blb/devotions/morneve/12/1227am.html

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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Morning and Evening&#8212;Charles Spurgeon</title>
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<div class="head">Meditation for This Morning</div>
<div class="subhead">Charles Spurgeon</div>
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<div class="pad2020" style="font-weight:bold">December 27<sup>th</sup><br><em>Morning Reading</em></div>
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<p>Can the rush grow up without mire?&nbsp;&#8212;&nbsp;Job 8:11</p>
<p>The rush is spongy and hollow, and even so is a hypocrite; there is no substance or stability in him. It is shaken to and fro in every wind just as formalists yield to every influence; for this reason the rush is not broken by the tempest, neither are hypocrites troubled with persecution. I would not willingly be a deceiver or be deceived; perhaps the text for this day may help me to try myself whether I be a hypocrite or no. The rush by nature lives in water, and owes its very existence to the mire and moisture wherein it has taken root; let the mire become dry, and the rush withers very quickly. Its greenness is absolutely dependent upon circumstances, a present abundance of water makes it flourish, and a drought destroys it at once. Is this my case? Do I only serve God when I am in good company, or when religion is profitable and respectable? Do I love the Lord only when temporal comforts are received from His hands? If so I am a base hypocrite, and like the withering rush, I shall perish when death deprives me of outward joys. But can I honestly assert that when bodily comforts have been few, and my surroundings have been rather adverse to grace than at all helpful to it, I have still held fast my integrity? then have I hope that there is genuine vital godliness in me. The rush cannot grow without mire, but plants of the Lord&#8217;s right hand planting can and do flourish even in the year of drought. A godly man often grows best when his worldly circumstances decay. He who follows Christ for his bag is a Judas; they who follow for loaves and fishes are children of the devil; but they who attend Him out of love to Himself are His own beloved ones. Lord, let me find my life in <em>Thee,</em> and not in the mire of this world&#8217;s favour or gain.</p>
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