John Flavel
God’s care extends to the souls of all who fear Him, and to all the concerns of their souls. It shows itself clearly in all the gracious provisions He has made for them. More particularly, it is from this tender, fatherly care that:
(1) A Saviour was provided to redeem them when they were ruined and lost by sin (John 3:16, Rom 8:32).
(2) Spiritual cordials are provided to refresh them in all their sinking sorrows and inward distresses (Ps 94:19).
(3) A door of deliverance is opened to them, when they are sorely pressed by temptations and ready to be overwhelmed (1 Cor 10:13).
(4) A strength above their own comes seasonably to support them, when
7Quoted in Iain H Murray, “The Background of the Great Ejection”, in The Banner of Truth, issue 26 (June 1962), p 7.
8John Stoughton, History of Religion in England, London, 1901, vol 3, p 177.
1An edited extract from The Righteous Man’s Refuge, which is based on Isaiah 26:20; it is available in Flavel’s Works, vol 3.
they are almost overwhelmed with inward troubles; when great weights are upon them, the everlasting arms are underneath them (Ps 138:3, Is 57:16).
(5) Their ruin is prevented when they are on the dangerous, slippery brink of temptations, and their feet are almost gone (Ps 73:2, Hos 2:6, 2 Cor 12:7).
(6) They are recovered again after dangerous falls through sin and are not left a prey and a trophy to their enemy (Hos 14:4).
(7) They are guided in the right way, when they are at a loss, and do not know what course to take (Ps 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 do their hearts turn back nor their steps decline from His ways (Jer 32:40, Jn 4:14).
(9) They are upheld under spiritual desertions and recovered again out of that dismal darkness into the cheerful light of God’s countenance (Is 57:16).
(10) They are at last brought safely to heaven, through the innumerable hazards and dangers all along their way there (Heb 11:19).