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Morning and Evening

May 16, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle, and your beasts." — 2 Kings 3:16,17 · KJV

The armies of the three kings were desperate for lack of water. God was about to send it, and in these words the prophet announced the coming blessing. Here was a case of complete human helplessness: not a drop of water could all those brave men draw from the skies or find in the wells of the earth. So it often is with the people of the Lord; they are at their wits' end, they see how empty created things are, and they learn by experience where their help must come from. Still the people were to make a believing preparation for the divine blessing; they had to dig the trenches that would hold the precious water. The church must, through her various agencies and efforts and prayers, make herself ready to be blessed; she must make the pools, and the Lord will fill them. This must be done in faith, in the full assurance that the blessing is about to come down. In due course the needed gift arrived in a remarkable way. Not as in Elijah's case, with a downpour from the clouds, but silently and mysteriously the pools were filled. The Lord has His own sovereign ways of working; He is not bound to method and timing as we are, but does as He pleases among the children of men. Our part is to receive gratefully from Him, not to dictate to Him. We should notice too the remarkable abundance of the supply there was enough for the need of every one of them. So it is with the blessing of the gospel; all the needs of the congregation and of the whole church will be met by divine power in answer to prayer, and beyond that, victory will soon be given to the armies of the Lord. What am I doing for Jesus? What trenches am I digging? O Lord, make me ready to receive the blessing You are so willing to give.