Morning, June 12, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.” — Daniel 5:27

It is wise to frequently weigh ourselves in the scale of God’s Word. You will find it a holy exercise to read some psalm of David, and, as you meditate upon each verse, to ask yourself, “Can I say this? Have I felt as David felt? Has my heart ever been broken on account of my sin, as his was when he penned his psalms of repentance? Has my soul been full of sure confidence in the hour of difficulty, as his was when he sang of God’s mercies in the cave of Adullam, or in the holds of Engedi? Do I take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord?” Then turn to the life of Christ, and as you read, ask yourselves how far you are conformed to his likeness. Endeavour to discover whether you have the meekness, the humility, the lovely spirit which he constantly instilled and displayed. Take then Paul’s epistles, and see whether you can go along with the apostle in what he said of his experience. Have you ever cried out as he did—”Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Have you ever felt his self-abasement? Have you considered yourself the chief of sinners, and less than the least of all saints? Have you known anything of his devotion? Could you join with him and say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain?” If we accordingly read God’s Word as a test of our spiritual condition, we shall have good reason to stop many a time and say, “Lord, I feel I have never yet been here, O bring me here! Give me true repentance, such as this I read of. Give me real faith; give me warmer zeal; inflame me with more fervent love; grant me the grace of meekness; make me more like Jesus. Let me no longer be found wanting, when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, lest I be found wanting in the scales of judgment.” Remember, “But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.”