He can do abundantly more than we ask. O, says the
soul, that he would but do so much for me as I could ask him to do:
how happy a man should I then be. Why, what wouldst thou ask for,
sinner? You may be sure, says the soul, I would ask to be saved from
my sins. I would ask for faith in, and love to, Christ; I would ask
to be preserved in this evil world, and ask to be glorified with
Christ in heaven. He that asketh for all this, doth indeed ask for
much, and for more than Satan would have him believe that God is
able or willing to bestow upon him. But mark: the text doth not say
that God is able to do all that we can ask or think, but that he is
able to do above all, yea, abundantly above all, yea, exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think. What a text is this! What
a God have we! God foresaw the sins of his people, and what work the
devil would make with their hearts about them; and therefore, to
prevent their ruin by his temptation, he has thus largely, as you
see, expressed his love by his word. Let us therefore, as he has
bidden us, make this good use of this doctrine of grace, to cast
ourselves upon this love of God in the times of distress and
temptation.
The bird in the air knows not the notes of the bird in the snare,
until she comes thither herself.
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