The Reviving Grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST

"He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." —Psalm 106:15 [KJV]

When the sunshine of worldly ease, and a greater portion of the good things of this life than he was wont to enjoy, fell to the lot of that champion of Jesus of blessed memory, Luther; it excited a holy fear and jealousy in his heart, which made him cry out, 'Lord, I will not be put off with these things.' However pleasant and agreeable worldly prosperity may be to the flesh, yet indulging and pampering the body begets and feeds many disorders and humors which are destructive to the health of the soul. The body without exercise naturally loses its strength and vigor. Afflictions are the exercise of the soul; though they be dreaded because grievous to the flesh, yet are they profitable to the spirit; or else not one of God's dear children should know what a single trouble is: for they are all the allotments of covenant love. In our prayers we often imitate James and John, "we know not what we ask." We ask amiss, and yet are ready to complain that the Lord doth not answer us according to our desire; though the very thing we asked would have proved as a serpent, to bite and destroy us.

O what patience doth our God and Father exercise towards the froward dispositions of His dear, but untoward children! It would be bad for the best of us, if we were our own carvers. Let Peter have his request, and Jesus shall not die; then Peter and every soul of man must have perished. It is our mercy that the Lord sometimes answers prayers with denials; He most blesses us by not granting our petitions. Saints long and pray to be entirely delivered from the body of sin; but though the Lord doth not take it away, yet He gives what is better, grace to subdue our corruptions; and withal subdues pride, and keeps the soul dependent upon Himself, which is best of all. Thy will, Thy glory should ever set bounds to our petitions. The health and prosperity of the immortal soul, is infinitely to be preferred to the enjoyment and happiness of the perishing body. Gay clothing, with empty pockets, and a lean, starving body, is a distressed condition; but how much more deplorable! how awfully to be dreaded, the state of many professors! They have got what they eagerly sought, and earnestly requested; the riches, honors, and pleasures of this world; but alas! their precious souls are in a lean, starving, famishing condition. Can the comforts and joys of a perishing world compensate the want of a sense of God's love, the reviving grace of our Lord Jesus, and the comforting fellowship of the Holy Ghost? We should be ever concerned, in all our petitions, to make the enjoyment of God the chief, the ultimate end. "Hearken diligently unto me, eat that which is good; and let your soul delight itself in fatness." —Isaiah 55:2.

-William Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

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