July 18

Charles Spurgeon · Faith's Checkbook

WILDERNESS COMMUNION

   "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak
   comfortably unto her." Hosea 2:14

   The goodness of God sees us allured by sin, and it resolves to try upon
   us the more powerful allurements of love. Do we not remember when the
   Lover of our souls first cast a spell upon us and charmed us away from
   the fascinations of the world? He will do this again and again whenever
   He sees us likely to be ensnared by evil.

   He promises to draw us apart, for there He can best deal with us, and
   this separated place is not to be a Paradise, but a wilderness, since
   in such a place there will be nothing to take off our attention from
   our God. In the deserts of affliction the presence of the Lord becomes
   everything to us, and we prize His company beyond any value which we
   set upon it when we sat under our own vine and fig-tree in the society
   of our fellows. Solitude and affliction bring more to themselves and to
   their heavenly Father than any other means.

   When thus allured and secluded the Lord has choice things to say to us
   for our comfort. He "speaks to our heart," as the original has it. Oh,
   that at this we may have this promise explained in our experience!
   Allured by love, separated by trial, and comforted by the Spirit of
   truth, may we know the Lord and sing for joy!