TEXT: DEUT. 32:15;LUKE 21:34
''But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.''
''And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.''
God takes delights in having His palace full of petitioners: His honour is greatened when prayers are sent to His ears from His creatures. Whatever makes man constantly in need of God, is nothing but a blest allowance from God: if a state of things encourages prayers, God spares not in sending same. The nature of man is such that if he has enough, he turns inward and conceitedly becomes self-sufficient; having no need of any one again, nay, he would restrain prayer from God. It would appear as if, a full stomach gives way to stiff kneels: when the belly has enough, kneeling before God may be difficult,----- this is one of the hazards in abundance. When abundance comes, and a man becomes fat, he naturally turns unruly; a people that grow heavy, plump, and stuffed, are tempted to abandon the God who had made them; and are in danger of makimg light of the Rock of their salvation. Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked! what and who did he kick? I answer: the rock of his salvation. Friends, beware of the hazards that come with abundance! How many there are who have lost their spiritual sensitivity in time of prosperity! The imminent coming of Christ, which every believer should be constantly minding day and night, can be forgotten in the midst of earthly prosperity. The edge of the Saints sensitivity about the fleeting nature of time and the urgency of the scattering of the eternal seed of God's word in the field of men's heart, could be dulled and rendered blunt by abundance of earthly things. Earthly abundance puts a slippery floor under a man. Brethren, in moments of abundance, be wary, for you are thence set on a very slippery ground: rebellion, pride, prayerlessness and self-confidence wait to take hold of you. Sometimes God blasts our abundance, so that we can recover ourselves from sinful self-confidence and God-ignoring self-dependence. What a great