Isaiah 27:8

THE DAY OF THE EAST WIND

Isaiah 27:8. In measure, when Thou sendest it forth, &c. (Margin).

We have often complained of the bitterness and depressing effects of the “east wind.” In Bible lands it was scorching and destructive (Job 18:17; Job 27:21; Genesis 41:6). Israel is represented in this chapter as a vineyard, of which God was the proprietor and guardian (Isaiah 27:3). The removal of the people to Babylon seemed to contradict this declaration. They presented the appearance of a vineyard uncared for, forsaken, neglected, and spoiled. The east wind, sweeping over it, marred its beauty and checked its growth, and its desolation seemed complete. The question arises, Does God really mean what He says when He engages to keep His vineyard with continued care? In reply to this question the prophet speaks here. He justifies the ways of God to men, explaining the Divine procedure, and showing the purpose of that afflictive dispensation which He visited upon His beloved vineyard. What a consoling subject, then, is here presented,—the trials of the godly

(1), in their severity, and
(2), in their mitigation.

I. THE SEVERITY OF CHRISTIAN TRIAL. Our seasons of sharp distress and loss are fitly set forth as “the day of the east wind,” biting and piercing, when the heart is joyless and depressed. God, who sends it, means us to feel its keenness. The severity of our trials appears—

1. In the time when they overtake us. The east wind prevails with us in the early spring. So in our experience of life, when all is full of fair promise, our hopes are blasted. A young and tender faith is often sorely tested. We would push adversity into old age, with youth as a course of uninterrupted joy; but at the most unlikely periods the day of the east wind sweeps over us.

2. In their violence. The wind of adversity seems to us cruel and devastating. We speak of a reverse or bereavement as “a sad blow.”

3. In their continuance. We could tolerate an occasional day of east wind, but when it blows persistently for weeks, we begin to grumble. Afflictions sometimes follow each other in rapid succession. The night of weeping is long and dark, and it seems as if the morning of joy would never break (H. E. I., 52, 53).

4. Because of the aspect in which God appears to us when we are under them. He seems to be contending, “debating” with us, to be opposed to us. This gives the keenest poignancy to our griefs. How unworthy, often, is the view we form of God’s character in the day of the east wind, charging Him with partiality and injustice. Of all ingredients that embitter the cup of suffering, this is the most bitter, but it is an ingredient which the sufferer puts in with his own hand. As in time of east winds weak and cheerless people fall into dull, moody fits, the sighing breezes chiming in with the dull music of their own spirits, so in the day of adversity the soul sometimes loses its sense of the Divine love.

II. THE MITIGATING, ALLEVIATING CIRCUMSTANCES.

1. The day of the east wind is well timed. It blows at the right season, in the early spring. It may nip a few opening buds, but if it did not come out then, it would retard vegetation to a fatal extent afterwards. The youth may complain of his hard struggle, but it nurses a manly character.

2. Trial is limited in its duration. The east wind does not blow all the year round. These cold blasts usher in the spring.

3. God moderates its severity. “In measure” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Sorrow is nicely adjusted to the heart on which it falls (H. E. I., 187, 188).

4. The following verse suggests a further alleviation, viz.:—The gracious purpose accomplished by trial, to purge iniquity, and take away sin. God appoints our sorrow for the uprooting of our sin. The physician finds it necessary to adopt sharp measures, but his operation is wise and kind. A proneness to idolatry was Israel’s sin, and, to check this, the nation is sent into exile. Though He removed it with “His rough wind in the day of His east wind,” the fruit or effect was to uproot a besetting sin (H. E. I., 85–89, 116, 211).

5. Another mitigating circumstance is found in Isaiah 27:7. God makes a distinction between His people and the world. Great as Israel’s sufferings were, the judgments which descended on their enemies were far more terrible, not corrective, but destructive (1 Corinthians 11:32). The surly blasts of the east wind may howl and chafe and spend their rage on God’s vineyard, but they are only the last remnants of the dreary winter. To those who are in covenant with God every wind that blows is charged with blessing (H. E. I., 108).

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

1. When the east wind of trial begins to blow upon us, let us hasten, not to blame God, but to examine and blame ourselves. Though trials are not always punitive, or even corrective, they are very frequently so; and in our case, as in that of Israel, the reason why the east wind is blowing probably is because there is iniquity in us that needs to be purged away (Isaiah 27:8; H. E. I., 114).

2. When the east wind is blowing upon us, instead of murmuring let us recall the mitigating circumstances of which I have reminded you, and let us thank God that He loves us too much to leave us under the power of iniquity (Hebrews 12:5; H. E. I., 162–165).—William Guthrie, M.A.

THE STORMS OF LIFE

Isaiah 27:8. In measure when it shooteth forth, &c.

I. There is a special appropriateness in comparing the trials of life to storms.

1. Storms are the exceptions and not the normal or common condition of the atmosphere. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” True; but Christ in saying so does not assert that we shall have tribulation only. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” Yes; but it is not said that there is nothing but trouble. “Through much tribulation,” &c. Yea, through many storms the mariner has to go through life; but there is fine weather also.

2. Storms come from God. See what is said about trouble (Job 5:6), “All my springs are in THEE,” the sweet and the bitter.

3. Storms come from different directions: the family, the Church, business, &c.

4. Storms are unpleasant to bear. The anxiety of the sailor’s wife. The traveller on the moor.

5. Storms leave their traces behind. The ravages of the sea. The effects of gales on edifices. So in life. The bereaved family. The capitalist reduced to want, &c.

6. But storms are beneficial (Hebrews 12:10).

II. The storms of life are regulated and controlled by God. It is of Him that our text speaks. Who “debates in measure?” Who “stayeth His rough wind in the day of His east wind?” He who is almighty, all-wise, and good. His greatness, as shown in the firmament, hints that He is too great to observe human beings. But notice our Saviour’s teaching: while instructing us concerning His Father, He speaks not of His omnipotence, &c., but of His observation of small things (Matthew 10:29). Put a green leaf or a drop of water under a microscope, and you will see myriads of living animalcules. God observes every one. “Casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you.” “He” and “you!”

III. The storms of life are proportioned to His people’s strength. “In measure.” (See pp. 290, 291.) A Jew never exercised greater care and exactitude in weighing out his gold and diamonds than does God while meting out trials to His people. “Grace to help in time of need;” yea, and storms equal to our strength. We do not know how much our strength is. One man over-estimates his strength, another under-estimates it. “But He knoweth our frame.” “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able” (H. E. I. 179–188, 3674–3695).

In various ways He maintains the merciful proportion of the storm to the strength.

1. He does so sometimes by sending the lesser storms before the greater. Jacob at Bethel was unable to undergo the trials of Jacob at Mahanaim. By the time he reached the latter place, he had become a prince, an Israel. Carrying the least burden prepares a man for carrying the greatest (Hercules and the ox).

2. Sometimes by sending the heaviest first. The man may then be in the fulness of his vigour, or in spirit he may be so contumacious that some rough handling may be necessary to bring his pride into subjection.

3. By removing one trial before another comes. Poverty is taken away before ill-health sets in. “He stayeth His rough wind.”

4. By sending each one in its time. “It could not have come at a worse time.” Who says so? “If it had happened at another time, it would have been easier to bear.” That may be so, but would it have been as profitable? It was necessary for you to feel. Less suffering would not have sufficed for that end.

IV. The storms of life promote purposes of wisdom and love.

1. The Lord sometimes orders trials as chastisements. It is not always so; we are too apt to explain everything as chastisement. But God has promised to correct (Jeremiah 30:11), and it is the promise of a father, not the threatening of a judge.

(1.) Sometimes one correction prevents many more.
(2.) When the Lord sends trials in the way of correction, He graciously gives His children the reasons for thus dealing with them. “The iniquity which he knoweth” (1 Samuel 3:13). What father would correct a child without explaining to him what it was for? And what correction would benefit the saints while ignorant of the object in view? Possibly the neighbours may not know, but he has himself a private account with God. Hence arises a consequent duty (H. E. I. 144).

(3.) When God thus sends trials, they are corrections, and not merely punishments; manifestations not of vengeance, but of His love. A gardener uses the pruning-knife only for the good of the fruit-bearing trees in his garden. God’s corrections are designed only to take away the sin of His people (see Isaiah 27:9, and Zechariah 13:9; H. E. I. 56–74).

2. The Lord sometimes orders trials as exhibitions of the graces of His people. The tempest which beat upon Job was not corrective, though he thought so while it lasted (Job 10:2; Job 13:24). The trial brought out into view his trust in God: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” The Lord’s purpose was to prove that Job was “a perfect and an upright man” (H. E. I. 91–98).

3. Storms are sometimes preventive. A fiery trial is approaching; the man is in danger, for he is too weak to withstand it; by a lesser trial he is withdrawn from it. Two ships are drawing near in a fog; they are making towards each other at a perfect angle. The top-mast of one is blown down; the men on deck bemoan the misfortune; but it was the means of slackening the pace of the vessel, and so prevented a collision. A man is sometimes laid on a bed of sickness to save his life—to save his soul!

4. Storms sometimes prepare men for nobler work. Moses, after being brought up in the lap of luxury, is watching the flock forty years in Midian. All the learning of Egypt is lost in a shepherd. Nay! Moses requires a double education, for he has a duplicate work to perform—appearing before Pharaoh in the palace, and leading Israel through the wilderness. E.g., what good can a preacher do, if he has no experience of his own? (Psalms 51:12; 2 Corinthians 1:3; H. E. I. 101–108, 2464, 2465).

Some one may say that he has no knowledge of storms from experience. Wait! Peradventure thou shalt know. Should they come, bow. Nothing breaks, if it bends.—Gweithiau Rhyddieithol, pp. 78–81, by the late William Ambrose of Port Madoc. Translated from the Welsh by the Rev. T. Johns of Llanelly.