Joel 3:16

But the Lord will be the hope of His people.

The haven of repair

The margin reads, “The Lord will be a place of repair, or a harbour for His people.” As a secluded, landlocked haven, where storm does not rock, is to a dismasted vessel, so will our God be to those who come in live spiritual need. He will be a haven of repair.

I. There are many experiences which cause us to need a place of repair. Who does not suffer through the fault of others? In every department of our existence we are eyes and hands and feet to each other, in the same body. What is true amongst the smaller things of life’s healthy competition is found also in that more important world, where hearts are wounded, where confidence is shaken, and where hopes are too often crushed. The world is rich in afflictions which are unintentionally caused. Who has not suffered from his own unwisdom? By lack of caution or by over-caution moral weakness is often induced. By hesitation or by impulsiveness we bring disaster upon ourselves. We need some kind of repairing very frequently, and, for the most part, it is on account of self-inflicted damage. The need of repair may come through some want of knowledge. We did not know the seas of life; did not expect a sudden storm; did not understand our own weak side. And so we spread full sail when caution should have counselled; we went right on when we should have sought the anchorage of prayer. But most vessels seek a haven of repair on account of the common wear and strain of voyaging. And so it is with human hearts. We know that we often need a refuge where there is the hope of refitting our shattered strength.

II. The Lord will be our haven of repair. He alone combines the knowledge, the ability, and the will which are needful. No need or danger can be unknown to Him “whose eyes are in every place.” No inability to do after His heart’s desire can fetter Him who “created all things by the breath of His mouth.” His knowledge, His love, and His power, are the three mountains which enclose a haven of blessed security and peace for the sons of men. Storms of temptation should drive us to the refuge that is in God. The winds of intellectual difficulty should drive us to this Divine haven.

III. A harbour of repair equips for future voyages and service. Acceptance with God is not a fact which should be exclusively, or even chiefly, associated with the close of life. It is not life’s end, but the beginning of new effort towards a better life. If the truth has done anything in us to make us free, it is that we may go forth afresh to meet the rising storms, ourselves, perhaps, to be yet more beaten about and tried, but as a recompense to know that we help some to find the great salvation, to enter into His rest. There will always be Divine strength for Divine work. Let us remember in our religious joy, that the haven of refuge is a haven of repair, and that this always means more work for God. (W. H. Jackson.)

The strength of the children of Israel.--

Christ our strength

Few things have been more coveted by man than strength. But man’s superiority to the brutes lies in something more than physical strength. Yet neither a big biceps nor a big brain makes the man in the likeness of God. The really strong men have often to be sought elsewhere than in the ranks of warriors and statesmen. Strength is not the less real for being spiritual. What and whence is such strength as this?

I. The stoic idea of man’s spiritual power. Epictetus thus gives man’s object in living. It is “to know God perfectly, to love Him, to obey Him, to please Him, to overcome all vices, to acquire all virtues, and so to render ourselves holy and companions of God” Then why did Stoicism fail? Because the Stoic philosopher claims that man has in himself every means of acquitting himself of all these obligations, and that the means are always within his own power. In man the mind is free to believe only what is true, and the will is free to follow only what is right.

II. The epicurean idea of man’s spiritual power. This school claims that so far from the mind teaching us truth, there is nothing we can positively state as truth. And so far from our will being always for happiness, and in the right, it is generally likely to lead us into trouble.

III. The Christian idea. Christianity, steering between Hegelian and Calvinistic theories of human nature, teaches that the mind of man, perfectly informed, may possess right knowledge; and the will of man, perfectly established, may be capable of right conduct. But it recognises that man as yet is not thus perfect. His mind is struggling for light, his will for guidance. Christ is the strength of the people of God. In His presence man’s pride must go, since he will recognise his incompleteness and weakness; and his idleness must go, since he will recognise the grace offered to honest effort. Laying hold on the strength of Christ, you are using the resources of Omnipotence. (H. H. Gowen.)