1 Kings 1:36

And Benaiah . .. said Amen.

The “Amen” of God and of man

Benaiah recognises the necessity that God shall ratify and effectuate man’s desires and purposes. Man’s “Amen” means “May it be so.” Jehovah’s “Amen” alone means “It shall be so.” His words are the expression of--

I. Human helplessness. Man’s plans only succeed when in the way of God’s Providence, and when carried out in His strength. The true, broad view of His Providence shows us a government of the world’s affairs, which takes in the life of the highest and humblest, their aims, their work, their wants, their very sins and opposition, and, as here, makes all contribute to the revelation of His Son and the setting up of His kingdom. At the same time He can fulfil David’s narrower plan, and secure Solomon’s elevation. He can secure my private wish and His own will; He can harmonise the course, and aims, and wants, of two lives, or twenty, or a hundred, even if not to converge for many years to come. If they harmonise, it is because “He says so too.” Men must strive in vain against God’s purposes; or for their own, without Jehovah’s “Amen.” Men are, and are not, “architects of their own fortune.” “Except the Lord build the house” of David, or Benaiah, or any other, “they labour in vain that build it.” Babel-builders leave God out of their counsel; they must have Him in their work. Napoleon’s fall dates from his words at Berlin: “ I propose, and I dispose.” “Man proposes, God disposes.”

II. Hope. Human effort is not to be paralysed: “I cannot make my plan absolutely secure, or any plan, therefore I will do nothing.” This is fatalism. There is a responsibility for effort lying on every man. David and Benaiah must propose. This done prayerfully and submissively, man may hope for a blessing on his effort, The godly man proposes, and may hope that God will “say so too.”

III. Humility. Not the sullen submission which bows, and bears, and yields, because there is no choice, if He does not “say so too.” But the reverent acknowledgment of a superior will to which a man loves to bow; the glad submission of every plan to the scrutiny and revision of a wise Father.

1. Let all our plans in life be conceived in this spirit. Write “D.V.” upon every record of purpose and desire.

2. All must be conceived and carried out in His strength. In our vows--

Thou art not only to perform Thy part,

Thou also mine: as when the league was made,
Thou didst at once Thyself indite
And hold my hand, while I did write.

--(Herbert.)

(H. J. Foster.)