January 19, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"I sought him, but I found him not." — Song of Songs 3:1 · KJV

Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the likeliest place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the prayer-closet by neglecting prayer? Then there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Him only by giving up that sin and seeking, through the Holy Spirit, to put to death the desire in which it lives. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Him in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb: "Look for a thing where you dropped it — it is there." So look for Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us the pilgrim found the stretch of road back to the Arbor of Ease, where he had lost his scroll, the hardest he ever traveled; twenty miles onward are easier than one mile back for the lost evidence. Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how did you come to lose Him? One would think you would never part with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, whose company is so dear. How is it you did not watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet since you have let Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even while you mournfully groan, "O that I knew where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without your Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd, a tree without water at its roots, a dry leaf in the storm, cut off from the tree of life. Seek Him with your whole heart, and He will be found by you; only give yourself wholly to the search, and truly you shall yet find Him, to your joy and gladness.