Morning, May 21, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” — 1 Peter 2:3

“If:”—then, this is not a matter to be taken for granted concerning every one of the human race.

“If:”—then there is a possibility and a probability that some may not have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

“If:”—then this is not a general but a special mercy; and it is needed that we inquire whether we know the grace of God by inward experience. There is no spiritual favor which may not be a matter for heart-searching.

But while this should be a matter of earnest and prayerful inquiry, no one ought to be content while there is any such question as an “if” about his having tasted that the Lord is gracious. A jealous and holy distrust of one’s self may give rise to the question even in the believer’s heart, but the continuance of such a doubt would be an evil indeed. We must not rest without a desperate struggle to clasp the Savior in the arms of faith, and say, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” Do not rest, O believer, until you have a full assurance of your interest in Jesus. Let nothing satisfy you until, by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with your spirit, you have certified that you are a child of God. Oh, do not trifle here; let no “perhaps” and “very likely” and “if” and “maybe” satisfy your soul. Build on eternal truths, and truly build upon them. Get the sure mercies of David, and surely get them. Let your anchor be cast into that which is within the veil, and see to it that your soul be linked to the anchor by a cable that will not break. Advance beyond these dreary “ifs;” abide no more in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the Canaan of peace, where the Canaanite still lingers, but where the land never ceases to flow with milk and honey.