Morning By Morning #35

…the love of the Lord.

Hosea 3:1 KJV

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

Dear believer, look back over your life experience. Think of the way the Lord your God has led you through the wilderness and how He has fed and clothed you every day. Think of how He has put up with your bad manners, all your complaints, and your longings for the “pots of meat” (Ex. 16:3) back in Egypt. Think of how He has opened the rock to supply you with water and how He has fed you with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how His grace “is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9) in all your troubles, how His blood pardoned you for all your sins, and how His rod and His staff have comforted you (see Ps. 23:4).

Now that you have looked at “the love of the Lord” in your past, allow faith to survey His love in the future, for remember, Christ’s covenant and His blood affect more than just your past. He who has loved you in the past will never cease to love and forgive you into the future as well. He is the “Alpha and the Omega” (Rev. 1:8); He is the first, and He will be the last.

Therefore remember, “Even though [you] walk through the valley of the shadow of death, [you should] fear no evil” (Ps. 23:4), for He will be with you. When you find yourself standing in the cold flooding water of the Jordan River, you need not fear, for death cannot separate you from His love. And when you finally find yourself standing before the mysteries of eternity, you need not tremble, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).

Dear soul, after reflecting on this, isn’t your love refreshed? Doesn’t this increase your love for Jesus? Doesn’t a flight through the limitless heavens of His love rekindle your heart and compel you to “find your joy in the LORD” (Isa. 58:14)? Surely as we meditate on “the love of the Lord” we will feel “our hearts burning within us” (Luke 24:32) and we will long to love Him more.

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

When we remember the stories of the children of Israel who had recently been delivered from slavery in Egypt, we are amazed at how quickly they began to complain, saying, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Ex. 14:12). How could they have turned away from the Lord so quickly, especially after seeing so many of His miracles!

Not so fast! When I think back over my life, how many miracles has He performed for me? And how many times have I turned away from Him, looking with longing eyes to the wilderness of my past? “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

Dear Lord, forgive me when I forget Your loving mercies poured out so abundantly on me. Refresh and rekindle my love so my heart will overflow with love for You and for others. Help me walk in Your ways, always living in accordance with Your precious Word, which lovingly reminds me to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:5).