Do you prefer your swine trough or the Father?
The Brazen Serpent, by Benjamin West; among the overthrown, an unmistakable reference to the Laocoön (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “For with you is the fountain of life ; in your light do we see light.” Psalm 36:9 There are times in our spiritual experience when human counsel or sympathy, or religious ordinances, fail to comfort or help us. Why does our gracious God permit this? Perhaps it is because we have been living too much without him, and he therefore takes away everything upon which we have been in the habit of depending, that he may drive us to himself. It is a blessed thing to live at the fountain head. While our skin-bottles are full, we are content, like Hagar and Ishmael , to go into the wilderness; but when those are dry, nothing will serve us but “God sees me.” We are like the prodigal , we love the swine-troughs and forget our Father’s house. Remember, we can make swine-troughs and husks even out of the forms of religion. They are blessed things, but we may put them...