Jeremiah 14:9

Why shouldst Thou be. .. as a mighty man that cannot save?

God rendered powerless by man

A strong man may be rendered powerless by a reel of cotton being wound around him. Each thread so brittle, yet all together is irresistible. So a large number of inconsistencies and insincerities may make God powerless to help you, or to work mightily through you to the salvation of others. He may be in the midst of you, and you may be called by His name; great issues for His kingdom and glory may seem at stake; mighty possibilities within your reach! and yet He is as a mighty man that cannot save. There is might enough in God to save the weakest and sinfullest of His children; and you are unsaved because of the limitations you have placed upon Him.

1. You are not absolutely willing to be delivered from your sins.

2. You do not entirely believe in His power and will.

3. You have not definitely handed the whole matter over to Him, and believed that He has accepted the charge.

4. Or--and this is perhaps the deepest reason of all--you have formed your own ideas of Divine truth, and of the possible Christian life. And having formed your own conception of the true ideal of Christianity, you have thenceforth lived within the limitations of your ideal, which is bounded by human wisdom and human thought. And so you never come to a thorough knowledge of the indwelling of Christ, or what He is prepared to do for you; or, catching a glimpse of it from afar, you are not sufficiently delivered from the reasonings and workings of your mind to give Him that opportunity for which He waits and yearns. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

O Lord. .. leave us not.

A universal prayer

I. For all seasons.

1. Times of joy. Our prosperity will ruin us, if God be not with us.

2. Times of adversity.

3. Times of labour.

4. Times of perplexity.

II. For all saints.

1. All need to pray thus. For all deserve to be abandoned.

2. All must pray thus. For all desire continuance of His presence.

3. All will pray thus. For all know the bitterness of soul consequent upon His withdrawal

III. Always answered.

1. For it is according to His will.

2. For it honours His name. (R. A. Griffin.)