Morning, June 23
Charles Spurgeon · Morning and Evening: Daily Readings
Hosea 7:8
"Ephraim is a cake not turned."
Hosea 7:8
A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many
respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial
obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee,
see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God?
Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in
its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and
thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine
aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee
anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must
not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in
another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.
A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and
although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem
burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have
received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic
ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour.
The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a
total absence of all vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in
private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which
is burned on one side, is dough on the other.
If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to
the fire of thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt
side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when
I am removed from thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a
double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of
reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and
am not on both sides the subject of thy grace, I must be consumed
forever amid everlasting burnings.