Deuteronomy 8:15. Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
I cannot but pause as I recollect my own passage through "that great and terrible wilderness, where there was no water." When a soul is under conviction of sin, "fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought" are very feeble images of the pains and miseries that come of guilt unforgiven. "Where there was no water." Oh! what would we not have given then to have understood a little of that gospel which, perhaps, we now despise? Oh! what would we not have given then just to have moistened our burning lips with the living water of the precious Word in which, possibly, now we see no refreshing? May God have mercy upon us for our forgetfulness of his great mercy! Let us, with deep gratitude, think of him again: "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint." "More likely," says one, "to bring fire rather than water out of a rock of flint;" and it did seem as if the cross of the curse must have cursed us, yet it blessed us. The Lord brought forth living water out of that Rock which was smitten for guilty man.
Deuteronomy 8:15. Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
I cannot but pause as I recollect my own passage through "that great and terrible wilderness, where there was no water." When a soul is under conviction of sin, "fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought" are very feeble images of the pains and miseries that come of guilt unforgiven. "Where there was no water." Oh! what would we not have given then to have understood a little of that gospel which, perhaps, we now despise? Oh! what would we not have given then just to have moistened our burning lips with the living water of the precious Word in which, possibly, now we see no refreshing? May God have mercy upon us for our forgetfulness of his great mercy! Let us, with deep gratitude, think of him again: "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint." "More likely," says one, "to bring fire rather than water out of a rock of flint;" and it did seem as if the cross of the curse must have cursed us, yet it blessed us. The Lord brought forth living water out of that Rock which was smitten for guilty man.