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I. THE POSSIBILITY OF DISHONOURING THE GREAT MEMORIES OF LIFE. "Neither said they, Where is the Lord?" etc. The dark night was forgotten, and Israel did not know who had lifted upon it the brightness and hope of morning.

1. The great memories of life are dishonoured —

(1)  When the vividness of their recollection fades.

(2)  When their moral purpose is over looked or misunderstood.

(3)  When their strengthening and stimulating function is suspended.

2. What would human life be without its hallowed memories? Man must have facts as well as hopes, — something to which he can go back with confidence; back to some place where he met God. There is, however, a possibility of forgetting sacred scenes, and of cheating the soul of reminiscences which ought be a perpetual inspiration. Let each man find the proofs in his own history: Sickness, poverty, danger, etc.

II. THE POSSIBILITY OF UNDERESTIMATING THE INTERPOSITIONS OF GOD.

1. Look at the case in the text, — through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt. Viewed prospectively, men shrink from such difficulties; viewed retrospectively, a good many of the terrors are forgotten. Granted that we have not the same outward difficulties, will any man deny that his moral pilgrimage is beset by many perils, and that the grave is constantly open at his feet? Not only was the dark side of history forgotten, but the bright side was overlooked. "I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof." What was the result? Did they erect the altar, and bow in long-continued prayer, and unite in the loud, sweet psalm of thankfulness? "Ye defiled My land, and made Mine heritage an abomination."

2. If we try our own lives by these historical disclosures, shall we shame Israel by our purity and love? Remember the Deliverer! Remember the Giver!

III. THE POSSIBILITY OF THE LEADING MINDS OF THE CHURCH BEING DARKENED AND PERVERTED (ver. 8). The priests, the pastors, and the prophets, all out of the way!

1. In all ages there have, of necessity, been foremost men; men whose capacity, culture, and Divine election have entitled them to leadership; men whom God Himself has acknowledged as the guides of the people. How easy it is for such men to succumb in periods of general corruption is too evident from universal history. What then?

(1)  Such men should watch themselves with constant jealousy.

(2)  Such men should never be forgotten by those who pray.

2. The most affecting of all subjects to contemplate is, — God grieved, God complaining! Would He complain without reason? Would He startle the universe for some trifling cause? It is as the cry of one whose heart is breaking; His great deliverances have been forgotten; His heritage has been defiled; His power has been despised, and His mercy been treated as an empty sentiment; what if the throb of His great sorrow should send a shudder of distress through the heavens and the earth! Look at Calvary for the full expression of all this Divine emotion. Seeing that such pain was inflicted by sin, let us avoid it as the abominable thing which God hates.

(J. Parker, D. D.)

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KJV: Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

WEB: Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!