June 23, Morning
C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling
"Ephraim is a cake not turned." — Hosea 7:8 · KJV
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, much rebellion remained. My soul, I charge you, see whether this is your case. Are you thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very center of your being, so that its divine operations are felt in all your powers, your actions, your words, and your thoughts? To be sanctified in spirit, soul, and body should be your aim and prayer; and though sanctification may not be perfect in you anywhere in degree, it must be universal in its action. There must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, or you too will be a cake not turned. A cake not turned is soon burned on the side nearest the fire; and though no one can have too much true religion, some seem burned black with bigoted zeal for the one portion of truth they have received, or charred to a cinder with a vainglorious, Pharisaic show of the religious performances that suit their temperament. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity often goes hand in hand with a total absence of all vital godliness—a saint in public can be a devil in private, dealing in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake burned on one side is raw dough on the other. If it is so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature toward the fire of Your love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and lack of heat when I am removed from Your heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know that if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Your grace, I must be consumed forever amid everlasting burnings.