Isaiah 49:14-16

But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me

The more than parental love of God

I. ZION’S BUILDING. “Zion” here signifies the true Church. Elsewhere she is called Jerusalem; and very frequently is she spoken of as a city or building.

1. If we inquire who is her builder, we find that there is but one who can properly be called by this name. The founder of the true Church is He by whom God made the worlds; therefore she is called “The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 60:14). The plan of Zion’sbuilding is older than the world itself. The Lord buildeth up Zion, and He alone. Whenever He uses any of us as His under-builders, He first makes us sensible of our own weakness; the excellency of the power is of Him, and not of us.

2. If we inquire concerning the foundation of the true Church, an apostle meets us with an answer: “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

3. If we consider the building itself, it consists of lively stones.

4. The “operations” of the great Master-builder are not uniform, but marked by “diversity.” Some stones are separated from their quarry, and brought off by a preparatory process, in a gradual and gentle manner. Others again, are shivered from their worldly holds, as by the explosion of rocks. If we closely inspect the building, we find the lively stones admirable for their unity, evenness, and mutual conformity.

II. ZION’S COMPLAINT. We have heard of Zion, the city and dwelling-place of our God: and that “the Lord loveth the gates of Zion” (Psalms 87:2). But how faithfully and ardently He loves her, she herself does not always consider. Why else that complaint which now comes under our notice? It is acknowledged that circumstances may arise, under which nothing may appear more just than this complaint of Zion.

III. GOD’S PROMISE. “Can a woman forget,” &c. (F. W.Krummacher, D. D.)

The complainings of Zion silenced

I. WHAT THERE IS IN OURSELVES TO MAKE US FEAR LEST GOD SHOULD FORSAKE US. Our very fears have often a great show of reason in them; though they may be excessive, they are not wholly unfounded. As--

1. When we recollect how often we have forgotten and forsaken Him.

2. When the aspect of providence is dark and mysterious.

3. When the mind appears to be bereft of its ordinary supports and consolations.

4. When a great and prevailing doubt obtains as to the safety of our state after all.

II. WHAT THERE IS IN GOD TO CONVINCE HIS CHURCH THAT HE NEVER WILL FORSAKE HER.

1. It is contrary to His nature--as contrary to His nature to forget and forsake His Church as it is contrary to the nature of a kind and tender mother to forget and forsake her child. Our Lord teaches us to reason from the less to the greater. “If ye, being evil, know how to give, how shall not your Father,” &c.

2. It is contrary to His promise. “Yet will I not forget thee.”

3. It is contrary to the character of His dispensations, for He never has forsaken His Church.

4. It is contrary to His people’s own sober expectations. For Zion does not in her heart believe her own prophetic forebodings. She still speaks of Him, not only as “the Lord” in one part of the verse, but as “my Lord” in the other--which she would never do, as a reasonable person, had she finally forgotten or forsaken God, or believed that God had finally forgotten and forsaken her. (S. Thodey.)

The saint’s final perseverance secured by the love of God

I. THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT OFTEN CONDUCE TO SUSPICIONS ON THE PART OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD CONCERNING THE LORD’S GOODNESS.

1. Times of deep affliction; of dark and mysterious providences; days in which there is no light.

2. These are seasons oftentimes, in which, through our frailty, imperfection, sin, and sinfulness, the weakness of our faith and the strength of unbelief, the believer may be led to form some suspicions concerning the goodness of God.

3. Besides this, there may be periods of deep spiritual temptation.

4. Some laxity in the walk will oftentimes briny strength to a man’s suspicions here.

5. He may be in a state of spiritual captivity.

II. THE GREAT SECURITY THAT IS HERE PLACED BEFORE US. “Can a woman forget her sucking child,” &c. There cannot be a figure more tender, more comprehensive. It is the figure of a helpless babe: there is the tenderness of the tie; there is the helplessness of the child; and there is the very posture of the child; and they are all full of great and important truth; and yet according to those last words--“they may forget; yet will I not forget thee”--this is not enough. As though the Lord would say, If My love were not more than this, it would not be enough to secure thee.

III. GOD DOES GIVE PROOF THAT THIS TENDER LOVE DOES NOT FORGET. “They may forget; yet will I not forget thee.” He does not forget their persons. “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” They are borne upon the heart of the great High Priest. He forgets not the work of grace that is in them. He forgetteth not the trials of His saints. He forgetteth not the returns of His people He forgetteth not the walk of His saints. He forgetteth them not in death. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

A mournful complaint and satisfactory answer

What a difference is there between the judgment of God, and the judgment of men! We have a very striking instance of this in the passage before us.

I. A MOURNFUL COMPLAINT. “Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,” He exercises no care over me; “and my Lord hath forgotten me,” He feels towards me no affection. Let us look into this. The wicked think too much of the goodness of God; they mistake the evidences of His general bounty for the evidences of His peculiar friendship. While they live regardless of His praise, they yet hope in His mercy, and persuade themselves that He will not be rigorous to mark what they have done. The very reverse of this is the disposition of all the subjects of Divine grace. They know that self-deception is tremendous; and therefore they are afraid of self-deception; and they often carry their solicitudes here beyond the point of duty, and in reading and in hearing they will apply to themselves what was intended only for others; for, as an old divine says, “There is no beating the dogs out without making the children cry.” Let us try to trace up this complaint to its source; and to see the wretchedness that conclusion must produce in the minds of all God’s people. There is a philosophical notion, which is of a semi-infidel character, which supposes that the providence of God is general, and not particular. He regards the whole, and therefore must regard the parts; for the whole is always made up of parts; and He does regard the most minute parts. It is a religious despondency that affects Christians. It is not the influence of infidelity, but it is the influence, first, of unbelief, or weakness of faith. It arises also from ignorance. It springs sometimes from the suspension of Divine manifestation We may also mention conflicting with the troubles of life. We remark once more, the delay of God in the accomplishment of prayer. But who can find language properly to describe the wretchedness that such a conclusion as this, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me,” must ever produce in the minds of the godly? The misery that the child of God feels from such a conclusion, may be accounted for by three things.

1. That he loves God.

2. He entirely relies upon Him.

3. He has enjoyed Him already. He has tasted that the Lord is gracious, and therefore prays, Evermore give us this bread.

II. THE SATISFACTORY ANSWER.

1. The improbability of the fear. This is metaphorically expressed: “Can a woman forget her sucking child,” &c. There are two supposable cases here. She may be bereft of reason, or not survive, and so not be able to remember it. She may be criminally, unnaturally, led to hide herself from her own flesh.

2. The certainty of the assurance, “Yet will I not forget thee.”

3. The all-sufficiency of the truth established, i.e the perpetual regard of God towards us.

Conclusion--

1. Distresses and discouragements are not incompatible with religion.

2. How concerned God is, not only for His people’s safety, but for their comfort also.

3. Let His people fall in with His designs. Let them be humbled, and mourn over their ignorance, perverseness, impatience, and unbelief; that they have entertained such hard thoughts of God; that they have so often charged Him foolishly, and unrighteously, and unkindly.

4. Do not take the comfort belonging to a gracious state, unless you are the subjects of a gracious character. (W. Jay.)

Unworthy doubts of God

How common is this weakness of unbelief in man; how natural are these unworthy doubts of God to us. Nor is it difficult to perceive the sources from which this inability to trust in God’s goodness springs.

1. There is the guilt of which we are conscious in our own hearts; the sense of evil desert m ourselves.

2. Then there comes in the undeniable fact of suffering in himself and all around him, which apparently, at first sight, justifies this attitude of mind, and certainly confirms it.

3. We thus discover a third source from which distrust in God springs; the perversions which have been substituted for the pure Gospel by different branches of the Christian Church (J. N. Bennie, LL. B.)