9. When your fathers tempted me. As far
as they could do so they tempted God to change his usual way, and to do their
sinful bidding. God’s way is perfect, and when we would have him alter it to
please us, we are guilty of tempting him; and the fact that we do so in vain, while
it magnifies the Lord’s holiness, by no means excuses our guilt. We are in most
danger of this sin in times of need, for then it is that we are apt to fall
into unbelief, and to demand a change in those arrangements of providence which
are the transcript of perfect holiness and infinite wisdom. Proved me.
They put the Lord to needless tests, demanding new miracles, fresh
interpositions, and renewed tokens of his presence. Are we not prone to demand
specialities, with the alternative secretly offered in our hearts, that if they
do not come at our bidding we will disbelieve? True, the Lord is very
condescending, and frequently grants us marvelous evidences of his power, but
we ought not to require them. If we were forever testing the love of our wife
or husband, and remained unconvinced after years of faithfulness, we should
wear out the utmost human patience. Friendship only flourishes in the
atmosphere of confidence; shall the Lord God, true and immutable, be day after
day suspected by his own people? Will not this provoke him to anger? And saw my work. They tested him again and again, though each time his work was
conclusive evidence of his faithfulness. We must forever be seeing, or we waver
in our believing.
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