Isaiah 64:7 And there is none that calls on your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you: for you have hid your face from us… We do well to associate with the words of the text those of Isaiah 27:5, "Let him take hold of my strength;" thus connected, we have before us - I. THAT WHICH CONSTITUTES GOD'S STRENGTH TO US, or that in him of which we have the greatest need. The strength of the father is, to the family, his providing and directing power; the strength of the mother is her affection and her unfailing sympathy; the strength of the elder brother is his protection, of the elder sister her example. The strength of any one to whom we are related is that in him which most powerfully affects our welt-being. There may be in creation many millions of beings to whom God's strength appears to be that of his majesty, his infinity, his omniscience, his holiness. We also, the children of men, have a very large and deep interest in these, especially in his holiness. We give thanks at the remembrance of it (vide Psalm 30:4; Psalm 97:12). Without it we should not be what we are, and should have no hope of rising to the noble heights we have before us. But that in God of which we have most conscious need is (1) Divine mercy; (2) Divine bounty and guidance; (3) Divine succour. The one hope we have is in the assurance that God is strong in these, and we feel that if they are but directed toward us and embrace us in their beneficent course, all will be well with us. II. THE NECESSITY WE ARE UNDER TO APPROPRIATE IT. It may be said that God is so generous a Being that he does not wait for any action on our part to bestow his blessings upon us; that, notwithstanding human disregard and rebellion, he multiplies his mercies unto us; that the magnanimous Father in heaven makes his sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good. This is true, but it is far from exhausting the truth. To what extent we shall be recipients of Divine mercy depends on whether or not we "take hold" upon it. God is so strong, so abundant in mercy, that his grace overflows to those who seek not for it, and they are not "dealt with according to their sins;" they derive great benefit from the abundance of God's patience. But if we wish to know all the fulness of Divine mercy as it is to be known by any seeking human spirit, we must lay hold on God's strength in this direction. We must "call upon his Name" with penitential spirit and with true faith in Jesus Christ, and we shall have not merely the overflow, but the full cup of Divine mercy, his grace in all its richness and fulness outpoured upon our own heart - the forgiveness of all past sin and all present unworthiness, admission to his full friendship, freedom to partake of all the privileges which belong to the child at home, heirship of the heavenly kingdom. In the same way, it is necessary, if we would experience the fulness, the height and depth, and length, and breadth, open to us of God's bounty and guidance, or of his succour in a time of special need, that we should "lay hold on him," on "his strength," in all these things; and we do lay hold by (1) maintaining toward him the attitude of sonship, and (2) going to him in the act of earnest, believing prayer. III. THE NEED FOR HOLY ENERGY IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. "There is none that stirreth up himself," etc. If men complain that they have not felt the peace and joy, or found the provision and the guidance, or experienced the delivering succour which they looked for from waiting on God, the answer and the explanation may be this - that they have been cold in their approach and their requests to God, when they should have been eager and ardent; formal, when they should have been spiritual; unexpectant, when they should have been full of faith and hope; languid, when they should have been energetic; easily daunted, when they should have been earnestly persistent. They have made a feeble and futile effort, when they should have thrown their whole soul into the sacred exercise, into the spiritual work. They must arouse themselves, "stir themselves up." - C. Parallel Verses KJV: And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. |
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