OCTOBER 1, 2024

 “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” (Isaiah 38:17)

Here is the case of a man who, as far as mortal help was concerned, was a dead man, and yet prayer prevailed for his recovery and the lengthening of his life. He recorded the experience for the glory of God. God Himself preserved the record for our encouragement. In our times of deep depression, we have the same loving God to help us.

Hezekiah sets before us in this verse his great bitterness of soul. The margin reads, “For peace I had bitter bitterness.” He had enjoyed wonderful peace, but he underwent a great change. The change apparently came very suddenly. “Behold!” The sudden change from health to deadly sickness must have occurred because of sin, since he adds, “…for Thou has cast all my sins behind Thy back.” Probably his peace had brought with it a dangerous state in which he became carnally secure, self-centered, careless, and worldly.

We all look for peace, but we are more likely to forget the Lord when we seem to be free from troubles. Dr. Watts throughout his life scarcely ever knew what good health was. However surprisingly it may seem, he looked upon his affliction as the greatest blessing of his life. He often mentioned to his dear friend, Sir Thomas Abney, in whose home he lived many years, that being naturally of an ambitious disposition, these visitations of Divine providence weaned his affection from this world and brought every passion into subjection to Christ.

Hezekiah noted in verse 20, “The LORD was ready to save me.” His exchange of peace for bitterness had, blessed of God, led him to repentance for past sins, as the last line of the text implies. It brought him to his knees in prayer; it revealed to him his inward decline; it made him put away his defilements; it renewed and deepened his faith in God. “The LORD was ready to save me.”

Notice, his happy confession: “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit.” We see here recovery from sickness, but it intends much more: benefit to his soul is evident. Notice, as the margin reads: “Thou hast loved my soul from the pit.” The Lord delivers the soul from the pit of hell, of sin, of despair. The psalmist said, “He brought me up also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock.” He is speaking of the prison house of sin. In Scripture, some prisons were referred to as pits. These had no openings except a hole at the top, which served as both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting and miry state. The text speaks of the “pit of corruption.” Such is the prison house of sin from which Christ delivers. He was sent to open the prison house and set the captive free. This is the great need of all whose “peace” has been turned to bitterness because of sin. The Lord delivers the soul from the pit of sin and despair, from the pit of death and hell.

Hezekiah could now rejoice in absolute pardon of sin. “Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” This was the cause of his restored peace. There can be no real peace without the pardon of sin. He was burdened while sin remained, but when that was gone, peace returned.

This removed the whole burden. “All my sins.” This was a Divine work. “Thou hast cast.” This is wonderfully described. “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” This is the place of desertion. God has cast the sins of penitent sinners behind His back where He will never see them nor remember them. This is the place of nonentity: nothing is behind the back of God.

Therefore, let us do as Hezekiah did, and tell our story to others. Let us lift up our voice of gratitude.“The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs…all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.” (Vs. 20)

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

 “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 3:10-4:3)

At the beginning of the book, Jonah is tasked with going to the city of Nineveh to preach against the corruption therein. Jonah had heard tell of the wickedness of the Ninevites and thus fled, getting on a ship heading to Tarshish. After a strong storm hit the boat, he was voluntarily cast into the sea by his traveling companions, where a giant fish swallowed him. After a journey of three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, where he prayed to God sincerely, Jonah was vomited out on the coast near Nineveh.

He then ran through the city, telling the people how the city would be destroyed in forty days. Expecting the worst, Jonah was instead surprised when the Ninevites immediately began repenting of their past deeds. The city’s king then issued a proclamation telling the people to put on sackcloth and cry vehemently to God for pardon. All the city’s inhabitants were to turn from their evil and violent ways in hopes that God may relent and quell His burning anger so they may not perish.

The plan works! As we see in verse 10, God indeed sees the turn the city made and relents from punishment. However, things aren’t all sunshine and rainbows because God’s “change of heart” angered Jonah. He repines at God’s mercy to Nineveh. This was strange because usually, the preacher is pleased when the congregation repents, but Jonah isn’t. There was something about the whole matter that displeased Jonah. He became exceedingly angry. Not only was this strange but it was extraordinary because Jonah was distraught at the success of his preaching. We should not miss Jonah’s intensity here because the original Hebrew language is vital.

Jonah was bursting with anger because God granted repentance to the Ninevites, and the Assyrian Empire (of which Nineveh was the capital city) was the enemy of Judah and Israel. The city and empire were known for their brutal treatment of Christians, and therefore, Jonah wanted God to bring judgment upon the people he hated. Jonah knew that God was full of grace and mercy, so he was afraid to tell the people of Nineveh. This was at least part of why Jonah fled in the first place: he was worried that God would grant them repentance and then meet it with mercy, when he wanted the Assyrian capital to be judged.

Imagine that you had a younger sister who was raped and murdered. Years later, you were tasked with going to the prison and ministering to the man who had done it. Would you heed the call? Or would you, like Jonah, think the man is undeserving and reject the directive? It’s easy for us to label Jonah as a coward and a fool for attempting to flee from God but what he did was because of cowardice. If any of us were in a similar position, sadly, we might also prefer to ignore the call.

Jonah himself had called on God’s mercy and enjoyed it when it was extended to him, but now he resents it when it is extended to others. What if God treated Jonah the way Jonah wanted God to treat the people of Nineveh? We should rejoice that God doesn’t dole out blessings and punishments based on what we think people deserve.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2024

“For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.” (Micah 1:12)

The village of the bitter spring (for such is the meaning of the name Maroth) experienced a bitter disappointment. The more eager and patient their careful waiting for good, the more distasteful the bitter draught of evil which they were compelled to drink. Their trust in man proved to be vain, for the Assyrians swept over them, and did not stop until they reached the gate of Jerusalem, where God, for sake of Hezekiah’s faith made the enemy pause and retreat.

The people “waited carefully for good, but evil came.” We often come in our wilderness journey to a well that we strained ourselves to reach, hoping to find refreshment for our tried and thirsty souls, only to find a “Marah” instead of “Elim.” Rather than finding sweetness and joy, the draught is bitter. This disappointment is many times due to our seeking for good in the wrong places. The disappointment that the inhabitants of Maroth experienced was the Lord’s doing. The prophet tells us plainly that “evil came down from the Lord.”

The expression, “evil came down from the Lord,” must not be misunderstood. God is not the Author of moral evil. It is the evil of sorrow, affliction, calamity, and such that the Lord allows His people to experience, that is here meant. It is nevertheless universally true that no evil can happen without Divine permission. “I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” (Isa. 45:7) Some evils are distinctly from the Lord. When King Jehoram threatened the life of Elisha whom he blamed for the evil that had come upon Samaria, the prophet said, “Behold, this evil is of the Lord.”

Evils that are from the Lord are sent for a variety of reasons. By such means the Lord will make known the true character of men. He permits evil for the purpose of chastening the good, as in the case of David when he out of pride numbered the people. (I Chron. 21:7) He uses evil to punish the wicked. (Gen. 6:5-7, 19:24, 25)

Disappointments can be extremely painful at the time; yet, could we know all the truth, we should not lament them. The believer’s trust in the Lord ought to be such as to cause gratitude rather than lamentation. However, when expectations are disappointed, thanksgiving is not usually our first response, but comes later, after we are made to see that the Lord gives what is best.

Some kinds of hopes and dreams are certain to disappoint, as for instance, when undue confidence is placed in man; when we look for happiness in sin; and when we look for stability and immutability in earthly things. Then in addition, there are cases in which disappointments are highly probable because of conceited hopes, groundless expectations, and sheer speculation.

Let us, in any case, know that disappointed expectations are bound to happen. “There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.” Let us accept them with godly patience, for they may prove most instructive. From our disappointments we can learn the fallibility of our own judgment; and the uncertainty of earthly things; and to preface all future plans and expectations with “If the Lord wills.” (James 4:14)

God has often sent disappointments and sanctified them to holy ends. In some cases, God has used such to turn the current of life from the pursuit of things earthly and temporal to things heavenly and eternal. To quote William Jay, “Disappointments in time are often means of preventing disappointments in eternity.” Disappointments are useful in weaning us from the world. They tend to make us prize more the faithfulness of God to fulfill the expectations of His people which are founded upon His promises. (Heb. 10:23) None who trust in Christ shall ever be confounded. (I Pet. 2:6) God has a word of assurance for all whose hope is in the Lord: “Thine expectation shall not be cut off.” (Prov. 23:18)

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

“And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? …Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.” (I Samuel 17:26, 45-47)

Saul and the fighting men of Israel drew up to confront the Philistine army when a Philistine champion came out of the crowd. The champion was the giant Goliath of Gath. He towered over the Israelites with his great height and struck fear into their hearts. He called to the army and demanded a champion from among their ranks to come into the valley and fight with him to decide the conflict. In ancient times, it was common practice for an army or nation to name a champion to fight one-on-one against the opposition’s champion. This was done to end the conflict quickly as well as minimize bloodshed. Instead of entire armies battling, it would just be one of two men from either side killed.

We haven’t heard of any plan by the Philistines to do this, so it seems that Goliath hatched and acted upon this plan on his own. He was breathtakingly self-assured and proud. His thought was that he was too mighty to fall. “Who could stand in my way when I’m so tall, my muscles are so big, and my breastplate is so heavy,” he probably thought.

Enter David. The son of Jesse had three older brothers who had chosen to follow Saul and the army into battle. His father tasked him with bringing food to his brothers and the rest of the Israelite army at their encampment. Upon entering, David saw the fearful state that the giant had put the military into, and in verse 26, he expresses the reason for his confidence. He says, “Who does this guy think he is, that he can oppose God’s army?” The source of his resolve was the belief that God will deliver His people, echoed many times in the Psalms.

After making this statement of confidence, word was spread to Saul, who sent for David. He then volunteers to fight the Philistine, but the King counters by claiming, rightfully, that David is just a boy while Goliath has been fighting his entire life. David then tells Saul of a lion and a bear who had attacked his flock of sheep that he had the strength to defeat. He goes on to say, “The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” (Vs. 37)

He then goes into the valley to meet Saul in battle and reaffirm his stated confidence, which we see in verses 45-47. The young boy stands firm while all the grown men in the Israelite army are shaken and afraid. His confidence doesn’t come from his strength and experience. David finds the strength to face the Giant in his God. He says, “This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand…” (Vs. 46) Goliath insulted David, sure, but He openly defied the Lord and His army; for that, he had to pay.

David could confidently strut down the hill and confront Goliath because he knew His God would see him through. This is what fuels David’s resolve. Christians should always be careful when emulating David because he was not perfect; he just served a perfect God (and, based on his writings, he agreed). But, when we face adversity, we should remember the source of David’s confidence: the strength, power, and providence of his Heavenly Father. We should find the fortitude to push forward in our God as David did so many times.