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2
Chronicles Chapter Sixteen
2 Chronicles 16
Chapter Contents
Asa seeks the aid of the Syrians
His death.
A plain and faithful reproof was given to Asa by a
prophet of the Lord
for making a league with Syria. God is displeased when he
is distrusted
and when an arm of flesh is relied on
more than his power and
goodness. It is foolish to lean on a broken reed
when we have the Rock of ages
to rely upon. To convince Asa of his folly
the prophet shows that he
of all
men
had no reason to distrust God
who had found him such a powerful Helper.
The many experiences we have had of the goodness of God to us
aggravate our
distrust of him. But see how deceitful our hearts are! we trust in God when we
have nothing else to trust to
when need drives us to him; but when we have
other things to stay on
we are apt to depend too much on them. Observe Asa's
displeasure at this reproof. What is man
when God leaves him to himself! He
that abused his power for persecuting God's prophet
was left to himself
to
abuse it further for crushing his own subjects. Two years before he died
Asa
was diseased in his feet. Making use of physicians was his duty; but trusting to
them
and expecting that from them which was to be had from God only
were his
sin and folly. In all conflicts and sufferings we need especially to look to
our own hearts
that they may be perfect towards God
by faith
patience
and
obedience.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Chronicles》
2 Chronicles 16
Verse 1
[1] In
the six and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa Baasha king of Israel came up
against Judah
and built Ramah
to the intent that he might let none go out or
come in to Asa king of Judah.
Of the reign —
Or
of the kingdom of Asa
that is
of the kingdom of Judah
which was now
Asa's kingdom; or from the time of the division of the two kingdoms. Rehoboam
reigned seventeen years
Abijah three years
Asa had now reigned fifteen years
all which put together
make up the thirty five years mentioned chap. 15:19
and in the next year Baasha wars against
him; and the ground of the war was the defection of many of his subjects to
Asa
chap. 15:9.
Verse 7
[7] And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah
and said unto
him
Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria
and not relied on the LORD
thy God
therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.
Escaped —
And so reserved to be a scourge to thy kingdom and posterity: whereas if he had
joined with Baasha against thee
thou shouldst have overthrown them both
and
prevented all that mischief which that monarch will do to thy family.
Verse 8
[8] Were
not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host
with very many chariots and
horsemen? yet
because thou didst rely on the LORD
he delivered them into thine
hand.
Lubims —
Either
the Lybians in Africa; or another people
possibly descended from them
but now seated in some part of Arabia.
Verse 9
[9] For
the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth
to shew himself
strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou
hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
Done foolishly — It
is a foolish thing to lean on a broken reed
when we have the rock of ages to
rely upon.
Perfect —
Upright and sincere
as thine is not. He was sincere in the general course of
his life
but some particulars
whereof this is one
his heart did not
perfectly cleave to God.
Verse 12
[12] And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his
feet
until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not
to the LORD
but to the physicians.
Sought not — He
did not humble himself before God
but put his confidence in the skill and
faithfulness of his physicians. His making use of physicians was his duty
but
his trusting in them
and expecting that from them
which was to be had from
God only
was his sin and folly. The help of every creature must be used
with
an eye to the creator
and in dependence on him
who makes every creature that
to us which it is
without whom the most skilful and faithful are physicians of
no value.
Verse 14
[14] And
they buried him in his own sepulchres
which he had made for himself in the
city of David
and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and
divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very
great burning for him.
Burning — Of
precious spices; thereby testifying their respect to him notwithstanding his
miscarriages.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Chronicles》
DOWN-GRADE-ISM
OF ASA.
2 Chronicles 16.
When anyone
gets on the incline of backsliding
he soon finds himself in the road of
departure from God. Thus it was with Asa; one step in the wrong direction
prompted him to take another.
Ⅰ. Asa sought help in the
wrong quarter (verse 2). Instead of going to the King of Syria for help
he
should have gone to the King of Heaven. The man who looks to man for assistance
is cursed (Jer. 17:5)
but he who looks to the Lord is helped indeed (Psalm
121:2). The help of man
like water in a leaky vessel
is sure to run away
whereas the help of the Lord is like a mighty tornado
before which nothing can
stand.
Ⅱ. Asa relied on the wrong
person for aid (verse 7). The king was but as a broken reed for Asa to lean
upon; no wonder
therefore
that he came to the ground to his hurt. To rely on
the Lord is to have the arm of the Living God to uphold us
as Asa had
experienced when he trusted in the Lord on a previous occasion (verse 8). To
trust in the Lord is the secret of a holy life (Gal.2:20)；the spur to a separate life (Heb.11:8
9); the stimulus to
a useful life (Gideon: Heb.11:32); and the safe-guard of an active life (Paul:
1. Tim.4:10).
Ⅲ. Asa was angry with the
wrong man (verse 10). He should have been angry with himself; instead of that
he was wroth with the prophet. They that are wrong are the first to do wrong.
Ⅳ. Asa’s oppression was in
the wrong place (verse 10). He should have oppressed himself by heartfelt
penitence and confession; instead of that he acted the part of a tyrant in
crushing some of the people.
Ⅴ. Asa consulted the wrong
physician (verse 12). “ He sought not the Lord” is a sad sentence to have
against one’s name. It tells out a life of self-will and self-reliance.
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
16 Chapter 16
Verses 1-14
Verses 1-10
Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasuries of the
house of the Lord.
The folly of bribery
Trust in man
not in God--
I. Led to
sacrilege in religious things. Gifts bestowed or promised with a view to
prevent judgment or corrupt morals abominable. Bribery a canker in constitutional
governments
a disgrace in all departments of life.
II. Brought down
Divine reproof.
III. Defeated its
own ends.
1. Asa missed the opportunity of a double victory. Possible by unnecessary and
improper alliances to hinder our good and prevent God from granting
deliverance.
2. Asa exposed himself to greater danger. Those who bribe and those
bribed not to be depended upon. For gold men will sell their votes
their
conscience
and themselves. Cato complained that M. Coelius the Tribune “might
be hired for a piece of bread to speak or to hold his peace.” (J.
Wolfendale.)
Verse 7
Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria
and not relied on
the Lord.
Asa’s want of faith
Sin like Asa’s has been the supreme apostasy of the Church in all
her branches and through all her generations: Christ has been denied
not by
lack of devotion
but by want of faith. Champions of the faith
reformers and
guardians of the temple
like Asa
have been eager to attach to their holy
cause the cruel prejudices of ignorance and folly
the greed and vindictiveness
of selfish men. They have feared lest these potent forces should be arrayed
amongst the enemies of the Church and her Master. It has even been suggested
that national Churches and great national vices were so intimately allied that
their supporters were content that they should stand or fall together. On the
other hand
the advocates of reform have not been slow to appeal to popular
jealousy and to aggravate the bitterness of social feuds. (W. H.
Bennett
M.A.)
Verse 9
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole
earth.
Divine providence
We need not concern ourselves with the occasion on which these
words were uttered. Spoken by a prophet to Asa
king of Judah
they have been
“recorded for our instruction.” The representation sets forth Divine things
under human similitudes. Now it can hardly be necessary that we expose the
falseness of the opinion that having created this world God left it to itself
and bestows no thought on its concerns. But whilst there are few who hold the
opinion
there are many who would limit the providence of God; and it is very
easy to put forward descriptions of the magnitude and the power of the Creator
and then to set in contrast the insignificance of man
and to argue from the
comparison that it is derogatory to the greatness of God to suppose Him careful
of what befalls a house-hold or happens to an individual. But this is poor
reasoning; it would not hold good if applied amongst ourselves. If it were
possible that a great statesman or potentate
whilst superintending the
concerns of an empire
should yet find time for ministering at the bedside of
sickness
and be active for the widow and the orphan: well
what would you
say--that it was derogatory to him that
without neglecting momentous things
he showed himself capable of attending to things comparatively petty? Nay
you
would admire and you would venerate him all the more. Neither is it
derogatory--nay
rather
it is essential to the greatness of our God--that
whilst He marshals the stars and orders the motions of all the worlds in
immensity
He yet feedeth the young ravens that call upon Him
and numbereth
the very hairs of our head. But now we will bring this truth before you in
greater minuteness
and show what is involved in the saying
“The eyes of the
Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
I. We may first
alarm it evident that nothing can happen in any spot of the peopled immensity
which is not known to Him who is emphatically the Omniscient--indeed
it were
to deny the omniscience of God to suppose any the most trivial incident not
included within His knowledge. And it is far more than the inspection of an
ever-vigilant observer. It is not merely that nothing can happen without the
knowledge of our Maker: it is that nothing can happen but by His appointment or
permission
for we must ever remember that God is the first cause
and that on
the first all secondary depend. But how beautifully simple does everything
appear when we trace one hand in all that occurs! It is God whose energies are
extended throughout the earth and sea and air
causing those innumerable and
beneficial results which we ascribe to nature; it is God by whom all those
contingencies which seem to us fortuitous and casual are ordered
so that
events brought round by what men count accident proceed from a Divine and
therefore irreversible appointment. It is God by whom the human will is
secretly inclined towards righteousness
so that there is not wrought upon earth a single action such
as God can approve
to whose performance God hath not instigated. It is God who
acting through the instrumentality of various and apparently conflicting causes
keeps
together the discordant elements of society
and prevents the whole framework
of civil institutions from being rapidly dissolved and broken up piecemeal. I
know that it is not the monarch alone at the head of his provinces and tribes
who is observed by the Almighty; I know that it is not only at some great
crisis in life that an individual becomes the object of the attention of his
Maker; rather do I know that the poorest
the meanest
the most despised
the
very outcast of society
shares with the monarch the notice of the Universal
Protector. Yea
and that this notice is so incessant and so unwearied
that
when he goes to his daily toil
or his daily prayer
when he lies down at
night
or rises in the morning
or gathers his little ones to the scanty meal
the poor man is not unnoticed by God; he cannot weep a tear God knows not
he
cannot smile a smile God knows not
he cannot breathe a wish God knows not. But
whilst the universal providence of God is to the full as incomprehensible as
aught else that belongs to Divinity
there is nothing in it but what commends
itself to the very warmest feelings of our nature.
II. We come now to
the second doctrine laid down in our text--that all the motions of providence
have for their ultimate end the good of those whose heart is perfect towards
God. And you may examine this doctrine under two points of view--as referring
either to the Church at large
or separately to the individuals of whom that
Church is composed. With Scripture for our guide
we must see that God’s
design
in all His dealings with this earth
has been the glorifying Himself in
the redemption and final exaltation of a vast number of our apostate race.
Before Christ appeared amongst men
the whole course of human events was so
ordered as to prepare the way for the promised Deliverer. If God sent His own
Son to deliver man from the consequences of transgression
and to extirpate
evil from the universe
we cannot doubt the objects which engaged so stupendous
an interposition must still be those to whose furtherance the Divine dealings
tend. There can be no other objects commensurate in importance with those
for
no others have required so costly a process; and since these as yet have been
only partially attained
we must justly conclude that their thorough
accomplishment is the proposed end of all the dealings of providence. The globe
was partitioned out with a view to the Church
this land assigned to one nation
and that to another
with the set purpose of consulting by the distribution the
well-being of Israel. It is as though the Psalmist had said that God directs
all the tumults and confusions of the world
guiding the flood with holy and
merciful intentions towards His people
that the turbid waters may bring them
strength and peace. Why is it that the Church has outlived so many a fierce
persecution--that in the place of being vanquished she is only to be
invigorated by assault? We ascribe nothing to the native energies of the
preachers or professors of Christianity: we ascribe everything to the
protecting and fostering care of Him who so loved the world as to give His Son.
And it is not only in reference to the Church at large that we are warranted in
thus speaking of God’s providence. Of each member in this Church we may declare
that God watches sedulously over him with the express design of succouring him
with all needful assistance. You learn from various portions of Holy Writ that
God has a great interest in the righteous
so that the Lord’s portion is said
to be His people
and Jacob the lot of His inheritance. He now calls His people
His jewels
and declares that whosoever toucheth them toucheth the apple of His
eye. We know that many things may happen to the righteous which seem against
them
and that it is easy to find in their disasters apparent exceptions to the
truth affirmed by the text; yet who that knows anything of Christian experience
would deny that the trials which are permitted to overtake the godly serve as
means through which their spiritual well-being is advanced
and afford
occasions for such communications of grace as prove that God’s strength is made
perfect in weakness? It is no proof that the eye of the Lord is not on the
righteous that troubles may be found in their portion. When again this man is
visited with calamity
death may make inroads in his household
and disorder
may pervade his affairs; but the eyes of the Lord are incessantly on him
and
if he will but seek his comfort in God
God will show Himself strong by giving
him a peace which passeth all understanding. And if anything can encourage the
righteous man
and give him confidence amid the onsets of trial
it must be the
consideration that the providence of the Almighty is thus perpetually vigilant
in his behalf. (H. MeLvill
B.D.)
The eyes of the Lord
I. What we are to
understand by the eyes of the Lord. This is figurative. It designs His
all-seeing providence; and that
as concerned in a special manner with His own
people (Zechariah 3:9; Zechariah 4:10). The eyes of the Lord
as
they are set upon His own people
are like the eyes of doves--expressive of
mildness
gentleness
tenderness
and love; but as they are set upon wicked
men
His eyes are as flames of fire--expressive of wrath and vengeance (Amos 9:4-8; Psalms 34:15).
II. In what sense
these are said to run to and fro throughout the whole earth. This is expressive
of His watchfulness over His people (Jeremiah 31:28). As those who are
watchful look here and there
and are very diligent in their observations
so
the Lord watches over His people.
1. To help them.
2. To counter-work the adversary (Job 1:7).
III. The end of
their running thus. To show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart
is perfect toward Him.
1. The descriptive character: “perfect toward Him”; that is
sincere
and upright. Where there is “love out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned” (1 Timothy 1:5) the heart may be said
to be perfect.
2. The exertion of Divine power on their behalf. (J. Gill
D. D.)
The eyes of the Lord
In Scripture these signify--
I. His knowledge (Job 34:21; Hebrews 4:13).
II. His providence.
1. For good (1 Kings 6:3; Psalms 32:8).
2. For evil (Isaiah 3:8). (S. Charnock
B.D.)
God’s providence-a description
and its end
I. The description
of God’s providence.
1. Its immediateness: “His eyes.” Not like princes
who see by their
servants’ eyes
more than by their own
what is done in their kingdoms; His
care is immediate.
2. Its quickness and speed: “run.”
3. Its extent: “the whole earth.”
4. Its diligence: “to and fro.” His care is repeated.
5. Its efficacy. His care doth engage His strength.
II. The end of
providence. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The foundations of the doctrine of providence
I. God hath an
indisputable and peculiar right to the government of the world. This right is
founded upon--
1. That of creation.
2. The excellency of His being. Every man hath a natural right to
rule another in his own art and skill wherein he excels him.
II. God only is
qualified for the universal government of the world. God only is fit in regard
of--
1. Power.
2. Holiness and righteousness. All disorder is the effect of
unrighteousness.
3. Knowledge.
4. Patience.
III. There can be no
reason rendered why God should not actually govern the world
since He only
hath a right and a fitness.
IV. God doth
actually preserve and govern the world.
1. Nothing is acted in the world without God’s knowledge. The vision of
the wheels in Ezekiel presents us with an excellent portraiture of providence (Ezekiel 1:18).
2. Nothing is acted in the world without the will of God (Ephesians 1:11; Psalms 135:6).
3. Nothing doth subsist without God’s care and power. (S.
Charnock
B. D.)
The universality of God’s providence
I. It is over all
creatures.
1. The highest.
2. The meanest. As the sun’s light
so God’s providence
disdains not
the meanest worms.
II. It extends to
all the actions and motions of the creature.
1. To natural actions. How do fish serve several coasts at several
seasons? why do plants that grow between a barren and a fruitful soil shoot all
their roots towards the moist and fruitful ground
but by a secret direction of
providential wisdom?
2. To civil actions. Counsels of men are ordered by Him to other ends
than what they aim at
and which their wisdom cannot discover.
3. To preternatural actions. God doth command creatures to do those
things which are no way suitable to their inclinations (1 Kings 17:4; Jonah 2:10; Daniel 3:1-30).
4. To all supernatural and miraculous actions of the creatures. As when
the sun went backward in Hezekiah’s time
and when it stood still in the valley
of Ajalon.
5. To all fortuitous actions. The whole disposing of the lot which is
east into the lap is of the Lord (Proverbs 16:33).
6. To all voluntary actions. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The mysteriousness of God’s providence
I. His ways are
above human methods. Dark providences are often the groundwork of some
excellent piece He is about to discover to the world. His methods are like a
plaited picture
which on the one side represents a negro and the other a
beauty.
II. His ends are of
a higher strain than the aims of men. Who would have thought that the forces
Cyrus raised against Babylon
to satisfy his own ambition
should be a means to
deliver the Israelites and restore the worship of God in the temple?
III. God hath
several ends in the same action. Jacob is oppressed with famine
Pharaoh
enriched with plenty
but Joseph’s imprisonment is in order to his father’s
relief and Pharaoh’s wealth.
IV. God has more
remote ends than short-sighted souls are able to espy. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The providence of God
I. The wisdom of
God would not be so perspicuous were there not a providence in the world. A
musician discovers more skill in the touching an instrument
and ordering the
strings
to sound what note he pleaseth
than he doth in the first framing and
making of it (Isaiah 28:29). All God’s providences are
but His touch of the strings of this great instrument of the world.
II. The means
whereby God’s acts discover a providence. He acts--
1. By small means.
(a) In the deliverance of a people or person. A dream was the occasion
of Joseph’s greatness. He used the cacklings of geese to save the Roman Capitol
from a surprise by the Gauls.
(b) In the salvation of the soul. Our Saviour Himself
though God
was so mean in
the eyes of the world that He calls Himself “a worm
and no man” (Psalms 22:6). The world is saved by a
crucified Christ.
2. By contrary means. God makes contrary things contribute to His
glory
as contrary colours in a picture do to the beauty of the piece. In some
engines you shall see wheels have contrary motions
and yet all in order to one
and the same end. God cured those by a brazen serpent which were stung by the
fiery ones
whereas brass (according to Grotius) is naturally hurtful to those
that are bit by serpents. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
A supreme providence the only explanation of many actions
and events in the world:--This is evidenced--
I. By the
restraints upon the passions of men. How strangely did God qualify the hearts
of the Egyptians willingly to submit to the sale of their land
when they might
have risen in a tumult
broke open the granaries
and supplied their wants (Genesis 47:19; Genesis 47:21).
II. By the sudden
changes which are made upon the spirits of men for the preservation of others (Genesis 33:4; 1 Samuel 24:17-18; 2 Chronicles 18:31; Esther 6:1-2).
III. In causing
enemies to do things for others which are contrary to all rules of policy. The
Jews in the worst of their captivities were often befriended by their
conquerors
to rebuild their city and re-edify their temple
and at the charge
of their conquerors too (Ezra 1:1-2; Ezra 1:7; Ezra 4:12; Ezra 4:15; Ezra 4:19; Ezra 6:4-5; Ezra 6:8-9; Ezra 6:11; Ezra 6:22; Nehemiah 2:8).
IV. In infatuating
the counsels of men (Isaiah 33:11; 2 Samuel 17:14).
V. In making the
counsels of men subservient to the very ends they design against (Genesis 11:4; Genesis 11:8; John 12:32).
VI. In making the
fancies of men subservient to their own ruin (2 Kings 3:22-23; 2 Kings 7:6; 7:19-22). (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The unequal distributions of providence-a question
If there be a providence
how come those unequal distributions to
happen in the world?
I. Answer in
general.
1. Is it not a high presumption for ignorance to judge God’s
proceedings?
2. God is sovereign of the world. Why should a finite understanding
prescribe measures and methods to an infinite Majesty?
3. God is wise and just
and knows how to distribute. If we question
His providence
we question His wisdom. We see the present dispensations
but
are we able to understand the internal motives?
4. There is a necessity for some seeming inequality
at least
in
order to the good government of the world. The afflictions of good men are a
foil to set off the beauty of God’s providence in the world.
5. Unequal distributions do not argue carelessness. A father may give
one child a gayer coat than he gives another
yet he extends his fatherly care
and tenderness over all.
6. Upon due consideration the inequality will not appear so great as
the complaint of it. A running sore may lie under a purple robe. As some are
stripped of wealth and power
so they are stripped of their incumbrances they
bring with them.
II. Answer more
particularly.
1. It is not well with bad men here.
2. Neither is it bad here with goodmen.
(a) Sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them (Psalms 37:19; Psalms 37:39; 2 Timothy 4:17; 2 Corinthians 1:5; 1 Peter 4:13-14).
(b) Inward improvements
opportunities to manifest more love to God
more dependence on Him
the perfection of the soul (1 Timothy 5:5; Job 22:10).
(c) Future glory.
(d) Suffering of good men for the truth highly glorifies the
providence of God (1 Peter 4:16).
(e) This argument is stronger for a day of reckoning after this life
than against providence. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The unworthiness and absurdity of denying providence
I. The evil of
denying providence.
1. It gives a liberty to all sin. What may not be done where there is
no government?
2. It destroys all religion.
3. It is a high disparagement of God.
4. It is clearly against natural light. Socrates could say
“Whosoever denied providence was possessed with a devil.”
II. The grounds of
the denial of providence. This is founded--
1. Upon an overweening conceit of men’s own worth. When men saw
themselves frustrated of the rewards they expected
and saw others that were
instruments of tyranny and lust graced with the favours they thought due to
their own virtue
they ran into a conceit that God did not mind the actions of
men below.
2. Upon pedantical and sensual notions of God. As though it might
detract from His pleasures and delight to look down upon this world
or as
though it were a molestation of an infinite power to busy Himself about the
cares of sublunary things.
3. On a flattering conceit of the majesty of God.
4. On their wishes upon any gripes of conscience. Those in Zephaniah
were first settled upon their lees
and then to drive away all fears of
punishment
deny God’s government (Zephaniah 1:12). Some men
upon a sense
of guilt
wish
for their own security
there were no providential eye to
inspect them.
III. The various
ways wherein men practically deny providence
or abuse it
or contemn it.
1. When they will walk on in a contrary way to checks of Providence.
2. In omissions of prayer (Psalms 14:2; 2 Kings 1:3; Job 15:4).
3. When men will turn every stone to gain the favourable assistance
of men in their designs
and never address to God for His direction or blessing
(Job 35:9-10; 2 Chronicles 16:7; 2 Chronicles 16:12; Proverbs 3:5).
4. When upon receiving any good they make more grateful
acknowledgment to the instruments than to God
the principal author of it (Isaiah 10:13-14; Daniel 5:23; Hebrews 1:16).
5. When we use indirect courses and dishonest ways to gain wealth or
honour.
6. When we distrust God when there is no visible means (Isaiah 51:12-13; Psalms 52:7)
7. Stoutness
under God’s afflicting or merciful hand
is a denial or
contempt-providence (Daniel 5:23; Hosea 7:9; Isaiah 22:12-13).
8. Envy is also a denial of providence.
9. Impatience under cross providence is a denial and contempt of
God’s government (Isaiah 8:21-22).
10. In charging our sins and miscarriages by them upon Providence (Proverbs 19:3).
11. Many other ways.
Belief in Providence a source of comfort
I. Man is a
special object of Providence (Genesis 1:26).
II. Holy men a more
special object of it (Psalms 33:18; Psalms 37:23; text).
III. Hence will
follow that the spirits of good men have sufficient grounds to bear up in them
innocent sufferings and storms in the world (Hebrews 6:10).
IV. Hence follows a
certain security against a good man’s want (Psalms 34:10; 1 Timothy 4:8). (S. Charnock
B.
D.)
Our duty in regard to Providence
I. To seek
everything we need at the hands of God.
II. To trust
Providence.
1. In the greatest extremities.
2. In the way of means.
3. In the way of precept. Let not any reliance upon an ordinary
providence induce us into any way contrary to the command (Psalms 37:5).
4. Solely
without prescribing any methods to Him.
III. To submit to
Providence: for--
1. Whatsoever God doth
He doth wisely.
2. God discovers His mind to us by providences (Luke 7:22; Acts 5:38-39).
IV. To murmur not
at Providence.
V. To study
Providence.
1. Universally.
2. Regularly.
3. Entirely.
4. Calmly.
5. Seriously.
6. Holily; with a design to that duty Providence calls for (Isaiah 22:12).
7. Ascribe the glory of every providence to God. (S. Charnock
B.
D.)
Providence follows the rule of Scripture
Whatsoever was written was written for the Church’s comfort (Romans 15:4); whatsoever is acted in
order to anything written is acted for the Church’s good. All the providences
of God in the world are conformable to His declarations in His Word.
I. All good things
are for the good of the Church.
1. The world.
2. The gifts and common graces of men in the world.
3. Angels.
II. All bad things
are for their good.
1. Bad persons.
2. Bad things.
(a) A man’s own sin. Onesimus runs from his master
and finds a
spiritual father. God makes the remainder of sin in a good man an occasion to
exercise His grace
discover his strength
and show his loyalty to God.
(b) Other men’s sins. The revengeful threatening of Esau was the
occasion of Jacob’s flight
which saved him from possible idolatry (Genesis 27:43; Genesis 27:46).
Providence glorifies God’s grace in Christ
I. All the
providence of God is for the glorifying His grace in Christ (Ephesians 1:10; Ephesians 1:22-23).
II. God hath given
the power of providential administration of things to Christ
for the good of
the Church.
III. God in the
Church discovers the glory of all His attributes. What wisdom
power
sufficiency
grace
and kindness He hath is principally for them.
IV. There is a
peculiar relation of God in Christ to the Church
upon which account this
doctrine must needs be true. God is a father to provide for them (Isaiah 64:8); a mother to suckle them (Isaiah 49:15); Christ is a husband to
love and protect them (Ephesians 5:29); a brother to counsel
them (John 20:17).
V. The whole
interest of God in the world
lies in His Church and people.
VI. It cannot be
but all the providences of God shall work to the good of His Church
if we
consider the affections of God.
1. His love.
2. His delight (Zephaniah 3:17).
VII. The presence of
God in His Church will make all providences tend to the good of it.
VIII. The prayers of
the Church have a mighty force with God to this end; because--
1. God delights in the prayers of His people.
2. Prayer is nothing
else but a pleading of God’s promises.
3. They are the united supplications and pleadings both in heaven and
earth.
Use
I. For
information.
1. God will always have a Church in the world.
2. God will
in the greatest exigencies
find out means for the
protection of His Church.
3. The Church shall
in the end
prove victorious against all its
adversaries
or Providence must miss its aim.
4. The interest of nations is to bear a respect to the Church
and
countenance the worship of God in it.
5. We may see hence
the ground of most of the judgments in the world.
6. What esteem
then
should there be of the godly in the world!
7. It is
then
a very foolish thing for any to contend against the
welfare of God’s people.
Use
II. For comfort.
1. In duties and special services.
2. In meanness and lowness.
3. In the greatest judgments upon others.
4. In His people’s greatest extremities (Isaiah 43:2; Psalms 91:4; John 6:17-18).
5. In fear of wants.
6. In the low estate of the Church at any time.
Use
III. If the
providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of the Church--
1. Fear not the enemies of the Church.
2. Censure not God in His dark providences.
3. Inquire into providence and interpret all public providences by this
rule.
4. Consider the former providences God hath wrought for the Church in
past ages.
5. Act faith in God’s providences.
6. Wait upon God in His providence.
7. Pray for the Church.
8. When you receive any mercy for the Church in answer to prayer give
God the glory of it.
9. Imitate God in His affection to the Church.
10. Look after sincerity before God. (S. Charnock
B. D.)
The look of God
I. God looks upon
all things distinctly. He looks upon every parcel and opens the whole pack of
human affairs.
II. He beholds
every thing and person perfectly
fully
quite through.
III. In seeing he
governs everything effectually
and works it to His own ends.
IV. He seeth all
things together. (J. Caryl.)
God’s loving providence over His people
There is something sadly natural in the conduct of Asa as
described in the context. It is so hard for us to feel that our interests are
secure unless we are manipulating them ourselves. A soldier in the battle
seizes yonder knoll
driving off with his superior valour the enemies who were
holding it. It is nobly done
and it will be well if the plan of his general
includes the capture of that knoll. But if not
when the tide of battle rolls off in another
direction
the valiant soldier will be left unsupported in the midst of the
returning enemies. How many men have been utterly undone by the accomplishment
of their own plans
through their own vast industry and heroic enterprise
simply
because they had not made their plans subordinate to the purposes of God
the
supreme commandant of every life. Keep your eye upon the pillar of fire and
cloud which moves over the desert!
I. How eagerly
then
God consults the welfare of his people.
II. How minutely
careful of us is God.
III. How complete is
God’s supervision of our welfare. (J. M. Ludlow
D.D.)
Divine Providence
The term “Providence
” as now commonly applied to God
does not
occur in Holy Scripture. It occurs only in two passages in the Apocrypha
viz.
Wisdom of Solomon 14:3; Wisdom of Solomon 17:3. It is
nevertheless
a term convenient and proper for the statement of a Scriptural
doctrine. By those of the ancient philosophers who admitted the existence of a
God
or of a plurality of gods
terms of correspondent grammatical import were
employed
to express that Divine superintendence by which all things in the
material creation were fitted and directed to their proper ends
and by which
the universe was kept from falling back into that state of chaos which was
supposed to have preceded the present orderly and beauteous frame of things.
After their example
we have learned to employ the term “Providence
” for the
purpose of describing “the conduct and direction of the several parts of the
universe by a superintending and intelligent Being.” My purpose is to invite
your attention to such views of the providence of God as more immediately
affect the higher interests of man.
I. First
then
we
inquire into the general proofs evincing a Divine providence.
1. The first of these proofs is drawn from the moral fitness and
necessity of such a Providence. The Psalmist teaches us he is a “fool” who says
“There is no God”; and surely he is not less so who
professing to believe in
the existence of such a God as the Jehovah of the Scriptures
can say
“There
is no Providence.” Some writers on this subject have gone so far as to assert
that
in the abstract
the idea of a God without a providence involves a
contradiction. But the truth of that position may be reasonably questioned. It
we suppose a God
invested with no higher attributes than those which were applied
to the false deities of ancient heathenism
where is the folly of farther
supposing Him to dwell in a remote and selfish seclusion from terrestrial
things? In this respect
the followers of Epicurus gave good proof of their
consistency at least when
believing only in such gods as those referred to
they not only denied them to be the governors
but also the creators
of the
world; it being
as they rightly judged
but reasonable to conclude that such
gods had neither the wisdom nor the power to create
or govern
such a world as
this. And they were equally consistent when
having no distinct notion of any
intelligent Being to whom the lofty attributes of eternal existence and
universal power might be considered as pertaining
they attributed eternity to
matter
and give the empire of the world to chance. Were there in reality no
higher object of worship than the daemon-gods of Greece and Rome
and were
there
consequently
no Providence but such as these gods might be supposed to
be capable of exercising
it were surely consistent with good reason and
benevolence at least to wish the sceptre of the world’s dominion might be
wrested from their grasp
and that
rather than be subject to such rule
the
course of nature and of all events might be committed to the sportive dance of
atoms and the blind rush of accidental causes. But if
as taught in Scripture
we acknowledge
as the first cause of all created things
a Being absolutely
perfect
and therefore infinite in wisdom
in goodness
and in power
we must
at the same time admit a Divine Providence as still sustaining and governing
the universe which He has made; and especially we must admit there is a
Providence
to administer and overrule the affairs and interests of men. Much
as it has laboured on that point
“the wisdom of this world” presents us with
no principles which can at all suffice to show how anything created can even
continue to exist unless by a perpetual exertion of wisdom and power on the
part of Him who first called it into being; or how
upon the supposition that
the Divine guidance and support should be withdrawn
the world could do
otherwise than immediately sink back into the nothingness from which it
originally sprung. Even supposing the material creation
in “the dew” of its
“morning
” and in the beauty of its primaeval excellence
to have received the
impression of such properties and laws as would have been sufficient
but for
the positive intervention of some disturbing cause
to perpetuate its existence
and its order
yet we cannot contemplate the character and aspect of the world
as it exists at present
and especially we cannot contemplate its moral
character and aspect
without perceiving the necessity of a Divine Providence
to counteract the evils which have gained access to it. That the universal
Creator should leave
without a providence
a world like this
in which evil of
all kinds has won so large and terrible a sway
and in which there are so many
fearful tendencies to universal mischief and confusion
would neither be consistent
with wisdom
nor goodness
nor justice
on any other supposition than that of
man’s having been judiciously abandoned
without hope of redemption
to reap
the natural fruit of his own evil and rebellious doings.
2. The second proof of a Divine Providence is found in the positive
and repeated testimony of Holy Writ.
3. A third proof evincing a Divine Providence is found in certain
miraculous attestations which have occasionally marked its interposition. We
are enabled to point out numerous occasions on which God has come forth from
the “hiding-place” in which He usually dwells and carries on His operations and
has shown Himself
as it is stated in my text
by tokens which could not but be
seen
and which could not be mistaken. There is the flood coming on “the world
of the ungodly
” whilst Noah and his family
being “warned of God
” are
directed to the means
of their exemption from the general destruction. We point to “the cities of the
plain
turned into ashes by fire and brimstone
which the Lord rained upon them
out of heaven
” whilst righteous Lot is escorted by angelic attendants to a
place of safety. We will exhibit to him the long roll of those “mighty acts and
wonders” which are displayed in the history of the Israelitish people. We
contemplate the strange deliverance of Daniel and his three countrymen from the
power of savage beasts and from the rage of the devouring flame. We will show
him how Nature herself--the imaginary deity whom infidels pretend to
worship--has in many instances forgotten her own laws
and been arrested
or
even turned backwards
in her course; and we will challenge him to show us how
these stupendous anomalies are to be accounted for
unless upon the supposition
that in these instances there was the interposition of a Power superior to
anything that has ever been understood by the term Nature--an interposition
which must necessarily lead us to admit the providence for which we are
contending.
II. The general
characteristics of that Divine Providence which is demonstrated to exist.
1. This Providence is universal
“for the eyes of the Lord run to and
fro throughout the whole earth.” By a universal Providence we mean a Providence
which is at the same time general and particular. Indeed a Providence which is
Divine must necessarily bear both these characteristics. No argument can be
adduced in favour of the one which is not equally applicable in favour of the
other; and we cannot exclude either of them from our notion of that Providence
by which the world is governed without admitting into our notion of the Deity
by whom that providence is exercised an imperfection of which He is incapable.
For
in excluding either a general or a particular Providence
we necessarily
suppose some portion of our world
of greater or less extent
from which the
Divine presence and care are totally excluded. It is true that we are utterly
confounded in every attempt we make to estimate the wisdom and power and
condescension which are required to be in constant exercise
in order to the
maintenance of an inspection so vast in its extent
and yet so minute in its
details. But from this feeling of astonishment no objection would arise against
the doctrine either of a general or a particular Providence
were it not for
those monstrously absurd comparisons which we are wont to institute between the
Almighty and ourselves
together with our strange forgetfulness of the
important truth that God is everywhere present at one and the same time; and
that to One whose knowledge and power are subject to no bound or imperfection
it must be quite as easy to attend to many things
however numerous or
complicated they may be
as to attend to only one.
2. A second characteristic of the providence of God is its
beneficence. In all its operations it regards
as its final object
the welfare
of mankind in general; and as far as may be found consistent with that object
the welfare of individuals in particular. This general purpose of beneficence
is to a great degree apparent in the general provision which is made for human
sustenance and comfort. It is impossible to view the astonishing arrangements
which everywhere display themselves
for the supply of “food convenient for
us
” and for the general preservation of our race
without being prompted to
exclaim
“Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; Thy paths drop fatness.”
And the moral ends contemplated by a Providence which is thus mindful of our
bodily necessities
and of our humblest natural infirmities
must be
in even
more than an equal degree
characterised by a pure and infinite beneficence.
There may at first
indeed
appear to be something almost incompatible with
such a doctrine
in the affliction and misery which desolate the earth. But the
difficulty arising on that ground is easily resolved by such considerations as
the following:
3. A third characteristic of Divine Providence is its mysteriousness.
I do not say that there is any mystery as to the general object which that
Providence regards. We have already “seen the end of the Lord
that He is
pitiful and of great mercy.” But of the course which He pursues to the
attainment of that end
it may frequently be said
that “His path is in the
whirlwind
and His way in the great deep
and His footsteps are not known.” And
surely a Providence which is Divine must necessarily
in the detail of many of
its plans and operations
appear to be mysterious to creatures so short-sighted
as we are. It is certainly right
because perfectly consistent with just
notions of the God whom we adore
that we should acknowledge the existence of
mysteries in providence; but why should we profess to wonder at such mysteries
while there remain so many mysteries in Nature? I have said that the general
principles of the Divine administration of the world are clearly made known.
But I remember the saying of a great man
now no more
that “things pertaining
to God may be mysterious
in proportion as they are revealed”; and I cannot but
feel the application of that paradoxical yet just position to the point which
is before us. Were God a finite being
like ourselves
the revelation of the
principles on which He acts
however vast and comprehensive in their range and
application those principles might be
would not
perhaps
be such as we should
be unable adequately to conceive. But principles which know no limit
in
themselves or in their application
save that which is imposed by the will
or
by the necessity
of a Divine and incomprehensible nature
must necessarily
in
whatever degree they are revealed to us
remain mysterious because of their
infinity; and the more nearly we are enabled to contemplate those principles
the more overpowering--I had almost said
the more bewildering--will be the
effect of their united splendour
both on our mental and spiritual vision. And
then
besides the physical reason to which I have referred
why the providence
of God should in many of its dispensations be mysterious
there is a moral
reason--a reason arising out of the beneficence by which the operations of that
providence are shaped to their intended issue. For were those operations free
from mystery
then would our faith want those trials which constitute its most
important and profitable exercise; and in wanting those trials
it would want
at the same time
the arena on which it wins its brightest victories
and
becomes entitled to its richest and most glorious reward. Think
for example
of the difference which it might have made to Abraham if in his path to the
attainment and confirmation of the promise in regard to his son Isaac
there
had been no adverse hope against which he might continue to “believe in hope
”
and no apparent impossibilities in the midst of which he might still be “strong
in faith
giving glory to God.”
4. There remains to be noticed yet one other characteristic of the
providence of God
and that is
its entire subservience to the purposes of His
redeeming grace. Indeed
it is altogether of that grace that there exists at
all a Providence of such a character; in other words
had there been no
redeeming grace
then no such Providence could have existed. No; it is then
only accounted for on principles justly claiming to be considered “rational
”
when it is set forth as the result of “the redemption of the world by our Lord
Jesus Christ.” On the part of persons who maintain a contrary opinion
we
sometimes hear the question
“How can the death of Christ
as an atoning
sacrifice
be made to seem consistent either with perfect justice or with
perfect goodness?” But we may retort that question with another
which they
will find it much more difficult to answer. Suppose our fallen world to have
been left without redemption
and that no means had been devised
in the
counsels of the Divine grace and wisdom
for the recovery of its guilty
population to “the favour and the peace of God
” where then would have been the
consistency--nay
where the possibility
of a Providence so condescending and
beneficent as that which now appears? Or where would have been the actual
benefit to man of a Providence to correct and modify the course of outward things
if he had still been doomed
for want of a Redeemer
to bear for ever the
burden of a guilt for which there was no expiation? But let us take that
doctrine along with us
and we then discover an apt and harmonious reason for
such a Providence
by which its utmost beneficence is justified. And
as that
characteristic of the providence of God which renders it especially dear and
valuable to us originates in
or operates at least as the result of
the
“grace” which “came by Jesus Christ
” so
as already stated
it is ever in
subservience to the purposes of the same grace that its operations are
conducted. It is thus in those extensive operations which involve the character
and fats of nations and empires. It were vain for us to indulge in speculation
as to the objects which Jehovah might contemplate
on the supposition of man’s
having continued in his original uprightness. We have the fact of his departure
from that character into a state of guilty estrangement and hostility. And
taking the world in its present circumstances
and seeing that “God so loved
that world
” fallen as it is
as to “give His only begotten Son” for its
redemption
we may be assured that there can be no object dearer to the heart
of God than that His Son should “see of the travail of His soul and be
satisfied
” in the reception of “the heathen for His inheritance
” and of “the
uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.” As the providence of God thus
stands
and ever must stand
connected with the purposes of His redeeming grace
so it is in those cases where the grace of God specially prevails
that this
Providence specially exerts its powerful and benignant operation; or
as stated
in the text
it is “on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him”
that the Lord “shews Himself strong
” and for their sakes more especially His
“eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” In other words
He is
eminently the God of providence to those who bow before Him
and rejoice in
Him
as the God of comforting and sanctifying grace. Doubtless
this was one of
the great truths designed to be set forth by those numerous providential
interpositions which shed so illustrious a light upon the early history of the
Israelitish people. On this express condition
that they should “have no other
gods before Him
” and that they should “keep His statutes and His judgments
diligently
to do them
” Jehovah engaged on His part to “shew himself strong”
on their behalf
in such a manner as should render them the astonishment and
envy of surrounding nations. And
on the other hand
the judgment so frequently
inflicted on that people during their journeys through the wilderness
and in
the subsequent periods of their history
and more especially their present
wonderful dispersion throughout other nations
go to remind us
with equal
emphasis and certainty
that it is only in proportion as our heart is “perfect
toward Him” that God can be expected to “shew Himself strong” on our behalf. We
thus perceive that the great lesson intended to be taught by all the mighty
acts and wonders which God did for Israel is
that the same God will ever in a
peculiar manner
ears for those who
being Christ’s
are therefore “Abraham’s
seed and heirs according to the promise
” whilst those who are yet “aliens
” or
outcasts from His spiritual Israel
though not excluded entirely from His
providential care
shall still enjoy that care in an inferior degree. It is on
this ground that we discover the foundation of those promises which ensure to
all God’s people
in their individual as well as their collective character
an
adequate supply of all their bodily and temporal necessities. For if
as
intimated in the history of the Jewish people
the providence of God is the
handmaid of His grace
and
as such
is commissioned with the special care of
those “whose heart is perfect toward Him
” then
unless we would again charge
an all-perfect Being with infirmity
it is impossible to avoid the conclusion
that all those things which Nature absolutely needs
and the providing of which
often brings so severe a burden on the mind
“shall (certainly) be added.”
Again
the principle that the operations of God’s providence are subservient to
the purposes of His grace sheds no inconsiderable light upon the mystery which
is “supposed to be presented when
whilst the ungodly “increase in riches
” and
“have more than heart could wish
” the man whose heart
if not absolutely
perfect toward God
is yet
in general
upright and sincere before Him
is
“plagued till the day long
and chastened every morning.” It is not that He who
claims as His own
“the gold and the silver
and the cattle on a thousand
hills
” would merely “for His own pleasure” deny to His people the advantages
of health and riches. But He regards their eternal salvation as being an object
infinitely more important than their worldly comfort
and to this one great
object all others must be subordinate and secondary.
1. In the first place
the doctrine of a Divine Providence
that
Providence being beneficent as well as universal
condemns that excessive
anxiety with which we are so prone to burden and distress ourselves.
2. Secondly
this doctrine inculcates the duty
and when heartily
embraced
it will inspire the feeling
of a grateful acquiescence in our lot
however far removed that lot may be from the circumstances which we should have
chosen for ourselves.
3. More especially
this subject
as connecting the operations of
God’s providence with the purposes of His grace
calls upon us to look well to
it
that our own “hearts are perfect towards Him”; and that
in order to their
being so
they are the subjects of that grace which can alone destroy their
deceitfulness and enmity
and render them a holy and acceptable sacrifice. (J.
Crowther.)
God the guardian of the world
I. That God’s guardianship
of the world is universally inspective “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth.” God sees the whole of a thing. Of those objects
with which we are most acquainted
we know but a little of their outside; the
essence of everything is hid beneath an impenetrable veil from us. Few
indeed
are the things we are permitted to see even the outside of. Space limits us.
Our widest horizon is not a handbreadth to the heavens as compared with the
universe. Duration limits us. Wonderful things were transpiring
even on
planet
ages ere we woke into conscious thought. But neither space nor duration
limits the knowledge of God; He is in all places; He exists through all times.
Whatever is
has been
will be
or can be
are in His eye. All actualities and
possibilities are there. “All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do.” If the eye of a child has sometimes been known to paralyse
the arm and frustrate the intentions of him who has been bent on some criminal deed
how would not the lightning glance of God check thee from all evil?
II. That God’s
guardianship of the world is personally exercised. He does not watch and
superintend the world through the instrumentality of others; His eyes
His own
eyes
are employed. He does not
like human potentates
get a knowledge of His
empire by hearsay and report
but by His own personal inspection. It is a
glorious truth that God Himself is in our world. He is not merely here by
representation. He does not look after the universe as parents after their
children
merchants after their business
monarchs after their dominions--by
proxy. He employs others
it is true
but He is with them and in them--the
force of all causes
the motive of all motives. Nor is He here merely by influence
just as the author is in the book
or as the telegraphic officer is at the time
wherever he transmits his message. Those heavenly bodies
which fill thoughtful
minds
as they “gaze upon them shining
” with unutterable emotions
and seem to
engulf the spirit into their own immeasurable vastness
we are told
radiate
and revolve by law. Man is born
sustained
enjoys
suffers
lives
and dies
by “laws.” Blessed thought! the great Father of the world is here
not merely
by representation
or influence
but in person. The world has not only His
agents and His works
but His eyes--His all-seeing Self is here.
III. That God’s
guardianship of the world is morally designed. Why does He thus so sedulously
and constantly guard the world? “To shew Himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward Him.” God guards the universe for the interests
of the good. It is not material Nature in any of its wondrous combinations of
beauty and sublimity
not blooming landscapes
mighty oceans
starry spheres
revolving worlds
or refulgent systems
that interest Him most. No; it is His
adopted ones
His loving children
though little and afflicted
that engage His
sympathies. He says
in effect
“I keep up the machinery of the universe only
for the good of My children. I have no affection for it
‘but for the saints
that are in the earth
in whom is all My delight’: wherever they are
‘ Mine
eyes and My heart shall be there perpetually.’” This subject teaches--
1. The true spirit of life. If God is the all-seeing Guardian of the world
whose eyes
pierce into every avenue of existence
what should be the spirit of life? Not
the spirit of empty frivolity and childish trifling
treating all things as if
made for foolish jests and giddy laughter
but the spirit of solemnity clothing
all objects with a Divine significance.
2. The true interests of life. What are they? Secular possessions?
mental attainments? social honours? No
but a perfect heart.
3. The true Judge of life. Our life has many judges
at many tribunals
are we tried
and many
and often diverse
are the verdicts returned. Some are
too favourable
and some too adverse. The few instances of accuracy are random
guesses
not righteous deductions. But there is one true Judge; it is He whose
“eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” (Homilist.)
The guardianship of God
I. The world had a
Guardian.
II. That the
guardianship of the world is of the most minute character.
III. That this
guardianship of God is of the most loving and gracious character. (W.
G. Barrett.)
God’s thoughts toward good men
I. Why does God
exercise all His power of observation and control in this world in behalf of
good men? The answer is that they of all creatures best illustrate His
character and glorify Him most. They alone--
1. Were originally created in the Divine likeness.
2. Have been born again into His spiritual image.
3. Glorify Him in the highest degree by holy lives.
II. How have God’s
powers of observation and control been exercised in their behalf?
1. The process of the earth’s development during the vast geologic
periods of the first five creative days all meant that man was coming
and that
God’s eyes were running forward to prepare him a home.
2. In connection with the creation of living creatures
by the aid of
comparative anatomy we can see God’s eyes running forward through all the
orders of animate life up to man.
3. Having given him a body fearfully and wonderfully made
He
has made abundant provision for the supply of all his wants.
No mist before the eyes of God
We see a Divine purpose in the discovery of America
in the art of
printing
in the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot
in the contrivance of the
needle gun
in the ruin of an Austrian or Napoleonic despotism; but now hard it is to see God
in the minute personal affairs of our lives. We think of God as making a record of the
starry host
but cannot realise the Bible truth that He knows how many hairs
are on our head. It seems a grand thing that God provided food for thousands of
Israelites in the desert
but not how He feeds hungry sparrows. We cannot
understand how He encamps in the crystal palace of a dew-drop
or finds room to
stand
without being crowded
between the alabaster pillars of a pond-lily.
Cromwell
Alexander
Washington
or an archangel
is not more under Divine
inspection than your life or mine. Pompey thought that there must be a mist
over the eyes of God because he favoured Caesar. But there is no such mist. (T.
De Witt Talmage.)
To shew Himself strong in
the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.--
God waiting to show Himself strong
I. God has shown
himself strong on behalf of men. It is often the knowledge of God’s ability to
help that causes us the greatest difficulty
and paralyses our faith in Him. We
do not feel able to say quite as confidently as we might that all His promises
are yea and amen
or else
we limit their reference
and say that they have only to do with certain orders
of things. Now we have this fact before us: God is able
He must be
to control
all things. His knowledge is infinite; His wisdom
His strength eternal. As it
is
while we acknowledge His ability we limit its exercise
and find in this
reason for our independent action. We see
in opposition to the limit which we
are often ready to place on God’s interference on our behalf
the wonderful
variety and modes of the help given to men as recorded in the Scripture. There
is not a condition but God has appeared in that
strong to help. What wisdom
and power are here shown on behalf of men! Lost by sin
we are restored by
faith in Christ.
II. God looks out
for opportunities of showing Himself strong. His eyes run to and fro throughout
the earth. He is thus represented as watching men for the purpose of revealing
Himself
so that when He sees the opportunity He is there ready to do it. He is
not reluctant to give.
III. Why
then
do
we not always receive? How is it we make mistakes
complain of want of life and
light and progress? Here is the reply. The opportunity for which He waits is a
heart perfect toward Him. This is the fitness which is always needed ere He shows Himself
strong. “How wilt Thou manifest Thyself to us?” etc. “My Father will
love him
and We will take up our abode with him.” We are not so dependent on
the condition of our life as we think. Let the heart be right
and everything
else will be transformed. But what fitness is here required? Asa did not trust
God
but his own wisdom and gold and silver. Apply the general truth of God as
for all
without considering that God
though the absolute monarch of all
does
not act arbitrarily towards any. Thus here God does not manifest His strength
to men always. Far from it. Asa found that God’s strength did not help him; he
had wars all the remainder of his life. We are often left in our weakness
otherwise
there would be no such thing as failure in the details of life. We ask why does
not God make bare His arm when He sees the weak struggling against greater
forces. Be it nation
be it tribe
or people
or individual
He knows the need
He measures it
and at a time and under conditions most calculated to ensure
the eternal and lasting good of His creatures
He comes forth to help and to
save. That this is His way of dealing with men may be seen in the greatest and
highest gift He has given. We gather
in conclusion--
The heartening certainty
Asa is in trouble. Baasha has captured and fortified Ramah and so
hemmed in Jerusalem. Is not that a frequent type of life? Is not every man
often thrust into straits as Asa was? Is there not for every man some threatening
Ramah over against his Jerusalem.
1. Here is a man whose work in life seems sometimes vaster than his
energies. How can life’s work get done--the support of a family
the meeting of
obligations
etc.?
2. Here is a man confronted with some special obstacle
e.g.
unholy competition in business
etc.
3. Here is a man under the shadow of the Ramah of disappointment.
4. Here is another man who is dissatisfied with his pernicious way of
life.
5. And there is Doubt
another Ramah often built across our way. Is
there any help for a man in the presence of these Ramahs? Our Scripture is the
statement of the heartening certainty. “Perfect” in our Scripture means pure
intent. Once I was becalmed upon the sea. I was in a sailing ship. For some
days the wind died utterly away. There was not the curl of a minute ripple even
on the ocean’s surface. We were drifted here and there
now backward and then
forward
as the tides rose and as they fell. Of course we could not get on
thus. There was no inherent power of motion in the vessel. What did the captain
do? Order the sails furled? Let the man at the helm sleep? No
he did the best
he could. Every sail was hung broadly on the yards. The helm was firmly held.
The vessel was kept pointed toward her port. In a word
the captain kept the
vessel in pure intent; not perfect in power; she had no power. And when
at
last
the wind did come
the sails were filled
and we were wafted into
harbour. This is the heartening certainty. This is the meaning of our
Scripture. The man who thus holds himself in pure intent
keeping his sails
spread and his helm steadily pointed toward the right
and fixed
and from the
wrong
that man God shall see
and He shall send upon him the breezes of a
Divine strength
and waft the man on into accomplishment
victory
heaven. (Wayland
Hoyt
D.D.)
Perfection discriminated
We must discriminate between purity of heart and maturity of
Christian character. The entire cleansing received by faith is perfect health
of soul; but it is not perfect development. Perfect health is the entire
absence of disease. Perfect holiness is the entire absence of sin. Christian
purity brings finality to nothing but inbred sin. It is the field cleared of
the noxious weeds
not the ripe waving harvest. It is the best preparation for
growth
not the consummation of growth. Sin in the heart makes us like a child
that is sickly
or a tree with a worm at the root. Some hope by cultivating the
graces of the Spirit to grow into purity
which is like a man cultivating the
vegetables in his garden to grow the weeds out from about the roots of the
plants. Common sense says
“Pluck up the weeds
and give the plant a fair
chance for growth and development.” This is the Divine method. God cleanses the
heart from inbred sin
after which growth is always more rapid and symmetrical;
advancement in knowledge
and love of God
and all spiritual excellence
becomes possible then as it never was before. Maturity is the result of
experiences
trial
conflict
and requires time; but in purity we grasp by
faith the sin consuming power that sweeps the heart clean at a stroke. (Thomas
Cook.)
Verse 10
Then Asa was wroth with the seer.
A reluctant conscience
It is said
that straw which had been used for the bedding of the lions at Wombwell’s
menagerie was sold
and placed in a stable as bedding for some horses. No
sooner did the horses enter than they began to show signs of alarm
snorting
snuffing the air
and trembling as though conscious of a threatening presence.
Horses in this country have had no experience of the hostility or strength of
carnivora; but there is a persistency in hereditary powers which certain
objects can stimulate into activity. The conscience of man exhibits a similar
persistency of sense
if not by self-reproach or remorse
at least by a
reluctance to enter on the consideration of sin. It is not too much to infer
that all is not right
when pain
alarm
aversion are felt when inquiry is suggested.
(Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)
Verse 11-12
And
behold
the acts of Asa
first and last
lo
they are written
in the books of the kings.
Asa; or failure at the last
Asa’s case is a Scriptural declaration
that one who has begun
well
who has even done much for God
may fall miserably
may fail at last.
What were the causes of his fall?
I. He was tried by
great success. Nothing is more liable than success to produce self-confidence
and neglect of Him who bestoweth on the wise their wisdom and on the strong
their strength. Unless s man watches himself very narrowly
pride will
insinuate itself even into the midst of his thanksgivings; complacent thoughts
of his own foresight underlie his recognition of God’s providence; confessions
of his own good desert qualify his confessions of sin.
II. He was placed
in the perilous position of having to guide and instruct others. This is a
great snare to any one. The mother who teaches her child to pray; the father
who watches over his son’s moral progress; the master who is a strict censor of
the behaviour of his servants; the Scripture-reader
the district visitor
the
nurse of the sick
the almoner of the poor; yea
even the minister of God who
has professionally to bring before his people the means of grace and hope of
glory; these persons are all in danger of neglecting themselves--of placing
themselves
as it were
ab extra
to the duties which they have to
inculcate. They are tempted to forget themselves
to abate their
self-discipline
and when the novelty of their employment has passed away
to
fall back on other things; it may be
to end with languor
disgust
or carelessness
if not
with utter faithlessness and sin. (D. Hessey.)
Verse 12-13
And Asa
in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in
his feet
Mind-cure
That sickness is twin born with sin is the oldest tradition in the
world.
Our maladies arise from something finer than the germs any microscope can
detect; and if all disease has its origin in the ill-disposed spirit
in a
different well-disposed spirit it may have its cure. There can be no doubt that
a mind morbid or in health affects the body. Some persons
by their presence
and air
make us sick or well. Temperance is a virtue before it is a bodily
trait. All vice digs a mine of ruin which no physician can countermine. What
doctor can prescribe for an inordinate affection
from his pocket-book or
medicine-chest? A little mind-cure were better than a complete apothecary’s
shop; and in one’s own mind
often more than in another’s
the remedy lies.
Safety and peril reside in the same region of the affections
even as the very
sea that tosses brings us to port. Like cures like; the hair of the dog his own
bite; and herbs
as George Herbert says
the flesh they find their acquaintance
in. There is no malady which guilty intrigues
extravagant passions
and
corroding cares may not produce or increase; and none which good affections
will not alleviate or remove. Many a heap of flowers have I seen on coffins
that would not have been made by plane and hammer so soon had a tithe of the
green leaves
lilies
and roses been strewn along the way. Christ’s miracles
were wrought on a promise of faith
for the blind eye
for the withered hand
and for the remorseful conscience in him whom He assured
“Son
thy sins be
forgiven thee
” an insane compunction being in this case the evil root. Peter
commanded the cripple to stand on his feet
perceiving that he had faith to be
healed. The good Samaritan poured out something more than oil and wine into the
robbed traveller’s wounds. There are in us gashes and ghastly wounds
perhaps
unknown to the inflictors
which no sword or dagger ever made. A word or a look
was enough to stab us; shall no words or looks suffice to make us whole? No
medicaments
only mental cure
can either probe them or bind them up. Right
ordering of our active powers is a medicine
as well as that merry heart of
which the Preacher speaks. The steadfast will is a life-preserver
and buoys up
against spiritual drowning. Heal the mind tired and sore with brooding on
absent or unresponsive objects: with labour that eases it
while it wearies the
muscles and makes the sweat
according to the old decree
run down the face. As
the girders and cross-ties of the bridge distribute the pressure on it of heavy
loads
so various duty lightens by dividing every burden of grief or pain. Such
considerations may show how far a sane body is not only inhabited
but made
by
a sane mind. Let us notice more particularly the connection between sickness
and sin.
I. They have the
same origin.
II. They have the
same propagation and spread.
III. Why
then
should not the cure of sickness run parallel with its continuance and cause?
Disorder is inherited. Ezekiel protests against the proverb that the fathers
have eaten sour grapes
and the children’s teeth are set on edge. Nevertheless
it is true. For example of this communication or transmission
take the
illustration of fear. What a leaven it is! Terror is not only a wretchedness
but a disgrace
an exposure to harm. You will be likely to have what you dread.
What you rehearse you will enact. This is the shorthand history of disease
misery
and crime. Bonaparte
in his better days
thought the bullet was not
run and moulded he should be hit by
though cannonballs ploughed the earth into
powder at his side; felt no alarm for himself from the plague in Egypt
and
fortified his soldiers against it
with that brave deportment of his own. To
what but panic is due the large destruction of life in buildings falling or on
fire
in battles like that of Bull Run
and in wrecks at sea? We must be of
good heart to be secure. How many have been sick of a thought or of a certain
company or of a single companion! How many have got well with thoughts alone
that could cure! By one who served in our civil war I was told of sick soldiers
who
in their despair
voluntarily turned their faces to the wall and died
because they wanted
and had made up their mind
to die. If as they lay moaning
on their beds had come some token of affection
the step of some Florence
Nightingale
or any good message
they would have opened their eyes
stretched
their limbs
and lived! A grain
a hair
the twentieth part of a scruple
in
delicate conditions and a tremulous suspense determines the scale; and the
balance hangs for us all to put the atom into
so intimate is the relation
between body and mind. We decide each other’s fate every day. Balzac tells us
of a mother who suddenly expires after one more of her unnatural daughter’s
hard words; and he adds that the slaughter by savages of those too old to
continue on the march
is philanthropy in the comparison. This is happening every day. A gentle
remembrance from one--a note
a flower
a book
a hand-grasp--to assure us our
days of usefulness are not over
enables us to live and labour still. The
supernatural acts through the natural. Let us make the connection and be all of
us well. Be its fault or defect what it may
I greet
therefore
the new
departure which lays the stress on the mind. (C.A. Bartol
D.D.)
The sin of Asa
1. Though it is not my purpose to dwell upon the general features in
this history
I cannot help remarking how strongly one is inclined in hearing
it to exclaim
“Lord
what is man! In his best estate
moral as well as
physical
he is altogether vanity.” Here is a person that appears to have been
piously educated
that in his youth was piously and deeply impressed; that when
clothed in royal purple still remembered his responsibility to a higher power
and felt and acknowledged his dependence on it; that in his mature years
departed not from the way in which he had been trained up; and that knew by a
single personal experience that it is a way of pleasantness and a path of
peace; in his old age guilty of the greatest inconsistencies
to say the very
least. May we not reasonably suppose that
during his long prosperity
his
heart had become in a measure hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; that
indolence had corrupted
and pride
taking occasion from the happy condition of
his people
of which he had been the instrument
had puffed him up; and that
prayer
in consequence
had been restrained before God? Be sober
be vigilant
be prayerful
be humble
is the moral of this melancholy tale.
2. This monarch’s history may also teach us that
what we deem our
strongest point of character may in fact prove our weakest. Asa’s distrust in
Divine
and over-trust in human power
was the last sin
most probably
which
he thought would ever beset him. “Though all men forsake Thee
” said St. Peter
“yet will not I.” His courage he was sure would abide
however that of the
other disciples might falter. That he felt was not his weak point; and probably
it was not naturally. When we are conscious of weakness
and in consequence
lean constantly on an Almighty arm
then our strength never faileth. How can
it? In the confidence of this it was that the apostle Paul said
“I can do all
things through Christ strengthening me.” On the other hand
let a man feel
strong in himself
and of consequence lean on himself
in the things of
religion
we are told we can do nothing. The lesson
then
to be learned from
the history of Asa
in this view of it
plainly is
to glory in nothing as of
ourselves
to distrust ourselves even in our strongest point
and to count all
our sufficiency as of God through Christ.
3. A third particular in this narrative
well worth noticing
is the
pertinacity which Asa exhibited in his sin
and how in consequence one
transgression led on to another. David committed some most fearful sins
and a
prophet was sent to reprove and warn him. His confession was
“I have sinned
against the Lord.” Not so Asa. His crime
though indeed not so horrible
was
equally certain; yet when the prophet reproves him
the historian tells us “he
was in a rage with him because of this thing”; and added to the sin
and to a
denial of it
persecution of God’s servant for delivering God’s message. The
sin of Asa
though certain and heinous
as I have said
was not so palpable and
overt as that of David. It lay more exclusively between God and his own soul.
It was an offence which shortsighted men
who cannot read the heart
could not
with propriety charge him with. The sins which are known with certainty only to
Omniscience are the last which corrupt human nature is willing to acknowledge.
It hides itself from its own guilt and from its obligation to confess and
forsake its sin
under the cover of its fellow-creatures’ ignorance. From this
hiding place
to which Asa had manifestly fled
man could not dislodge him.
God’s resources
however
were not exhausted.
When His prophet failed to do it
He sent another messenger to the
king in the shape of a most painful disease which finally proved mortal.
1. Health
it is generally acknowledged
is the very greatest of all
personal and temporal blessings. By its influence on the inner man it gives new
glory to objects already bright
and pours light on that which would otherwise
be dark. It converts to luxuries the plainest food
and adds a sweetness to a
cup of cold water which nectar in the hand of an invalid partakes not of.
Health is valuable not only as an exemption from pain and anxiety
but as a
positive good. It causes positive happiness to spring up--to well up from the
depths of the soul
the operation of which the man may be unable to explain
but to the mysterious sweetness of which he is ready to testify with a
rejoicing
and
would that we could say always
a grateful heart. I do not mean
to say
however
that the blessing when in possession is always adequately
realised and appreciate. Like other things
the loss of it
at least for a time
is in many cases necessary to open our eyes to its value. The fact that the
natural issue of sickness is death is
of itself
enough to give health an
inestimable value; and that fact is felt by him who has felt the gnawings of
disease; and who that has reached even middle life has not experienced them?
2. But though it is thus inevitable
disease may be mitigated and its
fatal consequences postponed. This is effected by one of the greatest mercies
which Providence has vouchsafed to man: I mean the healing art. It is not
common
perhaps
to regard it in this light
but most certainly it ought to be
so regarded. This art is one of great dignity and beneficence. It is found in
every country
and among the most savage and most cultivated nations of the
earth; and though it seems to have advanced more slowly than many
other--perhaps most other--arts and sciences
yet so early was its
commencement
and so universal has been its cultivation
it has now attained
great perfection. In most departments
where once human aid was unattempted or
unavailing to the patient
it is astonishing what can be done for his relief
and for his restoration to society and the full enjoyment of it. This blessed
art
moreover
is but an imitation of a merciful provision of nature; even as
when pursued and practised on its proper principles
it consists in a
co-operating with
and taking advantage of
the powers of nature. With the
recuperative and healing properties of nature a true practitioner of the
healing art is a co-worker. It is his high calling
in a scientific manner to
aid and minister to and increase this beneficent provision. He is not occupied
in helping to gratify an idle vanity
nor in pandering to luxury and
over-indulgence. His business is
in the way described
to relieve distress
to
dry the tear of sorrow
to rekindle the lamp of hope. It has been acutely
observed that there is a likeness in the practice of this art
not only to the
healing power of nature referred to
and to the course of that Providence by
which both nature and art have been ordained
and to the all-merciful conduct
of God manifest in the flesh while He sojourned on the earth
but also in the
methods which Providence uses ordinarily for the attainment of these benevolent
ends. “Both are designed to restore what is lost
and to repair what is
disordered; both have the production of ease and happiness for their ultimate
object; both frequently make use of pains and privations as the means of
procuring it
but neither of them employs an atom more of these than is
necessary for that purpose.”
3. Now from all this it follows that though nothing is expressly said
in commendation of this art in the Holy Scriptures
nor any command given to
resort to it for relief under our bodily ailments
yet the art and the use of
it are manifestly according to the mind and will of God. The mere fact that God
has put healing virtue into the productions of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms
and given man the power to discover its existence
is sufficient
warrant
in the
silence of Scripture
for the thankful use of it wherever it may be necessary.
It has been thought by some that the sin here condemned was resorting not to
regular physicians
but to those who attempted cures by charms and other
superstitious devices. Such conduct
though not generally thought so by those
who indulge in it
is essentially atheistic. He was seeking good from a source
not sanctioned by Heaven. He was in pursuit of health in a quarter which God
did not bless. In
a word
he was not seeking it of Him from whom cometh every good and perfect gift. This was
atheism. It is not necessary
however
to suppose that Asa ran into this sin.
He was guilty enough
and furnished sufficient ground for the censure in the
text
without going to this extreme. Let us suppose
what the Scripture
narrative makes probable
that through the influence of prosperity and its
attendant snares and temptations
the heart of Asa had waxed cold; that his
religious feelings had declined; that whereas before
God was in his thoughts as
his dependence
his protection
his comfort
his consolation
his joyful
portion
now he lives in forgetfulness of Him
or
if thoughts of God ever
enter his mind
they come but seldom and are speedily dismissed. While living
habitually in this way
sickness smites him
violent and severe
and very
naturally alarming. He sends for the physicians--for many of them. His
dependence is on the powers of nature to the exclusion of the Divine Author of
these powers. He looks anxiously to human skill
but feels no want
or offers
no prayer for the Divine blessing on it. Asa seems to have sought a cure
as he
would have done had he never heard of that almighty Being in whose hand are the
issues of life and death. We see here that the Lord is a jealous God
and will
not give His glory to another
and that His glory and His right as God is to be
recognised by His intelligent creatures everywhere
in all the exigencies
duties
and privileges of life. In instituting the present system of means and
ends
He did not intend that it should be forgotten that He planned the whole;
and that the whole
destitute of any self-sustaining power
is sustained only
by Him. He not only created all things
but also upholds all things by the word
of His power. This is a fact
and a fact manifestly connected with His glory.
He expects
therefore
that all intelligent creatures feel it and acknowledge
it. There are two errors--opposite extremes
which He would have them carefully
avoid. The first is a reliance upon Him to the exclusion or neglect of the
means which He has commanded to be used. At first view it might seem as if such
conduct were putting special honour upon Jehovah; but in truth it is open
rebellion against His will. He hath not commanded this at our hands. It is a
strange offering--an unclean sacrifice. In His works and in His Word
God has
enjoined the diligent use of means; it is impious to turn away from the
commandment
even under the pretence of honouring Him. The other extreme
and
equally presumptuous
is a reliance on the means to the neglect of the Divine
agency and blessing. If the first was an arrogant theism
this is a gross and
stupid atheism. Paradoxical as it may sound
our duty and the dictate of pure
reason is
that we use means as diligently as if God’s aid were altogether
unnecessary
and rely on God as sincerely as if means were unavailing. This is
Scripture; this is the highest reason; nay
this human nature herself teaches
when in extremity and unperverted by a theory. Who
when in conscious danger of
his life
does not with a convulsive eagerness grasp at any and every means of
safety
and at the same time lift a voice of agonising supplication for the
Divine assistance? Our duty
then
plainly inculcated by the text
is to use
means and to trust in
the Lord
and to do this not of necessity
because death is imminent
but from
a principle of obedience to His will
respect for His honour
and love to His
name; and to do it also not only in extreme cases
but at all times. It belongs
to such a spirit
as a matter of privilege as well as duty
to seek to the Lord
also
and rely upon His help. In conclusion
I would observe that the text
teaches a lesson in all analogous cases. For instance
if such is the temper of
mind in which we should look for medicines to heal the body
the same should we
have in the use of food for the maintenance of life. A blessing asked
when we
take our meals
is only in conformity with these principles. So our Lord when
on the earth regarded it
for He sanctioned it by His practice. And again it
plainly says to those whose calling in life is trade
that whilst they
industriously employ all honourable means for the maintenance and advancement
of themselves and their families
they should bear in mind that there is an
overruling Providence which sees through the complications of events as man
cannot
and can give them such issue as may be pleasing in His sight. In short
the text teaches us that we should all
at all times and under all
circumstances
realise the presence of God and lean upon His power and
goodness
vouchsafed us through Jesus Christ our Lord. (W. Sparrow
D. D.)
The disease of sin and its true Physician
I. Sin is a
disease under which all men are labouring.
II. To get rid of
the disease of sin men resort to forbidden and unauthorised means.
III. They ought to
depend on Christ as the only effectual and infallible physician of souls. (W.
Sparrow
D. D.)
To the medical profession
Here is King Asa with the gout. In defiance of God he sends for
certain conjurors or quacks. With the result “And Asa slept with his fathers.”
That is
the doctors killed him. In this sharp and graphic way the Bible sets
forth the truth that you have no right to shut God out from the realm of
pharmacy and therapeutics. If Asa had said
“Oh
Lord
I am sick; bless the
instrumentality employed for my recovery! Now
servant
go and get the best
doctor you can find
” he would have recovered. The world wants Divinely
directed physicians. Men of the medical profession
we often meet in the home
of distress. We meet to-day by the altars of God. As in the nursery children
sometimes re-enact all the scenes of the sick-room
so to-day you play that you
are the patient
and that I am the physician
and take my prescription just once.
I. In the first
place
I think all the medical profession should become Christians because of
the debt of gratitude they owe to God for the honour He has put upon their
calling. Cicero said: “There is nothing in which men so approach the gods as
when they try to give health to other men.”
II. The medical
profession ought to be Christians
because there are so many trials and
annoyances in that profession that need positive Christian solace.
III. The medical
profession ought to be Christians
because there are professional exigencies
when they need God. Asa’s destruction by unblessed physicians was a warning.
There are awful crises in every medical practice when a doctor ought to know
how to pray. I do not mean to say that piety will make up for medical skill A
bungling doctor
confounded with what was not a very bad case went into the
next room to pray. A skilled physician was called in. He asked for the first
practitioner. “Oh!” they said
“he’s in the next room praying.” “Well.” said
the skilled doctor
“tell him to come out here and help
he can pray and work
at the same time.” It was all in that sentence. Do the best we can and ask God
to help us.
IV. The medical
profession ought to be Christians
because there opens before them a grand
field for Christian usefulness. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Sickness
The great truth taught us in this verse is--that afflictions
in
their measure
nature
and duration
result neither from chance nor necessity
nor second causes
but primarily from the wise
sovereign
and righteous
appointment of the Eternal.
I. Asa’s disease.
The former part of this verse mentions what this disease was--“And Asa in the
thirty
and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet
until his disease
was exceeding great.” Commentators suppose that this disease in his feet was the
gout
and that it was a just punishment for putting the prophet’s feet in the
stocks. How varied the disease to which human nature is liable.
1. The person afflicted--Asa the king. This circumstance teaches us
that when the Almighty wills afflictions
none can escape them--no
not even
kings. When kings commit evil they must expect to be punished as well as
others. King Jehoram sinned against the Lord
and the Lord visited him with a
disease in his bowels. King Uzziah transgressed the Lord’s commandments
and
the Lord smote him with leprosy: “And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day
of his death
and dwelt in a separate house
being a leper.” Asa was diseased
in his feet. Honours
riches
power shield us not from disease. When God gives
the commission
afflictions enter the palace as well as the meanest hut.
2. The violence of Asa’s disorder. “His disease was exceeding great.”
Sometimes we think our trials very heavy; but when compared with those of
others we find them light. Hence
if your case is very painful
it is not
singular.
3. The period of its continuance. Asa was diseased in his feet two
years. When the Lord afflicts us for a month
a week
yea
sometimes
when we
are in pain only one day
we think it a long time. But how short the period of our
pains when compared with others! It might have lasted for many years.
II. Asa’s duty.
When it is said that Asa sought not unto the Lord
it implies that he ought to
have done so.
1. The purposes for which you should seek unto the Lord in your
afflictions. The advice which Eliphaz gave to Job in his affliction was most
excellent
and is suitable to us on all occasions: “Yet man is born unto
trouble
as the sparks fly upward. I would seek unto God
and unto God would
commit my cause.” The afflicted should seek unto God
in disease
that they may
know its design. “Shew me
” prays Job
“wherefore Thou contendest with me.” The
Lord’s way
both in mercy and in judgment
is in the sea
and His footsteps
oftentimes
are not seen. Since
therefore
none can give us the information we
need but God Himself
and since also it is so important for us to know the
design of Our trials
let us not do as Asa did
but as Eliphaz recommends--seek
unto God. When diseases visit us we should seek unto God
that He would give us
grace to sustain them. None but He who lays these burdens on our shoulders can
sustain us under them. That these visitations may be duly improved is another
end we should propose in seeking unto the Lord. God should be sought unto in
affliction
that He may remove them. The Lord should be sought unto in
sickness
that His righteousness in afflicting may be devoutly acknowledged.
2. The manner in which God should be approached unto in these
circumstances. First
in faith--the Christian must exercise faith in his
heavenly Father’s providence
promises
and revealed character. Secondly
in
humility--the Christian has merited all he endures
and has nothing of his own
to plead. Thirdly
with resignation.
3. Some reasons why the Lord should be sought unto may be specified.
III. Asa’s sin.
Asa’s sin is a common sin--the way of the multitude
Asa’s sin was a great
sin--he put the
creature before the Creator. Asa’s sin
unrepented of
is a ruinous sin. “
Shall I not visit for these things
saith the Lord?” Asa’s conduct arises from
many causes.
1. Ignorance. Sin has so darkened the mind that many have no right
views of their relation to God.
2. Inattention. Some know these things
yet give them little or no
serious attention. God is neither in all their ways nor in all their thoughts.
3. Independence. Sin has made man so proud that
if it were possible
he would do without God altogether.
4. Presumption. Many expect health
ease
and success without God’s
assistance.
5. Unbelief. Multitudes have no vital faith in God
His Word
nor in
the necessity
efficacy
and advantages of prayer.
Learn from
this subject--
1. Means may be used
but we must be careful not to abuse them.
2. The best of men do not always keep in the same gracious frame of
mind. Compare 2 Chronicles 14:2 with the text
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
3. The same sins that were prevalent in Asa’s day are prevalent now.
(H. Hollis.)
Asa and the physicians
I. It is
interesting to notice who this sick person was. It was Asa
one of the kings of
Judah. A king has no poverty to contend against; but--alike with his meanest
subjects--he has sickness. Sickness is impartial
even as death. No luxury can materially
soften it
no precaution can keep it away
no wealth can stay its course. What
was Asa’s course? He sought to the physicians. Surely he was
so far
right. It
is thought that these physicians were charmers
bringers in of foreign
superstitions
singers of useless incantations
and that herein lay Asa’s
wrong. The question does not relate to the kind of physician he went to
but
only to the fact of his going. He did no wrong in seeking human help. We are
never to give up at the first approach of sickness and wait for a special
wonder of cure. It is not that he was wrong in seeking to the physicians
but
very wrong in some other particulars.
1. He did not seek to the Lord
without whom human physicians may
vainly exercise their skill and talents. Neither will prayer dispense with
medicine nor medicine with prayer.
2. Asa was a king. The inconsistency which
in an unknown subject
would provoke but little comment
grows serious in the life of royalty. We
expect nobleness
manliness
and exemplary conduct from kings. Asa set a bad
example to his subjects and was false to his royal order. Asa was also false to
God
for he was head of the Church and yet dishonoured prayer.
3. Asa suffered his disease to make him unjust and irritable. He cast
Hanani into prison for telling him God’s holy will.
4. Asa belied a previous life of piety. One of his prayers in time of
health
when marching against his numerous enemies
had been more inspiring
than the most stirring war-cry or the most martial summons to certain victory.
“Lord! it is nothing to Thee to help
whether with many or with them that have
no power. Help us
O Lord
our God! for we rest on Thee
and in Thy name we go against the
multitude. O Lord
Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee!” But now
Asa was sick he forgot the trust he had formerly placed in the God of Israel.
Sickness
more terrible than an army with banners
spoiled this king of his
faith.
II. The general
lesson taught by sickness.
1. Health is the gift of God. Many who are ready to acknowledge
recovery to be so
and who gratefully thank God for it
forget that good health
is a far greater blessing than recovery.
2. Health is a talent. What has been done with it?
3. Prepare for sickness by continuing mindful of its approach.
4. As regards our conduct to those who are sick. Asa was wrong
impatient
faithless;
but the duty of his attendants and subjects was to hear with him. Sickness is
trying. What seems like impatience to lookers-on would seem different were the
places reversed.
5. The great lesson of all--a lesson of avoidance from Asa’s
fault--is to commit ourselves to the care of God; to seek
if able
to earthly
physicians; but to seek with brighter hopes and fuller certainty to the Great
Healer Himself (S..B. James
M.A.)
Retribution
From the theological standpoint of the chronicler’s school
these
invidious records of the sins of good kings were necessary in order to account
for their misfortunes. That sin was always punished by complete
immediate
and
manifest retribution in this life
and that conversely all misfortune was the
punishment of sin
was probably the most popular religious teaching in Israel
from early days till the time of Christ. This doctrine of retribution was
current among the Greeks. When the Spartan King Cleomenes committed suicide
the public mind in Greece at once
inquired of what particular sin he had thus paid the penalty. When in the
course of the Peloponnesian war the AEginetans were expelled from their island
this calamity was regarded as a punishment inflicted upon them because fifty
years before they had dragged away and put to death a suppliant who had caught
hold of the handle of the door of the temple of Demeter Theomophorus. (W.
H. Bennett
M.A.)
The most serious punishments of sin
These are not pain
ruin
disgrace. Their are the formation and
confirmation of evil character. Herbert Spencer says “that motion once set up
along any line becomes itself a cause of subsequent motion along that line.”
This is absolutely true in moral and spiritual dynamics: every wrong thought
feeling
word
or act
every failure to think
feel
speak
or act rightly
at
once alters a man’s character for the worse. Henceforth he will find it easier
to sin and more difficult to do right; he has twisted another strand into the
cord of habit; and though each may be as fine as a spider’s web
in time there
will be cords strong enough to have bound Samson before Delilah shaved off his
seven locks. This is the true punishment of sin: to lose the fine instincts
the generous impulses
and the nobler ambitions of manhood
and become every
day more of a beast and a devil. (W. H. Bennett
M. A.)
Our disinclination to rely upon God only
Some years ago my wife and I were walking through the streets of
Boston
having recently left our place of residence and living in a flat. My
wife was without a servant; the summer was unusually hot even for our country
and the task of preparing the meals for the family was a grievance. Like a good
husband
I had great sympathy with my wife
and so I rose in the morning and
fit the fire. One day I saw a device advertised for cooking by oil
and after a
little while I strained a large point
bought the stove
and brought it home in
triumph. I said to my wife
“You will not have to be roasted any more over that
old kitchen range”; but she was sceptical
as good wives are wont to be
and
when I went in to see how the cooking was going on
I found a roaring fire in
the old range as well
in case the new one would not work. I think we all want
something to fall back upon
and like to have a roaring fire in the old
range--to trust in our own efforts instead of relying on God. (G. F.
Pentecost.)
God left out of the calculation
I knew a man who professed to love the Lord
and who really
did so. He got into great difficulties
and racked his brain all night without
avail for a way out of them. In the morning he went to the squire and the
rector
and racked their brains about his troubles
but to no good effect. He
then came to me
and asked me to pray with him about them
and my reply was
“No
I will not; you have racked your own
the rector’s
and the squire’s
brain
and now you wish to make Jesus only the fourth instead of first. I won’t
take any part in doing that.” He fell on his knees with such a beseeching look
for forgiveness
and prayed
“Oh
how could I forget Thee
Lord? Yet even now I
come and ask guidance.” It is needless to say that the Lord graciously heard
and answered
and gave him a triumphant issue out of all his troubles. (Christian
Herald.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》