Dear backsliding Christian
Do you remember? Do you remember when you were as - John Flavel put it - "restless and impatient… in His absence!" O you could bear anything but that. Sickness you could bear. Pain and temporal losses you could endure. But His absence was unbearable. You couldn't stand to go on without the sense of His dear smile. You longed to walk and live and breathe in the light of His countenance. Do you remember when “Divine withdrawments were to you as the hell of hell (Flavel).” Those seasons when God seemed to hide His face from you, when He was distant, and there wasn't that familiar communion and fellowship in the prayer closet were to you as hell. You wept and you groaned and you cried for His return. You stirred yourself to take hold of God (Isaiah 6:7), you wrestled with Him as you told Him you would not let Him go. Do you remember when the world was a burden to you? Do you remember a time when if it weren't for your sense of duty you would have gladly and...