Isaiah 38:14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: my eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed… There is such a vast disproportion between a man and some of his own feelings — between the inner and the outer life of a man — that the wonder is. not that we should sometimes feel the burden of existence, but that there should be any man who should not be always saying, "I am oppressed." I. THERE ARE FEW MINDS WHO DO NOT LOOK OUT FOR SYMPATHY. It is an instinct of our nature, that we must lean somewhere. Almost all error, all superstition, all worldliness, resolves at last into the feeling that a man must lean; but he is leaning on a wrong base. It is upon this great principle in the man's breast that the Gospel lays hold and points it to Christ. It sets Him forth as the one great Undertaker for all His people's wants. II. WHAT ARE CHRIST'S UNDERTAKINGS FOR US? 1. He has undertaken to pay all our debts: they are very great. 2. He has undertaken that we shall never be alone. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." 3. He has undertaken that you shall never be really overcome. "My strength is made perfect in weakness." 4. He has undertaken to place you on the sunny side of everything all life through; for "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 5. He has undertaken that you shall always have a place of refuge. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour," &c. 6. He has undertaken that death shall be to you only a name, not a reality. "He that believeth on Me shall never die." (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. |
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