Jeremiah 10:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. I. THE GRIEF CONTEMPLATED. It is told of in Ver. 17, etc. And it wan indeed great; the "wound was grievous;" for; 1. It was universal. It affected all classes and in all ways, in mind, body, and estate. 2. So severe. It was not a "light affliction," but "the iron entered into their souls." 3. And it was self-caused. The fangs of remorse were fastened in them by the consciousness they could not escape, that they had brought all their sorrows upon themselves. 4. And they drew down so many others, and innocent ones, in their own doom. This is ever one of the most fearful torments to the soul of the guilty. "I have ruined, not myself only, but my wife, children, parents, friends." The dart, if it be plunged first into the heart of those we love, will rankle in our own all the more terribly when it pierces us. 5. And the fight of God's countenance was gone. With that we can bear anything. Paul and Silas sang praises in the dungeon at Philippi. But withdrawn, driven away by cur sin, then is the soul sad indeed. 6. And it was irreparable. The wrath of God had arisen, and there "was no remedy" (cf. Ver. 20). But note - II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT WAS BORNE. "But I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it." Now, these words might be used to express a spirit of sullen hardihood. Some have so understood them. But we rather regard them as the language of pious submission, It is the true Israelite who speaks; not the godless, idol-loving multitude, but the chosen of God who were mingled among them. And that this is so is shown: 1. By the check the speaker puts upon his lament. He was about seemingly to launch out in great complainings when he arrests his speech by recollections of a different kind: "But I said," etc. He would not allow himself in any more complaint; he replies to all such thoughts by the considerations he now brings forward. He recognizes the cause of all these sorrows (Ver. 21). It was their failure to "seek the Lord," the pastors becoming " brutish" - their grievous sin. Mere sullenness would never make such a confession as this. 3. And the spirit of Vers. 23-25, so lowly, devout, and filled with sacred desire, - all these show that we are to understand Ver. 19 as the utterance, not of defiant hardihood or any other evil spirit, but as that of submission. Parallels, therefore, are to be found in the submission of Aaron at the death of his sons (cf. also Lamentations 3:18-21, 39, 40; Micah 7:9; Psalm 77:10; Psalm 39:9, etc.). III. This SPIRIT GREATLY TO BE COMMENDED. 1. For its nature. It is not the spirit of a stoic, of one who sets his teeth firm, and resolves to endure, come what may; but it is tender, gentle, and keenly susceptible of pain. Nor is it silent. Its voice is heard in prayers, confessions, praises, and it is ever desiring more of God's presence and grace. Nor is it slothful. It will be open-eyed to see and alert to act if aught can be done to minister relief or gain deliverance. Thus it does not violate any good instinct or dictate either of nature or conscience, as it would do were it characterized by either of the undesirable qualities named. They each have some sort of semblance of submission, but are far away removed from being identical with it or necessary to it. But submission consists in that calm composure of our whole nature, that meek acquiescence in the will of God, however painful that will may be. And therefore this spirit is commendable: 2. For its comeliness. How morally beautiful and lovely it is! We never tire of it, never do anything but in our hearts admire and praise it, and long to make it our own. How our hearts go out towards those that have eminently manifested it! As Aaron (cf. supra); Job saying," The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away," etc.; Moses; and above all, our Savior. Notwithstanding all his present and most deserved glory as our risen Lord, it is to him on the cross, crowned with thorns, in all the glory of his meek submission - to him the heart of humanity ever turns with adoring love and trust. 3. For its self-conquest. Under the smart and distress of great loss and disaster, how ready the understanding is to think hard thoughts and to utterly resent what God has done! And the will, how sullenly it frowns upon God, and with lowering brow refuses to submit! And the passions, how they rage in torrents of tears and wild wailing cries of angry agony! And the lips, what hard speeches they are prompt to utter (cf. "I said in my haste, All men are liars")! And the hands, how eager to take revenge upon any who have been the means and instruments of our affliction! But the spirit of submission holds all these hot, eager forces in, as with bit and bridle, and bids them all be still. They are, as were the lions before Daniel, awed and subdued by his calm, hallowed presence. Blessed is he who can thus conquer himself. None else shall conquer him, and least of 'all any of the mere circumstances of life (cf. Proverbs 16:32). 4. For its wisdom. "There are few things in the world so totally and entirely bad but some advantage may be made of them by a dexterous management; and it is certainly a man's wisdom to make the best of a bad condition, there being a certain kind of pious and prudential husbandry by which a man may so improve a calamity as to make the endurance of it the performance of a duty, and by his behavior under it to procure a release from it. We should, with Isaac, take the wood upon our shoulders, though we ourselves are designed for the sacrifice; and who knows but, as in his case, so in ours also, a patient resignation of ourselves to the knife may be the sure and direct way to rescue us from it?" (South). "He always wins who sides with thee; To him no chance is lost; Thy will is sweetest to him when It triumphs at his cost. "Ill that thou blessest turns to good, And unblest good to ill; And all is right that seems most wrong, If it be thy sweet will." 5. For its acceptableness to God. The Lord Jesus Christ was the "my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," because of it; because his meat and his drink was ever to do the will of the Father who sent him. "Blessed are the meek." "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that," etc. IV. NOT EASY, BUT NEVERTHELESS FULLY POSSIBLE, OF ATTAINMENT. Not easy, Because all our instincts under the smart of pain and loss (cf. supra) protest against it. Because also the maxims of the world are directly contrary to it. But attainable by practice. "Let him train himself whilst young to lesser self-denials and mortifications; let him learn to put up with and pass by a slight undervaluing word, and in time he shall find himself strong enough to conquer and digest an injurious action; let him learn to overlook his neighbor's incivility, and in time he shall be able with patience and firmness of mind to endure his insolence and cruelty, and that without being discomposed by any instigations to revenge; and let him accustom himself to do this often, and at length he shall be able to do it always" (South). And yet more by communion and intercourse with the Lord Jesus Christ. We catch the tones and habits and thoughts of those with whom we most associate. Live in close companionship with Christ, and the spirit of him who "when he was reviled, reviled not again," shall be formed in us, and more and more shall we '" know how "blessed are the meek, and how surely God "will exalt us in due time" (cf. Philippians 2:5-11). - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. |
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