Psalm 77:19-20 Your way is in the sea, and your path in the great waters, and your footsteps are not known.… I. GOD DOES EXERCISE A UNIVERSAL PROVIDENCE OVER THE WORLD. No material object can move, and no living creature can act, without the constant and controlling agency of Him who made and preserves the world. They must all necessarily live and move, as well as have their being in Him. II. GOD IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS UNIVERSAL PROVIDENCE. This appears from — 1. Scripture. 2. Reason. As all the motions in a watch originate from the mainspring, so all the reasons of God's conduct, in preserving and governing the world, originate from His ultimate design in creation, which is too great, too wise, and too good, for any. created being to grasp, and therefore must necessarily and for ever remain incomprehensible. 3. Fact. The ways of Providence have always been found to be unsearchable by all intelligent creatures. Scarcely a day passes but every person sees something in respect to himself, or in respect to others, which excites his admiration, and surpasses his comprehension. III. IMPROVEMENT. 1. If God be incomprehensible in the government of the world, then this is a complete answer to all the objections that have ever been made against His universal providence. 2. If God be incomprehensible in His providence, then it is as difficult for mankind to know why He bestows favours upon them as why He takes them away. 3. If God be incomprehensible in all the ways of His providence, then all the dispensations of His providence towards mankind are proper trials. 4. If God be incomprehensible in His ways of providence, then there is the same ground of submission under heavy, as under light afflictions. 5. If the ways of providence are incomprehensible, then all things in this world are suited to make all men religious. God carries them all in His holy and sovereign hand, and is practically speaking to them every day and every moment. 6. If God is incomprehensible in His providence, then it is easy to see that He can order things, so as to bring light out of darkness, good out of evil, and joy out of sorrow. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.WEB: Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known. |
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