Withered joy and blasted hopes

When I lived in London, my brother was training at St Thomas's Hospital and I used to visit him in Lambeth. That's when I first came across the imposing Metropolitan Tabernacle at Elephant and Castle. It was built to accommodate the huge congregations that came to hear the Victorian Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon. According the Wikipedia he preached to more than 10 million in his lifetime - which in the days before broadcasting and electronic media is a remarkable statistic. He still has a lot of fans today, including someone who teaches preaching near here. Simon put this on his Facebook this morning. 


Great focus for today from Spurgeon: "'Yet,' says Moses, 'though we are always changing, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place throughout all generations.' The Christian knows no change with regard to God. He may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow; he may be sickly to-day and well to-morrow; he may be in happiness to-day, to-morrow he may be distressed - but there is no change with regard to his relationship to God. If He loved me yesterday, He loves me to-day. My unmoving mansion of rest is my blessed Lord. Let prospects be blighted; let hopes be blasted; let joy be withered; let mildews destroy everything; I have lost nothing of what I have in God. He is 'my strong habitation whereunto I can continually resort.' I am a pilgrim in the world, but at home in my God. In the earth I wander, but in God I dwell in a quiet habitation."

I thought it was worth repeating. Another friend of mine in the Far East who has cancer wrote, "Real theology comes out of suffering." That's probably true of Spurgeon who suffered from depression. By the age of 22 he was the most popular preacher of his day, preaching to audiences of 10,000+. "On 8 January 1856, Spurgeon married Susannah, daughter of Robert Thompson of Falcon Square, London, by whom he had twin sons, Charles and Thomas born on 20 September 1856. At the end of that year, tragedy struck on October 19, 1856, as Spurgeon was preaching at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall for the first time. Someone in the crowd yelled, 'Fire!' The ensuing panic and stampede left several dead. Spurgeon was emotionally devastated by the event and it had a sobering influence on his life. He struggled against depression for many years and spoke of being moved to tears for no reason known to himself" (Wikipedia). He must have gone from elation to devastation, feeling his "joy withered". But God proved his place of "quiet habitation".