When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us; when Yahweh your God was your king.
 Now, it is evident that God's character as represented by us is far more affected by our having to go through a perhaps painful and humiliating process some years after starting on our course, than by our learning what we are when the full flow of divine grace confirms our souls as we learn of the Lord Jesus. Thus only can we well afford to judge all that we are naturally.
