November 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Exodus 8:25–29

Devotional

This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor enslaved Israelites really must go out of Egypt, then he bargains with them that they shall not go very far away—not far enough for them to escape the terror of his armies or the observation of his spies.

In the same way, the world would have us to be more “charitable” and not take matters to extremes. Death to the world and burial with Christ are experiences that carnal minds treat with ridicule. God’s commands that set them forth are almost universally neglected, and even condemned. Worldly wisdom recommends the path of compromise; it talks of “moderation” and “tolerance.” According to this carnal policy, purity is admitted to be very desirable, but we are warned against being too picky, Of course truth is a good thing, but error is not to be severely denounced. “Yes,” says the world, “be spiritually minded by all means, but don’t deny yourself a little friendship with the world, a little immoral entertainment, some occasional overindulgence. What good is it to utterly denounce something when everybody does it?” Multitudes of professing Christians yield to this cunning advice—to their own eternal ruin.

If we would wholeheartedly follow the Lord, then we must go right away into the wilderness of separation; we must leave the Egypt of the carnal world behind us. We must leave its rules of conduct; we must leave its pleasures; we must leave its religion too. We must go far away to the place where the Lord calls his sanctified ones. When the city is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When a deadly infectious disease is abroad, we cannot get too far from its haunts. The further from a poisonous snake the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. Let the trumpet-call be sounded to all true believers, “Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord” (2 Cor. 6:17).

[June 27]

Extracted from C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (public domain), language modernized by Larry E. Wilson.