Job 13:25 Will you break a leaf driven to and fro? and will you pursue the dry stubble? The thin, frail leaf — would God break that? God, the all-powerful, dealing with the feeble life of Job! God, perhaps, would bruise the leaf, but He would not break it. I. A LEAF IS THE FRAILEST AMONG FRAIL THINGS. A leaf is, in many ways, a type of man. Physically, mentally, humanly, morally. We have come into this world with constitutions tainted by sin, surrounded by temptations to evil. II. A LEAF IS THE FITTEST EMBLEM OF MAN'S MORTALITY. Will the eternal God act harshly with the ephemeral man? What is it to "break a leaf"? To treat it as a thing of insignificance, to leave it to the sport of circumstances, to let it be hurried out of sight as a mean and mortal thing. How delicate is man, physically considered; how surrounded is he by the majestic forces of nature! Yet God has plainly said, "I care for this leaf more than for all the works of My hands." Mortal though man is, he enshrines within him an everlasting being. III. A LEAF IS SUBJECT TO A VARIETY OF DANGERS. Blight may settle on it; the tornado might tear it from the parent stem; the rain and the dew may be withheld; the scorching sun may wither; the birds of the heaven may devour it. We look at man, and we say, How subject is he to manifold forms of danger! 1. The hand of trial might break us. The difference between what we can bear and what we cannot may be a very slight degree. God will not lay upon us more than we are able to bear. 2. The hand of temptation may break us. Our reserves are soon used up. There is a kind of omnipresence of temptation. Yet no temptation hath overtaken us, but such as we are able to bear. The resisting power has been given us. 3. The hand of transition might break us. The leaf has to endure the most sudden and severe changes of temperature; but these minister to its strength and life. Think of the changes of human life — from affluence to poverty, from companionship to solitude, from one estate to another. Then comes the great change. But all the changes of our life are ordered by God, and leave us sometimes saddened, but not broken or destroyed. IV. A LEAF IS THE WONDERFUL WORK OF GOD. And a most wonderful work it is. And God made man. From the first His care has been for His lost child, His voice has been to the sons of men, and the great atonement has been a sacrifice for the world. We believe in God's care for every leaf in the great forest of humanity. V. A LEAF IS OFTEN BROKEN BY MAN. God's tender mercies are over all His works. He will not break a leaf. Man will. There are those who come near the secrets of human lives, and could write interesting volumes, if they dared, on broken human leaves. Close with reflections — 1. Think of the strength of God. 2. Think of the possibilities of life. 3. Think of the position we occupy. 4. Think of the end that is coming. (W. M. Statham.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?WEB: Will you harass a driven leaf? Will you pursue the dry stubble? |
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