Morning, July 19, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness.” — Deuteronomy 5:24

God’s great design in all his works is the revelation of his own glory. Any aim less than this would be unworthy of himself. But how shall the glory of God be revealed to such fallen creatures as we are? Man’s vision is rarely focused on God; he has one eye towards his own uprightness, has too high an estimate of his own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the Lord. It is clear, then, that self  must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the reason why he brings his people often into storms and difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own foolishness and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when he comes forth to work their deliverance. The person whose life is one even and smooth path will see only a little of the glory of the Lord, for he has few instances of humility, and so is unfit for being filled with the revelation of God. Those who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of hurricanes; but they who “do business in great waters,” these see his “wonders in the deep.” Among the huge Atlantic-sized waves of loss, sorrow, poverty, temptation, and criticism, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the smallness of man. Thank God, then, if you have been led down a rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of God’s greatness and lovingkindness. Your troubles have enriched you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as he did his servant Moses, that you might behold his glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have been granted the capacity for the shining display of his glory in his wonderful dealings with you.