I've been oppressed lately by what Spurgeon calls 'the evening wolves', the thoughts and low spirits, the false accusations of the devil which seem to plague when the day is done and tiredness has set in. I know I just need to rest - there is nothing left for me but sin. Calvin says about Mary's song in Luke 1: "Sorrow and worry prevent both soul and speech from celebrating the goodness of God. Thus when Mary's mind exults for joy, her heart breaks out into the worship of God." The cure for the 'evening wolves'? Setting my mind on the morning watch. David says in Psalm 3: "I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about." And then Shannon reminded me of Psalm 5:3: "O Lord, in the morning thou dost hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for thee, and watch." As I lie down to sleep I prepare my mind for waking to see the Lord (one way or the other!) reminding myself that I through the abundance of my Savior's steadfast love will awaken in God's house, worshiping toward God's holy temple.
The night before Ridley was to be martyred, burned at the stake for preaching the gospel, his brother came to him in prison and offered to remain with him during the night but Ridley declined, saying that "he meant to go to bed and sleep as quietly as ever he did in his life."
Hey, what have I got to be afraid of?
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