Can you loosen the bands of Orion? The question arises from Charles Spurgeon’s March 21st Evening Devotional.
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? Job 38:31
The idea found below is that God is sovereign in all things and we are not. It is He who gives the increase in all things, for we are weak. Sometimes we seem stuck. And so we pray.
Spurgeon’s Devotion:
“If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter’s fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?”
“In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man’s power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad His delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When He deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but He. What a blessing it is that He can do it. O that He would perform the wonder to-night.”
“Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dullness, but all things are possible with Thee. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of Thy love, the beams of Thy grace, the light of Thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.”
A personal prayer based on the devotion
Lord, no one can bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the bands of Orion, but you can! And try as I might, I often find myself in the Valley of Shadow and cannot get out through my own means. But you can do all things! You can end my winter and begin my spring. I need your heavenly influence and the shining of your love, for I suffer much from sin and temptation. Dear Lord, work wonders in me, in Jesus’ blessed name.
Maranatha!
More reading
Morning and Evening – Charles Spurgeon (Review)
Sharing is caring!
