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Job Chapter
Twenty-one
Job 21
Chapter Contents
Job entreats attention. (1-6) The prosperity of the
wicked. (7-16) The dealings of God's providence. (17-26) The judgement of the
wicked is in the world to come. (27-34)
Commentary on Job 21:1-6
(Read Job 21:1-6)
Job comes closer to the question in dispute. This was
Whether outward prosperity is a mark of the true church
and the true members
of it
so that ruin of a man's prosperity proves him a hypocrite? This they
asserted
but Job denied. If they looked upon him
they might see misery enough
to demand compassion
and their bold interpretations of this mysterious
providence should be turned into silent wonder.
Commentary on Job 21:7-16
(Read Job 21:7-16)
Job says
Remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon
notorious sinners
but not always. Wherefore is it so? This is the day of God's
patience; and
in some way or other
he makes use of the prosperity of the
wicked to serve his own counsels
while it ripens them for ruin; but the chief
reason is
because he will make it appear there is another world. These
prospering sinners make light of God and religion
as if because they have so
much of this world
they had no need to look after another. But religion is not
a vain thing. If it be so to us
we may thank ourselves for resting on the
outside of it. Job shows their folly.
Commentary on Job 21:17-26
(Read Job 21:17-26)
Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in
these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their
certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of
God. Even while they prosper thus
they are light and worthless
of no account
with God
or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power
there is but
a step between them and ruin. Job refers the difference Providence makes
between one wicked man and another
into the wisdom of God. He is Judge of all
the earth
and he will do right. So vast is the disproportion between time and
eternity
that if hell be the lot of every sinner at last
it makes little
difference if one goes singing thither
and another sighing. If one wicked man
die in a palace
and another in a dungeon
the worm that dies not
and the fire
that is not quenched
will be the same to them. Thus differences in this world
are not worth perplexing ourselves about.
Commentary on Job 21:27-34
(Read Job 21:27-34)
Job opposes the opinion of his friends
That the wicked
are sure to fall into visible and remarkable ruin
and none but the wicked;
upon which principle they condemned Job as wicked. Turn to whom you will
you
will find that the punishment of sinners is designed more for the other world
than for this
Jude 1:14
15. The sinner is here supposed to
live in a great deal of power. The sinner shall have a splendid funeral: a poor
thing for any man to be proud of the prospect of. He shall have a stately
monument. And a valley with springs of water to keep the turf green
was
accounted an honourable burial place among eastern people; but such things are
vain distinctions. Death closes his prosperity. It is but a poor encouragement
to die
that others have died before us. That which makes a man die with true
courage
is
with faith to remember that Jesus Christ died and was laid in the
grave
not only before us
but for us. That He hath gone before us
and died
for us
who is alive and liveth for us
is true consolation in the hour of
death.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 21
Verse 2
[2] Hear
diligently my speech
and let this be your consolations.
Hear
… — If
you have no other comfort to administer
at least afford me this. And it will
be a comfort to yourselves in the reflection
to have dealt tenderly with your
afflicted friend.
Verse 3
[3] Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken
mock on.
Speak —
without interruption.
Mock — If
I do not defend my cause with solid arguments
go on in your scoffs.
Verse 4
[4] As
for me
is my complaint to man? and if it were so
why should not my spirit be
troubled
Is — I do not make my
complaint to
or expect relief from you
or from any men
hut from God only: I
am pouring forth my complaints to God.
If — If my complaint were
to man
have I not cause?
Verse 5
[5] Mark
me
and be astonished
and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Mark —
Consider what I am about to say concerning the prosperity of the worst of men
and the pressures of some good men
and it is able to fill you with
astonishment.
Lay
… — Be
silent.
Verse 6
[6] Even when I remember I am afraid
and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Remember —
The very remembrance of what is past
fills me with dread and horror.
Verse 13
[13] They
spend their days in wealth
and in a moment go down to the grave.
Moment —
They do not die of a lingering and tormenting disease.
Verse 14
[14]
Therefore they say unto God
Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of
thy ways.
Therefore —
Because of their constant prosperity.
Say —
Sometimes in words
but commonly in their thoughts and the language of their
lives.
Verse 16
[16] Lo
their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Lo — But wicked men have
no reason to reject God
because of their prosperity
for their wealth
is not
in their hand; neither obtained
nor kept by their own might
but only by God's
power and favour. Therefore I am far from approving their opinion
or following
their course.
Verse 17
[17] How
oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction
upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Often — I
grant that this happens often though not constantly
as you affirm.
Lamp —
Their glory and outward happiness.
Verse 19
[19] God
layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him
and he shall know
it.
Layeth up — In
his treasures
Romans 2:5.
Iniquity —
The punishment of his iniquity; he will punish him both in his person and in his
posterity.
Verse 20
[20] His
eyes shall see his destruction
and he shall drink of the wrath of the
Almighty.
See — He
shall be destroyed; as to see death
is to die.
Verse 21
[21] For
what pleasure hath he in his house after him
when the number of his months is
cut off in the midst?
For
… —
What delight can ye take in the thoughts of his posterity
when he is dying an
untimely death? When that number of months
which by the course of nature
he
might have lived
is cut off by violence.
Verse 22
[22] Shall
any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
Teach —
How to govern the world? For so you do
while you tell him that he must not
afflict the godly
nor give the wicked prosperity. That he must invariably
punish the wicked
and reward the righteous in this world. No: he will act as
sovereign
and with great variety in his providential dispensations.
High —
The highest persons
on earth
he exactly knows them
and gives sentence
concerning them
as he sees fit.
Verse 25
[25] And
another dieth in the bitterness of his soul
and never eateth with pleasure.
Another —
Another wicked man. So there is a great variety of God's dispensations; he
distributes great prosperity to one
and great afflictions to another
according to his wise but secret counsel.
Verse 26
[26] They
shall lie down alike in the dust
and the worms shall cover them.
Alike —
All these worldly differences are ended by death
and they lie in the grave
without any distinction. So that no man can tell who is good
and who is bad by
events which befall them in this life. And if one wicked man die in a palace
and another in a dungeon
they will meet in the congregation of the dead and
damned; and the worm that dieth not
and the fire that is not quenched will be
the same to both: which makes those differences inconsiderable
and not worth
perplexing ourselves about.
Verse 27
[27]
Behold
I know your thoughts
and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine
against me.
Me — I know that your
discourses
though they be of wicked
men in general
yet are particularly
levelled at me.
Verse 29
[29] Have
ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens
Them —
Any person that passes along the high-way
every one you meet with. It is so
vulgar a thing
that no man of common sense is ignorant of it.
Tokens —
The examples
or evidences
of this truth
which they that go by the way can
produce.
Verse 30
[30] That
the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth
to the day of wrath.
They — He
speaks of the same person; only the singular number is changed into the plural
possibly to intimate
that altho' for the present only some wicked men were
punished
yet then all of them should suffer.
Brought — As
malefactors are brought forth from prison to execution.
Verse 31
[31] Who
shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
Declare —
His power and splendor are so great
that scarce any man dare reprove him.
Verse 32
[32] Yet
shall he be brought to the grave
and shall remain in the tomb.
And —
The pomp of his death shall be suitable to the glory of his life.
Brought —
With pomp and state
as the word signifies.
Grave —
Heb. to the graves; to an honourable and eminent grave: the plural number being
used emphatically to denote eminency. He shall not die a violent but a natural
death.
Verse 33
[33] The
clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him
and every man shall draw after
him
as there are innumerable before him.
Valley — Of
the grave
which is low and deep like a valley.
Sweet — He
shall sweetly rest in his grave.
Draw —
Heb. he shall draw every man after him
into the grave
all that live after
him
whether good or bad
shall follow him to the grave
shall die as he did.
So he fares no worse herein than all mankind. He is figuratively said to draw
them
because they come after him
as if they were drawn by his example.
Verse 34
[34] How
then comfort ye me in vain
seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood
How —
Why then do you seek to comfort me with vain hopes of recovering my prosperity
seeing your grounds are false
and experience shews
that good men are often in
great tribulation
while the vilest of men prosper.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
21 Chapter 21
Verses 1-34
But Job answered and said.
Job’s third answer
There is more logic and less passion in this address than in any
of Job’s preceding speeches. He felt the dogma of the friends to be opposed--
I. To his
consciousness of rectitude. If their dogma was true
he must be a sinner above
all the rest
for his sufferings were of the most aggravated character. But he
knew that he was not a great sinner.
1. This consciousness urged him to speak.
2. It gave him confidence in speaking.
3. It inspired him with religious solemnity. The providential ways of
God with man are often terribly mysterious. Under these mysterious events
solemn silence rather than controversy is most befitting us.
II. To his
observation of facts.
1. He saw wicked men about him. He notes their hostility to God
and
their devotion to self.
2. He saw such wicked men very prosperous. They prosper in their
persons
their property
and their posterity.
3. He saw wicked men happy in living and dying. Job states these
things as a refutation of the dogma that his friends held and urged against
him.
III. To his historic
knowledge. He refers to the testimony of other men.
1. They observed
as I have
that the wicked are often protected in
common calamities.
2. That few
if any
are found to deal out punishment to wicked men
in power.
3. That the Wicked man goes to his grave with as much peace and
honour as other men.
IV. To his theory
of providence. Though nothing here expresses Job’s belief in a state of
retribution beyond the grave
we think it is implied. I see not how there can
be any real religion
which is supreme love to the Author of our being
where
there is not a well-settled faith in a future state. Conclusion. God’s system
of governing the race has been the same from the beginning. He has never dealt
with mankind here on the ground of character. True
there are occasional
flashes of Divine retribution which reveal moral distinctions and require moral
conduct; but they are only occasional
limited
and prophetic. No stronger
argument for a future state of full and adequate retribution it would be
possible to have
than that which is furnished by God’s system of governing the
world. (Homilist.)
But Job answered and said.
Job’s third answer
There is more logic and
less passion in this address than in any of Job’s preceding speeches. He felt
the dogma of the friends to be opposed--
I. To his
consciousness of rectitude. If their dogma was true
he must be a sinner above
all the rest
for his sufferings were of the most aggravated character. But he
knew that he was not a great sinner.
1. This consciousness urged him to speak.
2. It gave him confidence in speaking.
3. It inspired him with religious solemnity. The providential ways of
God with man are often terribly mysterious. Under these mysterious events solemn
silence rather than controversy is most befitting us.
II. To his
observation of facts.
1. He saw wicked men about him. He notes their hostility to God
and
their devotion to self.
2. He saw such wicked men very prosperous. They prosper in their
persons
their property
and their posterity.
3. He saw wicked men happy in living and dying. Job states these
things as a refutation of the dogma that his friends held and urged against
him.
III. To his historic
knowledge. He refers to the testimony of other men.
1. They observed
as I have
that the wicked are often protected in
common calamities.
2. That few
if any
are found to deal out punishment to wicked men
in power.
3. That the Wicked man goes to his grave with as much peace and
honour as other men.
IV. To his theory
of providence. Though nothing here expresses Job’s belief in a state of
retribution beyond the grave
we think it is implied. I see not how there can
be any real religion
which is supreme love to the Author of our being
where
there is not a well-settled faith in a future state. Conclusion. God’s system
of governing the race has been the same from the beginning. He has never dealt
with mankind here on the ground of character. True
there are occasional
flashes of Divine retribution which reveal moral distinctions and require moral
conduct; but they are only occasional
limited
and prophetic. No stronger
argument for a future state of full and adequate retribution it would be
possible to have
than that which is furnished by God’s system of governing the
world. (Homilist.)
Verse 7
Wherefore do the wicked
live?
Reason for the existence
of the wicked on earth
I. As witnesses to
attest.
1. The amount of freedom with which man is endowed. How free is man
compared to everything about him.
2. The wonderful forbearance of God.
3. The existence of an extraordinary element in the Divine government
of this world. We know that in heaven beings live and are happy because they
are holy; we are taught that in hell there is inexpressible misery because
there is such awful sin. But here are men living often to a good old age
often
possessing all they can wish of earthly comfort
and yet rebels against God
without repentance
without faith
without love
and we wonder why this world
is thus an exception. Earth is under a mediatorial government. This great
mystery of Christ’s suffering for man
and prolonging his probation
can alone
explain the other great mystery
that men of debased spirit and godless life
are permitted to live here instead of being banished to hell.
II. As instruments
to discipline.
1. In calling out resistance. “Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation; when he is tried he shall receive a crown of life.” The wicked are
often as the chisel by which God carves out the good man’s character
the fires
by which it is purified.
2. By calling out the Christian’s benevolence. Our compassion
prayers
self-sacrifice
work
are all called forth by the existence of the wicked.
III. As beacons to
warn.
1. As to the progress of sin.
2. As to the effects of sin.
IV. As criminals to
reform. This is the grand end of their prolonged life. The world is a great
reformatory. (Urijah R. Thomas.)
Why do the live
?--
1. That they may have the opportunity of being reconciled to God.
2. That they may be the instruments of good to others.
3. That they may display the long suffering and forbearance of God.
4. That they may furnish an argument for a future state of
retribution.
5. That they may demonstrate the equity of their own everlasting
condemnation. (G. Brooks.)
Why do the wicked live
They build up fortunes
that overshadow the earth
and confound all the life insurance tables on the
subject of longevity
some of them dying octogenarians
or perhaps
nonagenarians
or possibly centenarians. Ahab in the palace
and Elijah in the
loft. Unclean Herod on the throne
and Paul
the consecrated
twisting ropes
for tent making. Manasseh
the worst of all the kings of Judah
lives the
longest. While the general rule is that the wicked do not live out half their
days
there are instances where they live to a great age in paradises of beauty
and luxury
with a whole college of physicians expending its skill in the
attempt for further prolongation
and then have a funeral with coffin under
mountains of calla lily and a procession with all the finest equipages of the
city flashing and jingling into hue
taking the poor angleworm of the dust out
to its hole in the ground with a pomp that might make the passing spirit from
some other world think that the archangel Michael was dead. Go up among the
great residences of our cities and read the door plates and see how many of
them hold the names of men mighty for commercial or social iniquity
vampires
of the century
Gorgons of the ages. Every wheel of their carriage is a
Juggernaut wet with the blood of those sacrificed to their avarice and evil
design. Men who are like Caligula
who wished that all people were in one neck
that he might cut it off at one blow. Oh
the slain! the slain! what a
procession of libertines
of usurers
of infamous quacks
of legal charlatans
of world-grabbing monsters. What apostles of despoliation! what demons
incarnate thousands of men who have concentrated all their energies of body
mind
and soul into one prolonged and ever-intensified and unrelenting effort
to sacrifice and blast and consume the world! I do not blame you for asking the
quivering
throbbing
burning
resounding
appalling question of the text: “Why
do the wicked live?” (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Verse 13
And in a moment go down to
the grave.
Things contingent upon a
moment
Whatever begins
begins in
a moment
and whatever ends
ends in a moment. Thoughts and purposes are formed
in a moment--plans contemplated for years are decided in a
moment--instantaneously. In so short a space everything comes to life and
expires. In a moment we plant seed which takes centuries to grow
but which
in
a moment only
the storm may cast down to the ground. The lightning may
in a
moment
blast the work of a thousand years. A man’s character may be ruined in
a moment. In a little space of time it begins to go down. Break the law of
gravitation
and crash would go creation. Job is moralising thus with his
friends
and it seems to him strange that one event befalls the righteous and
the wicked. It is a quick text
and has a sudden termination.
1. Life is a very little thing. It may be crushed as we would crush
an eggshell. It need not take an hour to strike the blow which shall shiver it.
Indeed
the wonder is that with such a little thing we live at all
for death
is lurking all around us--the destructive forces so thick
that it seems as if
the earth was made of nothing else. The pestilence rings at no man’s door to
toll of its coming
but it comes suddenly
and sweeps hundreds of men into the
tomb. We stand on the grave’s brink every day.
2. Some men think death to be a long way off when the precipice is
right at their side
and they are liable to fall into it at any moment. The
young are not more free from the enemies of destruction than their parents. The
great and the small
the good and the evil
are taken away in a moment. What is
to rescue us from death’s dominion? Moses on Pisgah’s top might plead that he
was but 120 years old
that his eye was not dim
that he greatly desired to
enter the promised land
but the plea was too weak
and he laid him down there
on the top of the Mount. The man of business may plead that he is young and
healthy
and his plans not yet accomplished; but death is inexorable
and he
bows his head and gives up the ghost. Charles I and Marie Antoinette might
plead their royal blood
or the popular will in their exaltation
but the
executioner’s axe severed their heads and their excuses in a moment. Death
cares for none of these things.
3. How suddenly
too
his arrows fly. Like that night in Egypt
when
suddenly at midnight the gleam of the destroying angel’s sword was seen in the
darkness
and
in a moment
the firstborn of all that land passed from life to
death. The king’s son and the chained captive lie side by side in death’s
embrace
and a kingdom is in tears. How sudden the exit of Dickens
Thackeray
and others
hurried off ere their last chapter was written and last page dried.
And sometimes death aggravates his work
and takes thousands on the
battlefield
and hacks and tears them ¢o pieces; or
on the steamer
burns and
scalds their flesh from their bones. Learn from destructive forces being near
not to tempt Providence by carelessness and negligence. A great deal is sot
down to Providence which should be set down to ourselves. And let us be always
ready
since but a step between us and the grave! (Anon.)
Verse 14
Depart from us; for we
desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.
The riches of grace
Job shows that wicked men
may prosper in life and health (verse 7); in their multitude of children (verse
8); in tranquillity and safety (verse 9); in success and increase of their
substance (verse 10); in wealth
security
and pleasure (verses 11
12
13).
Job sets down two things--their sin
in the text; their punishment
in verse
13. The text contains three things--Wicked men’s contempt of grace. Their
contempt of the means of grace. The profaneness of their lives. From the first
of these
--a wicked man’s contempt of grace
observe this doctrine:--That a
wicked man doth not so much as desire saving grace. A true desire of grace is a
supernatural appetite to grace not had for the goodness of it. Four things in
this appetite--
1. It is an appetite of the soul to grace
when the heart doth even
go out of itself for the attaining of grace. A hungry appetite signifies a
hunger unfeigned
which is unsupportable without meat
so that he who truly
desires grace cannot be without grace: nothing can satisfy him but meat
though
he had all the wealth of the world. Hunger is irrepulsable
so he who truly desires
grace will not let God alone
but begs and cries for it. And hunger is humble
it is not choice in its meat
it will be content with anything.
2. It is a supernatural appetite
distinguished from that which
natural men have
and yet hate grace.
3. It is an appetite or desire after grace not had. No desire is
desire indeed
but true desire; because grace is above the reach of nature;
because grace is contrary to nature; because grace is a hell unto the natural
man. The first step to grace is to see that we have no grace. Grace which
wicked men desire
is not true grace. Thy hands and thy heart are full of
corruption
so that though grace lie even at thy feet
yet thou canst not
receive it up
unless thou empty thy hands and thy heart. Wherefore if there be
any lust
though never so dear
any bosom sin
which thou wilt not part with;
it is an evident sign that thou hast not a true desire of grace. It is a
vehement desire
if true; a lukewarm desire is no true desire. Though delight
be an effect of true desire
yet it is also a sign of grace
because grace in
potentia is in the ordinance of God. Therefore the man that desires grace
he will delight in the ordinances of grace. The more delays the greater becomes
the desire; delays are as oil cost into the fire
which makes the flame the
greater. If thy desires be true
thou hast gotten some grace: examine therefore
thyself. They that truly desire grace
desire the means of grace. Men that
desire a crop of corn
they will be at the cost
charges
and pains
for ploughing
harrowing
and sowing of their ground. How shall we get our hearts truly to
desire grace?
1. Learn to know it. Grace is such an admirable thing
that if men
knew it
they could not bet desire it. The taste of grace is sweet and dainty
that if we could but once taste it
our hearts would ever water after it
and
we should have little lust to the contrary evil. If you would desire grace
then purge out the ill-humours of sin out of thy soul. Fear to offend God
for
the fear of evil is the desire of good. The desire of the righteous is only
good; he desires God
and Christ
and the eternal love of God in Christ to be
manifested to him
and therein he rests himself; but the hope of the wicked is
indignation
he only desires the base self of the world; but the wrath of
heaven is with that
and he shall bewail his own soul
that for such base
things he should refuse the eternal good
and neglect it. In God there is all
good. God is such a good
that without Him nothing is good. (William Penner
B. D.)
The sinner’s prayer
I. This prayer
reveals to us the awful condition of the human heart. Lower than this neither
man nor demon can sink
for what is it but saying
“Evil be thou my good
darkness be thou my light”? Here we have the climax of criminal audacity. The
climax of self-deception. And the climax of ingratitude.
II. This prayer
shows us the nearness of God to man. The difficulty is not for man to find God
but to avoid finding Him. There is underlying this prayer a profound
consciousness of the Divine presence. The sinner fools that God is near
but he
would be altogether without Him
if he could.
III. This prayer
expresses the conviction of men
that the Lord’s claims upon them are founded
on reason and truth. God invites them to reason with Him
to consider their
ways
to ascertain the character of His commandments. They desire not the
knowledge of God’s ways. It is this reluctance to give the Gospel any
attention
this indisposition to think about eternal things
which hardens men
in their sin and folly
and ensures their destruction.
IV. This prayer
sets before us the great contrast which exists between the converted and the
unconverted. Those who are not converted
pray in their hearts and lives that
the Lord will depart from them. The converted thirst after God as the hart
pants for the water brooks.
V. This prayer
illustrates the long suffering of God. The very fact that men offer this prayer
and still live
exhibits the Lord’s forbearance and compassion in the most
striking manner.
VI. The answer to
this prayer involves the most serious consequences to those who offer it. If
persevered in
the answer will come. There is a bound beyond which men cannot
pass with impunity. It is a fearful thing to be left alone of God
to be
suffered to sin unrestrained
and to drink in iniquity like water. This is the
result of the prayer being answered. (H. B. Ingrain.)
The language of impiety
The more God does for
wicked men
the more ill affected they are towards Him.
I. Observe the
language of impenitent prosperity.
1. “They say.” They not only conceive it in their thoughts
but utter
it in words. Persons are lost to all fear and shame
when instead of
suppressing
or so much as concealing their sinful thoughts
they can publish
them abroad
and let the world know their strong propensity to evil.
2. “They say unto God.” To speak to the Lord is a great privilege
and to do it with humility
reverence
and delight
is an important duty. How
opposite is the language we are contemplating. How full of irreverence and daring
impiety!
3. “Depart from us.” The Divine presence is exceedingly desirable to
a good man
nor can he be happy without it; but it is far otherwise with the
carnal heart.
4. They impiously say
“We desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.”
Sinners are not only ignorant
but willing to continue so. They dislike the way
in which God walks. And they are equally averse to the way in which God has
directed His creatures to walk
the way of holiness and happiness
of humility
and self-denial
of faith and love
and evangelical obedience.
II. The sources of
this impiety. No reason can be rendered for a thing in itself so unreasonable.
1. This ignorance proceeds from pride.
2. From practical atheism.
3. From hatred and aversion.
4. From slavish fear and dread.
5. There is an utter contrariety of nature which renders the sinner
averse from God
and from a knowledge of His ways. Reflections--
God repudiated
I. God offers to
instruct and guide men in the knowledge of his ways. Wicked men could not say
to God
Depart
unless He came near to them. No truth is more clear than that
our Lord really desires to instruct men in His ways
that He may bless them
with His favour. In the Bible God has revealed the methods by which we may
learn His will
gain His grace
and be saved; and this Word
with all its
priceless offers
His providence has placed in our hands. In the whole
capabilities of human thought can there be a more wonderful
a vaster idea than
this: the absolute and Almighty Sovereign
instead of subduing rebellious subjects
by power
perseveringly seeking to win them by love!
II. Some repel
these gracious offers. The practical response of every unregenerate soul
acquainted with the Gospel
to these proffers of God
is “Depart from me.” This
is the virtual utterance
not only of the profligate and profane
but of all
who practically repudiate the law of the Lord as a rule of their lives. Every
sinner makes the gratification of his own propensities and desires--not the
will of the Lord--the rule of his life. Even what he does that is right and
good
he does because he chooses
not because God requires it.
III. The sinner’s
strange reason for his repulse of God. “We desire not.” Yet the human intellect
craves for knowledge. Men want to know what history
literature
philosophy
science can teach. But of the ways of the great God
who made and governs all
things
they desire not to know. See some of the causes of this unreasonable
aversion.
1. The mode of acquiring knowledge of God is too humbling for the
depraved
human will.
2. A subtle
scarcely acknowledged unbelief in the inspiration and
authority of the Bible.
3. The supreme reason is the love of sin
4. Others do not desire a knowledge of God’s ways now. Not yet
but
at some convenient future season they hope to learn more of this matter. (J.
L. Burrows
D. D.)
Verse 15
What profit should we
have
if we pray unto Him?
The profitableness of
religion
Let me first lay down the
doctrine
that no man can hold the Christian view of God’s personality and
dominion without his whole intellectual nature being ennobled. He no longer
looks at things superficially; he sees beyond the grey
cold cloud that limits
the vision of men who have no God; the whole sphere of his intellectual life
receives the light of another world. The difference between his former state
and his present condition
is the difference between the earth at midnight and
the earth in the glow and hope of a summer morning! This is not mere statement.
It is statement based upon the distinctest and gladdest experience of our own
lives
and based also upon the very first principles of common sense. The finer
and clearer our conceptions of the Divine idea
the nobler and stronger must be
our intellectual bearing and capacity. When the very idea of God comes into the
courses of man’s thinking
the quality of his thought is changed; his outlook
upon life widens and brightens; his tone is subdued into veneration
and his
inquisitiveness is chastened into worship. Intellectually the idea of God is a
great idea. It enters the mind
as sunlight would startle a man who is groping
along a path that overhangs abysses in the midst of starless gloom. The idea
“God” cannot enter into the mind
and mingle quietly with common thinking.
Wherever that idea goes
it carries with it revolution
elevation
supremacy. I
am speaking
please to observe
not of a cold intellectual assent to the
suggestion that God is
but of a reverent and hearty faith in His being and
rule. Such a faith never leaves the mind as it found it. It turns the intellect
into a temple; it sets within the mind a new standard of measure and
appraisement; and lesser lights are paled by the intensity of its lustre. Is
this mere statement? It is statement; but it is the statement of experience; it
is the utterance of what we ourselves know; because comparing ourselves with
ourselves we are aware that we have known and loved the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ
and that since we have done so
our intellectual life has sprung from
the dust
and refreshed itself at fountains which are accessible only to those
who live in God. This
then
is the first position which I lay down for your
thought and consideration
namely: That no man can entertain with reverence and
trust the idea that God is
without his whole intellectual nature being lifted
up to a higher plane than it occupied before; without his mind receiving great
access of light and vigour. Do you tell me that you know some men who profess
to believe in God
and who sincerely do believe in His existence and His
government
and yet they are men of no intellectual breadth
of no speciality
in the way of intellectual culture and nobleness? I hear you; I know what you
say
and I believe it. But will you tell me what those men would have been
small as they are now
but for the religion that is in them? I know that at
present they are very minute
intellectually speaking
--exceedingly small and
microscopic. But what would they have been if the idea of God’s existence and
rule had never taken possession of their intellectual nature? Besides that
they are on the line of progress. There is a germ in them which may be
developed
which may
by diligent culture
by reverent care
become the supreme
influence in their mental lives. Please to remember such modifications when you
are disposed to sneer at men who
though they have a God in their faith and in
their hearts
are yet not distinguished by special intellectual strength. You
tell me that you know some men who never mention the name of God
and who
therefore
seem to have no religion at all; who are men of very brilliant
intellectual power
very fertile in intellectual resources
and who altogether
have distinguished themselves in the empire of Mind. I believe it. But will you
tell me what these men might have been if they had added to intellectual
greatness a spirit of reverence and adoration? Can you surely tell me that
those men would not have been greater had they known what it is to worship the
one living and true God? Not only is there an ennoblement of the nature of a
man
as a whole
by his acceptance of the Christian idea of God--there is more.
That in itself is an inexpressible advantage; but there is a higher profit
still
forasmuch as there is a vital cleansing and purification of a man’s
moral being. Let a man receive the Christian idea of God
let him believe fully
in God
as revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ
and a new sensitiveness is given
to his conscience; he no longer loses himself in the mazes of a cunning
casuistry; he goes directly to the absolute and final standard of
righteousness; all moral relations are simplified; moral duty becomes
transparent;. he knows what is right
and does it; he knows the wrong afar off
and avoids it. (Joseph Parker.)
Profitable prayer
You will see at once on
looking at the context in what spirit this question is asked. Job puts the
words into the mouth of ungodly men
whose prosperity he could not understand
“Wherefore
” he asks
“do the wicked live
become old
yea
wax mighty in
power?” Describing their outward condition he says
“Their seed is established”
(verses 8-13). But blessings such as these
instead of evoking some such
thanksgiving as “Bless the Lord
O my soul
and forget not all His benefits
”
make them forgetful
even defiant of Him. It is an extreme and offensive
utilitarianism which prompts the inquiry
and in these days if it could be
proved to a mathematical demonstration that praying always produces material
advantage
if prosperity and prayer were invariably associated
as fortunately
they are not
the number of knees bent in outward worship would be indefinitely
increased
and to all outward appearance we should become a praying nation. But
perplexities gather around the subject of prayer to men of a far nobler type
than those contemplated in the words before us. The uniformity of so-called
nature
the absence of any expression of sympathy visible to human eye
or
audible to human ear from either nature
or the God of nature
in times when we
are faint with fear or overwhelmed with anxiety; the unchangeableness of God
even the sublime truth of the reality of the Divine Fatherhood lead some to
think
“Well
if God is in reality my Father
He is sure to do the very best
possible thing for me
whether I pray to Him or whether I do not.” So let us
try and lift up the question of our text into a higher and purer atmosphere
than that which
as asked by a godless
material prosperity
surrounds it.
I. Now
in order
to give any answer to the question
we must be able to say to whom we pray
and
must have some clear idea of what we mean by prayer. Let us address ourselves
to these questions first. When we speak of prayer
to whom do we pray? Now it
is quite plain that prayer can only be addressed to a personal Being. If we
resolve God into an inexorable fate
from the relentless grip of which escape
is impossible
then the question of our text is meaningless. Fate implies an
inevitable destiny which can in no way be altered. Or if we resolve God into a
mere force or energy or tendency
which works mechanically and blindly without
thought or feeling or will
the question is equally meaningless. It is simply
an absurdity to pray to a force
an energy
or a tendency. Or if God is an
unknown God
of whom and of whose character we cannot speak with any certainty
then in no full Christian sense of the word can we pray unto Him. Or
if whilst
ascribing such attributes as omnipotence and omniscience to Him
we think of
Him as far removed from this world
having delegated its affairs to certain
forces which
quite apart from Him
work according to certain laws
as we say
laws which He has established
but with which He has no further connection
then it is simply absurd to pray. Or if we think of Him as arbitrarily working
out His own will
that will having nothing whatever to do with the welfare of
His creatures
it is manifestly absurd to pray. Now all will admit that such
conceptions
so current amongst us
are as contrary as they can be to what
Jesus taught us about God. But whilst we may reject them
does our conception
of God rise to the level of what Jesus taught us? To many the central thought
about God is that which underlies the expression
to many perhaps the most
common of all
and that commonness to which we owe
perhaps
more to the
influence of the Prayer book than to any other cause
the expression “Almighty
God.” A power which cannot be limited
a pressure from which there is no
escape
a nature which knows no change
are the main elements of the conception
which many entertain about God. But such physical attributes lay no sufficient
basis for prayer. They may exist
to a large extent
in combination with other
attributes which render prayer an absurdity. And even if we add intellectual
attributes
such as infinite knowledge
a wisdom which cannot possibly err in
thought or deed
we are far from having reached the central conception of God
as Jesus revealed Him to us. His avowed object in coming into the world being
as He repeatedly assured us
to reveal God
surely the fact is full of
significance that He never emphasised these attributes
which we put into the
forefront
such attributes as infinity
unchangeableness
eternity
omnipotence
and so on? The great question is
Who is He to whom such
attributes belong? To speak of God as the Almighty One
the Eternal One
the
Unchangeable One
in inquiring who God is
is about as accurate and full of
meaning as if in defining the rose
we were to speak of it as “the sweet” or
“the red.” We want to know who it is who is infinite
who it is who is eternal
who it is who is omniscient
who it is who is unchangeable. And this is the
question which Christ answers. He reveals to us God’s nature
not merely His
attributes. He tells us who it is who is almighty
who it is who is
unchangeable
and so on. And there is no uncertainty whatever in what He
taught. Fatherliness is no mere attribute of God. Father is the one and only
word which sets forth His nature; He of whom all these attributes are affirmed
is the righteous Father
the Holy Father
the ideal Father. It is the Father
then
who is at the helm of the universe
over all and in all
constrained in
everything He does by no law whatever save and except the law of His holy will.
It is He to whom the welfare of everyone
without exception
is unspeakably
dear
dearer than the welfare of your beloved child is to you.
II. Now let us ask
what we mean by prayer. As used in a general and less exact sense
it often
includes all that is comprehended in communion with God--adoration
confession
thanksgiving
intercession. In its narrower and more exact sense
it means
simply asking
as when our Lord said
“Ask
and ye shall receive.” The best
definition I ever saw of prayer is by the late T.H. Green
of Oxford
when he
says
“Prayer is a wish referred to God.” Now
manifestly
what we ask from God
must be regulated largely by what we think about Him. And if we pray to the God
and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
there are certain thoughts
about Him which will never be absent when we ask anything from Him. The first
is that the Father can grant anything we ask. Here is the true place for
omnipotence. His power is not hemmed in by any bounds at all
excepting only
those of physical or moral impossibilities. No force limits
for there is no
force in which He is not. Force is merely the mode of His working. No law
limits Him
for law is simply a term which we use to express what we have
learned in apparently the inviolable mode of His action. There is no entity
no
being with nature which is outside of Him which controls Him in any measure.
Apart
then
from that which is physically and morally impossible
God can do
everything. It is not a thing incredible that He should raise the dead. There
is no sickness which He cannot heal. There is no calamity which He cannot
avert. “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or
think.” Again
there is no limit on the side of God’s willingness to give us
what we desire to have. This is simply an axiom if the great central truth of
Christianity is conceded. But all this seems to be completely at issue with the
facts which stare us in the face. It seems to be denied point blank by the
experiences of life. With unutterable anguish written on uplifted face
and the
body bathed in bloody sweat
the cry is extorted from us at all times
“Oh
Father
do take this cup away
” but it has to be drunk to its very dregs. The
breadwinner in some dependent family
who has hardly known an idle hour
who
has spent his little all
both of means and strength
on the small country farm
he has tilled
obliged to sell everything that he might retain the honesty of
his name
drifts into some metropolitan centre. Early and late
week after
week
he strives to find employment by which to keep the wolf away from his
home
but in vain. As he returns home at night he sees hunger and despair
printed on the countenance he loves far better than life. What intensity does
the agony of love give to his prayer. But no hand is outstretched
and he dies
of a broken heart. If there is no limit on the side of the Father’s willingness
to answer prayer
then why
oh! why does He not answer prayers such as these
and save His children from such crushing sorrows? Thomas Erskine
who
being
before his age
was of course misunderstood
somewhere asks
“If it has taken
God untold ages to make a piece of old red sandstone
how long will it take Him
to perfect a human soul?” Elsewhere he writes
“The depth of our misery now is
an earnest of the immensity of that blessing which is to make all this worth
while.” I know of no standpoint whatever
save the one contained in such words
as those
from which any light whatever can be seen playing upon the darkness.
Nothing can dispel that entirely. It belongs to the primal fact of human
freedom. But if it be true that the present life is but the mere tiniest
fragment of a fragment in the life of any of us; if it be true that life is
unending
that God’s education of us will never cease in any case until we are perfect
then there is no darkness here which may not intensify the brightness to come.
So that the one and only answer
and the only limit to God’s answer to prayer
is that implied in the words
“This is the will of God
even your
sanctification”; or
in the words which you have in the Epistle to the Hebrews
“For our profit
that we might be partakers of His holiness.” Now let us in the
light of these truths
remembering to whom we pray
remembering that the only
limit to His answers to our prayer is not inability or unwillingness to answer
but the purpose of His holy love to make us perfect as He is perfect
let us in
the light of these truths consider the question
“What profit shall we have if
we pray unto Him?” It is perfectly plain from what has been said
that if
prayer is true prayer
let it be for what it may
it will have attached to it
if not in word
at any rate in spirit
“Not what I will but what Thou wilt.” It
cannot be otherwise if we have any worthy conception of Him to whom we pray. If
that limit is attached to our prayer
there is nothing at all we cannot
appropriately make the subject of prayer. Then are we to pray for success in
our worldly calling
that God would bless us in our basket add in our store? By
all means; only let it be remembered that success in the form in which we
should choose it would very probably be about the worst thing for us
and
certainly we shall not have it if it would. Are we to pray for restoration to
health
when it seems as though life were about to be brought to a premature
close
or when someone intensely loved by us seems to be withering away? By all
means; only even then we must not forget that in all that is baffling medical
skill
God is probably preparing us for the blow
which
just because He is
love
He must let fall upon us. The supreme prayer is “Thy will be done.” Any
prayer that overlaps the limits there laid down is the prayer of presumption
not the prayer of true faith. I have not spoken
nor is it needful
of prayer
for what are commonly called spiritual blessings. We pray
and properly so
for
growth in grace
for purity of life
for joyousness of heart
for control of
self
that we may be delivered from uncharitableness
envy
evil speaking
covetousness
that we may be transparently truthful
that we may be patient
generous
brave and strong. But even here we must not forget that the answer to
prayer may come just as certainly through failure as through success. It may
come through the revelation of evil that is in us
as well as through the subjugation
of such evil--that the prayer
“Lead us not into temptation
” can only be fully
answered when we have passed through experiences such that we count it all joy
when we fall into direst temptations. That there is profit in such prayer who
can doubt
especially for people who have passed the meridian of life
and I
trust younger people will realise it by and by. I say that there is profit in
such prayer. We may not get the very thing we ask for
undoubtedly often shall
not
but is there no profit? If when a father is obliged to say “no” to his
child
he looks with love into that child’s eyes
and lays his hand
affectionately upon that child’s head
is there no profit? We may feel most
sensibly the Divine touch
and we may see most clearly the Divine face when the
Divine love says “no.” Some one has said
“The man who does all his praying on
his knees does not pray enough.” Undoubtedly. The Apostolic injunction is
“Pray without ceasing.” “What profit shall we have if we pray unto Him?” It
will be in a tone of gratitude which becomes deeper and deeper until the end.
In that may each of us ask the question we have been considering this morning.
(Caleb Scott
D. D.)
On the nature of
acceptable prayer
I. Objections
urged against the duty of prayer.
1. Does not the Omniscient God know our wants and desires much better
than we do ourselves? Answer--Is not prayer an acknowledgment of our dependence
upon God for life
and breath
and all things? Every intelligent creature ought
to acknowledge his dependence. Self-sufficiency is not the property of any
created being.
2. Another objection is drawn from the immutability of the Divine
nature. No petitions of ours
it has been said
can ever change Him.
Answer--Though prayer produces no change in God
it may
through the promised
influences of His grace
change the temper and dispositions of our minds
and
prepare us for the reception of those blessings which He has promised to those
who call upon Him in sincerity and truth. The change
then
is not in God
but
in ourselves.
3. Another objection--As every event is foreordained
it is vain for
us to imagine that God’s eternal purposes can be reversed; or that He will
depart from His system in the government of the universe
in order to gratify
our desires. Answer--Apply this mode of reasoning to the ordinary affairs of
life
and its fallacy will at once appear. The great duties of personal
religion rest on a ground of obligation similar to that of all the ordinary
duties of life. On the same principle on which the farmer acts
when he ploughs
his ground and sows his seed
we are morally obliged to improve all the means
and ordinances of religion. Prayer is not inconsistent with the Divine decrees;
it is one of the means leading to their accomplishment.
II. The nature of acceptable
prayer.
1. Prayer must be the desires of the heart.
2. Prayers must be for such things only as God hath promised to give.
3. They must be fervent and persevering.
4. They must be offered in faith. We must believe that God is able
and willing to grant our requests.
III. Point out some
of the advantages of prayer.
1. Its fixing the heart upon God
the true centre of its happiness.
2. By fixing the heart on God
prayer prepares it for the reception
of His richest blessings.
3. The benefit of prayer is particularly felt in the hour of
affliction and distress
and in the immediate prospect of death. In order to
give a full and satisfactory answer to the question in the text
consider man
in his social
as well as his individual capacity
in social and family
worship. (James Ross
D. D.)
Questioning
Men in general are
not sufficiently aware of the importance of the manner of asking questions. Of
so much importance is the manner
that we could cite good questions as
evidences of bad men. For instance
Pharaoh’s question
“Who is the Lord that I
should obey Him?” Now
in itself nothing could be more reasonable than this
question. Pharaoh was a heathen
and this is just the question that a
missionary would wish a heathen to ask. There was the question asked by Pilate
“What is truth?” A proper question
but always cited as a proof of the culpably
indifferent state of his mind; for we are told that he did not wait for a
reply. The question in our text is a reasonable inquiry
but it is here a part
of a speech of the most wicked of mankind. We can suppose it asked in various
manners.
1. In a trifling
impertinent manner.
2. In an unbelieving manner.
3. In a spirit of utter impiety.
4. As a grave and proper inquiry.
1. In a trifling manner; just as if a man should say
“Don’t trouble
me! What you say may be very true; but at present I feel no concern about it.”
2. In a spirit of unbelief
not exactly that of an atheist.
3. In a spirit of daring impiety. There are spirits that can turn
full on the Almighty with a frown of dislike
and can turn away from all
appeals to their consciences respecting the claims of God
and the glory of
Christ.
4. But we suppose this question asked in great simplicity. “Tell us
(we might say to the inquirer)
have you been long making this inquiry? How
long? If only lately
it is very wonderful. How has it happened that you have
deferred it so long? How did it not come among your first inquiries?” Let those
persons who have not made the inquiry
think how strange it is that they have
neglected it
while God has sustained them every moment till now
amidst all
the manifestations of mercy. (John Foster.)
Is there reason or profit
in prayer
Thus spake
sceptical men in the days of Job. Thus speak sceptical men now. The question of
prayer is not a question of natural science; it comes within the domain of
moral science. And moral questions must be judged of by moral evidence. Prayer
is a question that lies entirely between God and the soul of man
and is
consequently quite removed from the field of scientific research
and out of
the region of scientific analysis. Is the soul of man so constituted as to make
prayer an essential element of his spiritual being? And has God made known to
us His mind and will in reference to prayer? Each Person of the ever-blessed
Trinity has made known His will on the subject of prayer. We may answer the
question of the text by appealing to the personal experience of multitudes of
all past ages. History and biography come in as witnesses to the profit and
value of prayer. We learn the value of a blessing by its being taken away. What
would be the moral condition of the world were there no prayer? How long would
our religion exist without prayer? (Bishop Stevens.)
The profit of prayer
Men are averse to call
upon God.
I. Expose and
reprove the unworthy
erroneous
and carnal notions some entertain of prayer.
1. They wish to make it subservient only to their temporal
interest--pray only for health
prosperity
long life
and yet imagine
themselves religious people.
2. Some scorn it altogether
because they do not find it answer this
low purpose.
3. Some enter their prayers in heaven only as a sort of debtor and
creditor account against their sins.
4. Others view prayer as only intended to be their last resource.
When they are “at their wit’s end
then they cry unto the Lord.” The iron hand
of adversity
but nothing else bends their stubborn knees.
II. There is a
higher kind of profit in prayer.
1. Right prayers shall obtain the forgiveness of sin.
2. A new heart is another essential blessing to be obtained by
prayer.
3. Another invaluable blessing is the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
4. Prayer may obtain His delivering grace in all exigencies
or
support under them.
5. Prayer shall gain the kingdom of heaven.
III. The ground on
which those who pray aright are assured of attaining all this profit.
1. The revealed character of God.
2. The express promises of God are our security. The work and office
of Christ form another most important ground of security. He is our intercessor
to plead for us
to present our prayers
and enforce them by His own merit. (The
Evangelist.)
Prayer a profitable
exercise
I. The exercise
assumed. “If we pray unto Him.” Prayer implies--
1. A consciousness of want. Man is a needy creature. Destitution is his
inheritance. They are best qualified to pray who know most of themselves.
2. Prayer supposes a Being capable of supplying our wants. This Being
must know our necessities
and possess sufficient benevolence and power to
supply them. Such is the Almighty. Prayers to saints or angels are impious
as
they transfer the homage from the Creator to the creature; and absurd
as
angels are as dependent as men.
3. Prayer implies an approach towards the Almighty. Man is an alien
from God; far gone from original righteousness. When he begins to pray
his
mind turns towards God. Hence prayer is called feeling after God
looking to
Him
seeking His face
and pouring out the heart before Him.
4. Prayer includes an expression of our wants. We may express our
wants fully; we should do it humbly and importunately. We should pray in faith.
II. The inquiry
instituted. “What profit should we have
” etc. Selfishness is universally
prevalent in the world. Wicked men are invariably selfish men. Because prayer
is deemed unprofitable
therefore it is neglected. There is no exercise under
heaven attended with so much profit as prayer.
1. Prayer contributes to the removal of evil. Of moral evil. Of
natural evil--affliction and oppression.
2. Prayer is instrumental in procuring good. All good
for body and
soul
for time and eternity. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.)
The advantages of prayer
1. The pleasure and satisfaction immediately attending the several
acts and instances of a devout temper
2. Prayer by a natural influence calms our passions and makes Us
considerate and wise.
3. Prayer establishes our integrity and virtue against temptations;
thus makes us happy in ourselves
and gains us the esteem and confidence of
others
which are of the utmost advantage in life.
4. Prayer will produce a noble joy and confidence in God
and a
permanent cheerfulness and tranquillity
amidst all the uncertainty of events.
5. If we can trust to the clearest dictates of reason
or to the most
express promises of revelation
a religious temper and conduct will certainly
procure for us peculiar guidance
assistances
and supplies from an
ever-present God
though we cannot always distinctly know and assign them.
6. Prayer is the best relief in all distress
and especially when
death approaches. (W. Amory.)
Is prayer of any use
1. Doubts arise as to the use of prayer in the minds of men who have
no feeling of need.
2. By men who disrelish prayer.
3. By men who have regard to the uniformity of nature.
4. Doubts also arise from the fact that multitudes of prayers seem
unanswered. (D. G. Watt
M. A.)
The profit of prayer
It does us good in various
ways.
1. There is a certain relief to our overcharged feelings procured by
means of prayer to the Almighty. A striking passage occurs in the celebrated
paper by Tyndall
proposing a plan by which the efficacy of prayer should be
put to the test. While he distinctly denies to prayer the power of effecting
objective results
or results outside of us
Tyndall admits that the exercise
is not altogether vain and valueless. It does some good. His words are
“There
is a yearning of the heart
a craving for help it knows not whence. Certainly
from no source it sees. Of a similar kind is the bitter cry of the hare when
the greyhound is almost upon her. She abandons hope through her own efforts
and screams. It is a voice convulsively sent out into space
whose utterance is
a physical relief.” Prayer is a physical relief. Herein is its value
In
moments of distress the soul is relieved by giving vocal expression to its
anguish. The doom is not averted by the prayer--It can have no possible result
of that kind--but the prayer dominates the pain with which the soul anticipates
calamity.
2. Prayer is valuable as an intellectual drill. As the mental
faculties are brought into exercise by this approach to the Deity
the mind is
benefited by prayer in the same way that the beefy is benefited by a turn at
gymnastics. The profoundest and noblest themes engage us in our addresses to
God; and expressing our thoughts usually in words
we have the additional
advantage of being compelled to clearness and definiteness in our conceptions.
3. According to this theory
prayer is valuable in respect of what it
does for our moral and spiritual nature. The emotional part of our being is
quickened by this Divine exercise. You can at once see how humility
patience
resignation
and suchlike qualities are developed in our hearts by this means.
Contact with a Being infinitely holy will also stimulate our admiration and
desire for what is pure and good and noble. If I cannot benefit another by my
prayers
I can
at least
by the intercourse and fellowship I have with God in
them
secure for myself moral impulse and moral tone. Prayer is a means of
grace
not in that it secures for our sanctification any supernatural good
but
in that it brings us into communication and close converse with a Holy Being. (A.
F. Forrest.)
Prayer proved to be a
profitable exercise
I. The exercise
assumed. “If we pray
” etc. Prayer implies four things -
1. A consciousness of want. Man is a needy creature. They are best
qualified to pray who know most of themselves.
2. Prayer supposes an object capable of supplying our wants. This
Being must know our necessities
and possess sufficient benevolence and power
to supply them. Such is the Almighty
who is considered in this verse as the
object of prayer. Prayers to saints of angels are impious
as they transfer the
homage from the Creator to the creature; and absurd
as angels are as dependent
as men.
II. The inquiry
instituted. “What profit should we have?” etc. Selfishness is universally
prevalent in the world. There is no exercise under heaven attended with so much
profit as prayer.
1. Prayer contributes to the removal of evil. Of moral evil. Jabez
prayed that God would keep him from evil; and God granted him that which he
requested. David said
“I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and
Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Of natural evil. Affliction. “Is any
among you afflicted? let him pray.” “Then they cried unto the Lord in their
trouble
and He delivered them
” etc. (Psalms 107:6). Hezekiah prayed
and wept in his affliction
and God said
“Behold
I will heal thee” (1 Kings 20:5). Sorrow. “I found
” said David
“trouble and sorrow: then called
I upon the name of the Lord
” etc. (Psalms 116:1-4).
2. Prayer is instrumental in procuring good. All good
for body and
soul
for time and eternity
is promised to prayer. And the profit of prayer
infinitely outweighs all other profit. It is Divine. Worldly profit consists in
flocks
herds
money
etc. This
in faith
grace
love
happiness
etc. It is
mental. Worldly profit is sensual
all for the outward man; but he who prays is
enriched inwardly; all his intellectual powers are profited. It is
comprehensive. Worldly profit is circumscribed and bounded by time; the profit
of prayer illimitable. It is universal. Worldly profit affects us partially;
this
in body
and soul
and substance.
And the profit arising
from prayer is secured without risk
and retained without any fears of
deprivation.
1. The conduct of the wicked is impious. They not only live without
prayer
but live as if God had no right to exact this duty of them.
2. The conduct of the wicked is erroneous. They consider prayer a
profitless exercise
and therefore neglect it. But this calculation is totally
unfounded. Prayer avails much.
3. The conduct of the wicked is ruinous. Without prayer salvation is
unattainable (Proverbs 1:24-31). (J. Benson.)
The profitableness of
prayer
These words are an
objection of bold
ungodly
and profane men against the duty of prayer. The
stress of the argument is taken from its unprofitableness; it is said that it
does not procure us the advantages which might be expected from it. But because
God is pleased to incite us to the observance of His commands by the promise of
a reward
and because there are peculiar blessings annexed to this duty of
prayer
I shall not insist on the absolute right of God to require it. That
prayer is unprofitable
the objectors must show
either from reason or from
experience. They must either prove that God cannot hear prayers
or that He
doth not; that it is inconsistent with the notion of God that He should be
prevailed on by the prayers of men; or that by trial it has been found that He
has never been prevailed on. But if men can prove from the nature or the
attributes of God
that He cannot be prevailed on by the prayers of men
they
need not trouble themselves to prove that He is not. But if we can prove that
God is sometimes wrought on by the prayers of men
we need not trouble to prove
against them
that He can be wrought upon. The blessings we receive
do
the
objectors own
follow our prayers; but they will not own that they are the
consequences of our prayers. The objections we now deal with are offered by
those who own the being of God
and acknowledge His providence
His power
and
His goodness
but raise difficulties concerning the profitableness of prayer.
They say God is an unchangeable Being
not only in His nature and essence
but
also in His counsels and purposes; and therefore He is not to be moved by
prayers to send down gifts upon clamorous and importunate petitioners for them.
All change
they say
among men argues weakness and infirmity of mind. Shall we
then charge this weakness upon God? He cannot change His purposes for the
better
because they are always perfectly good and wise. Whatever difficulties
there may be in this objection
they are not so great as to shake our
assurance
that God hears the prayers of men. For the unchangeableness of God
cannot be better proved from reason or from Scriptures than His readiness to
supply the wants of those who call upon Him. It is not more inconsistent with
the perfections of God to be wavering and changeable than it is to be deaf to
the prayers of His servants
and unable or unwilling to grant their requests. I
will try to show that God may be unchangeable
and yet that He may be wrought
upon by the prayers of men; or
which is all one
that He may grant those
things to men upon their requests
which
without such requests
He would not
grant. God’s purposes are not so absolute as to exclude all conditions. He
determines to bestow His favours upon men
not indiscriminately
but upon men
so and so qualified. God determines to give grace to the humble
and pardon of
sins to the penitent. Humility and repentance are therefore the conditions on
man’s part. God
by His infinite wisdom
foresees the wants and dispositions of
all men. One of His required dispositions is prayer. The objectors may however
doubt whether the dependence which God requires must necessarily be expressed
and evidenced by prayer. For
they say we may trust in God
and yet not call
upon Him. Nay
it may even be a sign of our entire trust and confidence
that
we submit ourselves implicitly to His will
and do not trouble Him with our
requests. To this false reasoning it may be answered
that if this dependence
on God means anything
it must be
to all intents and purposes
the same thing
as a mental prayer. For prayer consists in the elevation of the soul to God. As
to the objection
that if we are worthy of God’s favours
He will grant them
unasked; this is frivolous
since in God’s esteem they only are worthy who do
ask. Asking is one thing requisite to make us so far worthy; and what for our
own unworthiness we cannot hope
we may expect from the goodness of God
through the merits of Christ The more nicely or scrupulously we examine the
grounds of this or any other religious duty
the more fully shall we be
convinced of the reasonableness of it. Weak and infirm minds
who use to take
up duties upon trust
and without trial
are too apt
when they hear anything
that looks plausible
urged against the necessity of such duties
to be easily
led away. It remains only
that being upon the mature deliberation
and
impartial examining the merits of the cause
fully convinced of the
reasonableness of the duty
we apply ourselves to a conscientious and faithful
discharge of it; that being thoroughly persuaded of the profitableness of
prayer
we do not so far overlook our own interest
as by neglect of prayer to
lose those many and unspeakable advantages which we may expect from it; but
that
by praying to God frequently
humbly
and fervently
we should be able to
give the best
the shortest and fullest proof of the usefulness of prayer from
our own experience. As we plead experience for the usefulness of prayer
so the
objectors plead experience against its being profitable. They say the blessings
we pray for are not granted; the evils we pray against are not removed. To make
this a convincing argument against prayer
it must be supposed--
1. That because God has not yet regarded our prayers
therefore for
the future He will not.
2. That because God has not regarded some prayers
therefore He will
regard none.
3. That because God does not answer the particular requests of such
as pray to Him
therefore He does not regard their prayers. As the contrary of
all these is true
the argument of the objector is a bad one. Prayer is so
weighty
so necessary
and so advantageous a duty
that we cannot take too much
pains to establish it upon the firmest grounds
and to settle it upon its true
foundations. Note the chief of those qualities which are most essential to a valid
and effectual prayer.
1. Trust in Him to whom we pray.
2. Attention of mind whilst we pray.
3. A fervent desire of that for which we pray.
4. The deepest humility of soul and body in the act of praying.
Argue the following
points--
Is prayer useless
Whether prayer
ought to have any place in the sphere of human life is clearly a question of
very grave importance. To Christians
prayer is the simple necessity of a
newborn life--the instinctive utterance of conscious want; and God can no more
disregard it than a tender mother can jest with the cry of her helpless babe.
Without prayer
religious duty would degenerate into treadmill drudgery--begun
with reluctance
ended with a sigh of relief. Outside the pale of the Christian
Church too many there are in every social grade who look on prayer as a symptom
of intellectual feebleness
of superstitious alarm
or of fanatical delusion.
Examine the grounds on which this notion rests
more especially as it is held
by those who have picked up a smattering of our modern science and philosophy.
1. Prayer is assumed to be useless
because of the immutability of
God’s character. There is no logical resting place between theism and
atheism--between a God absolutely perfect
and no God at all. Grant His
existence
and every excellence must belong to Him
so completely and finally
as to be incapable either of addition or subtraction. Why hope to move such a
Being with mortal entreaties? What response can they have but their own sad
echoes? The objection thus urged is based on a fundamental misconception.
Rightly understood
prayer is not intended to change God; it is designed rather
by its reflex influence
to change ourselves; to lift us into the circle of His
transforming fellowship. Immutability must not be confounded with
insensibility. The crowning glory of God’s nature is
that He feels
appropriately towards all things
unalterably pained with what is wrong
unalterably pleased with what is right; and the supreme object of prayer is to
bring us into such relations to Him that the benignant fulness of His Godhead
free from all fitful caprices
may flow forth with unvarying willingness and
certainty for our help and happiness.
2. Prayer is assumed to be useless
because of the fixity of God’s
purposes. Every being gifted with intelligence acts more or less from
deliberate predetermination. How much more must this be the case with Him who
is the great fountain of intelligence
and who ordereth all things according to
the counsel of His own mind! This is the simple truth
but does it present any
valid argument against the worth of prayer? Does not prayer run parallel with
God’s designs
not counter to them? Does it not ask what is agreeable to His
will; not what is contrary to it? Is it not itself an ordained part of the Divine
scheme--a something enjoined by the eternal Maker and Ruler of us? Heaven’s
decrees no more forbid supplication than they forbid effort. Intercession with
God is not an attempt to frustrate His purposes
but to obey and carry them
into harmonious fulfilment.
3. Prayer is assumed to be useless
because of the unchangeableness
of God’s laws. Laws of nature
men call them. Laws of God
whereby nature is
governed
would be a more accurate and equally scientific definition. It is
said
Will prayer alter
by so much as a hairbreadth
the course of that huge
machinery
named the “System of the Universe
” any more than the shriek of
perishing villages will arrest the avalanche
or extinguish the volcano? This
reasoning leaves untouched the whole realm of the supernatural; and
after all
it is spiritual benedictions with which prayer is chiefly concerned
and which
constitute the richest heritage God can bestow
or man receive. With respect to
the physical
it is not sound philosophy to represent the world as a piece of
clockwork
wound up millenniums ago
and left to run its round without further
dependence on the Divine Artificer. He who made the world sustains it; is the
source of all its energies
the guide of all its movements. Even human skill
can utilise nature’s laws. Is the Creator more impotent than the creature?
4. Prayer is assumed to be useless
because of the infinitude of
God’s wisdom and love. No incident in our chequered history
be it great or
small
is hidden from His omniscient gaze. Why tell Him that of which He is
already fully cognisant? Since He comprehends what we need better than we do
ourselves
will He not grant or deny all the same
whether we ask or not? But
prayer was never meant for any purpose so impertinent as to inform the Deity
or
to teach wisdom and understanding to the Most High. But it does not follow that
His blessings will be dispensed alike
sought or unsought. Prayer is the sign
of moral fitness to receive. Because “God is love
” it is lame logic to
conclude that He must lavish His treasures equally on those who solicit and on
those who spurn them. Heaven’s kindness is not an amiable weakness
blind
impulsive. Prayer takes what love offers
and what
without prayer
can never
be personally appropriated.
5. Prayer is assumed to be useless because of the withholding of
God’s answer. It can hardly be denied that there is much praying that ends in
nothing. It falls still-born from the lips
and is buried in the dust of
abortive and forgotten things. What is the use of presenting requests which are
thus unheeded? But to argue after this fashion is to jump at totally false
conclusions. While we are waiting
the answer may already be given in another
shape. May there not be an indolent proneness to beseech God to do precisely
what He expects us to do
and what He has given us the power of doing
ourselves? Does delay necessarily mean denial? Surely there are causes enough
to account for unanswered prayer
without impugning its efficacy when rightly
offered. Instead
therefore
of pleading untenable objections
let the worth of
prayer be tried and tested by individual experience. (L. B. Brown.)
The profit of religion
There have always been men
who estimate the value of a thing by its marketable and commercial qualities.
“What will it profit me?” is the question that precedes every outlay and
governs every action. These men have no eye for the spiritualities
the
sentiments
the unuttered and unutterable glories of life. “How much will it
fetch?” is their only method of determining the worth of a thing. That was the
way the men of Job’s time estimated the religion he professed. Religion to them
was an investment. Job’s acquaintances are not all dead yet. Blot out the
notion that has possessed us
that
somehow
it will be well with the righteous
and ill with the wicked hereafter
and how many of us would say the prayers we
now say
or participate in the forms and rites of worship that now engage our
attention? We are religious because we think it pays. We have a kind of
ineradicable notion that it will pay still more in the life to come. So it
comes that religion may be degraded into the most absolute selfishness
and the
highest and holiest functions of life be turned into an investment that savours
of mammondom.
I. What is
religion? What do we mean by service? Religion is not an observance
but a
life; it is the conscious union of the soul with God
manifesting itself in
conduct
and uplifting itself in speech. It is the carrying of the Divine
principles of integrity
honesty
charity
love
peacefulness
and goodwill
into the daily rounds and daily duties of our common life. Serving God is the
unforced obedience of love; the fulfilling of the will of God in every sphere
of life to which it shall please God to call us; to work and act and think as
those whose aim is to carry out the purposes of God. If you would know how to
serve God
learn how to serve humanity by living for it in loving
ministrations
and
if needs be
by dying for it. God is neither served nor
flattered by words
or postures
or gesticulations
or the observance of days
and times. He who serves his brother
Ms neighbour
even in the humblest
spheres
and by the humblest means
serves God. “They also serve who only stand
and wait.”
II. What will be
the result of all this? What rewards does God offer? Should I be far wrong if I
were to say
None? God has no system of conferring favours. He does not pay for
service with Caesar’s coin. So far as the world goes
religion pure and
undefiled is not a stepping stone to its most valued things. It was once the
stepping stone to a Cross. Serving God is not incompatible with worldly wealth;
righteousness and religion need not be barriers in the way of worldly progress.
But God does not pay men for service in that way. Let me point out what my
conceptions of the results of serving God are.
1. It links us to the Infinite and the Eternal. It stamps this poor
imperfect life with the Divine insignia. It touches the sordid things of earth
into sanctities and sacrednesses.
2. Add the inward peace and satisfaction which comes from the
consciousness of being identified with the Infinite and the Eternal; the
consciousness that we are fulfilling the highest end of our being
and that
come life
or come death
God is the strength of our life
and our portion
forever. Some will ask
Does not God reward service with heaven? No; service is
heaven
here and hereafter. Heaven will be the result of character--developed
ripened
sanctified to the service of God. There can be no heaven for the man
who has not learned to do the will of God. (W. J. Hocking.)
Of the reasonableness of
religion
Religion
or the service
of God
is an equivalent expression for a virtuous and good life. Religion is
grounded on the very best reason
having its foundation in these three things--
I. The existence
and nature of God. The being of a God is not an idle
fanciful notion
but a
sacred and eternal truth
witnessed by the whole universe; so that we may as
reasonably doubt whether anything at all is
as whether there be a God
who is
the cause of all other things. God’s working everywhere is a plain proof of His
presence everywhere. The same God
whose presence
power
and knowledge are
infinite
is likewise most holy
just
good
merciful
faithful and true
and
in all these attributes is “without variableness
or shadow of turning.”
Religion must be a reasonable service
being founded in the existence and
nature of this Almighty Being.
II. The nature of
man. It is therefore reasonable. Creatures that are part bodies and part souls.
Our bodies surrounded with innumerable dangers
and naturally weak and
defenceless; subject to manifold wants
passions
and diseases. Our souls of a
rank and order much advanced above our bodies; possessed of powers and
faculties excellent in their nature
but that may become the foundation of our
guilt and shame
and the means of our greater torment and misery. Religion only
can preserve the peace of the mind
or restore it when lost. It is not peace
alone that religion bestows
but pleasures too. The soul lives when our body
dies.
III. Religion is
founded in the relation betwixt God and man. I am related to God as the author
of my being
and all belonging to it. God is the fountain of happiness
the
object as well as the author of it. Reflections--
1. How thankful we should be for the Gospel of our blessed Saviour
and how very highly should we value it.
2. Christianity is wonderfully suited to the nature of man as a
fallen creature.
3. Appeal to every man’s conscience
whether it be not a plain case
what his choice ought to be? (H. Grove.)
The claims and rewards of
God’s service
This question is
not difficult to answer.
I. Consider these
motives which ought to induce us to serve God
drawn from his character and
relations. Service supposes superiority; for the greater is served by the
lesser; also a right to our services
and an ability to reward them. We
therefore assert as motives to the service of God--
1. The justice of His claims
grounded on His sovereign greatness;
grounded on the end of our creation; grounded on His providential goodness.
Consider how His claims receive additional strength from the doctrine of the
Gospel
by which we are declared His purchase. At what a price did He redeem
us!
2. The rewards He gives to His servants. In the present life He gives
peace of mind; the supply of every want; protection from danger. In the
future--what?
II. Improve the
subject.
1. Think of the pleasure of serving God.
2. Think of the improvement of all our powers--for all the advantage
is ours.
3. Think
by contrast
that if you do not serve God
you serve the
god of this world. Think of the future rewards of ungodly service! (J.
Walker
D. D.)
Profit in service and
prayer
A not wholly illogical
induction of the facts of life. The wicked prospered
the righteous cast down.
What is the good of serving the Almighty? Answer--
I. Almighty will
make it right hereafter. But--
1. This narrow range of prayer must have help now.
2. There is no other world here or nowhere is whole fact
i.e.
no
different administration hereafter. Justice is sovereign here and now.
3. No force with Job and his friends; knew little about hereafter
of
rewards and punishments. They inclined to think God’s service paid here.
Answer--
II. God’s service
is rich in reward
here and now.
1. God’s service is compliance with His laws
which always pays.
2. Servant of God makes best use of what he has. Lord’s poor better
off than the devil’s poor.
3. His service pays in character; makes a man unselfish.
4. Pays in spiritual rest and joy.
5. Pays to pray to God
for He answers prayer. Indirectly. Don’t
always get what is asked for
but something better. Directly. Often get very
thing asked. Scepticism says
“Would have got it
anyhow.” Faith answers
“God
not ‘anyhow
’ heard me.” Almighty is not then a blind force
not a chemical
affinity. Almighty is a Sovereign whose it is to say whether He shall answer
prayer at all
and when and how. “Jehovah God
” who “shall reign forever and
ever.” (John S. Plumer.)
Verse 22
Shall any teach God
knowledge?
Mental independence of God
The mental independency of
God involves two things--uninstructibleness and irresponsibleness. The former
in man is either a calamity or a crime. But that which in any finite
intelligence would be either a misfortune or a sin
is a glorious perfection in
God. It is the glory of God that He cannot be instructed--that no one can teach
Him knowledge. He knows all things
actual and possible. But whilst the former
ought not to exist in any intelligent creature
the latter irresponsibility
does not exist. No being is authorised to use his knowledge in any way he may
think fit. All rational creatures are accountable for the use of their
knowledge. Not so with God. He can use His infinite knowledge in any way He
pleases. He is answerable to none: all are responsible to Him.
I. That all His
operations must emanate from pure sovereignty. All that exists must be traced
to the counsel of His own will. He received neither the plan nor motive for any
act. Creation--redemption--conversion--every part of each--every Divine
movement in connection with each--rises out of benevolent spontaneity.
II. That all His
laws must be the transcript of His own mind. It is seldom just to regard human
laws as a correct reflection of the mind of the sovereign
for a human
sovereign
in most cases
receives counsels and suggestions from others; but as
God has had no “counsellor
” His laws are the expression of Himself. What they are
He is. The history of His government is the history of Himself. Irresponsible
power in a creature would be despotism
but in God it has
from the beginning
been mercy.
III. That all His
dispensations should be cordially acquiesced in.
1. Rectitude dictates this. The Absolute Mind has a right to do what
He does.
2. Expediency dictates this. Opposition is useless. No being can give
Him a new idea or motive
and
therefore
no one can turn Him from His course.
IV. That all His
revelations should be properly studied. A book from a Mind absolutely
independent should be studied--
1. With an expectation of difficulties.
2. With the profoundest reverence. (Homilist.)
Verse 23
One dieth in his full
strength . . . Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul.
Providence vindicated
against the superficial observer
That which hampers men
most in understanding providence is its tremendous extent. It is like a great
poem
and all that one life or one observer can read is a few words
or at
most
a few lines. God does not always show His hand. Sometimes He does
and
when it suits Him better
He hides it. It is expedient that some mystery hang
over the dispensations of this life. Whatever is unsatisfactory
therefore
at
present plainly suggests that the scheme is yet unfinished. The unsatisfactory
nature of the present suggests a future. Revelation steps in to tell us that
this life is but the vestibule of existence. One or two considerations will
modify our hasty conclusions in regard to the real fortunes of those who live
and die around us
whether their circumstances be apparently prosperous or depressed.
1. Happiness and misery are by no means always according to
appearance. They depend more upon the inner state of the soul than its outward
surroundings
and are therefore put
to some extent
within the power of
everyone.
2. Men make their judgments too much from the outside. It is the
outside look of providence that puzzles us
and makes understanding difficult.
We arrive at the following
conclusions--
1. God is no indifferent spectator of human fortunes
but manages
them on a perfectly righteous plan.
2. The deceptive character of appearances makes it necessary to
subtract a good deal from the apparent happiness and misery of the world at the
outset of our investigations.
3. Physical disadvantages
and deprivation of the members and senses
are capable of compensation in the other world.
4. The difficulty in understanding aright the providence of God
arises from the complex nature of many of His acts
which may have various
distinct branches or departments
as penal
disciplinary
merciful
and even
remunerative
all in a single stroke.
5. We can understand enough of the Divine doings to enable us to
trust for the remainder.
6. The root of all happiness is a good conscience
and this is put
within the reach of all.
7. A good conscience can only be had and maintained by seeking the
kingdom of God and His righteousness with all the means in our power.
8. And for all the purposes of practical piety
it is rather
necessary we should remember the superintending arm of the great Worker
than
that we should understand what He is doing. (William Isaac Keay.)
Verse 25-26
One dieth in his full
strength . . . Another dieth in the bitterness of his soul.
Providence vindicated
against the superficial observer
That which hampers men
most in understanding providence is its tremendous extent. It is like a great
poem
and all that one life or one observer can read is a few words
or at
most
a few lines. God does not always show His hand. Sometimes He does
and
when it suits Him better
He hides it. It is expedient that some mystery hang
over the dispensations of this life. Whatever is unsatisfactory
therefore
at
present plainly suggests that the scheme is yet unfinished. The unsatisfactory
nature of the present suggests a future. Revelation steps in to tell us that
this life is but the vestibule of existence. One or two considerations will modify
our hasty conclusions in regard to the real fortunes of those who live and die
around us
whether their circumstances be apparently prosperous or depressed.
1. Happiness and misery are by no means always according to
appearance. They depend more upon the inner state of the soul than its outward
surroundings
and are therefore put
to some extent
within the power of
everyone.
2. Men make their judgments too much from the outside. It is the
outside look of providence that puzzles us
and makes understanding difficult.
We arrive at the following
conclusions--
1. God is no indifferent spectator of human fortunes
but manages
them on a perfectly righteous plan.
2. The deceptive character of appearances makes it necessary to
subtract a good deal from the apparent happiness and misery of the world at the
outset of our investigations.
3. Physical disadvantages
and deprivation of the members and senses
are capable of compensation in the other world.
4. The difficulty in understanding aright the providence of God
arises from the complex nature of many of His acts
which may have various
distinct branches or departments
as penal
disciplinary
merciful
and even
remunerative
all in a single stroke.
5. We can understand enough of the Divine doings to enable us to trust
for the remainder.
6. The root of all happiness is a good conscience
and this is put
within the reach of all.
7. A good conscience can only be had and maintained by seeking the
kingdom of God and His righteousness with all the means in our power.
8. And for all the purposes of practical piety
it is rather
necessary we should remember the superintending arm of the great Worker
than
that we should understand what He is doing. (William Isaac Keay.)
Verse 34
How then comfort ye me in vain?
False comfort
Some years ago
I met a woman in Philadelphia
who was anxious
about her soul
and had been a long time in that state. I conversed with her
and endeavoured to learn her state. She told me a good many things
and finally
said she knew she ought to be willing to wait on God as long as He had waited
upon her. She said God had waited on her a great many years before she would
give any attention to His calls
and now she believed it was her duty to wait
God’s time to show mercy and convert her soul. And she said this was the
instruction she had received. She must be patient
and wait God’s time
and
by
and by
He would give her relief. Oh! amazing folly! Here is the sinner in
rebellion. God comes with pardon in one hand
and a sword in the other
and
tells the sinner to repent and receive pardon
or refuse and perish. And now
here comes a minister of the Gospel
and tells the sinner to “wait God’s time.”
Virtually
he says that God is not ready to have him repent now
and is not
ready to pardon him now
and thus
in fact
throws off the blame of his
impenitence upon God. Instead of pointing out the sinner’s guilt
in not
submitting at once to God
he points out God’s insincerity in making the offer
when
in fact
He was not ready to grant the blessing. (C. G. Finney.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》