October 18 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Song of Solomon 2:10–16

Devotional

A little thorn may cause much suffering. A little cloud may hide the sun. Little foxes spoil the vines. And little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These little sins burrow in the soul, and make it so full of that which is hateful to Christ, that he will hold no comfortable fellowship and communion with us. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable. Jesus will not walk with his people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (Jn. 15:10).

Some Christians very seldom enjoy their Saviour’s presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Are you a child of God, and yet satisfied to go on without seeing your Father’s face? What! you the spouse of Christ, and yet content without his company! Surely, you have fallen into a sad state, for the chaste spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate, when he has left her.

Ask, then, the question, what has driven Christ from you? He hides his face behind the wall of your sins. That wall may be built up of little pebbles just as easily as of big stones. The sea is made of drops. The rocks are made of grains. And the sea that divides you from Christ may be filled with the drops of your little sins. And the rock that has very nearly wrecked your ship, may have been made by the daily working of the tiny coral polyps of your little sins.

If you would live with Christ, and walk with Christ, and see Christ, and have fellowship with Christ, then take heed of “the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Jesus invites you to go with him and catch them. Like Samson, he will surely catch the foxes at once and easily. Go with him to the hunting.

[May 30, morning]

Extracted from C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (public domain), language modernized by Larry E. Wilson.