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In this passage is presented the case of unrewarded toil. Seed is sown, blades spring up, there is every prospect of harvest; but all hopes are disappointed, the harvest proved a failure - it was "a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow." One special feature of the discipline of life is the disappointment of our most cherished hopes and expectations. We build our castles on some new enterprise, and at first all seems to go well; but at last our castle lies in ruins about us. We set our hopes on one of our children, and fashion for him a future of honor and success, and our disappointment in him almost breaks our heart. We make important changes, which promise much, and result in the humiliation of failure and distress. God works by disappointments; they are keener rods for smiting than afflictions are. They bear more quickly on the humbling of man's pride and on the conviction of his self-helplessness. They try temper more. They too often result in hardening and increased willfulness. There is no harder lesson for us to learn than this one, that God works his work of grace by shutting doors against us, and not permitting us to achieve the success which is the desire of our heart. We plan, we work, but all proves in vain; and so we learn that it is the blessing of the Lord alone that maketh rich, and giveth good success. We observe -

I. DISAPPOINTMENT DIFFERS FROM AFFLICTION. Take two scenes from David's life. The rebellion of Absalom was an affliction. The refusal to permit him to build the temple was a disappointment. The one was no more under God's overruling than was the other. They are perfectly distinct in character and in influence. One difference may be effectively illustrated. With "afflictions" there is usually an enfeebled and depressed state of body, involving weakened will and limitation of resistance. With "disappointments" there is usually the full health and energy; and the conflict, that ends in true submission, is therefore more severe.

II. DISAPPOINTMENTS MAY INFLUENCE WHEN AFFLICTIONS WOULD NOT. That depends on dispositions. Many a man can bear sufferings who would be thrown into the most violent struggles by having his will crossed. Then that "crossing of his will" may be the only way to accomplish his sanctifying. We should rejoice that he who knows the best methods of chastisement also knows us on whom the correction comes. For us the way to heaven may be round by a series of lifelong disappointments. Most persons, perhaps, looking back over their lives, would say that their bitterest hours were those in which they realized that they "could not do the things that they would." St. Paul knew such times. The story of one such is very simply told, but those who read between the lines may find indication of much feeling. "We assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit Suffered us not." And it is not easy to estimate the educational influence on our Lord's disciples of that overwhelming disappointment, which came when he who they thought should have redeemed Israel was "hung up and crucified." That may be just the kind of weapon which our heavenly Father may need for our correction; and, in our various disappointments, we may hear his gracious voice saying, "Should it be according to thy mind?" - R.T.

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KJV: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.

WEB: In the day of your planting, you hedge it in. In the morning, you make your seed blossom, but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.