Morning and Evening

September 12, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"I will sing of mercy and judgment." — Psalm 101:1 · KJV

Faith triumphs in trial. When reason is thrust into the inner prison, her feet fast in the stocks, faith makes the dungeon walls ring with her merry notes as she cries, "I will sing of mercy and of judgment; unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing." Faith pulls the black mask from the face of trouble and finds the angel beneath. She looks up at the cloud and sees that it is big with mercy and will soon break in blessings on her head. There is a theme for song even in the judgments of God toward us. For, first, the trial is not so heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as we deserved to bear; and our affliction is not so crushing as the burden others have to carry. Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal — not a drop of God's wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith discerns love gleaming like a jewel on the breast of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, "This is a badge of honor, for the child must feel the rod"; and then she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her spiritual good. No, more, says Faith: "These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." So Faith rides forth on the black horse, conquering and to conquer, trampling down carnal reason and fleshly sense, chanting notes of victory in the thickest of the fray. All she meets, she finds, assists her on the path to heavenly joy, where trials, though they attend her now, shall annoy her no more; and, blessed there with a weight of glory, she will never forget the path, but will cry in triumph that it led her to her blessed Savior's seat.

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