Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 11

"Oh that I were as in months past." Job 29:2

Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but regard the present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the days which they have passed in communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the best they have ever known, but as to the present, it is clad in a sable garb of gloom and dreariness. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have wandered from Him, and they say, "O that I were as in months past!" They complain that they have lost their evidences, or that they have not present peace of mind, or that they have no enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God's glory. The causes of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected closet is the beginning of all spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The heart has been occupied with something else, more than with God; the affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; He must be loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of His presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found in self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in the heart, and self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot of the cross. Christian, if you are not now as you "were in months past," do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and tell Him your sad state. Ask His grace and strength to help you to walk more closely with Him; humble yourself before Him, and He will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy the light of His countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a certainty of recovery for the worst cases.

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, July 17

"Let not one of them escape." 1 Kings 18:40

When the prophet Elijah had received the answer to his prayer, and the fire from heaven had consumed the sacrifice in the presence of all the people, he called upon the assembled Israelites to take the priests of Baal, and sternly cried, "Let not one of them escape." He took them all down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. So must it be with our sins- they are all doomed, not one must be preserved. Our darling sin must die. Spare it not for its much crying. Strike, though it be as dear as an Isaac. Strike, for God struck at sin when it was laid upon His own Son. With stern unflinching purpose must you condemn to death that sin which was once the idol of your heart. Do you ask how you are to accomplish this? Jesus will be your power. You have grace to overcome sin given you in the covenant of grace; you have strength to win the victory in the crusade against inward lusts, because Christ Jesus has promised to be with you even unto the end. If you would triumph over darkness, set yourself in the presence of the Sun of Righteousness. There is no place so well adapted for the discovery of sin, and recovery from its power and guilt, as the immediate presence of God. Job never knew how to get rid of sin half so well as he did when his eye of faith rested upon God, and then he abhorred himself, and repented in dust and ashes. The fine gold of the Christian is oft becoming dim. We need the sacred fire to consume the dross. Let us fly to our God, He is a consuming fire; He will not consume our spirit, but our sins. Let the goodness of God excite us to a sacred jealousy, and to a holy revenge against those iniquities which are hateful in His sight. Go forth to battle with Amalek in His strength, and utterly destroy the accursed crew: let not one of them escape.

Ongoing recovery operations in the Texas Hill Country.

Graph shows job recovery in relation to pre-pandemic levels. The '1' at the bottom axis represents pre-pandemic job levels, '1.1' is 10% growth. The colors represent political party representation.

Trump Heads to North Carolina and Los Angeles to Oversee Disaster Recovery, Considers Returning FEMA Powers to States
https://yournews.com/2025/01/24/3153699/trump-heads-to-north-carolina-and-los-angeles-to-oversee/

They're home! 3 female former hostages – Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher – arrive back in Israel
'We send you and your families a huge embrace. This is a day of joy and comfort, and the beginning of a challenging journey of recovery and healing together'
https://www.wnd.com/2025/01/theyre-home-3-female-former-hostages-romi-gonen-emily-damari-and-doron-steinbrecher-arrive-back-in-israel/

Timothy Prickett Morgan - Cisco Starts to See Signs of Datacenter Spending Recovery:

https://www.nextplatform.com/2024/05/16/cisco-starts-to-see-signs-of-datacenter-spending-recovery/

#CiscoSystems #Cisco #Splunk #DataAnalytics #Acquisition #Datacenter #InformationTechnology #Networking #ComputerScience #Finance #Economics #Business

Sis came out good from surgery. No cancer! Praise Jesus! Basketball sized cyst...praying for a good recovery and for this to help her back to a "normal" life.
God is so good!

Aliza Chasan - 21 species removed from endangered list due to extinction, U.S. wildlife officials say:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/21-species-removed-from-endangered-list-due-to-extinction-us-wildlife-officials-say/

#EndangeredSpecies #Extinction #USFWS #HumanEncroachment #Encroachment #HabitatLoss #InvasiveSpecies #Diseases #Conservation #PopulationRebound #Rebound #Recovery #EnvironmentalScience #Ecology

Brett Tingley - NASA's OSIRIS-REx lands samples of asteroid Bennu to Earth after historic 4-billion-mile journey:

https://www.space.com/nasa-osiris-rex-success-recovery-asteroid-sample

#OSIRISREx #NASA #SampleReturn #Asteroid #Bennu #SpaceExploration #Astronomy