======================================================================== HE DARES SPIT IN THE VERY FACE OF GOD HIMSELF! by Thomas Brooks ======================================================================== Summary: The sermon warns against the dangers of fretting against God during times of suffering and emphasizes the need for trust and repentance. Topics: "Trust in God's Plan", "Fretting" Scripture References: Exodus 5:2, 2 Kings 6:33, Job 5:2, Psalm 37:1, Psalm 37:7-8, Proverbs 19:3, Isaiah 8:21, Ezekiel 16:43, Jonah 4:4, James 1:20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thomas Brooks emphasizes the folly of fretting against God during times of distress, illustrating how individuals often blame God for their suffering instead of recognizing their own sins that lead to misery. He cites examples from scripture, such as Pharaoh's defiance and Jonah's misplaced anger, to show that a fretful heart can lead to a direct challenge against God. Brooks warns that fretting only brings more suffering and that true wisdom lies in accepting God's will rather than rebelling against it. He encourages believers to refrain from anger towards God and to seek understanding in their trials. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Many, when they feel the rod to smart--ah, how they do fret and fume! Isaiah 8:21, 'Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.' Prov. 19:3, 'A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the Lord.' The heart may be fretful and froward when the tongue does not blaspheme. Folly brings man into misery, and misery makes man to fret. Man in misery is more apt to fret and chafe against the Lord, than to fret and chafe against his sin which has brought him into sufferings. 2 Kings 6:33, Psalm 37:1, 7-8. A fretful soul dares fly at God himself! When Pharaoh is troubled with the frets, he dares spit in the very face of God himself--'Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?' Exod. 5:2. And when Jonah is in a fretting humour, he dares tell God to his face, 'that he does well to be angry!' Jonah had done well if he had been angry with his sin--but he did very ill to be angry with his God! God will vex every vein in that man's heart, before He has done with him, who fumes and frets, because he cannot snap in sunder the cords with which he is bound, Ezek. 16:43. Sometimes good men are sick of the frets--but when they are, it costs them dear, as Job and Jonah found by experience. No man has ever got anything by his fretting and flinging, except it has been harder blows or heavier chains; therefore fret not when God strikes! ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/thomas-brooks/he-dares-spit-in-the-very-face-of-god-himself/ ========================================================================