Morning By Morning #185

The cows that were ugly and gaunt
ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.

Genesis 41:4

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

This dream of Pharaoh has all too often been my actual experience while awake. My days of slothfulness have ruinously destroyed all I had previously achieved during my times of diligent hard work, my times of cold idleness have frozen the warm glow of all my periods of fervent zeal, and my forays into worldliness have thrown me back from advances in my spiritual life. I should beware of “gaunt” prayers, praise, duties, and experiences, for these will devour the “fat” of my comfort and peace. If I neglect prayer for even a short time, I lose the level of spirituality I had achieved, and if I draw no fresh supplies from heaven, the old grain in my storehouse will quickly be consumed by the famine raging in my soul.

When the slowly moving caterpillars of indifference, worldliness, and self-indulgence render my heart completely desolate and cause my soul to languish, all my past fruitfulness and growth in grace benefit me nothing whatsoever. I need never worry that my life will have no “gaunt” days or lean hours! As I journey toward the goal of my spiritual desires, unfortunately I will sometimes backslide, which will leave me far from the prize of my high calling in Christ and will rob me of the past gains I have worked so hard to accomplish. The only way all my days can be like the “sleek, fat cows” is to feed them in the proper pasture and to continually immerse them in the Lord—in His service, His fellowship, His reverence, and His will.

Why shouldn’t each new year be richer than the past when it comes to love, usefulness, and joy? After all, I am closer to the hills of heaven, I have had more experience with my Lord, and I should be more like Him.

O Lord, keep the curse of leanness of soul far from me. May I never need to cry, “I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me!” (Isa. 24:16). Instead, may I be well fed and nourished in Your house “that I may praise your name” (Ps. 142:7).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

In a culture so weight conscious, it is hard to even consider needing to be like “the seven, sleek fat cows”! Yet when it comes to our spiritual lives, that is exactly what is needed.

When Israel was redeemed from Egypt, “they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:3 – 4). Yet they quickly sinned against Him.

The psalmist wrote: “We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled” (Ps. 106:6 – 7).

May this be a lesson to us, for they “lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” (Ps. 106:14 – 15 KJV).

Beware! The Lord may just grant your request.