Isaiah 41:17-18 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them… I. By the "POOR AND NEEDY" are not meant those who are poor and needy in the things of this world; but in a spiritual point of view. 1. The life of the Christian may be compared to a barren wilderness, leading from this world to that which is to come; in their journey through this wilderness the Lord's people often feel themselves to be "poor and needy" without the cheering presence of their God, destitute of the usual manifestations of His love and the consolations of His Spirit. Water is an emblem frequently employed in Scripture to represent Divine influences, which refresh, gladden, and cleanse the soul, as water does the body. The children of God are sometimes reduced to straits; they "seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst." They realise the feeling of David whilst they are constrained to adopt his language in the Forty-second Psalm, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God," etc. 2. But there is another sense in which the Lord's people may be represented as "poor and needy, seeking water and finding none"; it is when they are anxiously desirous of larger measures of grace and knowledge, increasing holiness and spirituality of mind, more complete superiority to the world with the affections and lusts of the flesh, and a growing conformity to the precepts of the Gospel It is a striking feature in the character of every real Christian, that he is never satisfied with present attainments in religion. The real Christian will daily labour to abound yet more and more in the fair and beautiful "fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God." Here is the difference between nominal Christianity and real Christianity. II. THE CONSOLATORY PROMISE. The Lord assures His people that they shall not be disappointed in the objects of their desire: in their extremity of distress, and when they are almost without hope, the Lord will hear their cry. Prayer, which is the earnest expression of the desires of the heart, shall never be offered up in vain. Nothing is impossible with God; possessed of infinite power and infinite love, He can and will do for His people more than they ask or think. But further, He is represented as "the God of Israel." The history of the saints in all ages will "bear testimony" to the truth of that Scripture, "He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength." (C. Rawlings, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. |
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