Spurgeon’s 5 Tips for Remembering God’s Goodness

I recently found a little paperback on my parents’ shelves entitled: The Practice of Praise. I picked it up and realized it was by C.H. Spurgeon. I suppose I’m not used to seeing books by Spurgeon in paperback, which might be why I had never noticed it before. Well, anyway, I did notice it, and this past Sunday I sat down and read it. It took me about three times as long as it would have otherwise, because I kept having to stop and jot down quotes, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and there were many challenging ideas in it about the importance of praising God.

             

The book itself seems to be a collection of sermons on the topic of praise. The sermon which made up the first chapter dealt with remembering God’s goodness, which will of course prompt us to praise God. According to Spurgeon,

“We cannot utter what we have forgotten. Thus, we need close observation to establish a strong memory concerning the Lord’s great goodness.”*

He then goes on to state five ways we can do this. Here they are:

1. Be acquainted with the documents in which His goodness is recorded. -In other words, read your Bible! There is no better way of becoming versed in the goodness of God than to read about it in His Word! 

2. Diligently observe memorials. -The first two memorials he mentions are baptism and communion, both of which are memorials of the goodness of God demonstrated in Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. Spurgeon also mentions personal experience as a source of memorials. I know many people who celebrate their spiritual birthday with more enthusiasm then their physical birthday. As Spurgeon says,

 “O, dear heart, were you ever born again? Then you will remember His great goodness”**

Another way Spurgeon suggests using memorials is to use the objects around you as reminders of different aspects of God's goodness. For example, I have some objects in my room that were given to me by dear friends, and when I look at those things, I am reminded of God’s goodness to me shown through their kindness and love. There are other things that God has provided in response to a specific need, like my car. Whenever I drive my car, I am reminded of God’s goodness in providing for me. If you think about it, anything you own can be a reminder of God's goodness in some way or another.

3. Classification or Memory devices -As I read what Spurgeon had to say about these two categories, it all basically boiled down to what we now would call journaling. Spurgeon recommends that the forgetful Christian 

“Take care to set God’s mercies in order. Enumerate them as you can, and so fix them in your memory.”***

4. Utterance -Speak them! Whether to yourself, to your family, to Christian brothers or sisters, or to the lost world around you, God’s goodness is to be proclaimed!

5. Sing -This is similar to speaking, but it is a widely-acknowledged fact that putting words to music is one of the best ways to memorize them. Take any hymnal and you will find it full to overflowing with songs of God’s goodness. Having songs about God's goodness filed away in your heart and mind can be such a blessing. The other morning, I woke up with a song about God's goodness stuck in my head, and it was such an encouraging way to wake up! 

These are just a few ways to remind yourself of God’s goodness during these difficult days, but I hope you will find them as helpful as I have!

*Spurgeon, C.H. The Practice of Praise Whitaker House: Kensington. 1995 p.20

** Ibid. p.23

*** Ibid. p.24

Shining in the Darkness

Our world is in chaos. Some are sick, even dying, others are facing another month of unemployment, wondering how they will pay their bills. Many are isolated from those dearest to them. As summer nears, the sun shines bright and warm and the days grow longer, but the world still feels immersed in darkness.

I am reminded of the passage in Exodus 10, where God brought the plague of darkness upon the Egyptians. It was a supernatural darkness, a darkness unlike any they had experienced before. The Bible says it was "darkness which may be felt". The land was covered with "thick darkness", but notice the difference between the Israelites' homes and the homes of the Egyptians:

"They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings"

Exodus 10:23 

The world around them was dark, the people isolated and afraid, yet the darkness couldn't touch God's people. 

This may seem like a dark time to those around us, but in reality, the light of God's goodness, sovereignty, love, mercy, and every other attribute of God is still shining, for God does not change. He is not hindered by any part of our current crisis. He is still at work, still powerful, still loving.

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."

Psalm 139:11-12

Nothing --not even the darkness of a world thrown into crisis-- can come between us and the love of God. As Romans 8:38-39 states,

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

When the world looks dark to you, look to Christ, for He is the Light of the world. In fact, I John 1:5 says,

"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

It is only in our relationship with God that we can keep the darkness at bay. While others wallow in hopelessness and depression, we can confidently live in hope, joy, and the certainty that God will use all this for good. After all, in God there is "no darkness at all".

But we aren't just supposed to keep this light to ourselves. Unlike the Israelites so long ago, we are not just to enjoy the light, but to shine it into the lives of others. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus commands us:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

The darker the world seems to those around us, the more they realize their need of the light, and the more opportunity there is for radiating the light of Christ into the darkness of those around us.

So how does God want you to shine your light into someone's darkness today?

Inviting God In

Ever have one of those moments when the Holy Spirit draws your attention to a step of spiritual growth and says "How about you?"--I don't mean audibly, of course, but it never ceases to amaze me how clear that "still, small voice" can be.

The other day, I was working on editing a recent project, when I ran across a sentence I had written that hit me like I'd never seen it before. It had to do with the idea of inviting God into one's smallest needs and desires, and it was like God was pointing to that sentence and saying, "You could do that."

I could tell it was something that God wanted me to spend some time on, so I wrote the thought down on a sticky note and stuck it to the journal I write in when I spend my hour with God each morning, knowing that it would take more time than I had just then to do the kind of thinking and praying God wanted me to do over the idea.


Throughout the day, and into the evening, the thought would come to mind and I would stop and pray, asking God how I could invite Him into even my smallest wants and needs. I found myself asking, "What would that look like?"

An example came to mind of a time when I had actually done this. It was over a year ago now, and I was at a store. I had recently marked a milestone in my life, and when I came across a Christmas ornament highlighting that particular milestone, I was suddenly struck by the thought, If Grandma were still alive, she would have gotten me one like that for Christmas.  I had actually picked up the ornament, intending to buy it for myself, when something stopped me, and I put the ornament back.

 God had been teaching me a lot about finding comfort in Him just then, and I decided that, instead of buying the ornament, I would tell God about it, and see what He would do.

I still can't quite explain how I came to that decision; it was all the work of a moment, but I walked away from that display with a sweet and peaceful expectation that either God would prompt someone to get one for me (which would be far nicer than buying one for myself), or that He would instead give me contentment with whatever He had planned.I didn't tell anyone else about the ornament, because I wanted it to be clearly from God if I got one. --I suppose it was a sort of exercise of faith.

Anyway, I never got the ornament, and I had even forgotten about it until the other day. What I did get while I waited, however, was a sweet sense of closeness with God --the delight of sharing a secret with only Him. Looking back, I can see that if I had just taken that desire into my own hands -insignificant though it seemed- I would never have had that experience of inviting God in and enjoying the delight of expectation that God would provide what was best.

When we are particularly close to someone, we tell them things we would never tell just anyone. We tell them about all the small, insignificant things that matter to us.When we are close to God, we do the same thing. There is nothing too small to take to Him, just as there is nothing too big. The smaller the need or want we bring to God, the closer we will feel to Him .

But it's not just things we need or things we want that we can bring to God; we can also bring our gratefulness for even the smallest of blessings. Even if we can see nothing else to be thankful for, we can always be thankful for salvation, for the gift of life itself, the very fact of God's love and care, --one could go on and on, for God has given each of us so many blessings!

When we invite God into our thoughts, even when they are insignificant and mundane, we are opening our hearts to Him more and more. And the more we are in the habit of talking to God about everything, the easier it becomes to invite God in to our hearts and minds when we are tempted. Inviting God into our moment of temptation helps us to be victorious, for it invites to our battle the One who has already won the war. (I Cor. 15:57)

In 2 Thessalonians 5:16, we are commanded, "Pray without ceasing". By inviting God into our thoughts --whatever they may be about-- we are, in effect, praying. Even if we do not have our heads bowed or our eyes closed, it is prayer nevertheless, because it turns our internal conversation with ourselves into a conversation with God.

So, what is it that God wants you to invite Him into? You'll be amazed what blessings come from simply telling to Jesus your simplest desires, your smallest thanksgivings, your most fleeting temptations.

Tell it all to Him. 

"Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."
I Peter 5:7