“God has not
thrown me away. I am in His mind day and night, and His thoughts are at work to
do me good.
Sincerity enables
the Christian to think and speak well of God. A deceitful man's countenance
droops and his heart enlarges with venom against God. He dares not let it come
out of his mouth but it festers in his deepest thoughts. Because the wretched
man does not love God, he has no place in his soul to reflect on God's
goodness. He fumes and frets and forgets the abundant blessings God has brought
in the past and gives in to resentment because of his present problems. And he
would much rather curse God than take the blame himself.
But the sincere
Christian cherishes such sweet thoughts of God that his meditations unite him
with peace and he would not consider speaking unworthily of God's glory or
goodness. We see this in David: "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
because you did it Psalm 39:9. Both his spirit and body were afflicted at the
same time; he was sad and sick, yet he remembered where the affliction came
from. "This is from You, Lord, and I love You dearly; so I can take it
without fear. After all, You might have thrown me into a bed of flames instead
of a bed of sickness; so let me accept my correction thankfully." Accordingly
he fielded the blow without sending words of resentment or anger back upon God.
Sincerity enables
the soul to expect good from God. It would break a heart of stone to read the
sad cries which David's soul made when he was in anguish of flesh and agony of
spirit. Yet even in this storm he cast out his anchor until it took hold of
God: "In thee, O Lord, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God." Psalm
38:15. His expectation of good from God absorbed the bitterness coming from his
pain: "I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me Psalm 40:17. His
condition was pitiful but his comfort was even stronger: "God has not
thrown me away. I am in His mind day and night, and His thoughts are at work to
do me good.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
http://www.moodypublishers.com/pub_productDetail.aspx?id=41823&pid=53617
No comments:
Post a Comment