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Genesis Chapter
Sixteen
Genesis 16
Chapter Contents
Sarai gives Hagar to Abram. (1-3) Hagar's misbehaviour to
Sarai. (4-6) The Angel commands Hagar to return
The promise to her Birth of
Ishmael. (7-16)
Commentary on Genesis 16:1-3
Sarai
no longer expecting to have children herself
proposed to Abram to take another wife
whose children she might; her slave
whose children would be her property. This was done without asking counsel of
the Lord. Unbelief worked
God's almighty power was forgotten. It was a bad
example
and a source of manifold uneasiness. In every relation and situation
in life there is some cross for us to bear: much of the exercise of faith
consists in patiently submitting
in waiting the Lord's time
and using only
those means which he appoints for the removal of the cross. Foul temptations
may have very fair pretences
and be coloured with that which is very
plausible. Fleshly wisdom puts us out of God's way. This would not be the case
if we would ask counsel of God by his word and by prayer
before we attempt
that which is doubtful.
Commentary on Genesis 16:4-6
Abram's unhappy marriage to Hagar very soon made a great
deal of mischief. We may thank ourselves for the guilt and grief that follow
us
when we go out of the way of our duty. See it in this case
Passionate
people often quarrel with others
for things of which they themselves must bear
the blame. Sarai had given her maid to Abram
yet she cries out
My wrong be
upon thee. That is never said wisely
which pride and anger put into our
mouths. Those are not always in the right
who are most loud and forward in
appealing to God: such rash and bold imprecations commonly speak guilt and a
bad cause. Hagar forgot that she herself had first given the provocation
by
despising her mistress. Those that suffer for their faults
ought to bear it
patiently
1 Peter 2:20.
Commentary on Genesis 16:7-16
Hagar was out of her place
and out of the way of her
duty
and going further astray
when the Angel found her. It is a great mercy
to be stopped in a sinful way
either by conscience or by providence. Whence
comest thou? Consider that thou art running from duty
and the privileges thou
wast blest with in Abram's tent. It is good to live in a religious family
which those ought to consider who have this advantage. Whither wilt thou go?
Thou art running into sin; if Hagar return to Egypt
she will return to idol
gods
and into danger in the wilderness through which she must travel.
Recollecting who we are
would often teach us our duty. Inquiring whence we
came
would show us our sin and folly. Considering whither we shall go
discovers
our danger and misery. And those who leave their space and duty
must hasten
their return
how mortifying soever it be. The declaration of the Angel
"I will
" shows this Angel was the eternal Word and Son of God. Hagar
could not but admire the Lord's mercy
and feel
Have I
who am so unworthy
been favoured with a gracious visit from the Lord? She was brought to a better
temper
returned
and by her behaviour softened Sarai
and received more gentle
treatment. Would that we were always suitably impressed with this thought
Thou
God seest me!
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Genesis》
Genesis 16
Verse 1
[1] Now
Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid
an Egyptian
whose name was Hagar.
We have here the marriage of Abram to Hagar
who was his secondary wife. Herein
though he may be excused
he cannot be
justified; for from the beginning it was not so: and when it was so
it seems
to have proceeded from an irregular desire to build up their families
for the
speedier peopling of the world. But now we must not do so? Christ has reduced
this matter to the first institution
and makes the marriage union to be
between one man and one woman only.
Verse 4
[4] And he went in unto Hagar
and she conceived: and when she saw that she
had conceived
her mistress was despised in her eyes.
We have here the ill consequences of Abram's
marriage to Hagar: a deal of mischief it made presently. Hagar no sooner
perceives herself with child
but she looks scornfully upon her mistress;
upbraids her perhaps with her barrenness
and insults over her. Sarai falls
upon Abram
and very unjustly charges him with the injury
suspecting that he
countenanced Hagar's insolence: and as one not willing to hear what Abram had
to say she rashly appeals to God. The Lord judge between me and thee
as if
Abram had refused to right her. When passion is upon the throne
reason is out
of doors
and is neither heard nor spoken. Those are not always in the right
that are most forward in appealing to God. Rash and bold imprecations are
commonly evidences of guilt and a bad cause.
Verse 6
[6] But
Abram said unto Sarai
Behold
thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it
pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her
she fled from her face.
Thy maid is in thy hand — Though she was his wife
he would not countenance her in any thing
disrespectful to Sarai. Those who would keep up peace and love
must return
first answers to hard accusations; husbands and wives particularly should
endeavour not to be both angry together.
And when Sarai dealt hardly with her — Making her to serve with rigour; she fled from her face - She not only
avoided her wrath for the present
but totally deserted her service.
Verse 7
[7] And
the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness
by
the fountain in the way to Shur.
Here is the first mention we have in
scripture of an angel's appearance
who arrested her in her flight. It should
seem she was making towards her own country
for she was in the way to Shur
which lay towards Egypt. 'Twere well if our afflictions would make us think of
our home
the better county. But Hagar was now out of the way of her duty
and
going farther astray
when the angel found her. It is a great mercy to be stopt
in a sinful way
either by conscience or providence.
Verse 8
[8] And he said
Hagar
Sarai's maid
whence camest thou? and whither wilt
thou go? And she said
I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
And he said
Hagar
Sarai's maid — 1. As a check to her pride. Though she was Abram's wife
yet he calls
her Sarai's maid to humble her. 2. As a rebuke to her flight. Sarai's maid
ought to be in Sarai's tent
and not wandering in the wilderness.
Whence comest thou —
Consider that thou art running away both from the duty thou wast bound to
and
the privileges thou wast blest with
in Abram's tent.
And Whither wilt thou go? — Thou art running thyself into sin in Egypt; if she return to that
people
she will return to their gods.
And she said
I flee from the face of my
mistress — She acknowledges her fault in fleeing from
her mistress; and yet
excuses it
that it was from the face
or displeasure
of her mistress.
Verse 9
[9] And
the angel of the LORD said unto her
Return to thy mistress
and submit thyself
under her hands.
And the angel said
Return to thy mistress
and submit thyself under her hand — Go home and humble
thyself for what thou hast done amiss
and resolve for the future to behave
thyself better.
Verse 10
[10] And
the angel of the LORD said unto her
I will multiply thy seed exceedingly
that
it shall not be numbered for multitude.
I will multiply thy seed exceedingly — Heb. multiplying I will multiply it
that is
multiply it in every age
so as to perpetuate it. 'Tis supposed that the Turks at this day descended from
Ishmael
and they are a great people.
Verse 11
[11] And
the angel of the LORD said unto her
Behold
thou art with child
and shalt
bear a son
and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy
affliction.
Ishmael
that is
God will hear; and the
reason is
because the Lord hath heard: he hath
and therefore he will. The
experience we have had of God's seasonable kindness in distress should
encourage us to hope for the like help in the like exigencies. Even there
where there is little cry of devotion
the God of pity hears the cry of affliction:
tears speak as well as prayers.
Verse 12
[12] And
he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man
and every man's hand
against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
He will be a wild man — A wild ass of a man
so the word is: rude
and bold and fearing no man;
untamed
untractable
living at large
and impatient of service and restraint.
His hand will be against every man — That is his sin
and every man's hand against him - That is his
punishment. Note
Those that have turbulent spirits have commonly troublesome
lives: they that are provoking
and injurious to others
must expect to be
repaid in their own coin. And yet
he shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren - Though threatened and insulted by all his neighbours
yet he shall
keep his ground
and
for Abram's sake more than his own
shall be able to make
his part good with them. Accordingly we read
Genesis 25:18
that he died
as he lived
in the
presence of all his brethren.
Verse 13
[13] And
she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her
Thou God seest me: for she
said
Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
And she called the name of the Lord that
spake unto her — That is
thus she made confession of his
name
Thou God seest me - This should be with her
his name for ever
and this
his memorial
by which she will know him
and remember him while she lives
Thou God seest me. Thou seest my sorrow and affliction. This Hagar especially
refers to: when we have brought ourselves into distress by our own folly
yet
God has not forsaken us. Thou seest the sincerity of my repentance. Thou seest
me
if in any instance I depart from thee. This thought should always restrain
us from sin
and excite us to duty
Thou God seest me.
Have I here also looked after him that seeth
me? — Probably she knew not who it was that
talked with her till he was departing
and then looking after him
with a
reflexion like that of the two disciples
Luke 24:31
32.
Here also —
Not only in Abram's tent
and at his altar
but here also
in this wilderness:
here
where I never expected it
where I was out of the way of my duty?
Verse 14
[14]
Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold
it is between Kadesh and
Bered.
The well was called Beer-lahai-roi — The well of him that lives and sees me. 'Tis likely Hagar put this name
upon it
and it was retained long after. This was the place where the God of
glory manifested the special care he took of a poor woman in distress. Those
that are graciously admitted into communion with God
and receive seasonable
comforts from him
should tell others what he has done for their souls
that
they also may be encouraged to seek him and trust in him.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Genesis》
16 Chapter 16
Verses 1-3
And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian
after Abram
had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan
and gave her to her husband Abram to
be his wife
Forestalling God’s appointed time
I.
THIS
MAY BE THE TEMPTATION OF THOSE WHO YET HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
II. SUCH A COURSE
APPEARS TO HAVE A RATIONAL WARRANT.
1. There was no human hope that the promise would be accomplished in
that form in which they first understood it.
2. They were conforming to the common custom of the country.
3. The end they sought was worthy in itself.
III. ALL ATTEMPTS
TO BE BEFOREHAND WITH PROVIDENCE IMPLY AN INFIRMITY OF FAITH.
1. They are signs of impatience.
2. It is not our duty to aid God in the accomplishment of His
promises.
3. Religion hereby degenerates into fanaticism.
4. Such an interference with the means by which God accomplishes His
purpose shows a want of confidence in His power. (T. H. Leale.)
Hagar
the slave girl
We might have expected that Abraham would have strenuously
resisted every endeavour to induce him to realize for himself God’s promise
about his seed. Surely he will wait meekly and quietly for God to fulfil His
own word
by means best known to Himself. Instead of this he listened to the
reasoning of expediency.
I. THE QUARTER
WHENCE THESE REASONINGS CAME. Sarai.
1. It is always hard to resist temptation when it appeals to natural
instinct or to distrusting fear.
2. We should be exceedingly careful before acting on the suggestions
of anyone not as advanced as we are in the Divine life. What may seem right to
them may be terribly wrong for us.
II. THE SORROWS TO
WHICH THEY LED.
1. To Sarah.
2. To Hagar.
3. To Abraham.
III. THE VICTIM
WHOSE LIFE COURSE WAS SO LARGELY INVOLVED. We mourn to see in her only one of
myriads who have been sacrificed to the whim or passion
expediency or
selfishness
of men. (F. B. Meyer
B. A.)
Carnal expedients
I. THE FOLLY OF
CARNAL EXPEDIENTS. Their danger lies in many directions.
1. Look at the method of our justification and sanctification before
God. God’s method is by faith
man’s by works. The one is of promise
the other
by natural means. The latter is illicit
and fails; only the former succeeds.
2. In providence. You may be looking for temporal prosperity; God
may design it for you: but you have no right to seek it by covetousness or
injustice
and making haste to be rich.
3. In gospel labours. You expect success
but it is delayed.
4. In regard to our sufferings and our hope of heaven. Some have
been tempted to slay themselves
or those whom they have loved
in the midst of
terrible affliction
to hasten their admission to glory
You may not have this
temptation; but you may be restless
impatient
and unresigned. Say rather
“All the days of my appointed time will I wait
till my change come.”
5. In regard to the millennium
and the establishment of the gospel
on earth. What hindrances and delays there are. Many seek to christianize the
world by the sword
by pandering to human ignorance and superstition
or by
indulging the lusts and passions of men. We must be faithful to principle
and
leave results to God.
II. GOD’S
MERCIFULNESS TO THE SORROWFUL SAINT. “Thou God seest me.” It suggests two
things;
1. God’s omniscience; and--
2. His kind regard of His people. Let us think of it:
Lessons
1. God’s promise and covenant
can hardly keep up faith in His own
against the discouragements of sense.
2. Sensible helps at hand may be an occasion to doubt of God’s
promise as being afar off. So was Hagar to Sarai (Genesis 16:2).
3. Good souls in temptations may complain of this barrenness though
God order it.
4. Sense of such wants may put souls upon unlawful means to have
their desires of a seed.
5. Flesh persuades to take an uncertain peradventure in sense
rather than wait for God’s promise in certainty (Genesis 16:2).
6. Temptation may carry saints not only to the motion but action of
evil.
7. Such temptations may make saints do evil
for ends seeming good.
So Sarai gives her to wife. (G. Hughes
B. D.)
The trial of faith--its infirmity
I. IT ORIGINATED
AT A TIME AND IN A MANNER
the consideration of which may well enforce the
solemn warning
“Let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he
fall;”--while it painfully illustrates that other affecting saying
that a
man’s worst foes may be those of his own household. This transaction took place
(Genesis 16:3) after Abram had dwelt ten
years in the land of Canaan. During all that time he had walked with God
and
God had done for him great things; he had trusted in the Lord
and had been
delivered. He had found God faithful to him
and had been himself enabled to be
faithful to God. In particular
he had very recently received a signal pledge
of the Divine favour
and a strong confirmation of the hope set before him; and
never
perhaps
had he stood higher
in respect of privilege
than now. And
yet
at the very time when he stands so high
he is tempted
and he falls.
II. THE TEMPTATION
ITSELF IS A VERY PLAUSIBLE ONE. It bears all the marks of that subtlety which
from of old
had been the characteristic of that old serpent
the devil.
Observe the spirit and manner in which the proposal is made by Sarai
and
received by Abram. It is plainly such as altogether to preclude the idea of
this step being at all analogous to an ordinary instance of sin committed in
the indulgence of sensual passion. Most unjustifiable as was the patriarch’s
conduct
it is not for a moment to be confounded with that of David
for
example
whose melancholy fall was caused by the mere unbridled violence of an
unlawful appetite. There is no room for the introduction of such an element as
this on the occasion of Abram’s connection with Hagar. It originated in the
suggestion of his faithful wife
and had
for its single object
the fulfilment
of the Divine promise
whose accomplishment otherwise seemed to be growing
every day more manifestly and hopelessly impossible (Genesis 16:1-2). (R. S.Candlish
D. D.)
Sarah’s sin; or carnal policy no aid to Divine plans
Unbelief is very prolific of schemes; and surely this of Sarai is
as carnal
as foolish
and as fruitful of domestic misery as could almost have
been devised. Yet such was the influence of evil counsel
especially from such
a quarter
that “Abram hearkened to her voice.” The father of mankind sinned by
hearkening to his wife
and now the father of the faithful follows his example.
How necessary for those who stand in the nearest relations
to take heed of
being snares instead of helps one to another! It was a double sin: first
of
distrust; and secondly
of deviation from the original law of marriage
and
which seems to have opened a door of polygamy. (A. Fuller.)
Sarai’s expedient
Sarai’s impulse
even if mistaken
was admirable for its unselfish
abnegation of what is most precious to her sex. It was such a sacrifice as only
a woman had it in her power to make. Had Abram been a polygamist
or had the
adhesion of his house to the primitive marriage law been less loyal than it
was
there was one obvious escape from the difficulty. It is instructive that
neither Abram nor his wife thought of a second marriage. The usages of the time
suggested a different mode. For a childless wife to treat the children born of
a favourite slave girl as legally as her own was a resource very foreign to the
notions of our western Christendom. Nevertheless
it sprang not unnaturally out
of two peculiarities of society in Abram’s day. One of these was the
disadvantage
amounting positively to social discredit
which attached to
childlessness
at a time when the primeval injunction to replenish the earth
still retained its full force. The other was the complete surrender of a serf’s
legal and social rights into the hand of his master
which in the East
characterized domestic servitude. Every home slave stood at the disposal of his
lord for whatever service the lord might require. His very children were not
his own
but his master’s. For a mistress
therefore
to seek by means of a
female slave and favourite attendant what Providence had denied to herself
was
regarded under such a state of feeling as neither immoral nor revolting. It was
not even held to be any real departure from the law of monogamy
or any
infraction of conjugal fidelity. There is no doubt
however
that it did
involve a certain lowering of the original conception of marriage. It paved the
way for concubinage of a less excusable description. And in the majority of
cases
as in the present instance
it could scarcely fail to turn out ill. (J.
O. Dykes
D. D.)
When she saw that she had conceived
her mistress was despised in
her eyed
The evils of abolishing social distinctions
I.
THOSE
WHO ARE SUDDENLY RAISED IN THE SOCIAL SCALE ARE TEMPTED TO PRIDE AND INSOLENCE.
II. THOSE WHO HAVE
TAKEN PART IN THE ABOLISHING OF SUCH DISTINCTIONS ARE THE FIRST TO COMPLAIN OF
THE EVILS CAUSED THEREBY.
1. They complain of their troubles so as to excuse themselves.
2. They often make rash appeals to Divine justice.
III. THE
RECOGNITION OF ORIGINAL RIGHTS IS THE BEST WAY OF DEALING WITH SUCH EVILS.
1. This is a better course than the immediate imputation of such
evils to those who have caused them.
2. Meek submission becomes true might in the end.
IV. THE EVILS
BROUGHT ABOUT BY SUDDEN AND VIOLENT CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL STATE ARE NEVER FULLY
REMEDIED. (T. H. Leale.)
Lessons
1. Nothing more proud than a beggar set on horseback
and a very
ape
if you place him up aloft
begins to bridle the matter and take upon him
marvellously.
2. It teacheth that adversity is better borne than prosperity of
many one.
3. It showeth the end of evil counsel
Sarah is beaten with her own
rod. (Bp. Babington.)
Verses 7-12
Hagar
Sarai’s maid
whence camest thou?
--
Providence and the outcast
I. PROVIDENCE
FINDS THE OUTCAST AND MISERABLE.
1. There are occasions in human life when the providence of God
specially manifests itself.
2. Providence finds us for a purpose of mercy.
3. Providence is minute in its care and knowledge.
II. PROVIDENCE
TEACHES THE OUTCAST AND MISERABLE.
1. Lessons of reproof.
2. Lessons of instruction and guidance.
III. PROVIDENCE
INSPIRES HOPE IN THE OUTCAST AND MISERABLE.
1. The lowest and most despised have some purpose of Providence to
serve.
2. All who have consciously felt the action of a Divine Providence
have some memorial of God’s goodness. (T. H. Leale.)
The angel’s message to Hagar
In this very gracious appearance of the angel to Hagar
it is
possible
I think
to detect a two-fold design. Through her connection with
Abram
this handmaid had been providentially elevated into a position which
carried on the one hand duties
and on the other honour.
1. In the first place
it was her present duty to return and place
herself again under the heavy hand of Sarai
in order that Abram’s son might be
born and nurtured in Abram’s home. This
therefore
was the hard command
which
in the first instance the angel was commissioned to deliver. God’s revelations
commonly attach themselves to the working of men’s own minds. It is impossible
not to suspect that
as she sat to rest after her hasty flight
Hagar’s
conscience was already whispering words like these before the angel appeared:
“Return to thy mistress and submit thyself!” But if any such feeling worked
dimly in her own mind
it would certainly have failed to send her back
had it
not been sharpened by this imperative command from heaven. On the other side
God graciously encouraged Hagar to such an unwelcome duty
by revealing the
honours which her relationship to Abram would bring along with it. When God
blesses any man
that blessing proves itself like the consecrating oil on the
Jewish high priest: it flows from the head down to the skirts of the garment.
In recompense for a mistress’s cruelty
Hagar was to become the ancestress of a
mighty race
which for countless generations has ever since dwelt in the
presence of all its brethren. (J. O. Dykes
D. D.)
Hagar in the wilderness
I. HAGAR’S
DISTRESS. Affliction and solitude often give persons time to think
and arouse
a desire to pray. Misery is a voiceless prayer
which God understands.
II. GOD’S
MESSENGER. An appearance of the Lord at Hagar’s time of need and distress.
III. GOD’S MESSAGE.
1. A rebuke.
2. A command.
3. A promise.
CONCLUSION: We see then in this narrative a valuable lesson as to
God’s Providence
and the way in which God is personally interested in the
welfare and destinies of men. Moreover
the narrative suggests a kind of
parable of God’s grace. We may see in it the principles of God’s dealing with
sinful and sorrowing men.
1. He sees their misery and sin.
2. He visits them in their distress.
3. He hears their prayers. (W. S. Smith
B. D.)
Lessons
1. Christ was the angel of
Jehovah sent to the Church in old times. As here (Isaiah 63:1-19; Matthew 3:2).
2. God finds sinners usually when they lose themselves.
3. God’s finding of them is usually when souls are brought to great
extremity.
4. God sometimes meets sinners when they are flying to his enemies (Genesis 16:7).
5. God will have order and relations owned when sinners’ servants
may reject them. Sarai’s maid.
6. God expostulates in displeasure with sinners for being where they
should not be
leaving the place of calling and flying to other places. Here
servants
learn your duties.
7. Souls
when God expostulates with them
are brought to
acknowledge their errors and sins (Genesis 16:8).
8. God counsels sinners in His way when He bath convinced them.
Return.
9. God will have domestic order maintained and servants to submit to
governors
and suffer sorrow
rather than sin
and leave their places (Genesis 16:9; 1 Peter 3:18). (G. Hughes
B. D.)
Hater in the wilderness
We have here a dramatic incident in the early Hebrew history. An
Egyptian handmaid belonging to Sarai
the wife of Abram
was found by the angel
of the Lord near a fountain of water in the wilderness. The angel’s greeting is
a recognition; he names her and defines her in three words: “Hagar
Sarai’s
maid!” he says
and the girl hears the searching voice and looks up to see a
face of commanding majesty and sweetness. “Whence camest thou?” the angel
demands. Was not the question superfluous? Do not the words already addressed
to her show that the angel needed no information? If he knew her name and knew
that she was Sarai’s maid
he knew whence she had come. But questions are often
wisely asked
less for the benefit of the questioner than of the questioned.
For many a man
drifting on in a course of evil conduct that he has never
stopped to define
it would be a good thing if someone
by a pointed question
could
get him to say out
in plain words
just what he is doing. If he would
only honestly state it to himself
he would shrink from it with horror. Always
when one is going in questionable ways it is well to pause and put the thing he
is doing into a clear proposition. I am engaged in some business transaction
and a good angel stands by my path and asks me
“What are you doing?” If the
operation
though nominally legitimate
is really fraudulent
and if I
though
sometimes a little too eager for profits
am not an ingrained rascal
it may be
good for me to have the question put to me in just that way. For
on
reflection
I shall be forced to answer: “I am endeavouring to get the money of
my neighbour without giving him a fair equivalent.” And
having been brought to
put the matter into such plain words
I shall be forced
if I am not a rascal
to withdraw from the operation. Not only for clearing away the haze that often
obscures an unworthy purpose
but also for removing the fog in which good
purposes are sometimes involved
a pointed question may serve us. There are
those whose intention to do right
to live the highest life
is rather
nebulous. There are men who really mean to be the servants of Christ
but they
have never said so
even to themselves. Their intention lies there
cloudy
crepuscular
in their mental horizon
but it is there. It influences their
lives
not seldom; it ought to have far more power over them than it has
and
would have
if it could only get from themselves a frank and clear statement.
If some question could be put that would lead them to say right out in words
what they mean to be--to objectify their purpose in language
so that they
could look at it and understand it--the process would be most salutary. There
is a deceitfulness of sin that sometimes hides from a man his own deepest and
purest purposes; and if these could in some way be clearly discovered to
himself
it would be a great service to him. Whether a man is good or bad at
heart it is well for him to know the truth about himself; and any question
whether it come from the lips of angel or of mortal
that helps him to a clear
self-revelation
is no doubt divinely spoken. Hater answered the angel’s
question
“Whence earnest thou?” honestly. “I flee from the face of my
mistress
Sarai
” she said. The girl was running away from home. It was a home
by no means perfect
according to our standards
from which she was bent on
escaping. But this home from which she had gone forth
in spite of all the
enormities wrought into its structure
was about the best dwelling place on the
earth in that day. She was turning her back on a better society
a purer life
a larger opportunity than she could find anywhere else in the world. This was
the fact to which the angel’s question
“Whence earnest thou?” at once recalled
her. But this was not all. There was another question. “Whither wilt thou go?”
the voice demanded
Hagar was going down to Egypt. And what was there in Egypt
that could give her peace? It was a land of darkness and moral degradation; a
land where the soul of man was held in hopeless subjection to the things of
sense. This
then
is the simple fact that the angel’s questions bring into the
light of the girl’s consciousness. Hagar was running away from the household of
Abram
friend of God
and she was going down to Egypt. She was leaving a very
light place
for a very dark one. Behind her were perplexities and discomforts
but great hopes also
and inspiring associations; before her was no relief for
her trouble and no hope for her future. It was more than doubtful whether she
would ever reach Egypt; she was far more likely to wander in the wilderness and
perish by the way; but the goal
if she reached it
showed no prize worth
striving for. It furnishes us a pertinent analogy. For there are other wanderers
in other wildernesses
to whom some good angel might well put the questions
that Hagar heard by the fountain Lahai-roi
“Whence camest thou
and whither
wilt thou go?” I suppose that I may be speaking to some whose feet are pressing
the shifting sands of the wide wilderness of doubt. Their religious beliefs are
in an unsettled and chaotic condition. They are only certain of one thing
and
that is that they are not certain of anything. They are agnostics. Now there
are subjects on which most of us can well afford to be agnostics. An agnostic
is one who does not know. Well
there are quite a number of things that I do
not know
and it seems to me the part of wisdom to say so. There are not a few
subjects concerning which the Lord of light has seen fit to leave us in
darkness. But while there are subjects of this nature
about which we do well
to confess our ignorance
there are other subjects of which faith ought to give
us a strong assurance. Agnosticism does well for certain outlying districts of
our thought
but not for the great central tracts of religious belief and
feeling. The navigator may acknowledge without shame that he does not know the
boundaries or the channels of those Polar seas where man has never sailed; but
you would not take passage with a captain who declared that he knew nothing of
the way out of the harbour where his vessel lay
and nothing of the way into
the port to which you wanted to go
and did not even know whether there were
any such port. Just so in the religious life. All wise men know that there is
much that they do not know; it is the beginning of wisdom to discern the
limitations of knowledge; but the theory that all is uncertainty in the
religious realm; that there is no sure word of promise
no steadfast anchor of
the soul
no charted channels
no headlands of hope
no knowledge of a port
beyond seas
is a bewildering
benumbing
deadening theory; out of it comes
nothing but apathy and despair. This land of doubt is a wilderness
treeless
verdureless
shelterless
a dry and thirsty land where no water is. This is a
truth--if it is a truth--that admits of no argument. It is a fact of
experience; if none of you know that it is true
then it is true for none of
you; if any of you do know it
you do not need to have it proved; the simple
statement of it is enough. To all such wanderers
I bring the question of the
angel to Hagar in the wilderness
“Whence camest thou?” You were not always in
this wilderness; whence did you come? Do you not look back to a home from which
your thought has wandered
a house of faith in which you once abode in
confidence and peace? I am speaking now in parables
remember; it is not of the
literal home where your father and mother dwelt of which I am speaking
but
rather of that edifice of sacred thoughts and firm persuasions and earnest
purposes and joyful hopes in which your soul was sheltered and comforted in the
days of your childhood. Was there not for you
in those earlier days
a
spiritual tabernacle of this sort
a house not made with hands
in which you
found protection and peace? Was there not
I ask you
in the Christian faith of
that past time
not only a comfort and a solace
but an inspiration
an
invigoration
a bracing energy that you do not find in the dim and dismal
negations of the present time? O wanderer
astray in the bleak wilderness of
doubt
whence camest thou? But this is not the only question. “Whither wilt
thou go?” Tarry here you cannot: here is no continuing city. Agnosticism is not
the end
barren and profitless as it is. The road that you are travelling leads
down to Egypt
--to “a land of darkness as darkness itself
and where the light
is as darkness.” You have turned away from the old faith of Christian Theism
and there is nowhere for you to go but to Pantheism or to Atheism. And these
are only different names for the same benighted land. There is no light in
either of them. They will not satisfy your heart. They will not satisfy your
imagination. They will not satisfy your reason. And if the mental darkness into
which they conduct us is so dense
what shall we say of the moral darkness in
which they envelop us; of the blotting from our sky of every star of hope; of
the quenching of that torch of Bible truth by which our feet are guided through
this land of shadows; of the extinguishment of our faith in the infinite love
of God
which is the inspiration of all our holiest endeavours? No
my friend
I tell you truly
you who have lost your hold on the great spiritual verities
and are wandering in the wilderness of spiritual doubt
you cannot tarry where
you are; you must go further; and every step you go in the path that you are
now travelling takes you nearer to a region where there is no ray of light or
hope
a land of darkness and of the shadow of death. Can you not see
is it not
clear
that you would better turn your face toward the spiritual home from
which you have been wandering? Perhaps the old spiritual house in which your
youth was nurtured may need enlargement in its intellectual part. Enlarge it
then l There is room on its strong foundations to build a house of faith large
enough for the amplest intelligence. If there are gloomy corners in it into
which the light ought to be let
let in the light! If there are chinks through
which the bitter winds of a fatalistic dogmatism blow
stop them! If there are
poisonous vines that have fastened on its walls
strip them off! It is the
faith that we cherish
and not its flaws
nor its parasites. It is a precious
faith
a glorious hope
a mighty inspiration that the old Bible offers still to
those who will take it in its simplicity and rest in its strong assurances. (Washington
Gladden
D. D.)
Nature and office of angels
1. The nature of angels is
spiritual (Hebrews 1:14). This characteristic ranges
over the whole chain of spiritual being from man up to God Himself. Being
spiritual
they are not only moral
but intelligent. They also excel in
strength (Psalms 103:20). The holy angels have the
full range of action for which their qualities are adapted. They do not grow
old or die. They are not a race
and have not a body in the ordinary sense of
the term.
2. Their office is expressed by their name. In common with other
intelligent creatures
they take part in the worship of God (Revelation 7:11). But their special
office is to execute the commands of God in the natural world Psalms 103:20)
and especially to
minister to the heirs of salvation Hebrews 1:14; Matthew 18:10; Luke 15:10; Luke 16:22).
3. The angel of Jehovah. This phrase is specially employed to denote
the Lord Himself in that form in which He condescends to make Himself manifest
to man. For the Lord God says of this angel
“Beware of Him
and obey His
voice; provoke Him not
for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name
is in His inmost” (Exodus 23:21)
that is
My nature is in
His essence. Accordingly He who is called the angel of the Lord in one place is
otherwise denominated the Lord or God in the immediate context (Genesis 16:7; Genesis 16:13; Genesis 22:11-12; Genesis 31:11; Genesis 31:13; Genesis 48:15-16; Exodus 3:2-15; Exodus 23:20-23 with 33:14
15). It is
remarkable at the same time that the Lord is spoken of in these cases as a
distinct person from the angel of the Lord
who is also called the Lord. The
phraseology intimates to us a certain inherent plurality within the essence of
the one only God
of which we have had previous indications (Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:22). The phrase
“angel of the
Lord
” however
indicates a more distant manifestation to man than the term
Lord itself. It brings the medium of communication into greater prominence. It
seems to denote some person of the Godhead in angelic form. (Prof. J. G.
Murphy.)
Hagar
1. In the story of Hagar and
her slave-wifehood we have an emblem of the Mosaic Dispensation
which God
interposed parenthetically during the long waiting of His Church for the coming
of Christ (Romans 5:20; Galatians 3:19).
2. “Hagar is a symbol of the expedients we make use of to win for ourselves
what God seems unwilling to bestow--expedients not always glaringly sinful
but
though customary
yet not the best possible. And this episode warns us
that from a Hagar can at best spring an Ishmael” (Dods).
3. This narrative solemnly calls us to guard against two apparently
opposite sins which Abram and Sarai committed in the matter of Hagar
and which
often meet still as temptations to the believer--the sin of distrust
and that
of presumption.
4. In the appearance of the Angel of Jehovah to Hagar we have a
beautiful example of God’s tenderness towards the erring
and of His gracious
readiness to forgive.
5. From Hagar’s subsequent submission to her mistress we learn that
while it is not in nature to rejoice in trial and persecution on their own
account
yet so soon as we become persuaded that it is the Lord’s will that we
drink of this cup
and that there will be an abundant recompense hereafter
it
does become possible for us to “glory in tribulations also.”
6. Let us write upon our hearts this name of the Lord: “Thou God
seest me.” To do this is the sum of all religion
the centre of all security
and the source of all happiness. The God who sees us
and who permits us to
look upon Himself
is the Angel of the Covenant
our Divine and Human Redeemer.
May our eyes meet His every day! (Charles Jerdan
M. A.
LL. B.)
The angel’s questions
In calling Hagar “Sarai’s maid
” he seems tacitly to disallow of
the marriage
and to lead her mind back to that humble character which she had
formerly sustained. The questions put to her were close
but tender
and such
as were fitly addressed to a person fleeing from trouble. The first might be
answered
and was answered: “I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.” But
with respect to the last
she is silent. We know our present grievances
and so
can tell “whence we came
” much better than our future lot
or “whither we are
going.” In many cases
if the truth were spoken
the answer would be
from bad
to worse. At present
this poor young woman seems to have been actuated by mere
natural principles
those of fleeing from misery. In all her trouble
there
appears nothing like true religion
or committing her way to the Lord: yet she
is sought out of Him whom she sought not. (A. Fuller.)
Submission enjoined
The angel did not say “fight it out and let the strong one win.”
He advised submission
and this is the first instance in which such advice is
given in the Scriptures. It is a great Christian law we know
but it is early
to find it in Genesis! “Submit yourselves one to another for the Lord’s sake
”
is a lesson which reads well in the church; but Hagar heard it not under a
Gothic roof
half-chanted by surpliced priest
but” by a fountain of water in
the wilderness
in the way of Shur
”--she the only hearer
the angel the priest
of God! A good church
too
in which to learn the lesson of submission. I see
Hagar taking a draught of the fountain
and trudging home again on weary feet;
going back to work among the sharp thorns
and to have words keen as stings thrown
at her all the day long. A sorry fate
you say
to be pointed out by an angel!
But wait. You do not know all. Who could bear all the ills of any one human
life without having some help
some light
some hope? A wonderful word was
spoken to the woman--“I will multiply thy seed exceedingly
that it shall not
be numbered for multitude.” As if he had said--“If thou didst know thy destiny
thou wouldst think little of Sarai’s mocking; it is but a momentary pain; bear
it with the heroism of silent patience.” And
truly
this same angel speaks to
us all. He says
“If you will walk in the way of the Lord you shall have
blessing after sorrow
as the flowers bloom after the rain; persecution you
cannot escape
nor slander
nor cruel words; but your light affliction
which
is but for a moment
worketh out for you a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. One hour in heaven will banish every sad thought of earth;
submit
be patient
and return not evil for evil.” Oh
listen to the angel; it
is God’s angel: it is God Himself. (J. Parker
D. D.)
Water in the desert
The following extract from Mr. Burleigh’s graphic account of the
march of the British columns from Korti to Metammeh and the Nile
gives a
picture of the deprivation of water in the desert
which plainly shows what our
soldiers have had to endure in this particular. “We started about three a.m.
and succeeded in reaching Abu Halfa Wells at noon. We had turned into a ravine
in the Galif range to get to the springs. Our first sight of them was dreadfully
disappointing. At the foot of a low ledge of rock near a clustering of dying
down palms in a black basin of mud lay a little pool of pea-green water
covered with scum. The pool was not more than 20 feet long and 10 feet wide
and a sounding taken with a pole showed it was not over 10 inches deep. The
murmur of satisfaction with which we were prepared to greet the blessed water
died away in our throats
and we all sadly gathered around the soupy substance
that was to serve horse and man for drinking purposes. Inwardly many of us
vowed never again
if we lived
to grumble again at the quality of the London
supply. Our guide excitedly shouted there was water enough for all
and that it
was of excellent quality. Slipping down from his camel he made for a hole three
or four feet deep
in which lay
limpid and cool
ten or twenty gallons of
good-looking water. A stern sense of duty had impelled Colonel Barrow to place
guards over the pool and this well hole
so that the apparently scant supply
might be equally distributed
and our guide was driven off. He went
however
but a few feet away
and began digging a hole in the sandy gravel with his
hands
and soon unearthed a flow of muddy water. Then it was our faces all
brightened
for surely the little watercourse was full of hidden drink.
Pannikins
canteens
water bottles
and horse buckets were soon at work
and
the men took their turn at dipping and drinking the greenish liquid. The taste
was not unpleasant
in spite of its old turtle-soupish appearance and consistency.
Before all
it was water
and we drank large draughts until our thirst was
quenched. The horses received two bucketfuls each
which they quaffed even more
greedily than ourselves. Had we given ten to each animal I believe they would
have swallowed every drop and whinnied for more. The clear water in the well
was left untouched for the sick
and we found that as we drew from the pool
and reduced its depth a few inches
that quite pellucid springs began to flow
in
refilling it almost as rapidly as we used it. The steady drain and the
constant dipping into our own tank disturbed the mud
so that in a short time
the green tinge merged into brown
and ultimately into black
such as you see
in the London gutters after heavy rain. With an unquestioning faith in its
virtues we continued to drink the thickened water
inwardly blessing the Arabs
for not having poisoned the wells by throwing dead cattle into the pool. That
afternoon and night the whole force had abundance of beverage
and coffee and
tea flowed once more around our bivouac fires.”
God’s presence with His people
“I have read
” says an old divine
“of a company of poor
Christians who were banished into some remote part
and one standing by
seeing
them pass along
said that it was a very sad condition those poor people were
in
to be thus hurried from the society of men
and made companions with the
beasts of the field. ‘True
’ said another
‘it were a sad condition indeed if
they were carried to a place where they should not find their God; but let them
be of good cheer
God goes along with them
and will exhibit the comforts of
His presence whithersoever they go. God’s presence with His people is a spring
that never fails.’”
The beautiful man
A little boy
the only child of a poor woman
one day fell into
the fire by accident
during his mother’s absence from the cottage
and was so
badly burned that he died after a few hours’ suffering. The clergyman of the
parish did not hear of the accident until the child was dead. He went
however
to try and console and comfort the mother. To his great surprise he found her
very calm and patient and resigned. After a little conversation she told him
how that God had sent her wonderful comfort. She had been weeping bitterly as
she knelt beside her child’s cot
when suddenly the boy exclaimed
“Mother
don’t cry; don’t you see the beautiful man who is standing there and waiting
for me?” She told the clergyman that she thought it must have been the Lord
Jesus. The angels in heaven care for
wait upon
and minister unto Christ’s
people below.
Goodness of God in affliction
A Sunday school teacher with the movable alphabet put together the
sentence
“The Lord is good to all
” and required his class to repeat it. One
little fellow refused. The teacher asked his reason. He said because it was not
true. “God is not good to father nor to me. He has taken my little brother
away
and father is home crying about it.” The teacher explained that God in
love had taken the little brother to a better home
and would take him and his
father to join him if they loved the Saviour. The child said
“Oh
I’ll go and
tell father
” and at once ran to him with his lesson and comfort. It consoled
and benefited both father and child.
Verse 12
He will be a wild man
The national character of the Arabs foretold
I.
THESE
WORDS CONTAIN NOT A MERE CONTINGENT PROMISE
BUT A SPECIFIC PREDICTION OF
FUTURE EVENTS. A bare announcement of what would be the physical
moral
and
social condition of the person or persons to whom the passage refers.
II. THESE WORDS
ARE INTENDED TO APPLY
NOT MERELY TO THE PERSONAL HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF
ISHMAEL
BUT TO THE HISTORY AND CHARACTER OF HIS OFFSPRING. Some of the terms
employed and some of the things affirmed are not only unintelligible
but
absurd
if they are to be understood of Ishmael rather than of his offspring;
for in what sense can it be affirmed
that “his hand was against every man
and
every man’s hand against him”? Individually
that strife at all events would
very soon be brought to an end. How
either
could it be affirmed that he
should “dwell in the presence of all his brethren
” if a single dwelling
and
that a tent in the wilderness
were the only thing intended to be set forth?
III. THE ARABIANS
ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF ISHMAEL.
IV. THE ARABIANS
HAVE EXEMPLIFIED IN THEIR WHOLE HISTORY AND CHARACTER ALL THE PECULIARITIES
MENTIONED IN THIS PASSAGE. The term here employed is singularly strong in
relation to the first part of the subject. That subject is divided into three
particulars: the first
declarative of their freedom; the second
of their
hostile dispositions; the third
of their numbers and their power.
1. Here
I say
you have a declaration concerning their freedom: “He
will be a wild man.” The language is peculiarly strong; and literally
the
affirmation is
that Ishmael should be the same as the animal described in the
thirty-ninth chapter of the Book of Job. There the word is literally rendered “the
wild ass”: and we read
“Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who has loosed
the hands of the wild ass? whose house I have made the wilderness
and the
barren land his dwellings; he scorneth the multitude of the city
neither
regardeth he the crying of the driver; the range of the mountains is his
pasture
and he searcheth after every green thing.” No terms could have been
employed
more fitly or more vividly describing the roaming liberty
or
if you
will
licentiousness of the entire Arab nation
whether you regard their
internal condition or their external relation.
2. Secondly
we are assured not only of their freedom
but also of
the singular hostility of their disposition: “His hand will be against every
man
and every man’s hand against him.” During the lapse of three thousand
years
they have by turns assaulted all their neighbours
and been assaulted by
them. At this present moment they seek not the alliance of the great or the
small
the rich or the poor; they care not who wins or who loses in the strife
of the world
if they can remain--the hated of the whole family of mankind
besides. What is sacrificed or what is gained is to them matter of perfect
indifference if still they may frown upon a world they deem their foe. This has
been the case
while all other nations have passed through the phases of
slavery and of freedom
of poverty and of wealth
of luxury and of hardihood
of disaster and of danger. Still the Arab is the same.
3. Thirdly
these words exhibit to us their numbers and their power.
“I will multiply thy seed exceedingly
that it shall not be numbered for
multitude; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Not an easy
thing this
to affirm concerning any individual
in the early period of time to
which reference is made. Few
indeed
could ever have attained to such
distinction
because there are but few nations who ever arrive to any great
degree of honour; much less to such a state of renown
as to secure observation
in the pages of inspired truth
or in the general history of the world. Yet if
you have been called upon
at all events
to point out those individuals
perhaps the very last you would have fixed upon would have been the son of that
poor outcast slave
without a father
without a friend
without a prospect
excepting the wilderness for his home. Yet these wanderers in the desert and
amongst the rocks were the objects and the sources of surprise and of terror to
their early neighbours. It was they who first gave to commerce its gold
its
spices
its gems. It was they who furnished to the navies of Tyre that for
which they were renowned. It was they who gave to monarchs that by which they
decorated their halls and their palaces. It was they who gave to arms honour
and renown
while with one hand they seized on the fertile plains of Egypt and
with the other laid hold on the mountains of Assyria. Thus during successive
ages did they continue dwelling in the presence of all their brethren; whether
the Babylonian or the Macedonian
whether the Persian or the Roman swayed the
destinies of the world
the Arab occupied the same position
and exerted to a
great extent the same power. In later days
however
they came forth under
another form
and their course was followed by far deadlier consequences. They
lifted up in one hand the Koran
which they regarded as at once the product and
the instrument of their great prophet
who said he came from God; with the
other they brandished the sword
while nations trembled and fell. They passed
off to the east--rushed through the turbid and impetuous waters of the
Euphrates and the Tigris--and laid prostrate the millions of India
even to the
walls of China. Theypassed to the north
swept the sacred shrines and hollow
mummeries of Palestine; laid prostrate the cities and temples and towers of
Greece--rushed through the Bosphorus--reared the tokens of their power
and at
length became consolidated into a mighty empire
in the eastern part of Europe.
They passed to the west--overflowed the plains of Egypt with more resistlessness
than the waters of the Nile--dashed along the coast of Barbary--rolled away to
Central and Western Africa--overleaped the pillars of Hercules and the barriers
of Spain--planted the crescent on the walls of Grenada--illumined darkened
Europe with a ray of science--and then returned
leaving the marks of their
science and their power in arithmetical characters
used in every one of our
schools. And so their history
so unique and so marvellous
has been interwoven
with the history of all people
to gather from them all some increasing
attestation of the truth of this book
the pillar on which our hopes rest; and
resting where we can defy the dashing of every wave
assured that we are in the
truth of Him
“in whose hand our breath is
and whose are all our ways.” (J.
Aldis.)
Verse 13-14
Thou God seest me
The retrospect of a special Providence
Hagar had heard the voice of the Lord
and had distinct evidence
of His providential care and regard.
I. THAT IT IS A
REVELATION OF GOD. “She called the name of the Lord that spake unto her
Thou
God seest me.” The doctrine of a general Providence affects us languidly; the
impression of it is vague; but there are times in our history when the events
are so remarkable that it is as if God had spoken. His finger is plainly seen.
This revelation of God had three aspects.
1. It was severe. Hagar was reminded of her fault
and exhorted to
instant duty.
2. It was soothing. It is because God “has heard out affliction”
that He speaks to us.
3. It produces the impression that God knows us--
II. THAT IT SHOULD
EXCITE AMAZEMENT AND GRATITUDE. (T. H. Leale.)
A particular Providence
1. Difficult to believe. We
think of God in heaven
and forget that He is also on earth.
2. Sufficiently attested by examples in Holy Scripture.
3. Made clear and certain by the history of our Lord’s work on
earth.
4. Realized in the history of every believer. (J. H. Newman
D.
D.)
God’s continual presence
“Thou God seest me.” Pause for a moment to contemplate the force
of this impressive thought. Life is spent beneath the eye of God. In every part
of His dominion
in all the worlds He has formed
His never-closing eye is
present
His creative power is felt. The beams of His all-observant thought
surround us. God
said the Greeks
is “All Eye.” It is not the feeble and
changing glance of fickle guilty man
but it is the pure and perfect scrutiny
of the Eternal God
“in whose hand our breath is.” “Thou God seest me.” Then it
is not a vague and general observation
but a particular and minute notice--the
sinner in his guilt equally with the Christian in his devotions--the peasant in
his cottage equally with the prince on his throne. Not the actions only
but
the principles
“me”--all that constitutes our essence
all that forms our
character
the interior recesses of the spirit
the hidden motives of the
heart
the secret springs of the character. This thought may be one--
1. Of grandeur. With respect to God--His infinite dominion--His
immense survey. With respect to man--his dignity--his responsibility--his
destiny--he must
some day
come immediately before this Being.
2. Of terror. We are never safe. Sin cannot be even thought of
without being known. Think of this when temptation invites. There is no
darkness which can hide from God.
3. Of consolation in sorrow. He sees with a Father’s eye which fills
with compassion. He knows all the trouble of our spirit and our desires to be
purer and better.
4. Of hope in danger. He sees
not to increase our misery
but to
help and save. He sends His Covenant Angel to succour this desolate woman. None
need despair
since God thus helps the outcast and the miserable. (Archbishop
Secker)
Belief in the Divine omniscience the foundation of a true and
earliest life
This text may be regarded as--
I. THE BASIS OF A
LIVING CREED.
II. AN INCENTIVE
TO A USEFUL AND BEAUTIFUL LIFE. Two things are essential to such a life--
1. Sincere love of the truth.
2. Earnest practice of the truth.
III. A RESTRAINT
WON A SINFUL COURSE. Let these words
“Thou God seest me
” preserve you from--
1. Unhallowed thoughts.
2. Selfish motives.
3. Formalism and hypocrisy.
4. Despondency and unbelief. (J. R. Goulty
B. A.)
The eye of God
Does it not seem both strange and sad that these familiar words
should suggest a feeling akin to terror in so many human hearts? How appalling
does it seem to reflect that there is no possibility of escape from its
relentless
inexorable vision! Yet there was a time when such a thought as this
would have awakened only feelings of pleasure in the human mind and heart. When
Adam came into the world fresh from the hand of God
nothing could have been
further from his thoughts than to regard this consideration as suggestive of terror.
On the contrary
he found true deep joy no doubt in just such a reflection as
this. But the moment man sinned
and fell by sin
in nothing were the
lamentable consequences of the fall so apparent as in this. The eye of God
that before seemed to cast rays of beneficent sunshine on his path
now seemed
to shoot a hot and scorching thunderbolt into his soul. He felt that he must
needs find a hiding place from that eye. Surely it would be simply impossible
to do what many of us do if we really believed in our hearts
and were dwelling
on the thought
“Thou God seest me.” You never knew a thief that perpetrated a
felony before the very eyes of the officer of justice
and knowing that he was
being observed. And should we dare to break God’s law
and defy His Majesty
if
we really believed that God was looking at us? or would men indulge in the
miserable hypocrisies with which they seem to succeed sometimes in stupefying
their own consciences
if they really believed that God both saw them and saw
through them? Men get into such a way of playing a part before their fellow
man
that it would seem as if at last they grew to feel as if they could
overreach and impose upon Almighty God. But they cannot! Always
and in all
circumstances and conditions
in my best moments and in my worst
in public and
in private
within
without
“Thou God seest me.” What does He see? My
brethren
let us in answer lay proper stress upon that little but
to each of
us severally
important word me. It is the real “me
” the actual self
that God
sees. First there is the social self. The fine gentleman that moves in good
society
with his company manners
endeavouring to make himself particularly
agreeable to all around him. Well skilled is he to repress all that the world
in which he moves--not less hypocritical than himself--would be disposed to
frown on. He avoids what is coarse
abjures what is in bad taste
checks any
display of the selfishness that may be natural to him
may even exhibit not a
little self-control
should he be crossed by some petty annoyance. If he is
proud
he has the sense not to show it; and strangers think him wondrously
affable. This social paragon is so well veneered that you almost begin to think
he is not veneered at all
and the superficial glance of society discerns only
a charming exterior
and an amiable and estimable ornament for itself. But what
does God see? Peradventure a whited sepulchre
a disguised savage
far less to
be excused for the latent savagery of a selfish
passionate
licentious
and
rapacious nature than the naked savage in the wild
who never wore any veneer
except war-paint
is to be excused for his. And as for this conventional
presentment of self God sees it not
or only sees it to see through it as the
flimsiest of disguises. It is not this respectable sham that God sees
but the
real actual self
whatever he may be. “Thou God seest me.” Yet again there is
the commercial self--not quite such a paragon of perfection as the social self.
There is much less veneer about him
and much more exposure of some inner
substance
which
whatever its true nature
is not always very smooth or very
pretty. Yet it passes muster
because there are so many more all around it that
are its moral counterparts. A little greedy
a little avaricious
a little selfish
and unscrupulous the man may be; but then
you know
that sort of thing is to
some extent expected in business; and against these little failings how much of
sterling merit is there to be set! First
there is the great merit of solvency!
You are a substantial man
and can always pay twenty shillings in the pound;
and in these days of rascally bankruptcy there is no small virtue in the eye of
the commercial world. Then again you have never condescended to any vulgar form
of swindling. You would scorn the idea of doing anything that could by any
means expose you to the action of law
or induce commercial ostracism. A
respectable man of business
that is what the world sees. Is that the real
self
or only the self that has to do duty at the office? Is that the thing
that God sees when He looks at you? or is it only another and less attractive
counterfeit presentation of self that He sees through and through? Don’t let us
attempt to blind Him
for we cannot. “Thou God seest me.” The secret things of
dishonesty
the idolatry of Mammon
the indifference to others
the selfish
eagerness to make capital out of their ruin
the readiness to lie without a
blush
if only there is no particular chance of the lie being detected--all
this
and a great deal more
may be included in the “me
” without interfering
much with my commercial reputation
provided I can make it pay. With Mammon
once on my side
there is not much to be feared from unfriendly criticisms in
most commercial circles; but what does God see? But we must come nearer home.
There is the domestic self
whose faults and failings are perhaps even more
apparent than those of his commercial presentment. Your wife knows more of your
real moral character
probably
than do those with whom you transact business. Your
children too--for children are always sharp observers--may have noticed many a
little failing about you that you would not like published in the drawing room
or in the counting house; but then domestic affection is very apt to be blind.
So even here we don’t get at the real self. We see perhaps the respected
father
the idolized husband; but what does God see? Perhaps a father who
slapped his child’s hands for stealing a lump of sugar
when he had that very
day put a hundred pounds into his pocket by “operating” ingeniously upon the
market
or by perpetrating some other act of skilfully disguised fraud; or
thrashed his boy for telling a lie
when he himself had told at least a dozen
that day in his own counting house. Alas! we don’t get at the real man even
when we find him at home. But God sees more than either wife or child
or
servant or friend. “Thou God seest me.” But we
must go further still. There is
the ideal self
which
like a familiar spirit
we ever carry about with us--a
presentation of self to self
in which we are careful to ignore or excuse all
that is evil or faulty
and to magnify all that is good. How rare a thing is it
for any man to entertain a really poor opinion of himself
whatever mock-modest
expressions we may use? Or I might put it thus: How many of us would be able to
stand behind a hedge
and hear with anything like a feeling of equanimity our
faults and failings described with accuracy by a neighbour? Yes
I believe that
most of us have an ideal self that we confuse with the real
and for which we
have always a kindly feeling; but it is not this that God looks at. His eye is
fixed
not on the phantom
but on him who creates it; not on the ideal
but on
the actual. “Thou God seest me.” He sees our thoughts
detecting the secret springs
of motive from which our actions flow. He discerns at a glance what our life
purpose is
and which way it flows. He sees our religion
and knows whether or
not it is more than skin-deep. And He sees our actual irreligion; how
it may
be
some of us in this church tonight have desecrated our nature by closing it
against God. We have barred the door against the Divine Visitant
and He saw us
doing it! The eye of God pierces through every barrier
and discerns it all.
“Thou God seest me.” What does He see? The past as well as the present; the
series of years gone by
as well as the marks that they have left upon our
character today. In the completeness of our history
as well as in the real
character of our moral condition
it still remains true
“Thou God seest me.”
And yet
seeing all this as no one else can or does see it
the wonderful thing
is He loves us still. Poor
wandering
desolate soul! What a sudden rush of joy
must have possessed her as she thus learnt for the first time
not as a mere
religious or theological theory
but as a blessed fact
that truth which lies
behind all other truths--the Fatherhood of God! And He sees us too
and sees
us
as He did her
with a Father’s eye
and loves us
wanderers though we may
be
with a Father’s heart; and He who took an interest in Hagar
takes an
interest in us. “Whence comest thou?” Ah! who shall answer that question
and
trace the history of our being up to its hidden source? Yet do we know
something of the answer to the question so far as regards the race. When comest
thou
O fallen man
who hast lost all contact with God
and wanderest aimlessly
on from day to day
having no hope
and without God in the world? Let us never
forget it
however low thou mayest have fallen
however far thou mayest have wandered
thy first home was Eden
thy first experience the revealed love of thy
Father--God. “Whence comest thou?” Let us turn from the race to the individual
let us apply the question to ourselves. Whence do we come? In early years we
were baptized in the Triune Name
and were branded with the Cross of Christ in
token of allegiance to Him; and can we doubt that He who called the little ones
to Himself
and laid His hands upon them
and blessed them
met us with His
blessing in those early days? Have we turned our back upon our birthright
privileges? and are we
as it were
going away further and further from all
that we had a right to enjoy? Do we come from the comparative innocence of
childhood? from the purer associations
the holier aspirations
of our earlier
days? from the better influences of Christian homes? from the favourable
atmosphere of religious society? “Whence comest thou?” Have you left all that
is best and purest in human life behind you? Has your progress been all in the
wrong direction? And whither wilt thou go? Perhaps you have never paused to
reflect where those wandering steps of yours are taking you. Like Hagar
you
have wandered on without any definite idea as to where your wanderings were to
end. Whither wilt thou go? The world
with all its fading pageants
its flimsy
inanities
invites your steps. It offers pleasure
but not joy; excitement
but
not happiness; intoxication and stupefaction that shall benumb your nobler
faculties and check your aspirations
but no satisfaction; stagnation
but not
peace. How little has it done for you in the past! and in the future it can do
still less. Its capacities of gratification diminish with each passing year.
Yes
whither? Is there no welcome for thee in thy Father’s house? no greeting
of love? no feast of joy? Is He thy foe
that thou shouldest fly from Him thus?
(W. Hay Aitken
M. A.)
The omniscience of the Deity
I. In the first
place I would endeavour to lay before you the ARGUMENT FOR THE OMNISCIENCE AND
OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD WHICH IS DERIVED FROM NATURAL RELIGION. We assert
then
that the doctrine of the omnipresence of God results from the truth universally
acknowledged
that the world owes its existence to a Creator. Wherever we
direct our view we perceive marks of intelligence and design. In every part of
the universe accessible to our survey
we have therefore the most resplendent
proofs that there the hand of God hath been; consequently
at that period
at
least
the Divine Being was omnipresent. I make this limitation
because
to
argue with correctness
it is required
that we should infer no more than the
premises laid down will allow. But now it is possible
for it may be conceived
that the Divine Creator
having made all things
and
consequently
having then
been present everywhere
afterward withdrew His immediate agency. Wherefore
even upon the principle of such persons themselves
when properly understood
the omniscience of God follows as a necessary consequence. For if
as must be
acknowledged
everything in the universe is under the control of some one or
more of these laws
it follows that in every point of the universe
the Deity
is acting; and where He acts
there He is
and where He is
there He perceives.
II. Having adduced
the testimony of natural religion to the omnipresence of God
we proceed to lay
before you THE PROOF FURNISHED BY THE SCRIPTURES. The testimony of the text
will be found clear and strong. How awful are the words of Elihu
“His eyes are
upon the ways of man
and He seeth all his goings; there is no darkness nor
shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:21). To the sameeffect the wise
man speaks in the fifteenth chapter of Proverbs and eighth verse
“The eyes of
the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.” See the fifteenth
chapter of the Book of Proverbs and eleventh verse
“Hell and destruction are
before the Lord
how much more the hearts of men.” Neither do the Scriptures
represent Him as a mere spectator
but as a witness and judge who scrutinizes
the thoughts and actions with all their circumstances
and makes a just and
righteous estimation of them. I know and I am witness
saith the Lord. The Lord
is a God of knowledge
and by Him actions are weighed. “All the actions of a
man are right in his own eyes
but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” The
Scriptures declare that God is the Governor of the material and moral world;
consequently
as it is necessary that the Creator and Governor of the universe
should be in all places of His dominion at the same moment
in order that He
may sustain and guide the whole
so it is absolutely necessary that He should
have a perfect knowledge of everything
without which omnipotence and
omnipresence were useless. The Scriptures declare that God is the moral
governor but the judge of all men; they represent Him as having given laws of
the most spiritual character--that is to say
relating to the spirits of men in
the most comprehensive manner. They reach to every part of our conduct
and not
only direct the outward life
but give also law to the most retired thought and
inward affection. Thus we are Proverbs 24:9
“That the thought of
foolishness is sin.”
III. I shall close
the subject WITH AN APPLICATION OF ITS SEVERAL USES.
1. Let us take occasion from the subject
to adore
with humble
gratitude
the long suffering
patience
and tender compassion of our God. Does
He see the first dark thought of lust or rage
and does He look on still and
spare us till it be fully formed and executed? How incomprehensible
then
must
be His patience.
2. Let the subject of the Divine omniscience be a prevailing motive
with us to honesty and sincerity. He who can thus realize the Divine presence
cannot
dare not be a hypocrite.
3. Again
from the subject of the Divine omnipresence
let every
sinner remember that God is present at the commission of all his crimes.
4. Further
the doctrine of the Divine omniscience affords abundant
cause of joy to the godly. His eyes are continually upon you for good. He is
perfectly acquainted with your wants
and He knows all things that are required
for their supply. This qualifies Him to be the object of your trust and
confidence. On Him you may safely depend.
5. Lastly
let the doctrine of Divine omniscience restrain us from
every sin
and excite us to every duty
“Thou God seest me.” (J. F. Denham.)
The Divine inspection of man
I. LOOK AT THE
TEXT IN A DOCTRINAL ASPECT.
1. God sees us Himself.
2. God sees us completely.
3. God sees us perpetually.
4. God sees every rational being as He sees us. The Indian
the
African: all can adopt language of text.
II. LOOK AT THE
TEXT IN A PRACTICAL ASPECT. The thought of God’s omnipresence
when received
into the heart
is--
1. One of the most powerful restraints from the commission of sin.
2. One of the most powerful incentives to do His will.
3. A source of true delight.
4. A remedy for the dangers and sorrows of life. (A. McAuslane
D. D.)
The angel in the wilderness
I. THE NAME OF
THE LORD. “Thou God seest me
” or
Thou God of vision; “for she said
Have I
also here looked after Him that seeth me?” i.e.
I have seen Him that He
has seen me; I have seen Him and lived. Hagar’s seeing God was God’s seeing
Hagar. The vision was not merely objective
but subjective. The state of
Hagar’s mind was doubtless preparation for some such interposition. Lamenting
her sin
weary
desolate
praying for help. Man’s extremity is God’s
opportunity.
II. CONNECT THE
REVELATION WITH THE PERSONAL HISTORY. Hagar saw the Lord
received His word of
grace into her heart
obeyed His commandment. The faith which initiates
practical obedience is a progressive blessedness. When we know that God has
appeared unto us
when we have looked into His countenance in the light of His
reconciling love
when we feel assured that our life is under His eye
that it
may be in His hand
then bondage is liberty
submission is delight
patience is
growing expectation. (R. A. Redford
M. A.)
Hagar in the wilderness
This self-interrogation of Hagar is suggestive of three things.
I. IT SUGGESTS A
SOLEMN FACT IS HUMAN HISTORY. God sees us.
1. The very nature of God implies this.
2. The Bible teaches this.
II. IT SUGGESTS A
SAD TENDENCY IN HUMAN NATURE. Hagar’s question implies a fear that she had not
been sufficiently conscious of this fact.
1. The signs of this tendency.
2. The causes of this tendency.
III. IT SUGGESTS AN
URGENT OBLIGATION IN HUMAN LIFE. A sense of God’s continual presence will--
1. Restrain from sin.
2. Stimulate to virtue.
3. Strengthen for trial.
4. Qualify for the full mission of life. (Homilist.)
Omniscience
I. THE GENERAL
DOCTRINE. God sees us.
1. This may be easily proved
even from the nature of God. It were
hard to suppose a God who could not see His own creatures; it were difficult in
the extreme to imagine a divinity who could not behold the actions of the works
of His hands. The word which the Greeks applied to God implied that He was a
God who could see. They called Him θεος‚ (Theos);
and they derived that word
if I read rightly
from the root θεψσθαι (Theisthai)
to see
because they regarded God as being the
All-seeing One
whose eye took in the whole universe at a glance
and whose
knowledge extended far beyond that of mortals. There were no god if that God
had no eyes
for a blind God were no God at all.
2. Yet
further
we are sure that God must see us
for we are taught
in the Scriptures that God is everywhere
and if God be everywhere
what doth
hinder Him from seeing all that is done in every part of His universe?
3. But lest any should suppose that God may be in a place
and yet
slumbering
let me remind him that in every spot to which he can travel there
is not simply God but God’s activity. Wherever I go I shall find
not a
slumbering God
but a God busy about the affairs of this world.
4. I have one more proof to offer which I think to be conclusive.
God
we may be sure
sees us
when we remember that He can see a thing before
it happens. If He beholds an event before it transpires
surely reason dictates
He must see a thing that is happening now. Read those ancient prophecies
read
what God said should be the end of Babylon and of Nineveh; just turn to the
chapter where you read of Edom’s doom
or where you are told that Tyre shall be
desolate; then walk through the lands of the East
and see Nineveh and Babylon
cast to the ground
the cities ruined; and then reply to this question--“Is not
God a God of foreknowledge?”
II. Now I come
in
the second place
to the SPECIAL DOCTRINE: “Thou God seest me.”
1. Mark
God sees you--selecting anyone out of this congregation--He
sees you
He sees you as much as if there were nobody else in the world for Him
to look at.
2. God sees you entirely.
3. God sees you constantly.
4. Supremely.
III. Now I come to
DIFFERENT INFERENCES for different persons
to serve different purposes.
1. First
to the prayerful. Prayerful man
prayerful woman
here is
a consolation--God sees you: and if He can see you
surely He can hear you.
2. I have given a word for the prayerful
now a word for the
careful. Some here are very full of care
and doubts
and anxieties
and fears.
Don’t give up in despair. If your case be ever so bad
God can see your care
your troubles
and your anxieties.
3. And now a word to the slandered. There are some of us who come in
for a very large share of slander. It is very seldom that the slander market is
much below par; it usually runs up at a very mighty rate; and there are persons
who will take shares to any amount. Well
what matters it?
Suppose you are slandered; here is a comfort: “Thou God seest me.”
They say that such-and-such is your motive
but you need not answer them; you
can say “God knows that matter.”
4. Now a sentence or two to some of you who are ungodly and know not
Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Hagar at the fountain
I. In speaking of
Hagar I shall first dwell for a little upon HER REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE.
1. Observe that Hagar had outlawed herself. The untamable spirit
which afterwards showed itself in her son Ishmael raged in her bosom. So
too
have we met with those who have deliberately left the ways of God and the
people of God
and all semblance of goodness
because they have thought
themselves badly used. They do not
indeed
care what becomes of them: they
would flee from the presence of God Himself if they could.
2. While she was there
in the moment of her desperation
she was
found by the angel. What was there about her that Jehovah should come out of
His place to seek her? Yet He came in unexpected grace as He is wont to do. He
remembered the low estate of His handmaiden
and because His mercy endureth
forever
He found her by the fountain in the wilderness.
3. When the angel of the Lord found Hagar
He dealt graciously with
her. Indeed this was the object of His finding her; He Game in pity
not in
wrath. Blessed be God
it has happened to tens of thousands that where sin
abounded
grace did much more abound. When they have run away and outlawed
themselves
grace has followed them
grace has convicted them
grace has
admonished them
and grace has made large promises to them.
II. Now I want you
to notice HER DEVOUT ACKNOWLEDGMENT. When that which we have described happened
to her
she acknowledged the living God. My text says
“She called the name of
the Lord that spake unto her
Thou God seest me.”
1. She spake to Him that spake to her: after this fashion do we all
begin our communion with God. Oh
when God speaks to you
you will soon find a
tongue to speak to Him. What did she say?
2. She acknowledged Him to be God. “She called the name of the Lord
that spake to her
Thou God seest me.” It is one thing to believe there is a
God
but it is quite another thing to know it by coming into
personal contact with Him.
3. Observe that she acknowledged His observant love. She could not
help acknowledging it
for it flashed before her eyes.
4. In the presence of that God she felt overpowered and ready to
yield. She was so overwhelmed that no rebellion remained within her. She girds
her garments about her
and she makes the best of her way home to the tent of
Sarai. Her mistress is hard; but sin is harder.
III. Let me now
call to your notice THE MANIFEST AMAZEMENT of this woman; for in her glad
surprise she uttered a sentence which runs as follows: “Have I also here looked
after Him that seeth me?” Expositors will tell you that as many senses may be
given to this sentence as there are words in it; and each one of these senses
will bear a measure of decent defence. I shall not go into them all
but I
think I see clearly that she was amazed that God should care for her. “Thou God
seest me. Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me?” Does He see me? Do
I see Him? Do you not say
“Why me
my Lord? Why me?” Sit still in holy wonder
and adore and bless the Lord.
5. I think her next amazement was that she should have been such a
long time without ever thinking of Him who had thought so much of her. She
says
“Have I also here looked unto Him that seeth me?” “What! Have I been
these years with Abraham
and heard about the God who has been looking at me in
love
and have I never glanced a thought to Him?” Her ungodliness astounds her.
6. But next
she is amazed still more to think that at last she does
look unto God. In effect she cries
“What! Has it come to this? Have I also
here looked after Him that seeth me? Is Hagar at last converted? What a
surprise it must be to rebels to be thus seized in the arms of grace and
transformed into friends of the King! I ask God that such a surprise may await
some who are here today. May you also inquire in amazement
“Have I here also
looked after Him that seeth me?”
7. One other surprise Hagar had
and that was the surprise to think
that she was alive. It was the common conviction of that age that no man could
see God and live. The awakened sinner
when he is met with by the God of grace
wonders that he has not been cut down as a cumberer of the ground.
IV. HER HUMBLE
WORSHIP.
1. She worshipped God heartily and intelligently
according to her
knowledge.
2. She worshipped beyond her knowledge
according to her
apprehension.
3. Her worship was wonderfully personal.
4. Her worship proved itself deeply true
for it was followed by
immediate practical obedience to the command of the Lord.
V. We will
conclude by glancing for an instant at the well which became THE SUGGESTIVE
MEMORIAL of this special manifestation and singular experience. That well--we
do not know what it had been called before--but that Beer
or well
was
henceforth called Beer-lahai-roi
or the well of Him that liveth and seeth.
Will we not all at this time drink of that well? It was a very happy thought to
attach a holy name to a well
so that every traveller might learn of God as he
refreshed himself. When a person comes to drink at certain fountains he reads
“Drink
gentle traveller
drink and pray.” The inscription is most suitable. It
is fit that men should pray when they receive so precious a refreshment as pure
water. It was specially meet that travellers should henceforth and forever pray
at a spot where the Lord Himself had been
and had called to Himself a wanderer
who had felt compelled to cry
“God lives
and God sees.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
What seeing God does for us
(Sermon to children.) “Thou God seest me”--a name for God
found by a woman who had run away from duty. She could not run away from God.
It took her back to duty to feel that God saw her (Jonah
and Psalms 139:1-24).
I. GOD’S EYE ON
US MAY MAKE US UNCOMFORTABLE. Illustration: Servant girl cutting out eyes of
picture which seemed to watch her pilfering. Sentinels in Portland prison.
Prison with hole in door
and the warder’s eye ever there.
II. IT MAY MAKE US
HAPPY. If we are in any trouble. Sad thing to feel alone. Widowed mother in
trouble. Little children say
“Is God dead
mother?” If God sees
He must be
there. If He is there
He must be there as Helper.
III. IT MAY MAKE US
STRONG. “Can do all things through Him who strengthens us.” Some
like Adam and
Eve
hide from God. Some
like David
can say
“I flee unto Thee to hide me.” (The
Weekly Pulpit.)
The eye of God always upon us
I. A REFLECTION
VERY PLEASING TO GOOD MEN. “Thou God seest me.”
1. This is a pleasing reflection when I fear some hidden corruption
which has hindered the answer of prayer
and often deprived me of comfort
but
which I cannot
after the most faithful investigation
detect. He can discern
it--“Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me.”
2. This is a pleasing reflection when I feel those infirmities which
make me groan. He sees grace
however small; He sees the disadvantages of my
situation
the influence of the body over the mind
and of sensible things over
the body; He sees that the “spirit indeed is willing when the flesh is weak.”
3. This is a pleasing reflection with regard to prayer. I often know
not what to pray for as I ought; but He always knows what to give. I cannot
express myself properly in words; but words are not necessary to inform Him who
“knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit--my desire is before Him
and my
groaning is not hid from Him.”
4. This is a pleasing reflection when I am suffering under the
suspicions of friends or the reproaches of enemies. “Behold my witness is in
heaven
and my record is on high. Lord
Thou knowest all things
Thou knowest
that I love Thee.”
5. This is a pleasing reflection when I am in trouble. He knows all
my “walking through this great wilderness”; He knows where the burden presses;
He knows how long to continue the trial
and by what means to remove it.
II. TO THE WICKED
IT IS A VERY AWFUL REFLECTION.
1. God sees everything you do.
2. He does not forget anything He has seen.
3. And to complete the terror of this consideration--all He has seen
He will publish before the whole world: and He will also punish all that He has
seen “with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the
glory of His power.”
III. The reflection
will be found very USEFUL TO ALL.
1. Useful as a check to sin. For can a person sin while he realizes
this? Can he affront the Almighty to His very face?--Impossible.
2. Useful as a motive to virtue. The presence
the eye of One who is
above us
and whom we highly esteem and reverence
elevates our minds and
refines our behaviour; and we desire to act so as to gain His approbation. A
servant feels this when he is before his master
and a subject when he is
before the king. One of the heathen philosophers
therefore
recommended his
pupils
as the best means to induce and enable them to behave worthily
to
imagine that some very distinguished character was always looking upon them.
But what was the eye of a Care compared with the eye of Jehovah!
3. Useful as a reason for simplicity and godly sincerity. Oh! let it
banish all dissimulation from our religious exercises; and
whether we read
or
hear
or pray
or surround the table of the Lord
let us remember that “God
weigheth the spirits.” If we had to do with men only
a fair appearance might
be sufficient; “but the Lord looketh to the heart.” And can we play the
hypocrite under those eyes which are as a flame of fire? (W. Jay.)
The omnipresence of God
1. The first idea presented
to us is one of wonder
admiration
and comfort. It does not so much express
her awe as her surprise and delight
that the God of whom she had heard in
Abraham’s family should have appeared to her in her perplexity. “Have I also
here looked after Him that seeth me?”
2. I go on to observe that the omnipresence of God is salutary only
when it implies watchful and personal inspection of our conduct
and personal
interest in our welfare. We are under a government; we live under an immutable
system of law. We ignorantly think to evade it; but the Lawgiver is all eye and
all ear. We have no adequate motive for a moral life
except it be the active
oversight of a moral Ruler. Every transgressor hopes to escape observation. The
great majority need a power out of ourselves
independent of our own strength
resolutions
or sense of duty; yet not superseding
but quickening and aiding
these motives to high moral conduct. We do not want to set aside the social
esteem which follows good conduct; but this being of most precarious quality
we want to aid it by the sense of Divine approval
manifested to the individual
by a personal
all-seeing Judge and Ruler. (B. Kent
M. A.)
God’s all-seeing eye
I. THAT WE ARE
EACH OF US THE OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE NOTICE.
1. God sees us by virtue of His omnipresence.
2. God sees us that we may be the objects of His providential care.
3. God sees us as preparatory to the final judgment.
II. SOME OF THOSE
SEASONS WHEN WE ARE PRONE TO FORGET THE DIVINE OMNIPRESENCE.
1. In discharge of the common duties of life how often may we say
“Have I here looked after Him that seeth me?” When we come to the sanctuary we
expect to meet with God
for we know that He has said
“In all places where I
record My name I will come and bless them.” But when the services of the
sanctuary are ended
and the Sabbath is closed
and the morrow has come
and
one man has gone to his farm
another to his merchandise
how prone are we to
lose sight of the solemn truth
“Thou God seest me.”
2. Under the pressure of severe temptation how often may we propose
this question.
3. So
too
in reference to some of the sorrowful events of human
life the inquiry of nay text will apply. If you have ever been sorrowful and
have not been comforted--if you have been weak
and have not been
strengthened--if you have been despairing
and hope has not revived
it has not
beenbecause God has forsaken you
but because you have not “looked” or sought
for Him; and oh
if God had only come to us when we “looked” for Him--if He had
not surprised us with many a visit
and succoured us with unexpected help
how
seldom would He have come to us at all. (H. J. Gamble.)
The omniscience of God illustrated a sermon to children
I. WHO IS GOD?
1. A Being
great in power
wisdom
knowledge
love.
2. A Judge.
3. Your Father. His eye is upon you
to protect
preserve
supply
wants.
4. Your Saviour.
II. WHY DOES GOD
SEE ME?
1. Because He is full of goodness and mercy.
2. Because He loves you
and would make you happy
by making you
like Himself.
III. WHEN DOES GOD
SEE ME? At all times. He sees you when you entice others to join you in some
foolish act
add while you are making the lie to hide the fault; He sees you
making that lie. He sees you when Satan is busy about you
to do you some
mischief
and keeps Satan away that he may not hurt you.
IV. WHERE DOES GOD
SEE ME? In all places. Adam among trees. Hagar in wilderness. Jonah inside
monster of deep. Daniel in lions’ den.
V. WHAT DOES GOD
SEE IN ME? He sees in you
my child
a sinful heart; He sees you a child of
fallen Adam
ready to follow the temptations of Satan
and to do all manner of
evil. Again: God sees in you children a backwardness and reluctancy to do what
He commands: and you don’t like reading your Bibles
and you don’t like coming
to church.
VI. WHAT DOES GOD
WISH TO SEE IN ME? He wishes to see in you repentance
that you may ask for forgiveness
for the past
and help for the time to come. He wishes to see in you a
prayerful heart; not a mere saying
but a thinking of the words you say. (T.
J. Judkin.)
The all-seeing eye
1. God sees your heart--what you are. Others do not see your heart;
they cannot. They can only see what is outward. You cannot see the heart of so
small a thing as a watch. It has a gold or silver case
and a beautiful dial
and hands such as good watches have
and you may pay a large sum of money for
it; and yet its inside
which is the real watch
may be all defective and
wrong. Now your heart determines what you are. “As a man thinketh in his heart
so is he.” It is what you think and feel
and wish
and purpose
that marks out
what you really are. And I daresay you are sometimes thankful enough that
nobody can see that; things are often outwardly so good
and yet so bad within.
But God sees it all--all that we are within--all that is going on in our inmost
heart. The heart is transparent to Him.It is as if it were made of glass.
2. God sees your life--what you do. Much of what is outward
as well
as all that is within
is unseen and unknown by others. Many things are done
secretly. I have been in institutions in which a large number of young people
are being educated. Looking from the governor’s room into the common hall where
they work and play and get their meals
is a window that commands the whole. He
had scarcely to rise from his chair in order to see all that was going on. And
they knew it. Every now and then you might see an eye turned to the window
especially if there was anything questionable or wrong going on. And sure
enough there was the face at the window--all was seen by the governor! And yet
even in such a case
where there is the sharpest lookout
it is possible to
elude observation; things are done which no one sees
which everybody denies
and sometimes it is impossible to find out who has been the wrong-doer. But God
sees all. Nothing escapes His observation. He slumbers not nor sleeps. The most
secret thing that anyone can do
lies open to Him. Every word
though spoken in
a whisper
He hears. Every act
however hidden
His eye looks right down upon.
3. God sees you in the dark. It is wonderful what an idea most
people have of darkness
as covering and hiding things
Now
we need to be
reminded that however it may be with men
darkness makes no difference to God.
He sees in the dark just as in the light; so that
so far as He is
concerned--and it is mainly with Him we have to do--it is of no use waiting
till night
till it is dark.
4. God sees you in the crowd. When one wishes not to be seen
he
likes to get into a crowd. We speak of being “lost in the crowd.” Hence it is
so easy to do many things in a crowd
which one would not do alone. Hence evil
becomes so bold in a crowd. I recollect seeing a number of youths standing at a
corner
in a seafaring town
going great lengths in the way of scoffing and
reviling and ridiculing all that was good. A friend challenged any one of them
to go out with him along a country road and say the same things there. He dared
them to do
one by one
what they did boldly in the mass. I need not say the
challenge was not accepted--all shrunk from it. But here
too
it is otherwise
with God than it is with men. Just as darkness makes no difference
so numbers
make none. Each individual out of ten thousand stands out as distinctly as if
there were but the one.
5. God sees you when alone. A strange feeling of being unobserved
so as to be at liberty to do anything
comes over one when he is alone. There
is such a sense of solitude that
so far as anyone else is concerned
it seems
to matter little what one does. To be left alone with oneself is far more
dangerous for some than to be surrounded by the most skilful of tempters. Many
have found their way to prison and to ruin just through being left alone. But
when one is most alone
in the most out-of-the-way place
in the remotest
corner of the earth--God sees. Gehazi
the prophet’s servant
thought he was
all unobserved when he hurried after Naaman
the Syrian
after he was healed
and by a lying device got money from him
which he stowed away securely
and
then presented himself before his master. How he must have been startled when
Elisha said
“Went not my heart with thee?” And so God says
“Can any hide
himself in secret places that I shall not see him?”
6. God sees you everywhere. “The eyes of the Lord are in every
place
beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3). “The eyes of the Lord run
to and fro
throughout the whole earth” (2 Chronicles 16:9). “Do not I fill
heaven and earth
saith the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:24).
7. God sees you always. There is no moment when He does not see
you--night or day--waking or sleeping--alone or in company. It is told of
Linnaeus
the famous naturalist
that he was greatly impressed with this
thought
and that it told on his conversation
his writings
and his conduct.
He felt the importance of this so much that he wrote over the door of his study
the Latin words: “Innocui vivite; Numen adest”; “Live innocently; God is
here.” We might well have these words before us everywhere. (J. H. Wilson
M. A.)
The punctuality of Providence
We wonder at the smooth working of the machinery for feeding a
great city; and how
day by day
the provisions come at the right time
and are
parted out among hundreds of thousands of homes. But we seldom think of the
punctual love
the perfect knowledge
the profound wisdom which cares for us
all
and is always in time with its gifts. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
God’s eye
We think much of being seen of men; some of us would do anything
for the sake of keeping up appearances. We should not give a penny to the
offertory instead of a shilling if our neighbour could see us; we should not
sell an adulterated article over the counter if a friend were looking over our
shoulder. There are certain things which we do in private which we would not
let our acquaintances know
and yet God knows all. We may lock our door
we may
draw down the blind before we commit a sin
but God sees us: no lock shuts Him
out. (H. J. Wilmot Buxton
M. A.)
God’s omniscience
Nomus
one of the heathen gods
is said to have complained of
Vulcan
that he had not set a grate at every man’s breast. God hath a glazed
window in the darkest houses of clay; He sees what is done in them when none
other can. To God’s omnipotence there is nothing impossible; and to God’s
omniscience there is nothing invisible.
God is present
Here is a young banker. When he was a boy in a country home
his
mother bought for him an illuminated card with this text on it. It was framed
and hung at the foot of his bed
so that every morning it was the first thing
that met his eye when he awoke. By and by he went to a large city and entered a
banking establishment. His father’s last words to him
as he bade him good-bye
were
“Remember your motto
Thou God seest me.” He soon rose to position
securing the unlimited confidence of his employers. Then came the hour of
temptation--to enrich himself by taking a large sum of money and running off.
It grew upon him and mastered him. All was ready. He stayed behind when the
other clerks left the office
He turned the key of the safe and the heavy door
swung open. The money was counted. It was in his hands. The deed was all but
done
when the old text--the text of his boyhood--flashed out. Conscience
awoke. The money fell from his hands. It seemed as if it had a voice--as if it
said
“Thou God seest me
” and the agonized youth cried out
“O God of my
mother
save me from this awful crime.” The money was replaced
and the young
man was saved. (J. H. Wilson
M. A.)
Unconscious surveillance
Some years since a trio of gentlemen
members of a large
mercantile firm
came into the office of the writer
and
under injunctions of
profound secrecy
desired the favour of using the window for a few days. The
privilege was readily granted
and one of their number was at once installed
behind a curtain
where
with a powerful glass
he could rigidly scrutinize
every movement of a certain clerk in a large building across the way. The young
man
all unconscious of the vigilant
eye constantly upon him
was absorbed in
his duties
making entries and receiving money; and
whatever consciousness of
innocence or guilt was carried about with him
the suspicion of a rigid watch
upon his actions--every movement closely scanned and weighed by his
employers--doubtless had never entered his mind. The surveillance was
continuednearly a week when it was abruptly terminated
and the result
whether
in discovery of wrong or establishing innocence
I never learned. The incident
made a profound impression upon me
suggesting
with thrilling distinctness
the solemn truth which men are so prone to forget
“Thou God seest me
” and
enabling me as never before to realize how open before Him are the hearts and
ways of men
their desires
volitions
actions; and that at last He shall bring
every work into judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil. (Old
Testament Anecdotes.)
Thought of omniscience
A man went to steal corn from his neighbour’s field. He took his
little boy with him to keep a lookout
so as to give warning in case anyone
should come along. Before commencing he looked all around
first one way and
then the other; and not seeing any person he was just about to fill his bag
when the son cried out
“Father
there is one way you haven’t looked yet!” The
father supposed that someone was coming
and asked his son which way he meant.
He answered
“You forgot to look up!” The father
conscience-stricken
took his
boy by the hand
and hurried home without the corn which he had designed to
take.
Power of the eye
Mazzini’s soul was an inner lamp
shining through him always. Here
was the strength of his personal influence. You could not doubt his glance. (Thousand
New Illustrations.)
Perfection of omniscience
Is this universe an unsurveyed and solitary waste? Do you fancy
there is no presence to cheer it
nor eye to look upon it forever? There is an
eye whose vision is spread all over this amazing scene. There is a mind present
unto it in all its illimitable extent. The Eternal One at the same moment
converses with its immeasurably remote extremes. There is a mind to whose
intelligence all this amazing vast of worlds on worlds
and suns on suns
and
systems on systems
is distinctly apparent. Every atom in this magnificent immensity
whether sinking in its depths or aspiring in its heights
whether resting on
its axis or whirling on its verge
is watched by the intense and eternal
scrutiny of the omnipresent and omniscient God. (Bishop Hamline.)
God is ever near
The people of God
if they read nature aright
might learn much
from even her humblest page; for the bending grass has a voice as distinct
if
not as loud
as the sturdy oak. Myriad voices ever testify that God is near.
This truth was found beautifully realized a little while ago by one of the
agents of the London City Mission
who was visiting in one of those courts
where the houses are crowded with inhabitants
and where every room is the
dwelling of a family. In a lone room at the top of one of these houses the
agent met with an aged woman
whose scanty pittance of half-a-crown a week was
scarcely sufficient for her bare subsistence. He observed
in a broken teapot
that stood in the window
a strawberry plant
growing and flourishing. He
remarked
from time to time
how it continued to grow
and with what jealous
care it was watched and tended. “Your plant flourishes nicely; you will soon
have strawberries upon it.” “Oh
sir
” replied the woman
“it is not for the
sake of the fruit that I grow it.” “Then why do you take so much care of it?”
he inquired. “Well
sir
” was the answer
“I am very poor
too poor to keep any
living creature; but it is a great comfort to me to have that living plant; for
I know it can only live by the power of God; and as I see it live and grow from
day to day
it tells me that God is near.” “Thou God seest me.” A young
Christian lady was laid on a sick bed. She was often unprotected and alone. One
night very late
as she was lying awake on her bed
her family all asleep in
their rooms around
a man was seen by her entering her door. He stopped a
moment after he had gained entrance
her little night lamp shining on them both
from the stand by her bedside. He saw this sick girl surveying him with perfect
tranquillity. She raised her finger
pointing upward
and said
“Do you know
that God sees you?” The man waited a moment
but made no reply
and then turned
and walked immediately out
having opened no other door than the street door
and the door of her chamber. Thus God interposed and defended her by the
weakest instrument
but with the mightiest power. “Thou God seest me.”
When the great Phidias had completed his reclining statue of Theseus
someone
knowing that the statue was to occupy an elevated position in the temple
and
observing that the back of the masterpiece was as highly polished and as
carefully completed as was the front
asked why such waste of time and energy
when no one would ever see whether it was finished or in the rough. The
sculptor calmly and reverently replied
“Men may not see it
but the gods
will.” Our every act is under the inspection of the living God. (Christian
Age.)
One of God’s ambassadors
It presented a difficulty to the mind of the Emperor Trajan
that
God should be everywhere and yet not be seen by mortal eye. “You teach me
”
said the Emperor
on one occasion
to Rabbi Joshua
“that your God is
everywhere; and you boast that He resides among your nation. I should like to
see Him.” “God’s presence is indeed everywhere
” said the Rabbi
“but He cannot
be seen. No mortal eye can behold His glory.” The Emperor insisted. “Well
”
said Joshua; “but suppose we go first
and look at one of His ambassadors.” The
emperor assented. The rabbi took him into the open air. It was noonday; and he
bade him look on the sun
blazing in its meridian splendour. “I cannot see
”
said Trajan; “the light dazzles me.” Said the rabbi
“Thou art unable to bear
the light of one of these creatures; how
then
could’st thou look upon the
Creator? Would not such a light annihilate thee?”
God counts
A plate of sweet cakes was brought in and laid upon the table. Two
children played upon the hearth rug before the fire. “Oh
I want one of those
cakes!” cried the little boy
jumping up as soon as his mother went out
and
going on tiptoe towards the table. “No
no
” said his sister
pulling him back
“you must not touch.” “Mother won’t know it; she did not count them
” he cried
shaking her off and stretching out his hand. “If she didn’t perhaps God
counted
” answered the other. The little boy’s hand was stayed. Yes
children
be sure God counts. (Children’s Missionary Record.)
God sees us through Christ
“Thou God seest me” is a very unwelcome thought to a great many
men
and it will be so
unless we can give it the modification which it
receives from belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ
and feel sure that the
eyes which are blazing with Divine Omniscience are dewy with Divine and human
love. (A. Maclaren
D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》