John Flavel
God’s care extends itself to the souls of all that fear Him and to all their souls’ concerns; it manifestly reveals itself in all the gracious provision it has made for them. More particularly, it is from this tender, fatherly care:
(1.) That a Saviour was provided to redeem them, when they were ruined and lost by sin (John 3:16, Rom 8:32).
(2.) That spiritual cordials are provided to refresh them in all their sinking sorrows and inward distresses (Ps 94:19).
(3.) That a door of deliverance is opened to them when they are sorely pressed upon by temptations and ready to be overwhelmed (1 Cor 10:13).
(4.) That a strength above their own comes seasonably to support them when they are almost overwhelmed with inward troubles; when great weights are upon them, the everlasting arms are underneath them (Is 57:16).
(5.) That their ruin is prevented when they are upon the dangerous and slippery brink of temptations and their feet almost gone (Ps 73:2, Hos 2:6, 2 Cor 12:7).
(6.) That they are recovered again after dangerous falls by sin and not left a prey and a trophy to their enemy (Hos 14:4).
(7.) That they are guided and directed in the right way, when they are at a loss and do not know what course to take (Pss 16:11, 73:24).
(8.) They are established and confirmed in Christ, in the most shaking and overturning times of trouble and persecution, so that neither their hearts turn back nor their steps decline from His ways (Jer 32:40, John 4:14).
(9.) That they are upheld under spiritual desertions, and recovered again out
1An edited extract from Flavel’s The Righteous Man’s Refuge, in vol 3 of his Works.
of that dismal darkness into the cheerful light of God’s countenance (Is 57:16).
(10.) That they are at last brought safe to heaven, through the innumerable hazards and dangers all along their way thither (Heb 11:19).
In all these things the care of their God for their souls clearly shows itself.