Day 5: All the day long
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off (Proverbs 23:17-18 - KJV).
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off (Proverbs 23:17-18 - NIV).
And now we are... off to business, or to labour. As you hurry along the street, think of these words, “Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.” Leave not thy God at home: thou needest Him most abroad.
In mingling with thy fellow-men, be with them, but be not of them, if that would involve thy forgetting thy Lord. That early interview which thou hast had with thy Beloved should perfume thy conversation all the day. A smile from Jesus in the morning will be sunshine all the day.
Endeavour, when thou art plying the trowel, or driving the plane, or guiding the plough, or using the needle or the pen, to keep up constant communication with thy Father and thy Lord. Let the telephone between thee and the Eternal never cease from its use: do thou put thine ear to it, and hear what the Lord shall speak to thee; and do thou put thy mouth to it, and ask counsel from the oracle above. Whether you work long hours or short hours, “Be in the fear of the Lord all the day long.”
...It may be, that during the day you will have to act in a very difficult business. Common transactions between [human] and [human] are easy enough to honest minds; but every now and then a nice point is raised, a point of conscience, a matter not to be decided off-hand: “Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.”
Spread the hard case before the Lord. Judge a matter as it will be judged before His bar; and if this be too much for thy judgment, then wait upon God for further light. No [one] goes astray even in a difficult case, if he is accustomed to cry, like David, “Bring hither the ephod.” This holy Book and the divine Spirit will guide us aright when our best judgment wavers. “Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.”
~ C.H. Spurgeon~ All the Day Long ~ June 22, 1890
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