The strong word “strive,” and the emphatic reassertion of the mission of Cyrus (Isa_45:13), as well as the connection with Isa_45:1-8, show that deliberate opposition to the Divine purpose, and not mere faint-hearted unbelief (as in Isa_40:27; Isa_51:13), is here referredto.
(Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
Opposing the Divine purpose
Those who were primarily addressed were at variance with God their Creator on two accounts--
1. Because He permitted His people to be led captive by their enemies into a distant country, where they were oppressed.
2. Because, notwithstanding the servants of the Lord spoke much concerning their liberation, the event seemed altogether improbable, and beyond even the power of God to effect. (R. Macculloch.)
Contending with God
I. BY MURMURING AT HIS DISPENSATIONS.
II. BY RESISTING HIS AUTHORITY.
III. BY CONTEMNING HIS INSTRUCTIONS. (R. Macculloch.)
Striving with our Maker
If we duly consider the life of man since the fall, we shall find it to be one continued struggle. In the great and most momentous affair of religion, upon which our whole happiness depends, what a domestic war do we find within our own breasts! Happy are they who are successful in this spiritual conflict; and are so wise as vigorously to join forces with the Lord of hosts! But woe be to him who is of a party with the enemy, and “striveth with his Maker.”
I. We will consider WHAT IT IS TO STRIVE WITH OUR MAKER. In general it is to resist His will, and oppose ourselves to His government, to struggle against the dispensations of His providence.
II. THE EXTREME VILENESS AND FOLLY OF SO DOING.
I. In general, if the height of ingratitude be a vile thing, and if to oppose and contend with our best Friend, who is infinitely wiser than we are, and loves us better than we do ourselves, and whose power too is so irresistible, that after all our strugglings His pleasure shall be accomplished one way or other, if not to our happiness, as He at first intended, then to our ruin, since we are resolved to have it so,--if this be a foolish thing, then to “strive with our Maker” does imply all the folly and baseness that a man can possibly be guilty of.
2. But more particularly, to strive with our Maker is a most vile and foolish thing, as it signifies--
(1) Our denying obedience to His commands; for what can be more base than to refuse even our utmost services to that infinitely glorious and good Being who made us what we are!
(2) Our murmuring at His disposal of us, and restless discontent at the circumstances He thinks fit to place us in.
(3) Our being stubborn and refractory to the conduct of His Divine Spirit, and the guidance of His ministers, in things relating to His service and our own eternal salvation.
III. THE MISERABLE CONSEQUENCE of thus striving with our Maker. “Woe unto him.”
1. As it signifies disobedience to His commands. For who can imagine but that a Governor so wise, and so powerful, and so just as God is, will in due time assert His authority, and secure His laws and government from contempt, by the condign punishment of those who have been so hardy as to resist and rebel against Him, and made no account of the plainest and most express declarations of His will? And when the Almighty shall proceed to do justice, who can withstand Him, or hope to avoid the stroke, but must sink under the weight of it for ever!
2. Nor will our discontents and murmurings at the Divine disposals escape without due punishment. For suppose that God should be so far provoked by our repinings as to throw us off from His care and protection, and leave us to ourselves, and in His anger comply with our foolish desires, and give us what we are so fond of, and which He sees will be our ruin, how sadly sensible shall we then soon be of the vast difference between God’s government and our own!
3. And so for impatience under troubles and afflictions, suppose our outcries and strugglings and resistance should make God withhold His paternal chastisements, and suffer sin upon us without correction, and disregard us as desperate and incorrigible; what woe on earth could befall us greater than this?
4. What but the extremest of all woes can be expected from our rejecting those proposals of reconciliation to God, which are not only offered but pressed upon us daily by the ministers of Christ, and to which we are constantly moved by the workings of the Spirit of God within, upon our souls! (W. Bragge.)
The misery of contending with God
I. SPECIFY SOME INSTANCES IN WHICH THE SINNER MAY BE CONSIDERED AS STRIVING WITH GOD. I hardly think it worth while to mention atheism, which opposes His very being, and tries to banish Him from the world which He has made. Some, indeed, have supposed that a speculative atheist is an impossibility. How far God may give up a man “to strong delusion to believe a lie,” who has despised and rejected the advantages of revelation, it is not for us to determine,--but “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” It is undeniable, however, that we have a multitude of practical atheists. That is, we have thousands who live precisely as they would do if they believed there was no God. They strive with Him--
1. By transgressing His holy and righteous law.
2. By opposing the Gospel.
3. By violating the dictates of conscience.
4. By refusing to resign themselves to the dispensations of His providence.
5. By the persecution of His people.
6. By trying to hinder the spread of His cause.
II. CONSIDER THE “WOE” WHICH HIS OPPOSITION NECESSARILY ENTAILS UPON HIM. This striving with God is--
1. A practice the most shameful and ungrateful. What would you think of a child who should strive with his father, reproach his character, counteract all his designs, and endeavour to injure his concerns? But such is your conduct towards God.
2. A practice the most unreasonable and absurd. For observe--in all the instances in which you oppose Him He is aiming to promote your good: His design is to make you wise, to make you holy, to make you happy; and the advantages of compliance will be all your own. Besides, can you do without Him? In life? In death?
3. Therefore nothing can be more injurious and ruinous. In striving with Him, you only resemble the wave that dashes against the rock, and is driven back in foam; or the ox that kicks against the goad, and only wounds himself; or the thorns and briers that should set themselves in battle array against the fire. To improve this awful subject let me ask--Whether you are for God or against Him? There is no neutrality here. We have been speaking of a striving with God which is unlawful and destructive--but there is a striving with Him which is allowable and necessary. It is by prayer and supplication. (W. Jay.)
The indelicacy of criticising God
(verse l 0):--That a child should so speak of father or mother is unthinkably unnatural and impious. And such are they who criticise God’s method of saving His people through Cyrus. (A. B.Davidson, D. D.)
