Consider what you owe to his immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, he has not changed once. Thou art as deep in debt as thou canst be to every attribute of God. To God thou owest thyself, and all thou hast-yield thyself as a living sacrifice, it is but thy reasonable service. These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man.
Ill weeds grow apace.
Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. We might well be willing to endure Paul's infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree.