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HELP FOR US IN GOD
THE time of death is an awful season to every child of man: but it may be more or less terrible, according to circumstances. There may, in that hour, be such manifestations of God’s presence vouchsafed to the soul, and such bright prospects of a glorious immortality, as altogether to divest death of its sting, and to render it an object of intense desire. On the other hand, there may be such darkness of mind, or anguish of body, or such urgent considerations of a personal or domestic nature, as may exceedingly embitter the thoughts of approaching dissolution. The account which we have of Hezekiah’s feelings on an occasion like this, fills us with deep commiseration. His disorder was so violent, that he expected every day to be his last; and God seemed to him like a lion, likely to break all his bones, and to devour him every instant. Hence “he mourned as a dove; and his eyes failed with looking upward:” and in utter despair of help, except from God, he poured out the prayer which we have just read, “O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me!” There were in his case some peculiar reasons for deprecating with more than common earnestness the impending stroke: for he was but in the middle age of life; and hoped to proceed with the work of reformation which he had successfully commenced through the whole nation. In the event of his removal too, he had no son to succeed him: and he feared that the people, just beginning to return to the Lord their God, would immediately relapse into all the idolatries, from which he had strenuously exerted himself to reclaim them. To this chiefly we trace the extreme desire which he expressed for the prolongation of his life, and the overwhelming agony with which, in the words before us, he committed his cause to God.
But here we see,
I. The privilege of God’s people in seasons of deep distress—
They are at liberty to commit their every concern to God—
[Of whatever kind their trials may be, they may spread them all before the Lord, with a confidence that he will afford them effectual relief. They may even “cast all their care on God himself,” in an assured hope that he will “undertake for them,” and take upon himself the entire charge of all their concerns, They may commit to him the directing of their path, the supplying of their wants, “the keeping of their souls,” not doubting but that, as their Creator, their Governor, and their Redeemer, he will be faithful to his own engagements, and execute for them whatsoever in his unerring wisdom he sees best for them — — —]
This is their most inestimable privilege—
[They are not left to bear their burthens alone: if they were, they would utterly sink under them. We see in the case of Job how difficult it is to support affliction; (for even he at last cursed the day of his birth;) and daily experience shews us how unable any of us are, of ourselves, to bear up under the various trials of life. But we have a God to go unto; a God who says, “Cast thy burthen upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee.” As for spiritual trouble, we are no more able to endure it than Judas was, who, from a sense of guilt, took refuge in suicide. If “help were not laid upon One that is mighty,” upon One who says to us, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;” what hope could any one of us enjoy? But with such a Refuge, and such a Friend, we may well be satisfied: for “He is both a sun to enlighten us, and a shield to protect us; and he will give both grace and glory; and no good thing, cither in time or in eternity, will he withhold from us,” if we humbly and unfeignedly commit our cause to him.]
In Hezekiah’s use of this privilege, we see,
II. The success that shall attend the exercise of it—
It is of little importance to inquire how far the application of a fig to Hezekiah’s boil was an appropriate remedy for his disorder. Whatever its operation was, it was God alone that rendered it effectual: and the same divine power can give success to any means which shall be used for our good, either in a temporal or spiritual view. The imminence of our danger is no bar to God’s interposition. All that he wants is, the prayer of faith: and that once offered, the deliverance, now difficult soever it may be, shall be vouchsafed.
Only let us commit our cause entirely to God—
[We must despair of help from the creature. God permits our trials to increase, in order to produce this very effect upon us. “We must have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we may not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raiseth the dead.” Whilst there is any mixture of self-dependence in us, God will not interpose: but when, like Peter sinking in the waves, we cry, “Save, Lord, or I perish!” he will instantly stretch out his almighty hand, and afford us the succour we implore.]
His intervention then shall bear upon it the evident stamp of his Divine agency—
[In a multitude of instances in which he “undertook for his people” of old, his power was as evident as in the passage of the Red Sea, or in the ruin of the walls of Jericho. I say not that his interposition in our behalf shall be as visible to the eye of sense: but to the eye of faith it shall. Wonderful will be the support which he will give to the troubled spirit; insomuch that, whilst all outward circumstances remain the same, it shall have “the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” Look at the 107th Psalm: it is realized every day. Such are the spiritual distresses of God’s people, and such their deliverances in Answer to their prayers — — — If therefore there be any one that is now “oppressed” with any grievous affliction, let him go to the Lord Jesus Christ, and spread his wants before him, with confidence that he shall not pray in vain. Let the 143d Psalm be his pattern and his encouragement. David there says, “My spirit is overwhelmed within me, and my heart within me is desolate. But I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit: cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee [Note: Psa_143:4-8.].” Spread your wants before your God in that way; and be assured, that “though heaviness may continue for a night, joy shall come to you in the morning.” “God will not contend with you for ever, lest your spirit should fail before him:” but “he will be with you in trouble,” and “be to you a light in your darkness,” and “give you songs in the night.” “These things will he do to you, and not forsake you,” till “he has turned your mourning into dancing, and put off your sackcloth, and girded you with gladness:” for “never yet failed he any one who trusted in him;” “nor said to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek ye my face in vain.”]