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"How long
will it be ere they believe
me?"-Numbers 14:11
Strive with all
diligence to keep out that
monster unbelief. It so
dishonours Christ, that He
will withdraw His visible
presence if we insult Him by
indulging it. It is true it
is a weed, the seeds of
which we an never entirely
extract from the soil, but
we must aim at its root with
zeal and perseverance. Among
hateful things it is the
most to be abhorred. Its
injurious nature is so
venomous that he that
exerciseth it and he upon
whom it is exercised are
both hurt thereby. In thy
case, O believer! it is most
wicked, for the mercies of
thy Lord in the past,
increase thy guilt in
doubting Him now. When thou
dost distrust the Lord
Jesus, He may well cry out,
"Behold I am pressed under
you, as a cart is pressed
that is full of sheaves."
This is crowning His head
with thorns of the sharpest
kind. It is very cruel for a
well-beloved wife to
mistrust a kind and faithful
husband. The sin is
needless, foolish, and
unwarranted. Jesus has never
given the slightest ground
for suspicion, and it is
hard to be doubted by those
to whom our conduct is
uniformly affectionate and
true. Jesus is the Son of
the Highest, and has
unbounded wealth; it is
shameful to doubt
Omnipotence and distrust
all-sufficiency. The cattle
on a thousand hills will
suffice for our most hungry
feeding, and the granaries
of heaven are not likely to
be emptied by our eating. If
Christ were only a cistern,
we might soon exhaust His
fulness, but who can drain a
fountain? Myriads of spirits
have drawn their supplies
from Him, and not one of
them has murmured at the
scantiness of His resources.
Away, then, with this lying
traitor unbelief, for his
only errand is to cut the
bonds of communion and make
us mourn an absent Saviour.
Bunyan tells us that
unbelief has "as many lives
as a cat:" if so, let us
kill one life now, and
continue the work till the
whole nine are gone. Down
with thee, thou traitor, my
heart abhors thee.
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