_These men have set up their idols in their heart._ HEART IDOLS The Lord is now going to search the heart, to turn out the corners of the inmost recesses of the mind, the idol and favourite sin. He will proceed to do a spiritual work; He will lay aside His hammer with which He has broken the wall,... [ Continue Reading ]
_I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols._ ANSWERED ACCORDING TO THEIR IDOLS With them, as froward, the All-seeing will, in the psalmist’s terribly bold phrase, “show Himself froward”; they will incur that penalty which Scripture describes as a blinding of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_They are all estranged from Me through their idols._ ALIENATION FROM GOD We read here, in God’s own words, His rule of dealing with persons who come to Him in a certain disposition of mind. 1. The word “estranged” implies a former condition of close relationship and affection, from which they hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which separateth himself from Me._ POINT OF CONTACT DISTURBED BY SIN Dr. Cortland Meyers says that one of the electric bells in his home recently refused to ring. He failed to discover the cause. An electrician was sent for. After some time spent over it he found that right up under the bell, so... [ Continue Reading ]
_That the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me._ CHASTISEMENT OF GOD’S PEOPLE Manton says, “There is more squaring and hewing and hacking used about a stone that is to be set in a stately palace than that which is placed in an ordinary building; and the vine is pruned when the bramble is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls._ THE LIMIT OF INFLUENCE The solemnity of this assurance is increased by the fact that it forms quite an exception to the general tenor of the Divine government. Again and again God has saved the ear... [ Continue Reading ]
_Or if I send a pestilence._ PUBLIC CALAMITY A CALL TO PRIVATE HUMILIATION Depend upon it, we have need, and as the years roll away we shall have more and more need, to remind ourselves of the unseen Hand which sends us our blessings or withdraws them from us. New appliances of mechanical skill hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God._ WAITING FOR GOD’S VINDICATION I. The truths doubted. In all ages, as in our own, men have doubted the goodness and justice of God, and have murmured at His acts. They reject consolation, and charge J... [ Continue Reading ]