Flavel has one more consideration for the Christian in the season of prosperity. For the prior six, see the last two devotionals.
When we look at how God has been working in the lives of others, seeing them grow in faith, and yet God works on us in a very similar way and we remain almost unchanged, that should motivate us! When we see others growing despite their circumstances, the result should not be envy or jealousy, but reflection upon our own lives. When we come to see the difference, we ought to be humbled. Flavel said:
7.) It is a very humbling reflection, that the mercies of God should work otherwise upon my spirit than they used to do upon the spirits of others to whom they come as sanctified mercies from the love of God. Ah, Lord! what a sad consideration is this! enough to lay me in the dust, when I consider:
a.) That their mercies have greatly humbled them, the higher God has raised them, the lower they have laid themselves before him. Thus did Jacob when God had given him much substance. “And Jacob said, I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and all the truth which thou hast showed thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and am now become two bands.” Thus also it was with holy David; when God had confirmed the promise to him, to build him a house, and not reject him as he did Saul, he goes in before the Lord and says, “Who am I, and what is my father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” So indeed God required. When Israel brought to him the first fruits of Canaan, they were to say, “A Syrian ready to perish was my father,” &c. Do others raise God the higher for his raising them? and the more God raises me, the more shall I abuse him and exalt myself? O how wicked is such conduct as this!
Examples like Jacob, David, and Job are laid out in Scripture: people who, despite their wealth, had hearts after God. Of course, our natural tendency is that, the higher we are exalted, the more apt we are to forsake God. Rather, in order to do well in prosperity, the more prosperous we are, the more humility is required. The more God elevates us with His mighty hand, the more we ought to recognize that all belongs to Him. For Christ said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matt. 23:12 HCSB). So should we humble ourselves like those godly men and women.
b.) Others have freely ascribed the glory of all their enjoyments to God, and magnified not themselves, but him, for their mercies. Thus says David, “Let thy name be magnified and the house of thy servant be established.” He does not fly upon the mercy and suck out its sweetness, looking no further than his own comfort: no, he cares for no mercy except God be magnified in it. So when God had delivered him from all his enemies, he says, “The Lord is my strength and my rock, he is become my salvation.” Saints of old did not put the crown upon their own heads as I do by my vanity.
For the believer growing in Christ, everything is to be for the purpose of glorifying God. There is to be nothing outside of this purpose. We ought to seriously consider what we get our enjoyment from, seeing if those things bring glory to God. By “enjoyment,” Flavel does not mean “pleasure,” but that which we “share in,” “experience” or “receive the benefit of” (older English). So, everything that we have from God (all that we have is from Him) is to be for the glory of God. These things are not in our stewardship simply for our own pleasure, but principally to please and glorify God, as seen in David and other saints.
c.) The mercies of God have been melting mercies unto others, melting their souls in love to the God of their mercies. When Hannah received the mercy of a son, she said, “My soul rejoiceth in the Lord;” not in the mercy, but in the God of the mercy. So also Mary: “My soul doth magnify the Lord; my spirit rejoiceth in God my Savior.” The word signifies to make more room for God; their hearts were not contracted, but the more enlarged to God.
When Jesus was talking about an adulteress forgiven of her many sins, He said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47 ESV). The key point here is grace. When we come to reflect upon our lives, considering the many countless times that God’s grace touched upon it, the result should be greater and greater love for Him: melting our souls in loyalty to God, not in what God has done of itself, but towards God Himself.
d.) The mercies of God have been great restraints to keep others from sin. “Seeing thou, our God, hast given us such a deliverance as this, should we again break thy commandments?” Ingenuous souls have felt the force of the obligations of love and mercy upon them.
Seeing the abundant grace that God has bestowed, how can we continue in sin as if we are unaware? Paul said:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1-4 ESV).
Therefore, the mercy of God should drive us further and further towards loyal obedience to Him from the heart. Our whole will and understanding is to be loyally conformed and directed to God, which manifests itself in every decision we make. That is keeping the heart, and that is the effect God’s abundant mercy ought to have on us.
e.) The mercies of God to others have been as oil to the wheels of their obedience, and made them more fit for service. Now if mercies work contrarily upon my heart, what cause have I to be afraid that they come not to me in love! It is enough to damp the spirits of any saint, to see what sweet effects mercies have had upon others, and what bitter effects upon him.
In this, we need to be careful to recognize God’s mercy. There are many times when His mercy can be received as if it is some sort of cruel poison from Him. Think, for instance, if a person has a tendency towards anger or impatience. Will not God, in His mercy, arrange circumstances in our lives to help us to be less so? Yet, for those not keeping their eyes upon God’s many mercies (the end of which is our holiness and not our personal comforts), God can be seen as merely provoking or mocking them. Misunderstandings such as these happen when our purposes and goals do not line up with God’s! We too often want a god who fits snugly with our own aspirations and desires, and not the holy and awesome Yahveh! The solution is not to get angry with God, as many have, but to align ourselves with His purpose: to make us people whose hearts are wholly after Him; hearts that pursue holy obedience to His Word. Then, God’s tender mercy will be as oil to the wheels of our obedience, and we will better serve Him from the heart.
Next time we will be looking at season two: the time of adversity.