Morning, January 13

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they
   went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber"

  1 Kings 22:48

   Solomon's ships had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's vessels never
   reached the land of gold. Providence prospers one, and frustrates the
   desires of another, in the same business and at the same spot, yet the
   Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another. May we have
   grace today, in the remembrance of this text, to bless the Lord for
   ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for vessels freighted with
   temporal blessings; let us not envy the more successful, nor murmur at
   our losses as though we were singularly and specially tried. Like
   Jehoshaphat, we may be precious in the Lord's sight, although our
   schemes end in disappointment.

   The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of notice, for it
   is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord's people; it was
   his alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship with sinners. In 2
   Ch. 20:37, we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to declare,
   "Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken
   thy works." This was a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have
   been blest to him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text
   we find him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same vessels
   with those of the wicked king. Would to God that Jehoshaphat's
   experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord's people, to
   avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life of misery
   is usually the lot of those who are united in marriage, or in any other
   way of their own choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love
   to Jesus that, like him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and
   separate from sinners; for if it be not so with us, we may expect to
   hear it often said, "The Lord hath broken thy works."