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SUBJECT: 01 HOS 2:8-9 The Unknown Giver and
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The Unknown Giver and the Misused Gifts
Sept 25th, 1890
by
C. H. SPURGEON
"For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and
multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and
my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my
flax."-- Hos_2:8-9.
In reading any of the records concerning the people of Israel and the
people of Judah, one stands amazed at two things, and scarcely knows
which to wonder at most. The first thing which causes astonishment is
the great sin of the people; and the next thing, which is even more
marvellous, is the great patience of God. I scarcely know which of the
two things causes me greater surprise, that men should be so guilty, or
that God should be so gracious. On every page of Israel's history, the
kindness and forbearance of Jehovah are manifested towards the
people whom he had betrothed unto himself. Even in the midst of their
backsliding and idolatry, he did not forget the covenant which he had
made with their fathers. Yet, in spite of all this goodness, the people
sinned times without number, and grieved his Spirit again and again;
instead of being led to repentance, they sinned yet more and more.
Their iniquity, and the forbearance of God, stand like two mountain
summits of the history of the chosen yet wayward people.
Let us just transfer these thoughts to ourselves, and see if we can, with
any justice, cast a stone at the people who, in spite of such love, went
so far astray. Alas, we are condemned by the comparison! We are
nothing better than they were. Our case is, perhaps, fuller of
contradictions and inconsistencies, if that is possible. Is it not
wonderful, first of all, that we should have been so guilty, that we
should have persevered in sin so many years, that even after we have
known God we should have been so unfaithful to him, so unfaithful to
our own convictions, and to our own conscience? Is it not this awful
fact amazing? But that God should love us still, that he should follow
us with warning and invitation, that his Holy Spirit should strive with
us, and continue to strive until he wins the day, and that despite our
shortcomings and our transgressions, he should have remained faithful
to us, even to this very hour, is more amazing still. O my soul, sink
low in deep humiliation because of thy sinfulness! But, rise higher and
yet higher in adoration of the unutterable love, the boundless mercy of
God to thee in spite of thine iniquity. Beloved brethren, if it were
possible for us to only know adequately these two things, man's sin
and God's love, we should have learned more than the greatest
scientists of this world ever knew, and we should have attained to
more true wisdom than all earth's philosophers ever possessed. There
be some that, in their search for knowledge, have almost seemed to
walk the heavens in order to tread the stars, and to dive into the depths
to arrange the rocks and all their ancient life; but there are two things
that none of the wise amongst men have ever been able to compass--
two things which unaided reason has ever failed to grasp, and ever
will--sin and love; sin for its thunder, and love for its music: sin for its
hell and love for its heaven. But we, who have been taught by the
grace of God, do know something of sin: may we know increasingly
what an evil it is! I trust we also know something of divine love; may
we be filled with it, even to overflowing!
But, coming now close to our text, I am going to make four observances upon
it.
The first will be one that seems self-evident, yet is often forgotten,
namely, that God is the Giver of every good gift. "I gave her corn, and
wine and oil." In the second place, I will dwell upon the sad fact that
many seem not to know this. "She did not know that I gave her corn,
and wine, and oil." My third observation will be, that this ignorance
leads to perversion of God's gifts: the gifts of God were profaned by
being "prepared for Baal." In the last place, the solemn truth will
demand our attention, that this ill use of God's gifts causes God to
withdraw them. "Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the
time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and I will recover my
wool and my flax." We lose what we are determined to put to improper
use. So, you see that my discourse promises to be a very practical one.
I. The first thought in the text which claims our attention will be, that
GOD IS THE GIVER OF EVERY GOOD GIFT. "I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold." Whether we know it, or not, it is true
that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither
shadow of turning." Do not, then, exult over thy brother if thou art more
richly endowed with God's gifts than he is: "For who maketh thee to differ
from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" All things
that we possess have been bestowed upon us; for it is as certain that we
brought nothing into the world, and that we shall take nothing out of the
world. We receive everything from the great Distributor, who openeth his
hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing. Though used with
reference to a higher gift than any of those mentioned in the text, the
words of John the Baptist are true concerning all God's gifts, "a man can
receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."
But someone may say, "Corn and wine are here mentioned first of all;
surely these are the fruit of tillage. Men sow, and reap. Men plant, and
gather grapes. How, then, can these things be the gift of God?" Why,
the moment we think seriously of this matter, we perceive that no
husbandman can command a harvest! No vine-dresser can be sure of
fruit, unless he that rules the heavens, and sendeth the dews, the rains,
the snow, and the frosts, shall take care both of the budding vine and
of the ripening clusters. All that springs from the earth comes by a
miracle of God's benevolence. If God withheld his hand, you might
plough your land, but you would wait in vain for the harvest; and
unfruitful season would not return to you even so much as the seed
which you had sown. When famines come upon the nations, because of
blighted harvests, then men ought to understand that the corn, and the
wine, and the oil are God's gifts; but, alas, many are very slow to learn
even that elementary lesson!
Perhaps others say, "Our share of these things comes to us as the
earnings of labour. Of course, in some form or other that must be true.
Ever since man fell, that word of God to Adam, "In the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat bread," has been the rule of life for his sons. If men
do not till the soil, but dwell in cities, they must still work; but in less
pleasant ways than the farmer knows. They may have to toil in murky
workshops, where they would be glad to catch a breath of fresh breezes
that come over the fields. I know we get our bread by our work; but
then, who finds us work? Who gives us strength to do it? Let God but
withdraw from us his gracious power, and our hands would hang
feebly at our side. You know how true this is. When you have been
laid aside upon the bed of sickness, then have you understood that,
unless God gave health, the breadwinner could not go forth to his
service, and there would be nothing on the table for the wife and
children. It is God that gives us our bread, however hard we work in
order to earn it. Still have we need to present the petition that our Lord
taught his disciples, "Give us this day our daily bread."
Besides this, the text also mentions the gain of commerce. "I
multiplied her silver and her gold." Here, also, God's hand is plainly
seen. I admit, of course, that men gain their silver and their gold by
trading; but will the ship come home again in safety unless God
watches over it? Will the men that go into the bowels of the earth, to
dig for minerals, come up alive unless still the providence of God
preserves them? Is not the benediction of heaven needed in every
enterprise to which men can put their hand? "Except the Lord build
the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the
city, the watchman waketh in vain." The success of business is based
upon a thousand conditions, and surrounded by many risks, as every
merchant knows. How easily God can lay his finger upon my human
scheme, and bring to nought all our plans! They used to call those who
engaged in commerce "merchant venturers", and they were rightly
named. There is many a "peradventure" about business-life in these
days of cruel competition, even in our home-trade; and it is even more
at a venture that a man goes to a far-off land for a gain. God must give
him success, if he is to get it. In our bills of lading we even now insert
a clause, by which the shipowner disclaims responsibility in certain
contingencies, amongst which is mentions "the act of God"; and when
men despatch a vessel, they often pray, and they always ought to pray,
"God speed this ship," for God-speed is needed if it is to reach its
destination safely.
But some come in by their own corn, and their own wine, and their
silver, and their gold, by the legacies of their friends. In such a case,
you may easily trace the gifts of God. If you parents have left you
sufficient for your maintenance, who gave you those parents? Who
placed them in a position to be so generous to you? Who arranged the
place and manner of your birth but the great Lord of providence? If
you are living in specially favourable circumstances, and are able to
obtain food, and the other necessaries of life, with a good share of its
luxuries, which others can only gain by long labour, if at all, ascribe to
it, I beseech you, to the bountiful providence of the Most High. If you
do not give all the glory to the Giver of these gifts, surely you are
forgetting your God.
And yet, perhaps, another says, "I have not laboured with my hands,
but I am a man of resources. What I possess is the result of thought. I
have carefully elaborated an invention, and in a few months I have
been able to get for myself what others cannot get with a whole life of
toil. Surely I may trace my prosperity to my capacious mind." And if
you do so, you will be very foolish, unless you also adore the God who
gave you your mind. By whose power is it that you have had the wit to
gain wealth so speedily? I beseech you be humble in the presence of
God, or you may in a few days lose your reason, for it has often
happened that men who have had more wit than others have been
among the first to lose it. "Great wit to madness is allied." In many a
case it has proved to be so. Remember Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, builder of cities, inventor of great things, and yet "he did eat
grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his
hairs were grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws,"
because he was proud, and exalted himself against God, neither gave
glory for his greatness to the Most High.
We therefore settle it in our hearts as true, once for all, that God is the
Giver of the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and the silver, and the
gold, and whatever temporal blessings we enjoy. If honestly gained, we
trace them to his hand; and we would thank him now and always for
every good gift that we have received from him.
I need not make a list of spiritual blessings, nor need I remind you that
they all come from God. You know how dependent you are upon him
for them. By nature you are dead. What spiritual life can you get for
yourselves without God? Can the dead make themselves to live? When
you have been made alive, you are pardoned; can you pardon
yourselves? Whence can forgiveness come but from God? You have
more than pardon if you are a child of God, you are possessed of
righteousness; how shall you ever have it but as God arrays you in the
righteousness of Christ? Joy and peace are our portion, but both come
by believing; they are the gift of God. Holiness, too, and everything
else that prepares us for heaven, and helps us to reach that blessed
place, is the gift of God freely bestowed upon unworthy men. We were
unworthy when he began to bless us, and we are unworthy still; yet the
hand that at first bestowed the gift upon us, continues to enrich us
every day in all bountifulness. Shall we not praise him, lifting high our
grateful song?
"Come thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace,
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise."
We will not withhold our thanks for such abounding goodness.
"Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace, now, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee."
So much for the first point.
II. Now, secondly, and we come closer to our text, MANY SEEM
NOT TO KNOW THIS. "She did not know that I gave her corn, and
wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold." She did not know,
and in this lack of knowledge she stands not alone. There are great
numbers in the world who do not know this elementary truth, that all
good gifts, of any kind whatsoever, come from the hand of God. Why
is this?
With some it arises from natural ignorance. Myriads of men know not
God as yet; and they are to be pitied, if they have not even heard of
him. I fear that in London there are many who have never received
even the plainest instruction with regard to God and his Christ. It
ought not to be so, seeing that so many in earlier years have passed
through our Sunday-schools into which a child may go and come out
again, and know but little that will abide with him. It is a pity that this
should be the case; but facts go to show that I state no more than the
plain truth. There are many whom we may meet in the street who
could give us no intelligent account of what they owe to God. They
scarcely know who he is. They use his name as a part of their
profanity, and that is all. Brethren, I charge you, by the living God,
that as far as your ability goes, you do not suffer a single person in
London to be ignorant of God, and what men owe to him. With all
your might, instruct those with whom you come in contact concerning
the great Creator, Preserver, and Judge of men, and show them how all
our blessings are to be traced to his generous hand. Thus shall be laid
a foundation whereon may rest a saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
There are, however, many more who, from thoughtless ignorance, do
not know that God gave them their providential mercies. Oh, what a
thing it is that the bulk of the people by whom we are surrounded
should have a thought for everybody but God! Some persons are
strictly honest to their fellow-men, but they never think that they owe
God anything. Everybody is treated fitly by them except their Creator.
They will be ungrateful to nobody except their very best Friend; and
all for want of thought. Is it not ten thousand pities that so many miss
heaven from heedlessness, and that so many go down to hell for want
of thinking how they may escape from it? "The wicked shall be turned
into hell," says the Psalmist, "and all the nations that forget God."
What did these do who thus perish? Did they blaspheme? No; they
only forgot God. Did they oppose his purposes? No, it is not said so;
but they forgot God. That is all. He that forgets his king becomes a
traitor. The soldier that forgets his captain becomes a deserter. The
child that forgets his mother, becomes a prodigal. But the man that
forgets his God is the worst of all; his sheer thoughtlessness leads him
to the abyss of woe.
Some lose sight of God because of their wrong thoughts. They look
upon everything that happens as luck. "I was a lucky fellow," says one.
"Wonderfully fortunate I have always been," says another; "I have
always had good luck." So God is pushed from his throne, and men
pay their tribute to an imaginary something, which is really nothing,
but which they call "luck." If luck has actually done anything for you,
then by all means worship luck, and pay homage to it; but it is not so.
Luck, fortune, and chance are the devil's trinity. If things have gone
well with you, it has been so because it has pleased the Most High to
favour you. I pray that you may not be unmindful of the heavenly
blessing, but thank your God, and bless his name.
"Well," says one, "I do not attribute my success to luck. I say I owe it
to myself." So you turn from your God, and worship yourself, do you?
The Egyptians have been counted the most degraded people of this
world in their worship. They worshipped onions, till Juvenal says, "O
blessed people, who grow their gods in their own back gardens!" But I
do not think they were quite so degraded as the man that worships
himself. If I could bring my soul to worship an onion, I could never
degrade myself low enough to worship myself. A man who makes
himself his own god is mad. When you begin to adore yourself as a
self-made man, you have surely come to the very abyss of absurdity
and idolatry. "Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made
us, and not we ourselves. We are his people, and the sheep of his
pasture." Let us not then be guilty of the folly of forgetting him to
whom we owe our all. "O come, let us worship and bow down; let us
kneel before the Lord our Maker." Still, alas, it is true that some,
through their thoughtlessness or their corrupt thought about God,
know not that he gave them their corn and wine and oil.
There are others who forget God from assumed ignorance; they know
better, but they profess that they are too intelligent to believe in God.
Do you often hear the proud boastings of such men? Oh! It is folly of
the most profound kind for any man to think he is too intelligent, or
too clever, to believe in God, or to trace anything to him. "These
things happen according to the laws of nature," they say. "The
arrangements of nature are fixed and invariable." Thus "nature"
becomes nothing more than a false god, which they worship. They
have elevated a certain something which they call "nature" into the
place of God, and they suppose that God is somehow tied by his own
laws, and can never do any other than that which he has been
accustomed to do; by such reasoning natural law is lifted up, and made
higher than the omnipotent God himself. Go you that worship nature,
and worship her if you will. I have not generally found much worship
in it. I had a neighbor, who said to me, "I do not go and shut myself up
in the stifling atmosphere on a Sunday; I stop at home, and worship
the god of nature." I said to him, "he is made of wood, is he not?"
"What do you mean?" he said in some surprise. "I think," I answered,
"that I have heard you at worship, and you seem to me to adore your
god by knocking him down." "Ah!" said he; "have you heard me
playing skittles on Sunday?" "Yes," I said; "you are a pretty fellow to
tell me that you stop at home, and worship the god of nature. Your
worship is all a lie." When you hear men talk about this god of nature,
it often means that they only want an opportunity of having more
drink, or of amusing themselves, or of otherwise wasting the hours of
God's holy day. As for us, I trust that we shall not assume an
ignorance which is not ours. We know that God gave us all we have,
and unto him shall be the praise.
A great many have no real lack of knowledge at all, if your search
their minds. Theirs is a practical ignorance. They know not that God
gave them these things, in the sense that they do not confess that it is
so. They never speak about him as the one who provideth for all their
needs; they never praise him for his bounty. They may, perhaps, jerk
out a "Thank God," just as a matter of common speech; but there is no
thankfulness in their heart. Practically, they live from year to year as if
there were no God, and spend their time and their substance as if they
were under no obligation whatever to the great Lord of providence.
Practically it may be said of them, "They know not that I gave them
their corn and their wine and their oil."
A lower depth is reached by those who do not recognise God because
of their wilful ignorance; who, because of their deeds of darkness, hate
the light, and refuse to acknowledge the gifts of God. Our Father in
heaven "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust." But the unjust do not
receive the refreshing showers as from his hand, nor do those who are
evil acknowledge that it is God's sun that shines upon their head. They
hate God, and are wilfully ignorant, "having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart."
Now, it does seem to be a very grievous thing that men should be
indebted to God for everything, and should never praise him; that they
should every morning be awakened by the light that he gives, and
every evening be helped to sleep by the shades of darkness with which
he mercifully closes the day, and curtains the night; and yet that they
should never adore his name. Am I not speaking to some here who,
through a tolerably long life, have never thought of their God, or
whose thoughts concerning him have been but fitful and feeble? I
would like to hold you to your seat for a moment, my friend, while I
ask you whether you do not feel ashamed that you have never
considered the claims of the Most High, or have never thought that he
could have any claims, but supposed that you had just to live to think
of yourself and your friends, and perhaps of your fellow-men, but
never of your God? His goodness has been practically denied by you.
You have lived as if there were no God, or as if he were too far off to
operate upon your life. You live as if you had received ought to have
secured for him your service. Yet what have you done? Does a man
keep a cow without expecting its milk? Would he keep a horse without
putting it to work? Would he own a dog if it did not fawn upon him,
and come at his call? Yet God has kept you all these years, and he has
had nothing from you but sheer forgetfulness, or, possibly, something
worse than that. What do you say to this? I press the matter upon you,
and ask you carefully to review it before your own conscience, and
before the Lord, to whom you must one day give account. Seeing that
you have received so much from him, you should, at the very least,
acknowledge that he is the Giver of all your good things. May God the
Holy Spirit make you confess that you have not dealt well with your
God, and strive with you until, by his almighty grace, you shall be
constrained to change your evil course, and acknowledge the goodness
and mercy you have received from him throughout your whole life!
III. In the third place, when men thus fail to recognize and acknowledge
God's goodness, THIS IGNORANCE OFTEN LEADS TO THE PERVERSION OF GOD'S
GIFTS.
See how God puts it with reference to the people of Israel, "I multiplied
her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal." What a depth of infamy
it would be to receive the bounty of one king, and to pay homage therewith
before the throne of his rival! This is what Israel did, and alas! Too many
imitate them to-day. The people burned incense to the false god of the
heathen on every hill. "She decked herself with her ear-rings and her
jewels, and she went after he lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord." This
was a great iniquity. The very gold which God gave them they fashioned
into ornaments for their idol, and poured out the wine that came as a
gift from heaven, as an offering at Baal's shrine. There was a certain
Indian potentate, who deposed his father from the throne, and then
desired that father to send him his jewels, that he might wear them at
his own coronation. These people desired God's gifts, in order that
they might present them to Baal; and, alas! In this impiety they have
many followers. How many there are who are using against God all
that he has given them! They have prepared it for Baal.
We do this whenever the gifts of God are used to augment pride. This
is a temptation that besets all. We have all a tendency to swell and
grow great simply because God has given us more than other people;
whereas that but makes us the greater debtors. I have heard that, in the
days of imprisonment for debt, there were people in prison who used to
be quite proud because they owed ten thousand pounds, and who
looked down with scorn upon a poor fellow who had come in there
only owing a hundred pounds, or perhaps, only a five-pound note. The
more they were in debt, the more they thought of themselves. Now, is
not that the case with every proud man? Because you have greater
ability, or greater wealth, than another, you owe so much the more to
God; and yet you are foolish enough to make that, which ought to be a
reason for being humble, a reason for being proud. God surely feels
that his gifts are being misused when we handle them so as to make
ourselves haughty and important. In doing this we forget him who
gave us all, even as Hosea in another place saith concerning the
people, "According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were
filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore they have forgotten me."
Moreover, the gifts of God are perverted when we use them to justify
sin, setting our necks stiffly in the way of evil, because, though we
have wandered from God, the corn and the oil are still continued to us.
"There are my rewards that my lovers have given me," said this nation
that went after Baal; therefore she thought that her worship of Baal
was worthy to be continued. How horrible a thing it is for a man to
boast in his sin, because God does not swiftly follow it with judgment,
and to continue therein because God does not at once withdraw his
common mercies! Those whose hearts are set in them to do evil,
because the sentence against the evil work is not executed speedily,
shall have sore distress in the day when, at last, the righteous God
arises to judgment.
Again, God's gifts are ill-used when because of the very abundance of
them, we begin to excuse excesses. the drunkard and the glutton
pervert what was meant to be a good gift into an occasion of sin and
riot. God gives us all good things richly to enjoy; but when, instead of
enjoying them, men abuse them, and ruin themselves, body and soul,
by missing the gifts of heaven, it would be small cause for wonder if
God was roused to remove the gifts put to such base use. And since so
many of those around us do abuse God's gifts in this manner, it
behoves us, who desire to glorify God, to use all things with great
temperance, and wholly to abstain from some thing, lest we should
cause our brother to stumble.
Equally bad is it when a man uses the gifts of God's providence so as
to foster selfishness. His silver and gold are multiplied; he hoards it up
and makes a god of it. The poor are at his gate. There let them keep;
why should he trouble about them? The church of God needs his aid.
Let it need it. It shall have nothing from him. "Soul," says such a man,
"thou must lay up much goods for many years." And, when he has
effected his purpose, then he talks to his own soul again, poor creature
that it is, and says, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many
years: take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry." He has made a god of
his goods, and thus he has perverted God's gifts, and used them to
God's dishonour. He has given them to Baal.
It grieves one's heart to see gifts of God used to oppose God. What
would you have thought of David, when Jonathan gave him his sword
and bow, if he had not taken the sword, and cut off Jonathan's head, or
if he had fitted an arrow to the string, and shot Jonathan to the heart?
It would have been ingratitude. But men fight against God with God's
own gifts. A woman endowed with beauty, the rare gift of God, uses it
to ensnare others to sin. God gives us garments, and there are some
who use their very garments for nothing else but pride, and who go
through the world with no motive but display. A man has a musical
voice given to him, but he sings what God cannot be pleased to hear,
and what no man or woman ought to listen to. Another has great
intellect, and he gives himself up to pulling the Bible to pieces, and, as
far as he can, to destroy much good. Another has a voice that is clear
and loud, and skill in using it, and you hear him stand up and lead
others to war against their Maker, and to sin with a high hand against
the King of heaven. Oh, the pity is that there should be so much of
good in the world, all heaped up to rot--that so many gifts of God
should be used by men against him! When those in high authority
oppress the righteous, they use their authority against God; and when
men in high standing are seen at police courts advocating that which
is injurious to morals, they not only degrade themselves, but they make
us think that the "nobility" with which they are said to be endowed
must be a myth. God keep us all, dear friends, from ever using the
gifts of our Maker against our Maker; and we are certainly acting
against him when we go contrary to anything that is honest, lovely,
and of good repute; and when, in any way, we sanction that which will
do our fellow-creatures wrong, and will be injurious to the interests of
true righteousness, and the advancement of the kingdom of Christ!
My text is sadly true with reference to many; "She did not know that I
gave her corn and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold,
which they prepared for Baal." They prepared for God's enemies what
God himself had given to them, and what he meant to be used only for
his own glory.
IV. And now my fourth observation is this: THIS PERVERSION OFTEN MOVES GOD
TO WITHDRAW HIS MISUSED GIFTS.
"Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my
wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax."
God has given to many of you a great many mercies. Remember that,
if you become proud of them, if because you have become fat, like
Jeshurun, you begin to kick, he can take his gifts away. If you forsake
God, who made you, and lightly esteem the Rock of your salvation, he
will forsake you, and withdraw his bounty.
He can withdraw his gifts easily. "Riches certainly make themselves
wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven." You have seen the
crows on the ploughed field, have you not? There they are, blackening
the ground. But clap you hands, and they are gone. So have we often
seen it with a man's wealth. There has been a little change in the
money market, some little turn in commerce, and all his money has
taken to itself wings, and flown away. Is it health and strength that you
have, or great wit? Ah, sir, a puff of wind may take away life; a little
gas may be fatal to health! We know not what dependent creatures we
are. God can easily take away the blessings which he gives, therefore
let us remember him in the use of them. "Whether, therefore, ye eat or
drink, do all to the glory of God."
Moreover, God can take away his gifts unexpectedly. In the text, he
says, "I will take away my corn in the time thereof," that is, in harvest,
"and my wine in the season thereof," that is, just at the time of vintage.
When it seems as if the harvest and vintage were secure, God would
send a sudden blight upon both, and they would perish. God can take
things away when they almost touch the tips of our fingers, and he can
easily deprive us of misused blessings at the very moment when we
think we are most sure of them. "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup
and the lip;" and there is many an occasion of final disappointment
when we think we have succeeded. We are only secure as we trust in
the Giver of all good.
God can take away these thing rightfully. What would you do yourself
if you had one whom you fed who was always kidding against you?
Would you feed a dog that was always barking at you, and trying to fly
at you, and do you mischief? Is it not right that God should take away
providential benefits from men when they misuse them, and pervert
them to his dishonour? It is of his grace that these things are ours at
all; he has but to withdraw that grace, and to deal with us as we
deserve, and lo! We are impoverished at once.
If God does take these things away, I would pray that he may take
them from you mercifully. I was riding one day with a young
gentleman, who was leading a very reckless life indeed, but whose
father was a very gracious man. I found that the son had taken to
horse-racing, and I said, "That is right; go on as fast as you can. Till
you have lost every penny you have, you will scarcely be willing to
turn to God. Young fellows like you do not often come home, except
round by the swine-trough. When you get down to that, then, I trust,
you will cry to God for mercy, and say, 'I will arise, and go to my
father.' " He was very astonished at my advice; but I think it was the
right thing to say under the circumstances.
How often have I seen something of this sort take place! The Lord has
taken away from a man wealth, or he has taken away health, or else
the man has fallen into dishonour; the Lord takes away the corn in the
time thereof, and the wine in the season thereof, and then it happens,
as we have it in the verse before the text, the afflicted one says, "I will
go and return to my first husband; for then it was better with me than
now." So long as you come to Christ, I do not mind if you come round
by "Weeping-Cross." Even if you come with a broken leg, with the loss
of an eye, or with consumption making a prey of you, it will be well; if
only your souls be saved, and you come home to your great Father, we
will be glad. But why do you want to be whipped to Christ? Why not
come willingly? Why do you need to have these truths burnt into you
as with a hot iron? Why not learn them easily. "Be ye not as the horse,
or as the mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be
held in with bit and bridle." Be not hard-mouthed with God, for he
will master you, if he once take you by the hand. If he means to bless
you, he will conquer you, though he may have to use rough measures
with you. By-and-by, when he has broken you in, he will deal with you
in all the infinite tenderness of his compassion; and you will
acknowledge that even his roughness was all the result of his love to
you.
Now, I close by saying that the Lord may take these things away from
us justly. He sometimes withdraws his bounty without intending
mercy. The sufferings of guilty men here are like the first days of a
horrible tempest that will continue for ever and ever. If they will not
turn to him when he calls in mercy, but continue to reject his love,
then will he begin to speak in thunder, and the first storm of his
righteous wrath shall only be the beginning of an endless hurricane.
"Ye sinners, seek his grace,
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,
And find salvation there."
I have tried to speak very earnestly; but if I have failed to speak as
tenderly as I would, may the great Master forgive! Oh, that you would
acknowledge your indebtedness to God! Oh, that you would cast away
your idols! "As though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in
Christ's stead, be reconciled to God."
God grant that you may be led by the blessed Spirit to yield yourself to
him who has given you so much cause to trust him, and to his name
shall be eternal honour! Amen, and amen.
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