Hosea 7:9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knows it not: yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, yet he knows not. Sin in its worst forms was prevalent among the people. Their strength was consumed by their indulgence in kinds of wickedness which strangers had introduced among them: and everything betokened, to those who could read the signs aright, that they were rapidly hastening to national extinction. They were already in the old age of their history, and they knew it not. This unconsciousness of deterioration marks the distinction between the common backslider and the open repudiator of the faith. In ordinary backsliding the most dangerous element is that the man is largely unaware of the change that has come over him. We attempt to account for the fact that a man may have largely fallen away from Christian rectitude of heart and life without being aware of his defection. I. WE ARE ALL INCLINED TO LOOK MORE FAVOURABLY ON OURSELVES THAN ON OTHERS. This is especially true in spiritual matters. A man's self-love, or self-conceit, or self-security, prevents him from coming to an impartial decision, and he may be far gone in a course of backsliding before lie takes note of the fact. Matthew Henry says, "Apostasy from God generally begins in the place of prayer." There we axe set in the white light of God's own purity, and every spot in ourselves is revealed to us. We are afraid of such self revelations. II. BACKSLIDING STEALS GRADUALLY UPON A MAN. If hair changed from raven blackness to snowy whiteness in a single night, we should be struck by the change. But because the grey hairs come one by one, the transformation is little noticed. Backsliding is a gradual motion; it isa sliding rather than a stepping. How may we counteract this tendency and discover our true position? We shall know where we are if we test ourselves by the Word of God, as that has been vindicated for us by the example and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. III. BACKSLIDING MAY BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE FACT THAT THE INDIVIDUALS ARE ABSORBED IN OTHER MATTERS TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THE STATE OF THE HEART IS FORGOTTEN. It may be thus with the successful merchant. This danger is to be obviated, either by curtailing the business, or by consecrating it as a whole to God. He who in his daily calling is consciously and deliberately seeking to do the best for his Lord, and is trying to serve Him in the store as really as in the closet, has most effectually "overcome the world." If, then, any one among us has to.day discovered his deterioration, let him not wait a single moment for restoration. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. |
    |