Morning, January 18

Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."

  Hebrews 4:9

   How different will be the state of the believer in heaven from what it
   is here! Here he is born to toil and suffer weariness, but in the land
   of the immortal, fatigue is never known. Anxious to serve his Master,
   he finds his strength unequal to his zeal: his constant cry is, "Help
   me to serve thee, O my God." If he be thoroughly active, he will have
   much labour; not too much for his will, but more than enough for his
   power, so that he will cry out, "I am not wearied of the labour, but I
   am wearied in it." Ah! Christian, the hot day of weariness lasts not
   forever; the sun is nearing the horizon; it shall rise again with a
   brighter day than thou hast ever seen upon a land where they serve God
   day and night, and yet rest from their labours. Here, rest is but
   partial, there, it is perfect. Here, the Christian is always unsettled;
   he feels that he has not yet attained. There, all are at rest; they
   have attained the summit of the mountain; they have ascended to the
   bosom of their God. Higher they cannot go. Ah, toil-worn labourer, only
   think when thou shalt rest forever! Canst thou conceive it? It is a
   rest eternal; a rest that "remaineth." Here, my best joys bear "mortal"
   on their brow; my fair flowers fade; my dainty cups are drained to
   dregs; my sweetest birds fall before Death's arrows; my most pleasant
   days are shadowed into nights; and the flood-tides of my bliss subside
   into ebbs of sorrow; but there, everything is immortal; the harp abides
   unrusted, the crown unwithered, the eye undimmed, the voice
   unfaltering, the heart unwavering, and the immortal being is wholly
   absorbed in infinite delight. Happy day! happy! when mortality shall be
   swallowed up of life, and the Eternal Sabbath shall begin.