Whether reading the Bible and praying privately or engaging in family worship, Charles and Susie were not half-hearted in their efforts. Susie encouraged readers of her books not to be content with a “sickly, spiritual life” as such dishonors Christ and hurts oneself.”[23] Charles and Susie simply kept “drinking of that [the Bible] living water constantly,” and they were “refreshed and strengthened thereby for suffering or for service.”[24]
Charles and Susie Spurgeon’s engagement in August of 1854 got off to a great start. There was no elaborate setting with balloons and fireworks—just a simple garden. It seems that Charles never said, “I love you,” to Susie until he was ready to say, “will you marry me?” Susie said “yes,” and such marked the formal beginning of one of the great love stories in Christian history.
After Charles proposed marriage, Susie found a quiet place, fell to her knees, and she lifted her voice heavenward in prayer and thanksgiving to God “for his great mercy in giving me the love of so good a man.”[1] Her first inclination was to pray. This proclivity toward prayer remained with her for the rest of her life.
Susie later confessed her inadequacy of carrying such a hefty load—of being the wife of a famed preacher and of being alone when he traveled— except for the “given grace to commit all into the Father’s loving hand, and the granted faith to believe that, ‘He hath done all things well.’”[2]
On their knees with an open Bible, Charles and Susie’s spirituality deepened and steeled them for their journey together. Both recognized the emptiness of popularity and marriage without God’s help. Charles said that even having Susie’s “sweet love” was insufficient if he should “be left of God to fall, and to depart from His ways.”[3]
How did Charles and Susie stay on the pathway of faithfulness to God?
Bible Reading Centered on Christ
Charles and Susie’s devotion to God is evident by the centrality of Christ in their thinking, writing, and practices. Charles wrote,
A man who is a believing admirer and a hearty lover of the truth, as it is in Jesus, is in a right place to follow with advantage any other branch of science. . . . Once when I read books, I put all my knowledge together in glorious confusion; but ever since I have known Christ, I have put Christ in the centre as my sun, and each science revolves around it like a planet, while minor sciences are satellites to these planets.[4]
The Spurgeons’ marriage revolved around Jesus. Where did Charles look for guidance as a husband? He looked to Jesus: “The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to his spouse.”[5] A Christocentric reading of the Scripture informed Charles that he was to love Susie in a “special,” “constant,” “enduring,” and “delighted” manner, for he took Christ as his Savior, his model, and his teacher.[6] And Susie felt that she was married to a man who loved her deeply because he loved Christ supremely. Susie’s marriage caused her to marvel at “the mercy of my God”[7] Charles marveled at the depth of Susie’s spirituality.[8] Both marveled at the glory of Christ.
Susie encouraged readers of her book, Ten Years After, to envision God’s care through the lens of Christ. She knew that spiritual nourishment was found “in Christ, in Christ’s life in thee,” for in him there is “a never-failing spring of comfort and renewing grace, which no heat of sorrow, or scorching wind of earthly care, can ever dry up.”[9]
Charles and Susie’s Christ-centered perspective was honed through their disciplined reading of the Bible. Their approach was simple—they believed the Bible to be true, trustworthy, and sufficient because of the infallibility of God Himself. And, trusting in the reliability of the Bible—they read it faithfully, confidently, and expectantly. Everything that they needed to know about God and about how to love one another was contained in the Bible. Charles imagined that if the Bible merely contained the words of man, it should be discarded. However, he believed the Bible to be “God’s handwriting” and, therefore, authoritative.”[10] Susie said that it was “well to ponder every weighty sentence” of God’s “loving voice.”[11]
Why was Bible reading so important to Charles? He said that it was through the Bible that God speaks to His people.[12] Charles desired that Christians dig deeply into the Bible itself. “If the heavenly gold is not worth digging for, you are not likely to discover it.”[13] Daily, when Charles and Susie read the Bible, they heard the voice of God speaking from the words contained therein. The Bible was the foundation upon which their marriage stood, and it was the wisdom from which their marriage prospered.