"A man by trouble comes to know his own heart, which in prosperity he is a stranger to. He sees the wickedness of his grace and the strength of his corruption; hw nothing is weak but grace, nothing strong but sin; and it lays him in the dust."
Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflictions
It is so that when all seems well and we are at our ease we will grow slack in those duties and graces that our salvation calls us, commands us to. When in prosperity we will neglect that which is so essential to our spiritual health and growth.
When God sees one of His beloved so neglectful and slack how can He not intervene? How can He not seek to restore such a one to the fullness of life found in walking uprightly and partaking of the grace and mercy of the Lord?
He will intervene and sometimes that intervention is not easy or pleasant. but it is purposeful and will intended for our good.
It is in those times when God seems to have withdraw that we see the evil of our neglect and slackness. We see it for what it is, sin. We see how our hearts have looked to those creature comforts for assurance and confidence and we are shamed.
Here we see the corruption that yet lives in our hearts. We sense the lack of ability and even motivation to pursue God as though He was running from un (even those he isn't). We loose that sense of cocky confidence in our circumstances and discover that even when God withdraws just a little we are cast upon desperate times and dismayed hearts.
Must God correct us severely or are we willing to accept the duties and means of grace He has provided that he might be honored and glorified by our lives? Must God appearantly withdraw from us for us to re-learn our desperate need for Him and all He calls us to? Will God need to whip us to our duties where He would woo us?
When God withdraws it is always becasue we have, in some manner, already withdrawn from Him. If He cannot woo us He will whip us by providential circumstances back into His arms.
Time and time again we can read of Irsael's faithlessness and rebelion. Are we really any different. We live in prsperity and prosperity becomes our god. Then the our God, jealous for our souls, must demonstrate clearly that those comforts and possessions which we take to be signals of our well being are but lies that cannot and will not carry us through times of trial and disease.
I am not saved by works but by grace. But the more I live and the more I struggle I see that grace can be corrupted in a corrupt heart. I hesitate to pray away the trials that are such powerful reminders of my utter need for God and my complete need to exercise all the means of grace and mercy He provides that I might not only endure but grow in and through whatever trials I find myself in.
Beware prosperity and comfort for the yet unresolved corruption in your heart will abuse and confuse them to our deterioration and destruction.
MS
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