shall fall into sin and pierce ourselves through with many sorrows. We are not of the world, and we must not act as if we were.

Judges 3:7

They grew accustomed to talk of Baal and the thick trees in which he was worshipped; by and by they reverenced the lying vanities of the idolaters, and at last their treacherous memories forgot their God. Beware of sin’s sliding-scale.

Judges 3:8

This king reigned at a great distance, but God will find a rod for rebels, even if he sends hundreds of miles for it.

Judges 3:9-11

Othniel had been brave in his youth, and it is pleasant to hear of him in his old age. If we serve God well in the morning of life, we may be sure that he will honour us before the day is over.

Judges 3:12

Repetition of sin greatly increases guilt.

This time the oppressor was nearer home, and the punishment more severe.

Judges 3:15

This man struck a deadly blow at Eglon, and so delivered his country. God will use men of any kind for his work sooner than allow the cries of his people to remain unheard.

Judges 3:31

Rough as he was, Shamgar was honoured of God, and his humble weapon is laid up among the most renowned treasures of the Lord’s armoury. God can use us for great purposes, and he will do so, if we have real faith in him, and full submission to his will.

Beset with darkness, pressed with cares,

To God, in grief, I cried;

His mercy listened to my prayers,

His hand my wants supplied.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me!

His might, his mercies, prove!

How blest his sway! oh, taste and see

How vast, how kind, his love!