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2 lines
1.2 KiB
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<p>David here tells us what he had experienced, 1. Of the temptations of a prosperous condition: “<i>Before I was afflicted</i>, while I lived in peace and plenty, and knew no sorrow, <i>I went astray</i> from God and my duty.” Sin is going astray; and we are most apt to wander from God when we are easy and think ourselves at home in the world. Prosperity is the unhappy occasion of much iniquity; it makes people conceited of themselves, indulgent of the flesh, forgetful of God, in love with the world, and deaf to the reproofs of the word. See <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.30.6" href="/passage/?search=Ps.30.6">Ps. 30:6</a>. It is good for us, when we are afflicted, to remember how and wherein we went astray <i>before we were afflicted</i>, that we may answer the end of the affliction. 2. Of the benefit of an afflicted state: “<i>Now have I kept thy word</i>, and so have been recovered from my wanderings.” God often makes use of afflictions as a means to reduce those to himself who have wandered from him. Sanctified afflictions humble us for sin and show us the vanity of the world; they soften the heart, and open the ear to discipline. The prodigal’s distress brought him to himself first and then to his father.</p>
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