1. It includes knowledge.

2. It includes friendship.

3. It includes communion.

4. It includes confidence.

II. ILLUSTRATE THE BENEFITS THAT RESULT FROM IT.

1. Peace — with God and in our own heart.

2. Good — temporal and spiritual.

3. Now — now or never.

(G. Brooks.)

1. His infinite holiness.

2. His perfect justice.

3. His boundless mercy.

4. His everlasting purposes.

II. ITS BENEFITS.

1. Peace. There is no true peace except from the knowledge of God.

2. Present and future good. Religion's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Apply —

(1)The time of attaining it. Not tomorrow, but now.

(2)The means of obtaining it. Devout study of God's Word.Devout attendance at the Supper of our Lord. Intercourse with the Lord's people. Perusal of good and devotional books. Ask continually for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

(C. Clayton, M. A.)

II. THE PROMISE WITH WHICH THIS EXHORTATION IS ENFORCED. "Good shall come unto thee."

1. Thou shalt have that pardon and reconciliation which thou seekest.

2. Every temporal blessing which is really "good" for you shall be secured to you.

3. You shall be satisfied that God hears your prayers, and that His blessing rests upon your undertakings.

4. Your case shall serve as an encouragement to others to proceed in those steps which you have found to lead to such inestimable blessings.

5. Your example, and conduct, and prayers will have a tendency to do "good" to your country, and to bring down God's blessing upon that.

6. The eternal good shall "come to them" — that complete deliverance from all evil, and that complete enjoyment of all "good," which will be their portion forever.

(John Natt, B. D.)

1. If he has written anything, to acquaint ourselves therewith. They are generally the truest and liveliest image of the mind.

2. If he be a great person, to get some opportunity of coming into his presence, and to do this as frequently and constantly as we may be permitted.

3. Readily to embrace all opportunities that are offered to us of eating at his table.

4. Living in the house, and conversing with him continually.

II. THE ADVANTAGES AND HAPPY EFFECTS OF THIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. These are the greatest and noblest human nature is capable of enjoying — peace and tranquillity of mind; happiness by the exercising and perfecting the noblest faculties of the soul, the understanding, and the will. The supreme happiness must consist in contemplating and possessing, in loving and enjoying the supreme Perfection, who is Beauty and Love itself, and "whom truly, to know is eternal life." All happiness, consists in loving and possessing the object of our love.

(V. Nalson.)

(Henry Melvill, B. D.)

1. That most men like to improve their acquaintance, to get familiar with such as show a higher social position, with a similar moral preference and taste to their own.

2. Any such acquaintance, to whom a man may "look up," will be no small factor in giving shape and maturity to his character. The text indicates —

I. A DISTANCE, A VARIANCE OF FEELING, BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. Here nonacquaintance is enmity. Man now is like to the disobedient child, Sin is nothing if it is not a perverted, a wronged, and a wronging relationship — a change on the one side from the natural to the unnatural. There is wrong relationship between heaven and earth. Sin is not only cruel in putting man at a hateful variance with his Divine Father, but it is murderously fatal. It has more than pain, there is peril of perdition.

II. HEAVEN DESIRES THE PRESENT AND PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF THE DIFFERENCE.

1. Any estrangement between two who should be friends will always bring the most pain to the one who has the finest and most susceptible nature.

2. The initiative in seeking this readjustment has been taken by heaven. At the Cross He halts for audience and restoration. This He makes the one point for all negotiations — a witness of His love, and a challenge for others' love and service.

III. THIS SETTLEMENT, WHEN EFFECTED, WILL CERTAINLY BRING TO MAN THE HIGHEST BLESSEDNESS. "Thereby good shall come unto thee." Everywhere, with a fever of greed, men are seeking "good." Sin pardoned is the true good.

IV. THE ATTAINMENT OF THIS STATE DEMANDS THE HEARTIEST EFFORTS OF ALL MEN. Surely the dignity of this state makes a claim upon men. To be "at peace with God" will be the noblest, the safest, and the happiest of states.

(Edwin D. Green.)

1. That a better acquaintance with God will develop a more intense love for Him. We find a friend, and the more we study his traits of character and learn the true principles of his friendship, the more intense will become our love for him.

2. A closer acquaintance with God will develop in us a deeper work of grace. Grace and the knowledge of God are always associated in the Bible (Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18).

3. In a closer acquaintance with God, our thoughts, and our words, and our very habits of life become assimilated unto the Divine Mind and ways.

4. With our acquaintance with God grows our delight in His service (Psalm 1:1, 2; Psalm 119:35, 47, 92).

II. HOW SHALL WE SECURE THIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD?

1. Through His Word.

2. We get acquainted with God by living much with Him in prayer.

3. By persistently submitting our wills to His will. Our friends delight to confer and counsel with us so long as they feel that we are putting their counsels to practical use.

4. We get better acquainted with God by carefully noting our experiences in life.

III. WHAT MUST BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD? Such an acquaintance must result —

1. In a fixedness of purpose.

2. Proficiency in His service.

3. Constant peace and joy.

(J. C. Jacoby.)

(C. Girdlestone, M. A.)

I. IN WHAT SENSE ARE WE TO ACQUAINT OURSELVES WITH GOD? To what kind of knowledge does the text refer? Is it required for our peace that we should know Him "as He is"? Shall we strain our puny minds to span the countless ages of the eternity of the past? Surely eternity, self-existence, omnipotence, infinite and essential wisdom, holiness and love, these are depths which even angels can only "desire to look into." Is it then to know Him in His counsels and ways — to understand His dealings in providence and grace? No. How often have His people to trust and not to trace! How seldom does He vouchsafe to show to them the thing that He does! How then shall man acquaint himself with God? "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." To know God as a reconciled Father in Christ, is saving, sanctifying, comforting, peace-speaking knowledge of God to your souls and mine. It is a knowledge which changes, warms, strengthens and cheers the heart.

II. BY NATURE WE ARE NOT THUS ACQUAINTED WITH HIM. We are not talking of an intellectual, but, if I may say so, of a moral, a spiritual, knowledge. Sin must ever involve ignorance of God. The unrenewed heart cannot have the rich, experimental knowledge of the true child of God. Examine well, then, the character of your acquaintance with God, your religious knowledge.

III. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MORE SPIRITUAL ACQUAINTANCE IS TO BE GAINED. Turn to the Bible. See in Jesus of Nazareth, "God with us."

IV. THE HAPPY RESULT PROMISED AS ATTENDANT UPON THIS ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

(John C. Miller, M. A.)

1. Is there such a thing among men as "peace" — a deep and true peace — without any acquaintance with God? Suppose the case of one possessing high intelligence allied with all the ordinary virtues of human life, but who lacks entirely any personal faith in God as a Person. It is useless to approach such men with arguments for the existence of God, or in favour of any of His attributes. For they are in a state which no abstract argument can well reach. We may take them on the side of the text, and ask, "How about peace?" Is his whole nature at peace? He says, "Yes; I have no fear, no trouble, except that which comes by ignorance or inattention to law. Life is not long. I shall soon be in the dust, and that will be an end of me. If we are to live again, we shall be prepared for it when it comes: why should we trouble about the matter now?" Is this answer true? I say it is not. If it be true, then it comes to this, that one man is essentially different from another man. Not merely circumstantially, but in very nature. Any peace a man may have may be calmness, indifference, but cannot be the same thing as comes into a soul, and flows through it, and down into its far depths, as the result of acquaintance with God. Suppose the case of those who have no doubt of the existence of God, but cannot be said, in any true sense, to be acquainted with Him. Are any such at peace? Again the answer is "No." Indeed, such imperfect and partial knowledge of God is practically more disturbing and alarming than complete scepticism. Once allow His existence, and it is impossible ever to put that existence anywhere but in the primary place. If God exists, clearly our relations to Him, and His relations to us, are of first importance. Suppose one convinced of the Divine existence, and yet destitute of any true idea of the Divine character, what is the result? It may be this or that, according to temperament, or circumstances, but it never is "peace." It may be a silent distrust, or a habitual alienation, or a more active antipathy, or an undefined dread, or an awful, but most uncheerful and uncomfortable sense of solemnity, or a settled despondency, or the falling shadow of a black despair; but it never is "peace." Those who are imperfectly acquainted with God look at some of the attributes separately, but never at the centre and essence of the character, where all the attributes meet. They never see that "God is love." The text literally means, "dwell with God." Dwell with Him in the same tent or home. To come to God in Christ is to come home: to enter the tent of the Divine presence.

2. "Thereby good shall come to thee." Good of every kind, and especially of the best kind. In fact, the state itself is the good begun. By far the greatest good that can be done to a man is the making of himself good. This is done by bringing him into intimate acquaintance and reconciliation and friendship with God. No man is good who avoids the society of God. The reconciled soul is the receptive soul, receptive of God, and of His truth and love. This "good" that comes is, in fact, nothing less than all the benefits and blessings of the Gospel.

(A. Raleigh, D. D.)

1. In a spiritual knowledge of the being of God.

2. In a union of will, and a union of way, with that of God.

3. In a perpetual communion with God.

II. OF ALL TIMES, SEASONS, AND OPPORTUNITIES, THERE IS NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT TO CULTIVATE ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. Consider —

1. That this matter is important.

2. That there is no time like the present time.

3. That the future is quite uncertain.

4. That the longer a man lives in sin, the farther he goes from God.

III. OF ALL THE BENEFITS WHICH MAN RECEIVES, OR GOD BESTOWS, THERE ARE NONE LIKE THOSE BLESSINGS THAT FOLLOW ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD. "Good shall thereby come unto thee."

1. All the good in nature.

2. All good in grace.

3. All the good in glory. How miserable must be the state of that man who has no acquaintance with God.

(T. Jones.)

1. The first step is to acquire a competent knowledge of His nature, His attributes, and His will. We need not commend an inquiry into the metaphysical essence of the Supreme Being. But a competent knowledge of the moral nature of the Deity is both. possible and necessary to us. In nature, and in the Scriptures, God's infinite wisdom and almighty power, His perfect purity and holiness, His justice and faithfulness, His goodness and mercy, His general and particular providence, His determined resolution finally to punish incorrigible wickedness, and to award sincere though imperfect obedience, are set forth with such plainness that the most moderate understanding may gain all requisite intelligence concerning His Divine nature and attributes. God's will, and all that He requires from us, is laid down with equal plainness.

2. A sincere repentance of our past transgressions. This is a necessary consequence of the former step toward an acquaintance with God. The result of our inquiries will be, that He is a Being of the most perfect purity and holiness. All unreasonable and vicious conduct must be offensive in His sight. While we continue in impenitence, we have the greatest reason to be overwhelmed with terror and dismay. But the repentance must be sincere and universal, extending to all the particulars of our duty and God's commands.

II. WHEN WE HAVE ACQUIRED AN ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD, WE MUST BE CAREFUL TO PRESERVE AND IMPROVE IT, BY FREQUENT PRAYER AND DEVOTION. Prayer and religious meditation is the proper food of our souls. This maintains that communion with God without which whatsoever is good in us will quickly languish and decay.

(R. Richmond, LL. D.)

(Joseph Parker, D. D.)

1. Of what sort must our knowledge of God be? It is possible to know as a friend by personal intercourse, one whom we are by no means able fully to understand. A little child knows his father; but he does not comprehend, or embrace in his knowledge, the fulness of that father's capacities. It is not through the intellect alone, or best, that the Infinite God is knowable by any creature. It is through the personal affections, through conscience, and through the spiritual faculty of faith. There are three stages to be observed in a man's knowledge of God.(1) Certain true notions respecting the Divine Being and His character must be presupposed, before I can approach Him with that personal approach which is the basis of acquaintanceship.(2) Given a fairly correct notion of the almighty and righteous God, whose name is Love, the man must not suffer sin to hold him back from moral intercourse with God, else his knowledge will be only a knowledge about God, not a knowing of God. To worship, to love, and to obey, is the road to real acquaintance with Him.(3) Such a moral acquaintanceship with God ekes out even the imperfection of our intellectual notions regarding Him. Much must forever remain that we cannot know. Intimacy with a good person breeds confidence, and confidence gives peace. Those who know God as a friend will put their trust in Him.

2. Show, by two or three instances, how God's growing revelation of Himself to man has been followed in experience by a corresponding increase of peace in their souls. Take, for illustration, two items from the Old Testament manifestation of Jehovah to the Hebrew people, and two from the better revelation in His Son, which, as Christians, we enjoy.(1) The fundamental truth, which it took nearly a thousand years to teach the chosen nation, is the unity of God. So entirely has this splendid truth taken possession of the modern world, Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan — that we absolutely fail to conceive of the ancient heathen habit of thought on the subject. This doctrine of the unity of God brought a beginning of peace to the world's heart.(2) The unrest created by the heathen creed of many gods, with limited powers and overlapping provinces, was immensely increased by the selfish partiality, venality, and passionateness generally ascribed to the Divine character. To the gods were imputed the passions of men, and of very bad men, too; so that anything was worship which could be supposed to influence a fickle, corrupt, or facile will. This wretched degradation of deity bred dispeace of soul. It is impossible to know the secret mind of one who is unfair, or open to unrighteous influence. I cannot count on his friendship. But Jehovah is just, impartial, Consistent. What may be called God's absolute integrity, embracing His truth or faithfulness; His justice, or the equality of His administration and its coincidence with law; and His unchangeableness, as one inaccessible to unfair influence — this is the grand moral discovery of the Old Testament. To such a God, upright men do not appeal in vain.(3) Until God was pleased to make, through Christ, a further disclosure of Himself, we never could be perfectly at peace. Through all pre-Christian religions, and in the religion of every man still who has not acquainted himself with the Gospel of Christ, there ran, and there runs, some unquiet effort to solve the problem of atonement. The idea which rules them all, the only idea possible till God taught us better, is that man has to work on God through some means or other, so as to change repulsion or aversion into favour. This false and heathenish notion is still widespread among us. But it brings no peace. We can never be sure that our effort has succeeded. Expiation does not come by our successful efforts to work on Divine placability, or to deserve Divine grace, or to buy off or beg off Divine resentment. It is God's own act, dictated by His sole charity, wrought by His sole passion.(4) We are led still nearer to perfect peace by a more recent revelation, that of the Third Person. God is the Holy Ghost, who freely, gladly stoops to inform our warring and sin-sick souls. With infinite patience He stays by us while we fight or sin. God, the Third Person, broods like a dove of peace over the tumultuous chaos of a passionate heart, glimmers like a star of hope in our blackest night. With Him let us acquaint ourselves. Then we shall have the full repose that follows conquest.

(J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)

I. AN EXPOSITION OF THE TEXT. There are two or three translations of this sentence: "Acquaint now thyself with Him," or "Acquiesce in Him" — surrender that will of yours. The first step to salvation is an absolute surrender of the will. Another rendering is, "Join yourself to God." The French translation has it: "Attach yourself to God." Fall in with His ways, and with His methods. This is particularly practical advice to us as Christian workers. But there is a special force in the Saxon word "acquaint," from which we get the word ken, to know. Get to know God — to understand Him. Know Him intellectually, for this is the pioneer of all other blessings. We can only become acquainted with God as He reveals Himself. Become acquainted with Him morally. Yield your hearts to Him. Know Him socially by walking with Him. Know God the Son, as well as God the Father. Your acquaintance with Him must begin at the Cross. And know God the Holy Spirit, as a Sanctifier, Comforter, Teacher, yea, as an abiding, tender Guide, and as a Power to help us in our Christian work.

II. ENFORCE THIS EXHORTATION. The text speaks to us individually. And it must be acquaintance with Him — with Himself.

III. THE PROMISE OF THE TEXT. The first good is, "Thou shalt be established"; the second, "Evil shall be removed from thy dwelling"; the third is, delight in God, and an uplifted face.

(W. Williams.)

I. WHAT THIS SCRIPTURE PHRASE IMPLIES. Wherein does the duty consist? We are prone by nature to engage ourselves in too close and strict an acquaintance with the things of this world, which immediately and strongly strike our senses. To check and correct this ill-tendency, it is requisite that we should "acquaint ourselves with God," that we should frequently disengage our hearts from earthly pursuits, and fix them on Divine things. This is only general; it may be useful to mention some particulars wherein it chiefly consists. In order to begin and improve human friendships, five things are principally requisite — knowledge, access, a similitude of manners, an entire confidence and love; and by these also the Divine friendship, of which we are treating, must be cemented and upheld.

II. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO A PERFECT TRANQUILLITY AND REST OF MIND. "And be at peace." Honour, profit, and pleasure, are the three great idols to which the men of this world bow, and one or all of these are generally aimed at in every friendship they make; and yet, though nothing can be more honourable, profitable, or pleasing to us, than an acquaintance with God, we stand off from it, and will not be tempted even by these motives, though appearing to us with the utmost advantage, to embrace it. Can anything improve, and purify, and exalt our natures more than such a conversation as this, wherein our spirits, mounting on the wings of contemplation, faith, and love, ascend up to the first principle and cause of all things, see, admire, and taste His surpassing excellence, and feel the quickening power and influence of it? In what conversation can we spend our thoughts and time more profitably than in this?

III. THE MOST PROPER SEASON FOR SUCH A RELIGIOUS EXERCISE OF OUR THOUGHTS IS WHEN ANY SORE TROUBLE OR CALAMITY OVERTAKES US. "Now," when the wise Disposer of all things hath thought fit to pour out afflictions upon thee. At such times our soul is most tender and susceptible of religious impressions, most apt to seek God, to delight in approaching Him, and conversing with Him. The kind and chief design of God, in all His severest dispensations, is to melt and soften our hearts to such a degree as He finds necessary in order to the good purposes of His grace. We are, by nature, indigent creatures, incapable of ourselves to content and satisfy ourselves; and therefore are ever looking abroad for somewhat to supply our defects and complete our happiness. How can the pious sons and daughters of affliction better employ themselves than in looking up to Him that hath bruised them, and possessing their souls in patience? Let us, throughout the whole course of our lives, take care to make the thoughts of God so present, familiar, and comfortable to us here, that we may not be afraid of appearing face to face before Him hereafter.

(F. Atterbury, D. D.)

1. To acquaint ourselves with God, in the sense in which our Scriptures teach, and require the acquaintance, we shall soon perceive to be no difficult task, if we engage in it with zeal and diligence, and take those Scriptures for our instructor and guide. Of the Supreme Being we certainly have not the faculties to comprehend the "Eternal power and Godhead." The misfortune is, we attach ourselves so entirely to the business and the pleasures of our present state, that we are unwilling to turn our thoughts to the greater and better objects of our care. Hence negligence produces many of the effects and mischiefs of ignorance. We must not only make God the subject of inquiry and speculation; we must seriously reflect on the relation in which we stand to this Creator and Ruler of the world, and what His providence is doing every day. In the Bible such laws are prescribed for our conduct, as, if duly observed, would render human life a constant scene of virtue, piety, and peace. More than half our sufferings are the effect of our own misconduct. From the Bible we learn that our present state is the time and place of trial for our faith and conduct. When this life has come to an end, then each will be adjudged to an eternal allotment of happiness or misery, proportioned to his vice or virtue, to his piety or his profaneness. Even this is not the whole of our information and advantages. We are offered, upon our repentance and amendment, the pardon of our sins of error and infirmity, through the merits and mediation of a Redeemer.

2. Of this acquaintance with our God, the declared intention, and the promised effect, are to be at peace — at peace in our own minds. The perplexities of life can only be satisfactorily explained, and the afflictions of life patiently endured, by acquainting ourselves with God, and obtaining this acquaintance by the assistance of his own revelation. It is universally allowed that the human mind is never fully satisfied with what human life can bestow upon us. In the midst even of riches, authority, and honours, some want is still felt, something new is still sought, something better is still desired. Even when we know that we have offended God by the transgression of His laws, when our conscience afflicts us with the sense of guilt and the apprehension of its punishment — under these unhappy circumstances, and most especially under these, to acquaint ourselves with God is the only expedient for us to be at peace. It is, indeed, in the hour of calamity, under the pressure of affliction, that this acquaintance with our God is most necessary, and will most avail us. It is when accident or sickness or poverty has deprived us of worldly comfort or of worldly hope, it is then our trust in Providence, and that only, will support our sinking spirits, speak peace to our minds, and teach us that patient submission which must be at once our duty and consolation. It was under such circumstances that Eliphaz gave to Job the advice of the text.

(W. Barrow, LL. D.)

I. THE LIABILITY TO ERROR ON OUR PART IN JUDGING OF THE CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT OF GOD. The great evil in this world is a want of confidence in God — a want of confidence producing the same disasters there which it does in a commercial community and in the relations of domestic life. The great thing needful to make this a happy world is to restore confidence in the Creator — confidence, the great restorer of happiness everywhere. Now, man can never be reconciled to God unless this confidence shall be restored. In disputes between you and your neighbour, the great thing for you to do is to restore to his mind just confidence in yourself — to explain matters. This is what is to be done in religion. It is to convince men that God is worthy of confidence. Why should a man wish to cherish any hard thoughts of God without the shadow of reason? In our estimate of God, are we in no danger of being influenced by improper feelings? See four sources of danger on this point.

1. We are in danger of being governed in our views of God by mere feeling, rather than by sober judgment and calm investigation.

2. We are often in circumstances where we are in danger of cherishing hard thoughts of God. They may make us feel that His government is severe and arbitrary.

3. We always regard ourselves as the aggrieved and injured party. We do not allow ourselves to suppose it possible that God should be right and we be wrong.

4. Back of all this is the fact that We are not pleased with the character of God when it is understood. By nature we have no pleasure in God. All the views of the Divine character which are formed under influences like these are likely to be wrong.

II. THE REAL DIFFICULTIES OF THE CASE. Such as a man might find who would wish to see such evidence as would enable him to put unwavering confidence in God. There are many things which such a man cannot understand. Such as, that sin should have been allowed to come into the system formed by a holy God. That misery should come into the universe, and that death, with many forms of woe, has been commissioned to cut down one whole race. That the immortal mind should be allowed to jeopard its infinite welfare. That any should suffer forever. That since God can save men, and will save a part, He has not purposed to save all. These, and kindred difficulties, meet the mind when we think on this great subject. They are real, not imaginary difficulties.

III. THE EVIDENCES THAT HE IS WORTHY OF CONFIDENCE. They are, God Himself as revealed; and the government of God as —

1. One of law.

2. Stable and firm.

3. The arrangements of this government tend to promote the welfare of His subjects.

4. They provide for the evils that arise from the violation of law.

5. In the plan of recovery none are excluded.

6. Those who know God's character best are found to repose most confidence in Him.

( A. Barnes, D. D..)

I. THE FACT OF ESTRANGEMENT.

1. The witness of conscience. That there is more unrest in the world than there is of peace and contentment, few would deny. What is the cause of the dissatisfaction? The popular replies are, "We work at such high pressure. There is so much competition in commercial life that daily toil becomes a daily struggle. There is too much worry, and too little recreation"; etc., etc. But are these replies satisfactory? As a matter of experience, does recreation make for contentment? Do our worries cease as our possessions increase? One thing we know, that humanity is adrift from its God. Unacquaintance with Him explains much of the joylessness and impotence in human life today.

2. The witness of the world. To the questions, "Why should there be so much mutual suspicion in men's hearts? Why so much strife?" The world itself bears witness that it has turned away from its Creator and its King.

3. The witness of God Himself. If God calls, there is a need for the call; and He, with lament and sorrow, says to the children of men, "Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?"

II. THE ESTRANGEMENT MAY END. "Acquaint now thyself with Him." But what things are necessary to a reconciliation that shall be both just and abiding? There are two ways in which sin may be dealt with. First, to condone it; secondly, to forgive it. The Almighty, being a God of Justice, cannot do the former. We see then that —

(1)Reconciliation is based on Divine pardon.

(2)Pardon is assured through the atonement of Christ.

III. THE ESTRANGEMENT MAY END NOW. "Acquaint now thyself with Him." But on certain conditions. And they are —

1. Repentance.

2. The forsaking of sin.

(F. Burnett.)

II. THE POSSESSION OF GOOD IS SEEN IN CONTENTMENT OF MIND. Discontent is more common than contentment. Is there no such thing as a righteous and justifiable ambition? Our text says that by making the acquaintance of God, we become the possessors of good. Material good or spiritual good? Both. The God who graciously invites my friendship, and offers His, is interested in my whole being. With the Bible — the story of man and his God — before us, and the testimony of men around us, we may reply that man, in making the acquaintance of God, is not a loser, but a gainer. Acquaintance with God has opened unto him the gates of peace and prosperity.

III. THE POSSESSION OF GOOD IS SEEN IN AN ABUNDANCE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE. This life, that is life indeed, includes —

1. Sonship.

2. Joint-heirship with Christ.

3. Daily power for daily need.

(F. Burnett.)

     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     5959   submission
     6701   peace, search for

Job 22:21-22

     6703   peace, divine OT

Knowledge and Peace
'Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.'--JOB xxii. 21. In the sense in which the speaker meant them, these words are not true. They mean little more than 'It pays to be religious.' What kind of notion of acquaintance with God Eliphaz may have had, one scarcely knows, but at any rate, the whole meaning of the text on his lips is poor and selfish. The peace promised is evidently only outward tranquillity and freedom from trouble, and the good that is to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Life May be Made
'For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, ... lifting up; and He shall save the humble person.'--JOB xxii. 26-29. These words are a fragment of one of the speeches of Job's friends, in which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Whether all Things are under Divine Providence
Whether All Things are under Divine Providence We proceed to the second article thus: 1. It seems that not all things are under divine providence. For nothing that is ordained happens contingently, and if all things were provided by God, nothing would happen contingently. There would then be no such thing as chance or fortune. But this is contrary to common opinion. 2. Again, every wise provider, so far as he is able, preserves those in his care from defect and from evil. But we see many evils in …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Whether God is Everywhere by Essence, Presence and Power?
Objection 1: It seems that the mode of God's existence in all things is not properly described by way of essence, presence and power. For what is by essence in anything, is in it essentially. But God is not essentially in things; for He does not belong to the essence of anything. Therefore it ought not to be said that God is in things by essence, presence and power. Objection 2: Further, to be present in anything means not to be absent from it. Now this is the meaning of God being in things by His …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Everything is Subject to the Providence of God?
Objection 1: It seems that everything is not subject to divine providence. For nothing foreseen can happen by chance. If then everything was foreseen by God, nothing would happen by chance. And thus hazard and luck would disappear; which is against common opinion. Objection 2: Further, a wise provider excludes any defect or evil, as far as he can, from those over whom he has a care. But we see many evils existing. Either, then, God cannot hinder these, and thus is not omnipotent; or else He does …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Doctrine of God
I. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: (Vs. Atheism). 1. ASSUMED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 2. PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. a) Universal belief in the Existence of God. b) Cosmological:--Argument from Cause. c) Teleological:--Argument from Design. d) Ontological:--Argument from Being. e) Anthropological:--Moral Argument. f) Argument from Congruity. g) Argument from Scripture. II. THE NATURE OF GOD: (Vs. Agnosticism) 1. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Materialism). 2. THE PERSONALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Pantheism). 3. THE UNITY …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

The Case of the Christian under the Hiding of God's Face.
1. The phrase scriptural.--2. It signifies the withdrawing the tokens of the divine favor.--3 chiefly as to spiritual considerations.--4. This may become the case of any Christian.--5. and will be found a very sorrowful one.--6. The following directions, therefore, are given to those who suppose it to be their own: To inquire whether it be indeed a case of spiritual distress, or whether a disconsolate frame may not proceed from indisposition of body,--7. or difficulties as to worldly circumstances.--8, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4.
BANDS OF LOVE; OR, UNION TO CHRIST. SYSTEMATIC theologians have usually regarded union to Christ under three aspects, natural, mystical and federal, and it may be that these three terms are comprehensive enough to embrace the whole subject, but as our aim is simplicity, let us be pardoned if we appear diffuse when we follow a less concise method. 1. The saints were from the beginning joined to Christ by bands of everlasting love. Before He took on Him their nature, or brought them into a conscious …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan.
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.'--[Psalm 93:5] London, by B. W., for Benj. Alsop, at the Angel and Bible, in the Poultrey. 1684. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This is the most searching treatise that has ever fallen under our notice. It is an invaluable guide to those sincere Christians, who, under a sense of the infinite importance of the salvation of an immortal soul, and of the deceitfulness of their hearts, sigh and cry, "O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament