Joel 1:18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. We have been called to make this a time of solemn humiliation and prayer, in the presence of a grievous plague upon cattle. Let us seek that our prayers this day may be the prevailing prayers of faith There is a rough way of regarding the afflictive dispensations of God's providence, which is founded on a principle more Jewish than Christian, and regards them as "judgments" in the vulgar sense. We may say, generally, that all suffering is the consequence of sin, but no man has any right to say that a particular judgment follows a particular national or individual sin. 1. We are asked to acknowledge that this grievous plague has been sent by God in His all-disposing and sovereign providence. And we are surely all agreed here. Providential is an adjective that admits of no comparison. Nothing that happens in this world is more or less appointed by God than all the rest. He ordains all events. Mercy and judgment are alike providential: we take them both from God. Mercy with thankful joy: judgment with thankful resignation. We are not driven from our simple faith in God by anything that can be said of second causes intervening between Him and us, or even of the intervention of human folly or crime. Man's mistakes and misdoings have doubtless contributed to the spread and fatality of the cattle plague. Want of observance of obvious natural laws: want of knowledge of such; want of simple precautions, etc. We are called to acknowledge God's hand in this sore calamity; to humble ourselves before Him under it, and to turn from our sins by a true repentance. There is a discipline of God's appointment always around us which ought to lead us to repentance. God's goodness should do that; it ought not to need a cattle plague. God's goodness would be quite enough if we took our discipline rightly. Alas! God's abounding goodness often is found to harden. And we know that seasons of great sorrow and bereavement are often times of spiritual awakening. As times of trouble have been times of individual repentance and amendment, so doubtless have they been of national. How shall we repent? We cannot just make up our mind to be sorry, any more than to be joyful. All feeling must be founded in fact. The only way to be sorry for our sins is to think of them, to set them before us, so shall we find good reason to be humble and penitent. To be truly penitent for anything you have thought or done, you must see it to be wrong yourself. Then let us "take with us words, and turn unto the Lord." (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. |
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