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SPIRITUAL DESERTION
MEN. when they become Christians, do not lose any of their natural feelings, but they experience many sensations both of pleasure and pain, which are altogether new, and peculiar to themselves: when God lifts up the light of his countenance upon them, they possess the sublimest happiness of which our nature is capable, “a joy with which the stranger intermeddleth not:” so also, when God withdraws the light of his countenance from them, they are made to feel the most exquisite sorrow, with which no temporal affliction, no bodily anguish, can be compared. This is the sorest chastisement which can be inflicted on a godly and ingenuous soul: yet sore as it is, the wickedness of our hearts too often makes it necessary for us: for this will often avail to humble the soul, when every thing else has been tried in vain. Hence it is generally God’s last resource: he uses various other methods first, to make his people holy, and to keep them vigilant: but when they are still remiss and negligent, he departs from them, and says, “I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith” or dependence. Thus he dealt with his people of old: he had told them, in verse 12, that he would be to them as a moth, or as rottenness, to consume them: then, because they went to the Assyrian rather than to him for help, he told them, in the verse before my text, that “he would tear them, as a young lion teareth his prey:” and then he adds, as the sorest calamity of all, and as the only one which would produce the desired effect, that he would forsake them; “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”
From these words we will endeavour to shew you,
I. The nature of spiritual desertion—
[They who view God’s dealings with the Jews merely as a history, will lose the most important benefits which the relation of them is intended to convey. There is a striking similarity and agreement between the dispensations of Providence and the dispensations of grace; so that there can be no doubt but that the former were intended typically to represent the latter. And, in order to understand the Scriptures aright, we must interpret them according to this canon. The most sober and candid expositors have agreed in this. The desertion spoken of in my text literally refers to the abandoning of the Jews to the power of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, till they should be brought to repent of their sins: and the return which is there foretold as the effect of this desertion, had its accomplishment in part under Ezra and Nehemiah; partly also on the day of Pentecost; but principally, we expect it to be fulfilled at a future period, when the whole nation shall “look on Him whom they pierced, and mourn.” But we may with the utmost propriety take occasion from it to speak of spiritual desertion, which all the Israel of God in a greater or less degree experience. In my text, God says, “I will go and return unto my place:” this is a good description of that which we call spiritual desertion. God, properly speaking, is in every place; “he filleth all in all:” but yet, as to the manifestation of his presence, he is more particularly in heaven: “He is the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity. whose name is Holy; and he dwells in the high and holy place.” “Heaven is his throne; and he humbleth himself when he beholdeth the things that are on earth.” It is “the habitation of his holiness;” so that if, either for purposes of judgment or of mercy, he vouchsafe to visit the earth, he leaves, as it were, his proper place, and comes down to us. When he noticed the iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah, he said, “I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the cry which is come up unto me:” and, when he was about to punish the Jews, the prophet said, “Behold, the Lord cometh out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the land [Note: Isa_26:21.].” So when the Church prayed to him for the manifestations of his power, they said, “O that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down [Note: Isa_64:1.]!” Thus, in the New Testament, he is frequently said to come and dwell in his people. Thus, when he visits us, he comes out of his place; and, when he withdraws those visits, he “goes, and returns to his place.” Not that he is really capable of moving from one place to another, because he is alike in every place; but, with respect to the manifestations of his presence, the communications of his grace, the supports of his arm, and the consolations of his Spirit, he may be truly said to move: for neither the presence nor removal of any thing can be more perceptible to the body, than the loss or acquisition of these things is to the soul. The way in which God withdraws himself from the soul, may be very fitly illustrated by the manner in which he forsook the Jews of old. The Shechinah, or bright cloud, was the symbol of the Divine presence; and that rested upon the ark between the cherubims. But when God was incensed against his people for their abominations, he gave them various warnings of his determination to forsake them, unless they should repent: he made his prophet therefore to see in a vision, what indeed all Israel, in the time of Moses, had seen with their bodily eyes,—his gradual departure. We have the account in the 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters of Ezekiel, to some verses of which we will refer you. In 9:3, God is represented as taking his first step towards his departure; “And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house:” in 10:18, he removed still farther; “Then the glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims,” which were at that time, as we are told in ver. 3, and 4, standing in the court: in ver. 19, he went yet farther; “And the cherubims lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth, in my sight; and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.” In 11:23, God goes to a yet greater distance; “And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain, which is the east side of the city.” See here, how many different removes there were, before God would utterly forsake them; first from the ark to the threshold; then to the court; then to the gate; and then to the mountain; and even there he stood, if that by any means they might humble themselves, and prevent his final departure. Now thus it is in his departure from the soul: when he sits enthroned, as it were, in the soul, all is well: the person thus highly honoured, is happy beyond description: his views of divine truth are clear, his apprehensions of it lively, and his enjoyment of it is unspeakably sweet and precious: having the light of God’s countenance, and a sense of his favour, he has all that man can desire in this mortal state. But, when he becomes proud, or negligent, or worldly, when by any misconduct he begins to grieve the Holy Spirit, he soon perceives symptoms of the Divine displeasure: the effusions of Divine love in his soul are less abundant; his discoveries of the Deity are less glorious; his views and apprehensions are darker; his communion with God is less frequent, and less ardent; and his holy intimacy with the Deity is sensibly diminished. If he do not instantly take the alarm, and humble himself before God, and implore his pardon, he finds gradually a veil drawn between his God and him: he cannot have that access to God that he was wont to enjoy: he loses that enlargement of heart which he used to experience; his joys are in a great measure withdrawn: instead of abounding in praises, he finds it hard even to pray: it is comparatively seldom that he can break forth into songs of praise and adoration; and, if now and then he feel some elevation of soul, he cannot adore God for what he is in himself, but only for what he has done for us. Thus, ere he is aware, his God has withdrawn himself; and, if now he do not call him back by earnest supplication, and by renewed faith in Christ as his Mediator and Advocate, he will find every thing decay: the beauty of the summer will fade away, the autumnal gloom will soon succeed, and every thing will quickly wear a wintry aspect: all the graces of the soul will languish, and the corruptions of the heart regain their former ascendancy. The departing sun does not more surely change the face of nature, than the departure of God from the soul will leave it destitute and forlorn: so truly is it said, “Woe unto them, when I depart from them!” But these are, as it were, the steps by which God departs from the soul; and by these marks we may judge of his increasing nearness or removal.]
We see, then, what is meant by spiritual desertion—
Let us now consider,
II. The end and intent of it—
[God intends our good in all his dispensations, unless indeed we have provoked him utterly to abandon us; and then he may justly cause such events as shall open a way for the exercise of our corruptions, and for the consequent hardening of our hearts: but, till he has thus given us up, he designs ail his dispensations for our good. Especially, in withdrawing from the souls of his people, he has a regard to their best interests: two principal ends which he would accomplish, are, to humble, and to quicken them.—First, to humble them; “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence.” The confession of our sins is indispensably necessary, as well for our good, as for God’s glory: however God may desire to pardon, he cannot do it, unless we be first disposed to confess: it would be unworthy of his majesty, and diretly contrary to his word. He has said, that “he who covereth his sins shall not prosper;” and that he only “who confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy:” and his own honour is so interwoven with the abasement of the sinner, that, when Joshua exhorted Achan to confess his sin, he could use no terms more proper than these; “My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him.” Indeed the good of man is no less concerned in the humiliation of his soul before God; for, till he be brought to a sense of his iniquities, he has no disposition to accept of mercy: he disdains to become a suppliant for it: he denies that he stands in need of it: he thinks himself affronted by the offer of it, because the offer necessarily implies, what he is utterly averse to acknowledge, namely, that he deserves punishment. This same pride remains, in a measure, in God’s people after their conversion; and though they hate it and lothe themselves for it, yet, upon every fresh sin which they commit, they are but too apt to indulge it: they still feel an unaccountable backwardness to confess their sins, even though they know that God is privy to all, and needs not any information from them. When therefore God sees his people harbouring this pride in any degree, he withdraws himself from them: the more they indulge this vile principle, the more he testifies his displeasure, to shew them, that he will ever “resist the proud, and give grace only to the humble.” He is determined “to abase those who walk in pride;” and therefore he never vouchsafes the former tokens of his love, till he has brought the soul to an open and ingenuous confession. We have a remarkable instance of this in David: he had grievously offended God in the matter of Uriah; but his proud heart would not humble itself before God. What was the consequence? God forsook him; and instead of speaking pardon and peace to him, he left his soul to be incessantly harassed with fruitless remorse and anguish; nor ever restored peace to his conscience, till he had humbled himself for his iniquity: thus David says, in Psa_32:3-4. “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long; for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture was turned into the drought of summer.” This was his state while he persisted in impenitence: but as soon as he made confession, behold the change! “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord, and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin:” and he who began the psalm with such a deplorable account of his experience, concludes it with saying, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”
A further end which God has in view is, to stir up the soul. His people are but too apt to grow remiss; and sometimes, when they profess to be seeking God with their whole hearts, they are secretly inclining to some earthly vanity. This, if suffered to prevail, would effectually alienate them from the life of God; they would soon be entangled again in the corruptions of the world; and “their last end would become worse than their beginning:” and therefore God in mercy withdraws himself from them; and hides his face, till they seek after him again with their wonted ardour. In this he acts, if you will permit me for once to use a very familiar illustration, as earthly parents do: the little child perhaps is loitering behind, and amusing himself with some trifling vanity: the parent calls and commands in vain: at last the parent, wearied with fruitless calls, conceals himself; and then the child is filled with anxiety, seeks his parent with tears, and is more solicitous to keep close to him in future. This is an humble illustration, I readily acknowledge: but it is a natural one; and our Lord himself did not disdain the use of such, for the confirmation of his doctrine: if it convey to you the idea more clearly than a plain statement would, my end is answered: let it shew you, what we are at present concerned to declare, the real end for which God hides his face from his children. We may however confirm this statement from the express testimony of God himself: “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart; and I will be found of you [Note: Jer_29:13-14.].”]
We come now to shew,
III. The effect it will produce—
[Would to God that the effect were the same on all! but, alas! there are many who are hardened by it more and more, till God “swears in his wrath, that they shall never enter into his rest:” nevertheless, where the proper effect is produced upon the soul, it is that which is mentioned in my text; “In their affliction they will seek me early.” This part of our subject is in a measure anticipated by what has gone before: nevertheless, it is of such importance as to deserve further and more distinct consideration. Prosperity does but ill suit with our fallen nature. Not only temporal ease, but in some sense even spiritual pleasure, becomes a source of evil: not that it is so in itself; “the joy of the Lord is our strength;” but our corruption takes occasion from it to unfold itself. Sometimes a long season of spiritual delight, and peculiar manifestations of God’s love, shall foster pride. Even Paul himself, from the abundance of revelations which were made to him, was in danger of “being exalted above measure,” and needed “a thorn in his flesh” to keep him humble. So peculiar sensations of joy are sometimes the means of begetting security. We see daily that professors of religion are apt to look back upon former experiences, and to conclude that all is well, because it once appeared to be well: therefore God counteracts this propensity, and consults the good of his people, in withdrawing his sensible presence from them: he stirs them up to a holy vigilance against their spiritual enemies, and to a diligence and circumspection in his ways. See what was the effect produced upon the Spouse in the 5th chapter of the Song of Solomon: in the 2d verse, Christ, the Husband of the Church, is calling to her for admission: saying, “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” She, not being disposed for heavenly communion with him, makes frivolous excuses: “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” Thus she provoked him to depart. Presently, however, she rose to let him in; but behold, he was gone: in ver. 5, 6. “I rose up to open to my Beloved: I opened to my Beloved, but my Beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.” And now observe the effect of this desertion: “My soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” She then went about the city, and inquired of all the watchmen respecting him: and failing of success here, she says, in verse 8, “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell ye him that I am sick of love.” This is a striking comment on the last words of my text, “In their affliction they will seek me early:” and it exactly agrees with the experience of God’s people in all ages: when they, who have been favoured with the light of God’s countenance, are for a season deprived of it, they put away their foolish and vain excuses; they see that they must at all events get nigh to their Beloved; they will spare no pains; they will rather rise at midnight, than not seek him at all: they will attend the ordinances with redoubled diligence: they will inquire of the ministers, the watchmen, how they may find him: they request the intercession of the saints: in short, they will never rest, till they have regained the sensible enjoyment of the Divine presence.]
Let us now come to a short application of the subject.
1. To the careless world—
[My Brethren, many of you must be sensible that you never seek after God: if you pray at any time, you rest satisfied with having performed a duty, and are not at all solicitous to obtain any manifestations of the Divine presence: yea, because you have never experienced any peculiar sensations of God’s favour, you are ready to think, that all hopes of such experience are groundless, and that all must be either hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to such things. But surely, your own want of experience in these matters is no more a ground for denying the truth of what others feel, than your ignorance of the concerns of others is a ground for denying what others know. Would to God that you would seek the Lord for yourselves! you should soon find that it is not in vain to call upon him. If you would humble yourselves, confessing your sins, and crying for mercy through the blood of Jesus, you should soon find that God is “gracious, and full of compassion, and rich in mercy unto all that call upon him:” he would be “a Father unto you; he would come unto you, and dwell with you;” he would “manifest himself unto you as he does not unto the world;” he would “shed abroad his love in your hearts;” and he would “make you glad with the light of his countenance.” O, then, “seek the Lord, seek his face evermore!” Remember, it will be an awful matter to be banished for ever from his presence; to hear him say, “Depart, accursed—” how dreadful! On the contrary, how delightful to hear him say, “Come, ye blessed!” O “seek ye the Lord whilst he may be found; call ye upon him whilst he is near.”]
2. To the professors of religion—
[How apt are you to draw back from God, instead of pressing forward as you ought to do! How do you compel him to hide his face, when he would gladly be comforting you with his presence! Ah, Brethren, know where the fault is: “He delighteth in the prosperity of his people:” it is wholly owing to yourselves if ye do not “rejoice in the Lord all the day long.” Do not then oblige him to withdraw himself; do not bring on yourselves so heavy an affliction: search, and see, what there is that has displeased him: see if the world has drawn you aside; see if pride has grieved his Spirit; see if negligence in secret duties has caused him to hide his face: and, whatever it be, confess it to the Lord; mourn over it; renew your application to the blood of Jesus; and press forward with greater diligence: so shall you “walk in the light, as He is in the light;” you shall have abiding and increasing fellowship both with the Father and the Son; and soon you shall be admitted into his immediate presence, where you shall never have one cloud to intercept your view of him to all eternity.]