Sometimes I look at the lives of men and women who are now in glory, and it seems like God did more for them than He could ever do for me. How foolish and naive am I to think this! Their God is MY God. He is the same yesterday, today, forever!!! Anything He did through them or for them He can do for me. God's seeming lack of strength is not a failure on His part, but on mine! GOD NEVER FAILS! It's something He doesn't know how to do ~ fail! I am the one who does not see the goodness of the Lord; it is not that He has withheld it from me! Lord, remove the scales of unthankfulness from my eyes, for then I trust to see Your hand of guidance in my life. Lord! Make bare Your arm! Thou art MY God!
"Forget not all His benefits." Psalm 103:2
It is a delightful and profitable occupation to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints, and to observe His goodness in delivering them, His mercy in pardoning them, and His faithfulness in keeping His covenant with them. But would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of His goodness and of His truth, as much a proof of His faithfulness and veracity, as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before? We do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that He wrought all His mighty acts, and showed Himself strong for those in the early time, but doth not perform wonders or lay bare His arm for the saints who are now upon the earth. Let us review our own lives. Surely in these we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God. Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers, supported by the divine presence? Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you had no manifestations? Have you had no choice favours? The God who gave Solomon the desire of his heart, hath He never listened to you and answered your requests? That God of lavish bounty of whom David sang, "Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things," hath He never satiated you with fatness? Have you never been made to lie down in green pastures? Have you never been led by the still waters? Surely the goodness of God has been the same to us as to the saints of old. Let us, then, weave His mercies into a song. Let us take the pure gold of thankfulness, and the jewels of praise and make them into another crown for the head of Jesus. Let our souls give forth music as sweet and as exhilarating as came from David's harp, while we praise the Lord whose mercy endureth for ever.
—Morning and Evening, C. H. Spurgeon
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