"Many have lost the favourable presence of God and are not aware of it;
they have provoked God to withdraw from them, but are not sensible of
their loss, nor ever complain of it. Their souls languish and grow weak,
their gifts wither, every thing goes cross with them; and yet they
impute not this to the right cause: they are not aware that God has
departed from them, nor are they in any care to reconcile themselves to
Him or recover His favor. When God has departed, we cannot do as at
other times." (Matthew
Henry) "The degredation of character may go on quite unconsciously, and
it is only when some crisis arises in a man's life that he becomes aware
that his moral strength has departed from him." (Great Texts of the
Bible)
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