Morning and Evening with Charles Spurgeon
Morning and Evening with Charles Spurgeon

April 12 | Morning

3 min
•Apr 12, 20267 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Charles Spurgeon reflects on Psalm 22:14, exploring spiritual depression and the suffering of Christ. He encourages believers experiencing deep sadness to find comfort in Jesus's sympathy and intimate communion with Him, emphasizing that Christ has already walked the darkest spiritual roads.

Insights
  • Spiritual depression is more devastating than physical suffering, requiring direct connection to faith and divine sympathy
  • Christ's experience of mental anguish and withdrawal of God's presence makes Him uniquely qualified to sympathize with human suffering
  • Believers should respond to spiritual darkness not with despair but by focusing on Christ's empathy and love as a stabilizing force
  • Intimate communion with Jesus during periods of spiritual withdrawal provides comfort that transcends intellectual understanding
Trends
Religious discourse emphasizing mental and emotional dimensions of faith alongside physical wellbeingPastoral teaching focused on validating deep emotional struggles as legitimate spiritual experiencesEmphasis on Christ's humanity and emotional suffering as a bridge to believer empathy and connection
People
Charles Spurgeon
Host and primary speaker delivering morning devotional reflection on Psalm 22:14
Quotes
"My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast."
Psalm 22:14 (cited by Charles Spurgeon)•Opening
"Deep spiritual depression is the most devastating of all trials. Nothing compares to it."
Charles Spurgeon•Early reflection
"Consider him a faithful high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness."
Charles Spurgeon•Mid-reflection
"Our Master has already walked this dark road."
Charles Spurgeon•Encouragement section
"Let me lie a poor broken shell washed up by his love, having no virtue or value but knowing that if he will bend his ear to me, he will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of his own love."
Charles Spurgeon•Closing prayer
Full Transcript
April 12th morning. My heart is like wax. It is melted within my breast. Psalm 22 verse 14. Our blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting of soul. The man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? Deep spiritual depression is the most devastating of all trials. Nothing compares to it. No wonder the suffering Savior cries to his God, do not be far off. For more than at any other time a man needs his God and his heart is melted within him because of heaviness. Believer, come to the cross this morning and humbly worship the King of glory as one who has been brought far lower in mental distress and inward anguish than anyone among us and consider him a faithful high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness. Especially, let those of us whose sadness springs directly from the withdrawal of the present sense of our Father's love enter into near and intimate communion with Jesus. Let us not give in to despair. Our Master has already walked this dark road. Our souls may sometimes long and faint and thirst even to the point of anguish to see the light of the Lord's face. At such times, let us calm ourselves by focusing on the sympathy of our great high priest. Our drops of sorrow may be forgotten in the ocean of his griefs. How high ought our love to rise. O strong and deep love of Jesus, come in like a flood. Cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash away all my cares. Lift up my earthbound soul and bring me up to my Lord's feet. Let me lie a poor broken shell washed up by his love, having no virtue or value but knowing that if he will bend his ear to me, he will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of his own love that have brought me to where I am happy to stay even at his feet forever.