1 Samuel 12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he has done for you. In applying these words to ourselves let us: I. BRIEFLY REVIEW SOME OF THOSE GREAT THINGS WHICH GOD HATH DONE FOR US. These are recorded in the annals of our country, in almost every page of which we meet with instances of Divine interposition and guardianship, which must compel him who loves his country or his God, to lift up his grateful and adoring heart to Him who ruleth over all. Still there is preserved that form of government in which we so deservedly rejoice. Still there is preserved unto us the inestimable privilege of worshipping God according, to the dictates of our own consciences. It is another mercy which peculiarly calls for our praise that the triumphs of the Gospel during the last year have in our country been extensive. In passing from our country in general, to the city which we inhabit, we still see that God hath done great things for us. To whom have we been indebted for the almost unprecedented healthfulness of our city, but to that God who sends sickness or preserves life at His pleasure? What great things has God done for us as individuals? Here your own meditations must supply what we can only intimate. But I forbear: Thy mercies, Lord, are innumerable; and to reckon them up in order before Thee is as difficult as to count the stars in the heavens, or the sand which is on the seashore. II. SHALL OUR HEARTS BE UNAFFECTED BY THIS KINDNESS OF OUR GOD? Ingratitude, with respect to men, is ever considered by you as the evidence of a most abandoned character, as the unfailing mark of a total dereliction of every noble emotion; and yet how many of us, occupied by the cares of the world, engaged in the pursuit of a thousand frivolous objects, never feelingly remember the goodness of the Lord. The exercise of gratitude for the Divine mercies is certainly the most elevated of all the occupations of the believer; for it leads us, thus to speak, even to heaven, and attaches us immediately to God; it places in our heart the greatest object that can engage it, in our mouth the greatest name which can fill it; it unites us to God in a manner the most tender and disinterested by emotions of love, by emotions which have for their end the glory even of God. But how shall this gratitude be expressed? Is it sufficient for us coldly to bless God with our lips; unconcernedly to enter into His holy temple, and unite with His people in declaring our thankfulness? No, this alone will not satisfy Him who searcheth the heart; who trifles not with us, and will not permit us to trifle with Him. We must "fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth, with all our heart." This filial fear must necessarily impel us to "serve the Lord in truth, with all our heart." It will not rest satisfied with the most splendid outward performances: since "God is a Spirit," the believer will pay his thanks "in spirit and in truth." If these be the sentiments of his soul, if this be the conduct of his life, his tongue cannot be silent. Gratitude, which loosed the tongue of Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist, will loose his also, and cause him to glorify God with a loud voice. III. SUCH A MODE OF EXPRESSING OUR GRATITUDE BY DEVOTING OUR LIVES TO THE SERVICE OF GOD IS RIGHT AND GOOD. It is the right way enjoined upon us by the nature of things; as well as by the authority of God. 1. It is a way which is profitable, and will secure for us new favours God wastes not His blessings: the streams of His goodness will not always flow upon a barren and unfertile soil: He will at last turn them to those places that will be rendered by them luxuriant and productive. 2. This way is pleasant and good. Yes, act thus, and every situation in life will be to you full of blessedness. Prosperity will not be to you as to the ungrateful, a snare for your virtue; it will never for you be turned into a curse; you will preserve in the midst of your enjoyments a heart humble, docile, detached from the vanities of the world. (H. Kollock, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. |
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