"I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me." (Psalm 13:6) We are reminded here that the "dark providences" that we occasionally experience cannot overshadow God's bountiful dealings with us. Just a few verses away from the opening verse here, the psalmist says "Yes, I have a good inheritance." (Psalm 16:6) We would do well to be increasingly mindful of our inheritance in the Lord, life everlasting.
Providentially, my morning reading a couple of days ago included Psalm 13 and then the morning devotion from Spurgeon addressed murmuring against the Lord. This is one reason that I think it is so valuable to read the Psalms daily, regardless of your other reading. We need to be reminded of the thankful disposition that we ought to have toward the Lord, because we are apt to forget it as we murmur in our circumstances.
Spurgeon says, "Consider the corruption which is in thy breast, and then wilt thou wonder that there needs so much of the rod to fetch it out?...Does not that proud rebellious spirit of thine prove that thy heart is not thoroughly sanctified?"
Probably more often than not, our "difficult" circumstances are a Fatherly chastisement and a means of further molding us into the image of Jesus. We ought not murmur because of God's bountiful mercy and the promise that He works all things together for good in those that love Him.
God's people were called to sacrifices of thanksgiving in Leviticus. While we may not be under the same requirements in terms of the means of carrying out our sacrifices, we certainly ought to take heed to the principle of confessing our sins, expressing our faith, and giving thanks for God's abundant mercy toward us.
Praise be to the true and living God.
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