You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago. Sermons
I. MEN TRUSTING IN WEAPONS ONLY. By the term "weapons" understanding all that belongs to armies, navies, fortifications, and the material forces on which nations depend (see vers. 9-11). So often we hear that "Her navy is England's defense;" "Her insular position is her security:" Great guns, powerful ships, efficient drill, brave hearts - these, they say, guard Albion's honor. But these are only things, and they have to be continually changed and renewed. We can never be quite sure that we are abreast of the war-engines or the war force of other nations, and trust in mere weapons involves keeping the nation at a perpetual strain. Again and again we are alarmed as somebody argues our insecurity because of the state of our army and navy and coaling-stations. II. MEN TRUSTING IS GOD ONLY. They should trust in God first and chiefly; but not only, if by that is meant letting the trust keep our hands idle, and put us on an expectation of miraculous deliverance. There have been times in the history of our race when men were required to do nothing, and simply to trust. In face of the Red Sea Moses said, Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." And Sennacherib's army was overthrown without use of man's military forces. But these are exceptional cases, designed to impress one side of truth. III. MAN MAKING HIS TRUST IN GOD APPEAR THROUGH THE USE OF HIS WEAPONS. This is, in every way, man's most difficult work. It may be dangerous self-confidence to trust weapons only. It may be mere listlessness to trust God only. It is the essence of piety to brace ourselves to all noble and wise endeavor, and keep through all our doings a soul full of trustings in God. This is but illustration in the war-spheres of the universal rule, "Workout your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." - R.T.
Ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof. They take measures to supply the city with water during its siege, and to cut it off, if possible, from the besiegers. "Why," as it is written in the history which gives us the fulfilment of this prophecy, "should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?" Where this fails everything fails, for water, next to the air we breathe, is the first necessity of human life. There are, it seems, certain streams or pools of water fed with springs outside the city, and these they manage to divert, so that they flow now away from the besiegers and in favour of the besieged. The city has two watts, and between these two — the inner and the outer — a ditch or trench is dug, and the water of the old pool made to flow into it, forming at once as a moat some kind of protection for the inner wall, should the outer be broken down, and also a supply for the use of the inhabitants. All this was right and reasonable, and no blame could be laid upon the authorities for taking these precautions. But there is blame in this, that notwithstanding they are the Lord's chosen people, and have ever been taught that they owe all they have to Him, yet they do not recognise Him as the bountiful Lord and gracious Giver.(J. W. Lance.) I. Look, e.g., at the Divine provisions in THE GREAT STOREHOUSES OF NATURE. See how by invention and discovery we turn these to account, perceiving in some instances forces which, though old, are new to us, and in others ingeniously applying old and well-known forces to new purposes in the advancement of civilisation and for the comfort and convenience of life. It is written concerning man in the Book of Psalms, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands." II. Let us take up the more familiar theme of DAILY PROVIDENCE. We can see God in clouds, we can hear Him in the wind; He is sometimes near to us in the earthquake and the fire, as well as in the still small voice; but we often fail to see Him in those common mercies which are yet new every morning and fresh every evening. Consider that loaf of bread on your table. It should be to you a revelation; and that it may be so, find out its genesis. It was flour yesterday or the day before, and it came, perhaps, from France, or Spain, or America, where it was grown as wheat — came to you across the ocean, God's own highway in the wilderness of waters. Long ago He fashioned those grains of wheat, and put into them such force of life that a handful or less, found in an Egyptian mummy three thousand years old, when planted in English soil, have grown and brought forth thirty, sixty, or a hundred fold. "Givens this day our daily bread," simplest of all prayers as it seems, is really asking that nature's forces may continue to be filled and sustained by Him who made them; and that the industries of life may go on working harmoniously with the gracious providence of God, for without these links human and Divine in the great golden chain, our daily bread would cease. III. IN RELIGION, too, we may see how the Divine gifts have been used, and, alas! too often abused, in blind forgetfulness of the Divine Giver. Man is a creature who can no more do without "religion" than he can do without money, without clothing, without houses, or without food. But though naturally religious, it does not follow that he is godly. We may make to ourselves a religion without God. One of the charges brought by the apostle Paul against those who had formed the most elaborate and complex religious systems was, that they did not "like to retain God in their knowledge." The religious faculty, God-given, in some sort they exercised, but they lost sight of Him the Giver. They lost His unity among their myriad gods and goddesses, and so Israel's mission was to declare, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." They lost sight, too, of His justice; for though they said, "The gods are just," yet when we read the story of their lives, their vices, and their crimes, every idea of justice is shocked and revolted; and as to these gods, they that make them are like unto them. It may be, too, that in our own theologies we have not been in this respect free from fault. Even in Christian theology the "Theos," the personal God, may have been too much lost sight of. It may ye, as is sometimes charged upon us, that we think of God as a "bundle of attributes," rather than as a living Father revealed to us in the Christ. IV. IN CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES let us always see the Giver. Unless we do so, use in them there is none. (J. W. Lance.) People Aram, David, Elam, Eliakim, Hilkiah, Isaiah, ShebnaPlaces Elam, House of the Forest, Jerusalem, Kedar, KirTopics Ago, Basin, Consideration, Depend, Didn't, Ditch, Fashioned, Framer, Maker, Planned, Pool, Purposed, Regard, Reservoir, Respect, Storing, Thereof, Walls, WatersOutline 1. The prophet laments the invasion of Jerusalem8. He reproves their human wisdom and worldly joy 15. He prophesies Shebna's deprivation 20. And the substitution of Eliakim, prefiguring the kingdom of Christ. Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 22:8-11Library Prevailing Prayer. Text.--The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.--James v. 16. THE last lecture referred principally to the confession of sin. To-night my remarks will be chiefly confined to the subject of intercession, or prayer. There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a revival; one to influence men, the other to influence God. The truth is employed to influence men, and prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God's mind is changed by prayer, or that his … Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion Sundry Sharp Reproofs Gihon, the Same with the Fountain of Siloam. Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. ) The Call of Matthew - the Saviour's Welcome to Sinners - Rabbinic Theology as Regards the Doctrine of Forgiveness in Contrast to the Gospel of Christ Third Withdrawal from Herod's Territory. Isaiah Links Isaiah 22:11 NIVIsaiah 22:11 NLT Isaiah 22:11 ESV Isaiah 22:11 NASB Isaiah 22:11 KJV Isaiah 22:11 Bible Apps Isaiah 22:11 Parallel Isaiah 22:11 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 22:11 Chinese Bible Isaiah 22:11 French Bible Isaiah 22:11 German Bible Isaiah 22:11 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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