Moreover, according to the measure which we attain of the stature of Christ, will be the recompence of our reward : every grace we exercise, whether active or passive, will be noted in the book of God's remembrance, and " be found to our praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ g :" the one as well as the other, though but weak and defective in itself, is " working out for us an exceeding and eternal weight of glory."]
Application —
1. Let us trace, every one of us, the dealings of God with us —
[A more instructive history we could not read, than that of the Lord's dealings with us from our earliest infancy to the present moment. If it were recorded with the minuteness and fidelity that the history of the Jews has been, we should see, that as face answers to face in a glass, so does our expe- rience to theirs. We are apt to wonder at their wickedness ; but we should cease to wonder at them, if we were thoroughly acquainted with ourselves. Our wonder would rather be at the patience and forbearance, the mercy and the kindness, of our God. Earnestly then would we recommend to every one to apply to himself the injunction in our text, " Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness :" and we may rest assured that such habits of reflection will bring their own reward along with themh.]
2. Let our experience of his past kindness lead us to confide in him in future —
[The way in which the Israelites were led was circuitous and dreary : yet we are told that God " led them by the right way." It may be that our way also has been such as has excited many murmurs, and great discouragement : but, if we have considered it to any good purpose, we shall acknowledge it to have been on the whole more profitable for us, than any that we should have chosen for ourselves. Perhaps we shall see cause to bless our God for some of our heaviest trials, more than for any of those things which administered to our plea- sure. Convinced then by our past experience, we should be willing to leave matters to the disposal of our God ; and to submit to any trials, which he sends for the promotion of our eternal welfare. Our only solicitude should be to make a due im- provement of his dispensations : and if only we may be humbled, instructed, sanctified, and exalted by them, we should cordially and continually say, " Let him do what seemeth him good."]
s 1 Pet. i. 7. ■ h Ps. cvii. 43.