Text: “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that
trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.”
Psalm 32:10.
Good morning, mercy-compassed
Christian! Each morning you and I awake,
we are conscious of being surrounded by God’s gracious mercies. Every day we venture out the door of our
homes, we are enveloped in the grace of the Lord. What a great and merciful Lord God Almighty
we love and serve! Give thanks unto the
Lord! Amen.
“It is of the Lord’s mercies
that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy
faithfulness. The Lord is my portion,
saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.”
(Lamentations 3:22-24)
Wasps, in my lay-man’s
experience, are a very different type of insect to bees. Where I live, here in Northern Ireland, UK,
bees seem to be quite friendly, often sleepy creatures; but wasps, those
stingers in yellow-striped combat suits, can be a dangerous nuisance to be
avoided like the plague!
Wasps don’t seem to have much to offer humankind but pain and anxiety - as we seek to avoid them, seek not to disturb their nests; and hurt when our skin is pierced wickedly by their poisonous sting.
Bees, on the other hand are
not only industrious pollinators in our gardens, but produce wonderfully sweet
honey which can be collected and used by us as a sweet delight.
Moving into the Spiritual
realm, ’…the wicked…’ in our Bible text for today are promised ’…many
sorrows…’; they are, metaphorically,
surrounded by a swarm of vicious wasps, which cause them to hurt others, and
experience hurt personally and continually.
Verse 10. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. He who sows sins will reap
sorrow in heavy sheaves. Sorrows of
conscience, of disappointment, of terror, are the sinner’s sure heritage in
time, and then forever sorrows of remorse and despair.
“But he that trusteth in the
Lord, mercy shall compass him about. The wicked have a
hive of wasps around them, many sorrows; but we have a swarm of bees storing
honey for us.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury
of David, page 160)
What do you have, dear Reader,
a hive of sinful wasps, or a swarm of
Spiritual bees? Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you shall have the latter prize.
Without Christ as Saviour and
Lord, one is immersed in the wasp’s den; surrounded by sorrows, living in
darkness; suffering the sting of death in this life, and looking forward to
nothing but a Hell of sin throughout the Eternity hereafter. How tragically true.
With Christ Jesus as
one’s Saviour and Lord, we are
surrounded by His Spiritual bees!:
“Ye must BE born again“: Jesus taught the way, His way, to make certain
that we are surrounded by His bees of constant mercy. The new birth is His miracle of Spiritual
regeneration; ’quickening’ our dead spirits by the power of His Holy
Ghost. Suddenly, we are delivered from
the hive of wasps, and surrounded by the bees of His blessing.
“And you hath He quickened
(made Spiritually alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins…Even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened (made Spiritually alive) us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
(Ephesians 2:1;5-6)
“…BE not dismayed…”: We are no longer tortured by fear, no longer
walking alone; no longer dismayed, or distressed, by the world and
circumstances around us. For the Lord
promises strength, and help, and Divine upholding, “…by the right hand of My
righteousness.” (Isaiah 41:10)
Genuine regenerate Christians
are continually blessed, even during times of Spiritual and temporal attack;
illnesses; or daily failings. We have
God’s Word on this fact.
“…The goodness of God endureth
continually.” (Psalm 52:1)
“He (the Christian) shall be
surrounded with mercy as one is surrounded by the air or by the sunlight. He shall find mercy and favour everywhere -
at home, abroad; by day, by night; in society, in solitude; in sickness, in
health; in life, in death; in time, in Eternity. He shall walk amid mercies; he shall die
amidst mercies; he shall live in a better world in the midst of Eternal
mercies.” (Albert Barnes 1798-1870)
“…BE ye filled with the
Spirit“: For continual growth in grace and
consistency in our Christian witness and service, we must BE filled with God
the Spirit. By constantly studying God’s
Word, we are assured of the necessary faith to more ably serve the Christ Who
has redeemed us with His own sinless Blood.
(Ephesians 5:18)
When we, as Christians, seek
to examine God’s Spirit-inspired Word, we are blessed with faith anew every
morning, and compassed about, before and behind, with God’s richest and most
compassionate mercies. Our wasps are
weak, and our bees are strong.
Thought: What do you and I
seek to surround ourselves with daily? Wasps of the world, or swarms of
Heaven-sent bees; the sting of sin, or the joys of Heaven?
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