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Morning and Evening

May 21, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." — 1 Peter 2:3 · KJV

"If" - then this is not something to be assumed about every member of the human race. "If" - then there is a possibility, even a probability, that some have not tasted that the Lord is gracious. "If" - then this is not a general mercy but a special one, and we need to ask whether we know the grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favor that should not become a matter for searching the heart. But while this ought to be a subject of earnest, prayerful inquiry, no one should be content while any such "if" hangs over his having tasted that the Lord is gracious. A jealous, holy distrust of self may raise the question even in a believer's heart, but letting that doubt settle in permanently would be a real evil. We must not rest without a determined struggle to grasp the Savior in the arms of faith and say, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him." Do not rest, believer, until you have full assurance of your share in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the unfailing testimony of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you are certain that you are a child of God. Do not treat this lightly; let no "perhaps," no "maybe," no "if" satisfy your soul. Build on eternal truths, and build on them in earnest. Take hold of the sure mercies of David, and take hold of them surely. Let your anchor be cast within the veil, and make sure your soul is linked to that anchor by a cable that will not break. Move on past these dreary "ifs"; do not stay any longer in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust and enter the Canaan of peace, where enemies still linger, but where the land never stops flowing with milk and honey.