Finding the height, depth, length and breadth of God's Word

My blogging buddy Amy put this quote from Spurgeon on Facebook this weekend.

The more you read the Bible, and the more you meditate upon it, the more you will be astonished with it. He who is but a casual reader of the Bible, does not know the height, the depth, the length and breadth of the mighty meanings contained in its pages. There are certain times when I discover a new vein of thought, and I put my hand to my head and say in astonishment, "Oh, it is wonderful. I never saw this before in the Scriptures." You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter them; the more you study them the less you will appear to know of them, for they widen out as we approach them.

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon "Christ our Passover"

Thanks Amy.  A great encouragement.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The following excerpt was on the Desiring God site today.

May our own dear ones be among the better generation who shall continue in the Lord's ways, obedient to the end. And their seed shall be established before thee. God does not neglect the children of his servants. It is the rule that Abraham's Isaac should be the Lord's, that Isaac's Jacob should be beloved of the Most High, and that Jacob's Joseph should find favour in the sight of God. Grace is not hereditary, yet God loves to be served by the same family time out of mind, even as many great landowners feel a pleasure in having the same families as tenants upon their estates from generation to generation. Here is Zion's hope, her sons will build her up, her offspring will restore her former glories. We may, therefore, not only for our own sakes, but also out of love to the church of God, daily pray that our sons and daughters may be saved, and kept by divine grace even unto the end—established before the Lord.

Excerpted from The Treasury of David (Psalm 102:28).

That is just beautiful.  I am thankful to God for the rich encouragement of these words today. 

I've been thinking for a while about reading some Spurgeon.  So if there are any Spurgeon experts out there, what would you recommend?  Where does one start with Spurgeon?

The blessing of trials

The following quote is from "A Joy in All Trials," a Sermon (No. 1704) Delivered on the Lord's Day Morning, February 4th, 1883, by C.H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tavernacle, Newington , England - and excerpted by Nancy Guthrie in Be Still, My Soul pages 103-104

There is an invaluable blessing which is gained by the trial of our faith.  The blessing gained is this, that our faith is tried and proved.  The way of trying whether you are a good soldier is to go down to the battle.  The way to try whether a ship is well built is, not merely to order the surveyor to examine her, but to send her to sea: a storm will be the best test of her staunchness.

Sanctified tribulations work the proof of our faith, and this is more precious than that of gold which perisheth, though it be tried by fire.  Now when we are able to bear it without starting aside, the trial proves our sincerity.  Coming out of a trouble the Christian says to himself, "Yes, I held fast mine integrity, and did not let it go.  Blessed be God, I was not afraid of threatening; I was not crushed by losses; I was kept true to God under pressure.  Now, I am sure that my religion is not a mere profession, but a real consecration to God.  It has endured the fire, being kept by the power of God."

Which is not to say that we sail through trials serenely and without flinching.  We respond to them in human ways - grief, fear, flight, worry, concern, compassion, confusion...  We respond in ways that portray (or betray) our personality and our heart.  We respond in ways unknown to us because our normal selves have been taken over by adrenalin.  But at the core we hope to find that our abiding trust lies in God who is sovereign over all things.  That at the core our hope, confidence and security is found in Jesus Christ and nothing else.  And if that is what we find then we are deeply blessed, no matter what.