Did the gods of the nations destroyed by my fathers rescue those nations--the gods of Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? Sermons
I. OUGHT TO SEEM TO US THE MOST SIMPLE AND NATURAL THING. 1. All power is his. We shrink from weakness as a support, but we lean our whole weight on strength with perfect willingness and readiness: and it is Almighty God; it is he to whom "all power is given in heaven and on earth," who invites our confidence. 2. All wisdom is his. Power without wisdom may lead astray, may work more harm than help: it is the only wise God "who asks us to put our trust in him. 3. All kindness is his. Power with wisdom but without love might be arrayed against us, might overwhelm us with confusion: it is the God whose "new, best Name is love," that offers us the shelter of his wing. 4. All faithfulness is his. Love that might last but a little while is of little worth; it might change into indifference or even into hatred and hostility: it is the "Father of lights with whom is no variableness," it is "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever," who says to us, "Come unto me," "Trust in me," "Abide in me," "Cast all your care on me." Surely it should be the simplest, the most natural, thing to yield instant and eager response to the Divine invitation, and to put our heart's whole trust in "the Lord our God." Yet to trust in him - II. IS MUCH MORE RARE THAT IT SHOULD BE. Do we find men leaning on God, and so leaning on him that their hearts are full of peace, of spiritual rest, of hope, of heavenly joy? Is "the God in whom we trust" a phrase that has as large and lull a meaning to our minds as it should have? Is not a living, sustaining, rejoicing trust in God a comparatively rare, rather than a constant and universal thing, even in Christian hearts? And why is it so, if so it be? Is it not because we allow ourselves to be so sadly imposed upon by the temporal and the superficial? We persist in representing to ourselves that the visible, the audible, the tangible, the material, is the real, the, true, and the substantial. We, who walk by faith and not by sight, whose life is spiritual, who are citizens of heaven, ought to understand that it is this which is illusive, evanescent, unreal, and that the invisible, the intangible, the eternal, is the real and the reliable; we ought to know and to realize that he, whom not having seen we love, the invisible but ever-present, the almighty and never-failing, Saviour, is the One who is worthy of our confidence, and in the deepest and fullest sense it should be true that it is the Lord in whom we trust. III. IS A PRIVILEGE OF WHICH WE NEED TO AVAIL OURSELVES CONTINUALLY. 1. In prosperity, for God's sake. For God wills that we should be ever trusting in him, "in whom are all our springs," and from whom we derive everything we enjoy. To trace our well-being to ourselves, and to trust in the arm of flesh instead of referring all to the living God, brings down his deep displeasure (see Deuteronomy 10:8-18). 2. In adversity, for our own sake. For then God alone can help and save us. We ourselves shall have failed; misfortune, disaster, will have baffled and beaten us; our friends will fail us; human sympathy and succour will avail somewhat, but it will leave much more undone than it will do. Divine interposition alone will supply our need - the pity of the Divine Friend; the help of the heavenly Father; the ministry of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter and the Sanctifier of the hearts of men. - C.
Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee. I. LET US WEIGH THIS PIECE OF SATANIC ADVICE. It is a very dangerous temptation for three reasons.1. Because it appeals to the natural pride of the heart. There is a universal instinct which makes a man abhor the idea of being deceived. There is something in the very idea which rouses all the pride that lies latent in every heart. 2. There is no disguising the fact that if God did deceive us we are in a hopeless plight, and therefore there is force in the temptation. 3. The methods of God's government being beyond our comprehension, sometimes appear to incline towards the tempter's suggestion, — from appearances one might say, "God is going to leave us in the lurch." II. LET US TURN ROUND AND TEAR THE ADVICE UP. 1. We may tear it up because it comes too late. If God be a deceiver we are already so thoroughly deceived, and have been so for years, that it is rather late in the day to come and advise us not to be. 2. We may tear it up, because if God deceive us we may be quite certain that there is nobody else that would not. From all we know of our God, His holiness, His righteousness, and His faithfulness, if He can deceive us, then are we quite certain that there are none to be trusted 3. There is not one atom of evidence to support the libel. Search the world through, and see if you can find a man who will deliberately say, "I have tried God, I have trusted Him, and He has deceived me." 4. There is overwhelming evidence to refute it. Never yet did man trust his God and be put to shame. Heaven and earth and hell declare that Jehovah never hath deceived and never can deceive. (A. G. Brown.) (B. Blake, B. D.) People Adrammelech, Amoz, Assyrians, David, Eliakim, Esarhaddon, Haran, Hezekiah, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, Sharezer, Shebna, TirhakahPlaces Ararat, Arpad, Assyria, Cush, Egypt, Gozan, Hamath, Haran, Hena, Ivvah, Jerusalem, Lachish, Lebanon, Libnah, Mount Zion, Nineveh, Rezeph, Sepharvaim, Telassar, Tigris-Euphrates Region, ZionTopics Assar, Deliver, Delivered, Destroyed, Destruction, Eden, Fathers, Forefathers, Gods, Gozan, Haran, Nations, Rezeph, Safe, Sons, Tel, Telassar, Tel-assar, ThelassarOutline 1. Hezekiah mourning, sends to Isaiah to pray for them6. Isaiah comforts them 8. Sennacherib, going to encounter Tirhakah, sends a blasphemous letter to Hezekiah 14. Hezekiah's prayer 21. Isaiah's prophecy of the destruction of Sennacherib, and the good of Zion 36. An angel slays the Assyrians 37. Sennacherib is slain at Nineveh by his own sons. Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 37:12Library Where to Carry TroublesAnd Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.'--ISAIAH xxxvii. 14. When Hezekiah heard the threatenings of Sennacherib's servants, he rent his clothes and went into the house of the Lord, and sent to Isaiah entreating his prayers. When he received the menacing letter, his faith was greater, having been heartened by Isaiah's assurances. So he then himself appealed to Jehovah, spreading … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Triumph of Faith The First Trumpet. The Power of Assyria at Its Zenith; Esarhaddon and Assur-Bani-Pal The Golden Eagle is Cut to Pieces. Herod's Barbarity when He was Ready to Die. He Attempts to Kill Himself. He Commands Antipater to be Slain. Christ Rightly and Properly Said to have Merited Grace and Salvation for Us. The Harbinger A Discourse of the House and Forest of Lebanon The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem: The Prophet Amos. Concerning the Lord's Supper Divine Support and Protection Isaiah Links Isaiah 37:12 NIVIsaiah 37:12 NLT Isaiah 37:12 ESV Isaiah 37:12 NASB Isaiah 37:12 KJV Isaiah 37:12 Bible Apps Isaiah 37:12 Parallel Isaiah 37:12 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 37:12 Chinese Bible Isaiah 37:12 French Bible Isaiah 37:12 German Bible Isaiah 37:12 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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