Spurgeon: April AM
* 04/30/AM
"And all the children of Israel murmured."
--Numbers 14:2
There are murmurers amongst Christians now, as there were in
the camp of Israel of old. There are those who, when the rod
falls, cry out against the afflictive dispensation. They ask,
"Why am I thus afflicted? What have I done to be chastened in
this manner?" A word with thee, O murmurer! Why shouldst thou
murmur against the dispensations of thy heavenly Father? Can He
treat thee more hardly than thou deservest? Consider what a
rebel thou wast once, but He has pardoned thee! Surely, if He
in His wisdom sees fit now to chasten thee, thou shouldst not
complain. After all, art thou smitten as hardly as thy sins
deserve? 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? Weigh thyself, and discern how much dross is
mingled with thy gold; and dost thou think the fire too hot to
purge away so much dross as thou hast? Does not that proud
rebellious spirit of thine prove that thy heart is not
thoroughly sanctified? Are not those murmuring words contrary to
the holy submissive nature of God's children? Is not the
correction needed? But if thou wilt murmur against the
chastening, take heed, for it will go hard with murmurers. God
always chastises His children twice, if they do not bear the
first stroke patiently. But know one thing--"He doth not
afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men." All His
corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to draw thee
nearer to Himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the
chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy
Father's hand. For "whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and
scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons." "Murmur not as some of them
also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer."