
February 16
You Deal with God
"I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man" (Hosea 11:9).
The LORD thus makes known His sparing mercies. It may be that the reader is now under heavy displeasure, and everything threatens his speedy doom. Let the text hold him up from despair. The LORD now invites you to consider your ways and confess your sins. If He had been man, He would long ago have cut you off. If He were now to act after the manner of men, it would be a word and a blow and then there would be an end of you: but it is not so, for "as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are his ways above your ways."
You rightly judge that He is angry, but He keepeth not His anger forever: if you turn from sin to Jesus, God will turn from wrath. Because God is God, and not man, there is still forgiveness for you, even though you may be steeped up to your throat in iniquity. You have a God to deal with and not a hard man, or even a merely just man. No human being could have patience with you. You would have wearied out an angel, as you have wearied your sorrowing Father; but God is longsuffering. Come and try Him at once. Confess, believe, and turn from your evil way, and you shall be saved.
by Charles H. Spurgeon
For thousands of Christians over the last century, Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning and Evening has been a daily devotional guide through life's ups and downs. New generations can once again enjoy Spurgeon's beautiful prose and elegant command of the English language in this completely revised edition. Morning and Evening offers readers the best of Spurgeon's insight and wise counsel on themes that are as relevant to our day as they were in his day. In this updated version, Spurgeon's work is returned to its former brilliance while retaining the beautiful language of the original King James Version.