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There are many who know "how to be abased" who
have not learned "how to abound." When they are set upon the top of a
pinnacle their heads grow dizzy, and they are ready to fall. The Christian
far oftener disgraces his profession in prosperity than in adversity. It is
a dangerous thing to be prosperous. The crucible of adversity is a less
severe trial to the Christian than the refining pot of prosperity. Oh, what
leanness of soul and neglect of spiritual things have been brought on
through the very mercies and bounties of God! Yet this is not a matter of
necessity, for the apostle tells us that he knew how to abound. When he had
much he knew how to use it. Abundant grace enabled him to bear abundant
prosperity. When he had a full sail he was loaded with much ballast, and so
floated safely. It needs more than human skill to carry the brimming cup of
mortal joy with a steady hand, yet Paul had learned that skill, for he
declares, "In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry."
It is a divine lesson to know how to be full, for the Israelites were full
once, but while the flesh was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon
them. Many have asked for mercies that they might satisfy their own hearts'
lust. Fulness of bread has often made fulness of blood, and that has brought
on wantonness of spirit. When we have much of God's providential mercies, it
often happens that we have but little of God's grace, and little gratitude
for the bounties we have received. We are full and we forget God: satisfied
with earth, we are content to do without heaven. Rest assured it is harder
to know how to be full than it is to know how to be hungry — so desperate is
the tendency of human nature to pride and forgetfulness of God. Take care
that you ask in your prayers that God would teach you "how to be full."
Let
not the gifts thy love bestows
Estrange our
hearts from thee. |
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"I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy
transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have
redeemed thee." |
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Attentively observe
the instructive
similitude
: our sins are like a cloud. As clouds are of many shapes and shades,
so are our transgressions. As clouds obscure the light of the sun, and
darken the landscape beneath, so do our sins hide from us the light of
Jehovah's face, and cause us to sit in the shadow of death. They are
earth-born things, and rise from the miry places of our nature; and when so
collected that their measure is full, they threaten us with storm and
tempest. Alas! that, unlike clouds, our sins yield us no genial showers, but
rather threaten to deluge us with a fiery flood of destruction. O ye black
clouds of sin, how can it be fair weather with our souls while ye remain?
Let our joyful eye dwell upon
the notable act
of divine mercy — "blotting out." God himself appears upon the scene, and in
divine benignity, instead of manifesting his anger, reveals his grace: he at
once and for ever effectually removes the mischief, not by blowing away the
cloud, but by blotting it out from existence once for all. Against the
justified man no sin remains, the great transaction of the cross has
eternally removed his transgressions from him. On Calvary's summit the great
deed, by which the sin of all the chosen was for ever put away, was
completely and effectually performed.
Practically let us obey
the gracious
command, "return unto
me." Why should pardoned sinners
live at a distance from their God? If we have been forgiven all our sins,
let no legal fear withhold us from the boldest access to our Lord. Let
backslidings be bemoaned, but let us not persevere in them. To the greatest
possible nearness of communion with the Lord, let us, in the power of the
Holy Spirit, strive mightily to return. O Lord, this night restore us! |
