Lamentations 3:31-36 For the LORD will not cast off for ever:… I. ALL AFFLICTION COMES FROM GOD. Every arrow which wounds the sons of men receives its commission from the skies, and never fails to strike its appointed mark: while infinite wisdom appoints, unerring power executes. and so it is, whether intermediate instrumentality be employed or not. Wicked men and wicked spirits arc continually made the unconscious instruments of furthering the merciful designs of Almighty God, in this world of irregularities. They mean evil; but He overrules their agency for good: and so long as his watchful eye is upon them, and they act under His control and permission, in afflicting the children of men, the Church may say, with her Redeemer, in the depths of His expiatory sufferings' "The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" II. AFFLICTION SHOULD BE REGARDED BY CHRISTIANS AS NEEDFUL DISCIPLINE, OR AS SALUTARY CHASTISEMENT. It is true that if God saw fit, He could as effectually carry on the work of grace in the hearts of His people, and as speedily ripen them for the bliss of heaven, without, as with, the instrumentality of affliction: but then, we know that His general plan is to convey the promised influences of His Spirit through the medium of naturally operating causes. He brings persons under the sound of the Gospel, and then He makes the faculty of hearing a means of their becoming wise unto salvation: He softens a man's heart by affliction, and then, as in a prepared soft, He sows that precious seed which springs up in a rich and abundant harvest. And this is all that we mean, when we speak of trials as necessary for the people of God: they are necessary on the principle of that analogy which pervades the various dispensations of the Almighty, both in Providence and in grace. His watchful eye detects some irregular desire beginning to operate in the breast, or some evil passion which, like a flower m the bud, only waits to be acted upon by the influence of temptation, in order to be brought to maturity: and hence, like a wise and affectionate parent, He kindly interposes to prevent the threatening danger. III. AFFLICTION, WHETHER IT COMES UPON THE BELIEVER IN THE WAY OF DISCIPLINE OR OF CHASTISEMENT, IS REGULATED, FROM FIRST TO LAST, BY INFINITE WISDOM AND UNBOUNDED MERCY. To Him all hearts are open: He is intimately acquainted with the peculiar temperament of individual experience: and He determines, with unerring accuracy, when, and how, and to what extent, the discipline or the chastisements of His grace are necessary, in each separate instance. (W. Knight, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the Lord will not cast off for ever: |
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