Ingratitude to God

by | May 28, 2001 | Gratitude

“You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them. And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them.” – Ezekiel 16:17-18

Thomas Carlyle was born in 1795 in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. He attended the University of Edinburgh in 1809 with hopes of entering the ministry, but he never received his degree. He is best remembered as a Scottish historian and a social critic and writer. From the 1840’s, Carlyle was known as one of the greatest men of letters of his time and statesmen and aristocrats sought him out more and more.

Thomas married Jane Welsh in 1826. She was an intelligent, attractive lady from a well-to-do family. Though Thomas was poor and had few prospects, she sacrificed everything for his sake, but he never gave her a single expression of appreciation. Though he loved her, his ingratitude tormented her. She came to regard herself as the most miserable woman in London.

Soon after Thomas was appointed the chancellor of the University of Edinburgh in 1865, she died of a broken heart. After her death, Thomas began reading her diary and realized this sad truth. A friend found Thomas wailing at Jane’s grave remorsefully exclaiming: “If only I had known!” He lived another fifteen years, but he never recovered from Jane’s death.

Too often we are ungrateful to the Lord for His kindness and sacrifice for us. Today in prayer, thank the Lord from your heart for all that He has given to you.

“That man may last, but never lives, Who much receives, but nothing gives; Whom none can love, whom none can thank, — Creation’s blot, creation’s blank.” – Thomas Gibbons

God’s Word: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” – Romans 1:21

By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2004, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN EZEKIEL AND DANIEL pkennedy@devotional.com

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