It was the poUcy of the servants of Benhadad to watch if any word of comfort fell from the king of Israel, and when he named Benhadad his brother, they catched presently at that, and cheered themselves, 1 Kings XX. 33. Faith hath a catching quality at whatsoever is near to lay hold on. Like the branches of the vine, it windeth about that which is next, and stays itself upon it, spreading further and fm-ther still. If nature taught Benhadad's servants to lay hold upon any word of comfort that fell from the mouth of a cruel king, shall not grace teach God's children to lie in wait for a token that he will shew for good to them ? How should we stretch forth the arms of our faith to him, that ' stretcheth out his arms all- the day long to a rebellious people !' Isa. kv. 2. God will never shut his bosom against those, that in an humble obedience fly unto him. We cannot con- ceive too graciously of God. Can we have a fairer ofler, than for God in Christ to make over himself unto us ? which is more than if he should make over a thousand worlds. Therefore our chief care should be first by faith to make this good, and then to make it useful unto us, by hving upon it as our chiefest portion, which we shall do : 1, By proving God to be our God in particular ; 2, By improving of it in all the passages of our lives.
Chapter XXXI. — Means of proving and evidencing to our souls that God is
our God.
1. Now we prove it to our souls, that God is ours, when we take him at his offer, when we bring nothing but a sense of our own emptiness with us, * That is, ' design, intention.' — G.
268 THE soul's conflict,
and a good conceit of his faithfulness and ability to do us good, when we answer God in the particular passages of salvation, which we cannot do, till he begins unto us. Therefore if we be God's, it is a certain sign that God is ours. If we choose him, we may conclude he hath chosen us first : ' if we love him, we may know that he hath loved us first,' 1 John iv. 19. If we apprehend him, it is because he hath apprehended us first. Whatsoever affection we shew to God, it is a reflection of his first to us. If cold and dark bodies have light and heat in them, it is because the sun hath shined upon them first. Mary answers not Bahboni till Christ said Mary to her, John XX. 16. Kwe say to God, I am thine, it is because he hath first said unto us. Thou art mine ; after which, the voice of the faithful soul is, *I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine,' Cant. vi. 3.* We may know God's mind to us in heaven, by the return of our hearts upwards again to him ; only as the reflected beams are weaker than the direct, so our affec- tions, in their return to God, are far weaker than his love falling upon us. God will be to us whatsoever we make him by our faith to be. When by grace we answer his condition of trusting, then he becomes ours to use for our good.
2. We may know God to be our God when we pitch and plant all our happiness in him, when the desires of our souls are towards him, and we place all our contentment in him. As this word 7ny is a term of appropria- tion springing from a special faith, so it is a word of love and peculiar affec- tion, shewing that the soul doth repose and rest itself quietly and securely upon God. Thus David proves God to be his God, by early seeking of him, by thirsting, and longing after his presence, and that upon good reason, ' because God's lovingkindness was better to him than life,' Ps. Ixiii. 1, 2, 3, &c. This he knew would 'satisfy his soul as with maiTow and fatness.' So St Paul proved Christ to be his Lord, by ' accounting all else as dung and dross in comparison of him,' Phil. iii. 8.
Then we make God our God, and set a crown of majesty upon his head, when we set up a throne for him in our hearts, where self-love before had set up the creature above him ; when the heart is so unloosed fi'om the world, that it is ready to part with anything for God's sake, giving him now the supremacy in our hearts, and bringing dovm every high thought, in cap- tivity to him ; making him our trust, our love, our joy, our deUght, our fear, our all ; and whatsoever we esteem or affect else, to esteem and affect it under him, in him, and for him ; when we cleave to him above all, depend- ing upon him as our chief good, and contenting ourselves in him, as all-suf- ficient to give our souls fit and full satisfaction ; when we resign up our- selves to his gracious government, to do and suffer what he will, offering ourselves and all our spiritual services as sacrifices to him ; when faith brings God into the soul as ours, we not only love him, but love him dearly, making it appear that we are at good terms mth God, we are at a point for other things. How many are there that will adventure the loss of the love of God for a thing of nothing, and redeem the favour of men with the loss of God's ! Certain it is, whatsoever we esteem, or affect most, that, whatso- ever it be in itself, yet we make it our god — Amor tuns, Deus tiais. The best of us all may take shame to ourselves herein in that we do not give God his due place in us, but set up some idol or other in our hearts above him.