Beginnings
GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomy
Judges
JoshuaJudgesRuth
Kingdoms
1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings
Chronicles
1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEsther
Poetry
JobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of Solomon
Prophets
IsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDaniel
Minor Prophets
HoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicah
NahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachi
Messiah
MatthewMarkLukeJohnActs
Paul's Letters
Romans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians
1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrews
General Letters
James1 Peter2 Peter1 John
2 John3 JohnJude
Revelation
Revelation
Kept for this visit
Notes, starred verses and bookmarks kept while signed out last until this visit ends. Create a free account and everything you keep here moves into it, saved for good.
Create an account Sign in

Morning and Evening

August 18, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but He received it not." — Mark 15:23 · KJV

A golden truth is hidden in the fact that the Savior put the myrrhed wine-cup from His lips. Long ago, on the heights of heaven, the Son of God looked down on our world and measured the full descent to the lowest depths of human misery; He summed up all the agonies that atonement would require, and abated not a jot. He firmly determined that to offer a sufficient atoning sacrifice He must go the whole way, from the highest to the lowest, from the throne of highest glory to the cross of deepest woe. This myrrhed cup, with its numbing power, would have kept Him a little short of the utmost limit of misery; therefore He refused it. He would not stop short of all He had undertaken to suffer for His people. Ah, how many of us have longed for reliefs to our grief that would have harmed us! Reader, did you never pray to be discharged from hard service or suffering with a petulant, willful eagerness? Providence has taken from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Say, Christian: if it had been offered, "If you so wish it, that loved one shall live, but God will be dishonored," could you have put the temptation away and said, "Thy will be done"? Oh, it is sweet to be able to say, "My Lord, if for other reasons I need not suffer, yet if I can honor You more by suffering, and if the loss of my earthly all will bring You glory, then so let it be; I refuse the comfort, if it comes in the way of Your honor." Oh, that we walked more in the footsteps of our Lord, cheerfully bearing trial for His sake, promptly putting away the thought of self and comfort whenever it would keep us from finishing the work He has given us to do. Great grace is needed, but great grace is provided.