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Pr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon
July 28 - Morning
"So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before Thee." (PSalm 73:22)
Remember this is the confession of the man after God’s own heart; and in telling us his inner
life, he writes, "So foolish was I, and ignorant." The word "foolish," here, means more than it
signifies in ordinary language. David, in a former verse of the Psalm, writes, "I was envious at
the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," which shows that the folly he intended had
sin in it. He puts himself down as being thus "foolish," and adds a word which is to give intensity
to it; "so foolish was I." How foolish he could not tell. It was a sinful folly, a folly which was
not to be excused by frailty, but to be condemned because of its perverseness and wilful ignorance,
for he had been envious of the present prosperity of the ungodly, forgetful of the dreadful end
awaiting all such. And are we better than David that we should call ourselves wise! Do we profess
that we have attained perfection, or to have been so chastened that the rod has taken all our
wilfulness out of us? Ah, this were pride indeed! If David was foolish, how foolish should we be
in our own esteem if we could but see ourselves! Look back, believer: think of your doubting God
when He has been so faithful to you–think of your foolish outcry of "Not so, my Father," when
He crossed His hands in affliction to give you the larger blessing; think of the many times when
you have read His providences in the dark, misinterpreted His dispensations, and groaned out, "All
these things are against me," when they are all working together for your good! Think how often
you have chosen sin because of its pleasure, when indeed, that pleasure was a root of bitterness
to you! Surely if we know our own heart we must plead guilty to the indictment of a sinful folly;
and conscious of this "foolishness," we must make David’s consequent resolve our own – "Thou
shalt guide me with Thy counsel."
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