Spurgeon - Morning & Evening
Go to Morning
Oppressors may take advantage of poor and needy men—as easily as they can split logs—but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business—for a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodsman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and He is mighty to avenge His beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at. If there is no danger to persecutors here—there will be great danger hereafter.
To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life—which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death—but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm laborer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world—may yet be endangered by their very seclusion.
Nowhere is he safe—who thinks himself so! Pride may enter a poor man's heart; avarice may reign in a cottager's bosom; impurity may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode! Even in speaking a few words—we may sin. A little purchase at a shop—may be the first link in a chain of temptations. The mere looking out of a window—may be the beginning of evil.
O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us—only You Yourself are able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread Your wings over us, and we, like little chicks, will cower down beneath You, and feel ourselves safe!
Courtesy of Grace Gems! Used by permission.