Evening, March 16

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins."

  Psalm 19:13

   Such was the prayer of the "man after God's own heart." Did holy David
   need to pray thus? How needful, then, must such a prayer be for us
   babes in grace! It is as if he said, "Keep me back, or I shall rush
   headlong over the precipice of sin." Our evil nature, like an
   ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the
   bridle upon it, and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What
   might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks which the
   Lord sets upon us both in providence and in grace! The psalmist's
   prayer is directed against the worst form of sin--that which is done
   with deliberation and wilfulness. Even the holiest need to be "kept
   back" from the vilest transgressions. It is a solemn thing to find the
   apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome sins. "Mortify
   therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication,
   uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and
   covetousness, which is idolatry." What! do saints want warning against
   such sins as these? Yes, they do. The whitest robes, unless their
   purity be preserved by divine grace, will be defiled by the blackest
   spots. Experienced Christian, boast not in your experience; you will
   trip yet if you look away from him who is able to keep you from
   falling. Ye whose love is fervent, whose faith is constant, whose hopes
   are bright, say not, "We shall never sin," but rather cry, "Lead us not
   into temptation." There is enough tinder in the heart of the best of
   men to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God
   shall quench the sparks as they fall. Who would have dreamed that
   righteous Lot could be found drunken, and committing uncleanness?
   Hazael said, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" and
   we are very apt to use the same self-righteous question. May infinite
   wisdom cure us of the madness of self-confidence.