gladness...

Spurgeon's morning devotional stuck with me through the day...

Be glad of heart, O believer, but take care that thy gladness has its spring in the Lord.

---Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

I can tell when gladness springs from the Lord... because nothing can steal it...

But lately... my gladness... has been based on accomplishment... and self's strengths... setting joy... in a precarious position...where it's quickly snatched away... in the face of unmet expectations...

This morning... Spurgeon's preaching convicted... as I realized my recent struggle with pendulous emotions... and the source of gladness...

Thou hast much cause for gladness in thy God... That He is wise should make us glad, knowing as we do our own foolishness. That He is mighty, should cause us to rejoice who tremble at our weakness. That He is everlasting, should always be a theme of joy when we know that we wither like grass. That He is unchanging, should perpetually yield us a song, since we change every hour. That He is full of grace, that He is overflowing with it, and that this grace is covenant He has given us, that it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to glory--- all this should tend to make us glad in Him.

Today... as I felt my heart start to shift toward its hourly change... I thought of...
His wisdom... my foolishness...
His might... my weakness...
His eternal nature... my fleeting flesh...
His steadfastness... my flighty heart...
I thought of His amazing grace...
And told myself... Be glad...!

Then I will go unto the altar of God,

Unto God my exceeding joy...

Psalm 43:4 KJV