March 8th Evening

0:00You are listening to Morning and Evening, a daily devotional work by Reverend Charles Spurgeon. This reading is brought to you by the Spurgeon Study Bible, available in the original King James Version, or the Christian Standard Bible, at SpurgeonStudyBible.com. Good evening, today is March the 8th. She called his name Ben Oni, son of sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin, son of my right hand, Genesis 35 verse 18. To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death.

1:01Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see the mercy of the child's birth. It is well for us, if while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its fishes. The wildwood blooms with butious flowers. The stormy wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds disillbride drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in discovering the most disadvantageous point of view, from which to gaze upon a trial. If there were only one slaw in the world, they would soon be up to their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert, they would year it roar.

2:05About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt at times, like Jacob to cry, all these things are against me. Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she does not fret over the broken picture, but rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster shell of difficulty, she extracts the rare pearl of honour, and from the deep ocean caves of distress, she uplifts the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hid in the sands, and when her son of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave,

3:07thus making our dying benoney to be our living Benjamin. May we approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.