1 Chronicles 21:13 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies… These are not only - I. THE LESSER AND THE LARGER TRIALS OF OUR LIFE. Those, on the one hand, which cause temporary inconvenience, or slight annoyance, or little regret; and those, on the other hand, Which upset all our plans, or remove that which nothing can restore, or cut to the quick our lacerated and bleeding hearts, Not only these: as thus regarded, but also - II. THOSE WHICH ARE UNATTENDED AND THOSE WHICH ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH REMORSE. 1. When our troubles come upon us as the consequence of our fidelity and devotion, the source of them is a positive alleviation of our pain of mind. 2. When they arrive as the consequence of forces with which we have nothing to do, our mental pain is neither soothed nor aggravated by their source. 3. When we have to reproach ourselves as the authors of our own miseries, our souls smart with a keenness of suffering which makes us feel that "our punishment is greater than we can bear." But our troubles are divided into the tolerable and the intolerable (or the less tolerable) when, as suggested by the text, we view them as - III. THOSE WHICH ARE OF DIVINE AND THOSE WHICH ARE OF HUMAN INFLICTION. David uttered a sentiment which is common to every pious heart when he said, "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; ... but let me not fall into the hand of men." When the evils which are oppressing us, when the sorrows which are saddening us, are embittered by the feeling that they are due to the heedlessness and heartlessness of men, especially when due to the inconsiderateness of those whose relation to ourselves calls for peculiar thoughtfulness and attention - and still more, when they are inflicted on us by the positive malignity of our fellows, who find a cruel and horrible satisfaction in our losses and griefs, then our trouble is at its very heaviest, and seems to us quite intolerable. But when, as in unaccountable sickness, or in unavoidable loss, or in inevitable bereavement, we can feel that the hand of God is upon us, that we have "fallen into the hand of the Lord, and not into the hand of man," then we are not tempted to add the bitterness of resentment to the heaviness of disappointment or to the poignancy of grief. It is well for us to remember: 1. That even those troubles which seem to be wholly of human origin are yet to be borne as evils permitted of God. If David had chosen defeat in war, that would have had the Divine as well as the human in its origin and infliction. In our very worst distress, in the most cruel aggravations we can experience, we should "be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live." He allows them to come; he would have us be patient and docile under them; he will bring us out from under them; he will overrule them for good in his own time and way. 2. That we have reason to be thankful when the trouble that comes to us is such as we can readily ascribe to the Father's hand. We must all pass through tribulation on our way to the heavenly kingdom: only by the waters of chastisement can we hope to be cleansed from some sins which beset us. It is well for us when the sorrow through which the Divine Father makes us t,o pass is of such a kind that we have no difficulty in referring it to his wisdom and love, and when, feeling that we have "fallen into the hands of God," we can (1) breathe freely the spirit of resignation, (2) learn readily the lessons of affliction. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. |
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