“Pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.”
Song of Solomon 7:13
Charles Spurgeon
The spouse desires to give to Jesus all that she produces. Our heart has “all manner of pleasant fruits,” both “old and new,” and they are laid up for our Beloved. At this rich autumnal season of fruit, let us survey our stores. We have new fruits. We desire to feel new life, new joy, new gratitude; we wish to make new resolves and carry them out by new labours; our heart blossoms with new prayers, and our soul is pledging herself to new efforts. But we have some old fruits too. There is our first love: a choice fruit that! and Jesus delights in it. There is our first faith: that simple faith by which, having nothing, we became possessors of all things. There is our joy when first we knew the Lord: let us revive it. We have our old remembrances of the promises. How faithful has God been! In sickness, how softly did he make our bed! In deep waters, how placidly did he buoy us up! In the flaming furnace, how graciously did he deliver us. Old fruits, indeed! We have many of them, for his mercies have been more than the hairs of our head. Old sins we must regret, but then we have had repentances which he has given us, by which we have wept our way to the cross, and learned the merit of his blood. We have fruits, this morning, both new and old; but here is the point—they are all laid up for Jesus. Truly, those are the best and most acceptable services in which Jesus is the solitary aim of the soul, and his glory, without any admixture whatever, the end of all our efforts. Let our many fruits be laid up only for our Beloved; let us display them when he is with us, and not hold them up before the gaze of men. Jesus, we will turn the key in our garden door, and none shall enter to rob thee of one good fruit from the soil which thou hast watered with thy bloody sweat. Our all shall be thine, thine only, O Jesus, our Beloved!
October 1
LORD, SPEAK TO ME
Frances R. Havergal, 1836–1879
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
As Christ’s personal ambassadors, we should be people of double resolve: To hear what God has to say to us and then to share that message with others.
Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,
Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;
The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield
Will suffer loss. Oh, find a place for me!
—Christina G. Rossetti
Effective service must always begin with prayer—asking God to use us to accomplish His eternal purposes in the lives of others. But we must not dictate to our Lord as to how and when we should be used. We are simply to be available whenever He directs in a particular situation. Then our representation for Him is simply to speak His truth boldly but always in love. Imploring lost people to be reconciled to God is far different from merely engaging them in theological arguments. We must always remember that the real need of people is to hear about the historical Christ as a personal Savior and Lord and to be guided to a living and vital relationship with Him.
Frances Ridley Havergal, the author of this text, has often been called the “consecration poet” because of her deep commitment to Christ. This text first appeared in 1872 in leaflet form with the title “A Worker’s Prayer,” accompanied by the scripture verse: “For none of us lives to himself and none dies to himself” (Romans 14:17). These words have since been widely used in leading others to a deeper consecration of their lives to God:
Lord, speak to me that I may speak in living echoes of Thy tone; as Thou hast sought, so let me seek Thy erring children lost and lone.
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead the wand’ring and the wav’ring feet; O feed me, Lord, that I may feed the hung’ ring ones with manna sweet.
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach the precious things Thou dost impart; and wing my words that they may reach the hidden depths of many a heart.
O fill me with Thy fullness, Lord, until my very heart o’er-flow in kindling tho’t and glowing word, Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.
O use me, Lord, use even me, just as Thou wilt, and when, and where, until Thy blessed face I see —Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.
For Today: Psalm 119:9–16; Luke 17:21; John 13:15; Acts 1:8; John 2:17
Ask God to engineer the circumstances that will allow you to represent Him effectively to some needy person.
“He will give grace and glory.”
Psalm 84:11
Charles Spurgeon
Bounteous is Jehovah in his nature; to give is his delight. His gifts are beyond measure precious, and are as freely given as the light of the sun. He gives grace to his elect because he wills it, to his redeemed because of his covenant, to the called because of his promise, to believers because they seek it, to sinners because they need it. He gives grace abundantly, seasonably, constantly, readily, sovereignly; doubly enhancing the value of the boon by the manner of its bestowal. Grace in all its forms he freely renders to his people: comforting, preserving, sanctifying, directing, instructing, assisting grace, he generously pours into their souls without ceasing, and he always will do so, whatever may occur. Sickness may befall, but the Lord will give grace; poverty may happen to us, but grace will surely be afforded; death must come but grace will light a candle at the darkest hour. Reader, how blessed it is as years roll round, and the leaves begin again to fall, to enjoy such an unfading promise as this, “The Lord will give grace.”
The little conjunction “and” in this verse is a diamond rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory always go together. God has married them, and none can divorce them. The Lord will never deny a soul glory to whom he has freely given to live upon his grace; indeed, glory is nothing more than grace in its Sabbath dress, grace in full bloom, grace like autumn fruit, mellow and perfected. How soon we may have glory none can tell! It may be before this month of October has run out we shall see the Holy City; but be the interval longer or shorter, we shall be glorified ere long. Glory, the glory of heaven, the glory of eternity, the glory of Jesus, the glory of the Father, the Lord will surely give to his chosen. Oh, rare promise of a faithful God!
Two golden links of one celestial chain:
Who owneth grace shall surely glory gain.
