Morning and Evening

February 10, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee." — Isaiah 44:22 · KJV

Observe carefully the instructive comparison: our sins are like a cloud. As clouds take many shapes and shades, so do our transgressions; as clouds hide the light of the sun and darken the land below, so our sins hide from us the light of Yahweh's face and make us sit in the shadow of death. They are earth-born things, rising from the miry places of our nature; and when they gather until their measure is full, they threaten us with storm and tempest. Alas that, unlike clouds, our sins yield us no kindly showers, but rather threaten to drown us in a fiery flood of destruction. O black clouds of sin, how can it be fair weather with our souls while you remain? Now let our glad eye dwell on the notable act of divine mercy — "blotting out." God Himself steps onto the scene, and in divine kindness, instead of showing His anger, reveals His grace: at once and forever He effectually removes the evil, not by blowing the cloud away, but by blotting it out of existence once for all. Against the justified man no sin remains; the great transaction of the cross has eternally removed his transgressions from him. On Calvary's summit the great deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was forever put away, was completely and effectually done. Now let us practically obey the gracious command, "return unto me." Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God? If we have been forgiven all our sins, let no legalistic fear keep us from the boldest approach to our Lord. Let backslidings be mourned, but let us not go on in them. To the greatest possible nearness of communion with the Lord, let us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, strive mightily to return. O Lord, this night restore us!

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