20. God’s judgments are his decisions upon points which else had been in dispute. Every precept is a judgment of the highest court upon a point of action, an infallible and immutable decision upon a moral or spiritual question. True godliness lies very much in desires. A high value of the Lord’s commandment leads to a pressing desire to know and to do it, and this so weighs upon the soul that it is ready to break in pieces under the crush of its own longings. We may well pray for such longings. Longing is the soul of praying, and when the soul longs till it breaks, it cannot be long before the blessing will be granted. The most intimate communion between the soul and its God is carried on by the process described in the text. God reveals his will, and our heart longs to be conformed thereto. God judges, and our heart rejoices in the verdict. Note well that our desire after the mind of God should be constant—at all times. Desires which can be put off and on like our garments are at best but mere wishes, and possibly they are hardly true enough to be called by that name—they are temporary emotions born of excitement, and doomed to die when the heat which created them has cooled down.
Remark how this fourth of the third eight chimes with the fourth of the fourth eight. My soul breaketh; “my soul melteth.”
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