Morning, October 30, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders.” — Psalm 9:1

Praise and thanksgiving should always follow answered prayer, just as the mist of earth’s gratitude rises when the sun of heaven’s love warms the ground. Has the Lord been gracious to you, and inclined his ear to the voice of your earnest prayers? Then praise him as long as you live. Let the ripe fruit drop upon the fertile soil from which it drew its life. Do not deny a song to him who has answered your prayer and given you the desire of your heart. To be silent over God’s mercies is to incur the guilt of ingratitude; it is to act as dishonorably as the nine lepers, who did not return to give thanks to the healing Lord after they had been cured of their leprosy, To forget to praise God is to refuse to benefit ourselves; for praise, like prayer, is one great means of promoting the growth of the spiritual life. It helps to remove our burdens, to excite our hope, to increase our faith. It is a healthful and invigorating exercise which quickens the pulse of the believer, and braces him for fresh enterprises in his Master’s service. To bless God for mercies received is also the way to benefit our fellow-men: “The humble shall hear of it  and rejoice.” Others who have been in like circumstances shall take comfort if we can say, “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.  I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Weak hearts will be strengthened, and wilting saints will be revived as they listen to our “songs of deliverance.” Their doubts and fears will be rebuked, as we teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They too shall “sing in the ways of the Lord,” when they hear us magnify his holy name. Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels do not pray, but they never cease to praise both day and night; and the redeemed, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands, are never weary of singing the new song, “Worthy is the Lamb.”

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