From My Heart to Yours
• Oct. 9, 2007 - The Importance of Devotional Reading
Recently, I was reading Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional for February 15 (I like to read interesting entries over and over regardless of date), and I was rejoicing how bracing his writing is--it shores me up. I was also thinking about the topic of women and sorrow.
When Mr. Self-Pity, Mr. Hard-Heart, Miss Woe-Is-Me, and their accompanying wretched companions bang so fiercely at the door of a woman's heart that she quivers, she can often with trembling hand hold the door shut. BUT, if Mistress Loneliness arm-in-arm with Mistress Bitterness join the murmuring crowd, often the poor lady is overcome at last and will fail to keep the door shut--letting in the whole horrendous pack.
And yet, immersion in Scripture and Godly writings such as Spurgeon's devotionals are a potent anecdote. I am reminded that I must keep devotional reading a high priority, for it is a sanctifying and preserving lens and a tonic to the fainting.
When I read my own devotional notes in devotional books made over 20 years ago, I marvel that God met with me then and meets with me now. Oh, that we women would all redeem the time with wholly sanctified reading, that our minds might be truly renewed by the truths of God.
Meeting with God is a holy endeavor that I am sure makes satan tremble--hence his relentless opposition to it . . . What can one or two hours of preaching on a Sunday morning do against the world, the flesh, and the devil, if the women of God avail not themselves of this sacred duty and privilege?
Oh, with a mind set apart for God--how rich are the eternal dividends for our own lives and all we touch. May God grant us all a double portion in the holy work of encourage others to behold Jesus and to bestir themselves to read of His works of grace and truth in the lives of the saints. It is not a vain thing--it is our life. |
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