Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.… I. WHAT THERE IS IN OURSELVES TO MAKE US FEAR LEST GOD SHOULD FORSAKE US. Our very fears have often a great show of reason in them; though they may be excessive, they are not wholly unfounded. As — 1. When we recollect how often we have forgotten and forsaken Him. 2. When the aspect of providence is dark and mysterious. 3. When the mind appears to be bereft of its ordinary supports and consolations. 4. When a great and prevailing doubt obtains as to the safety of our state after all. II. WHAT THERE IS IN GOD TO CONVINCE HIS CHURCH THAT HE NEVER WILL FORSAKE HER. 1. It is contrary to His nature — as contrary to His nature to forget and forsake His Church. as it is contrary to the nature of a kind and tender mother to forget and forsake her child. Our Lord teaches us to reason from the less to the greater. "If ye, being evil, know how to give, how shall not your Father," &c. 2. It is contrary to His promise. "Yet will I not forget thee." 3. It is contrary to the character of His dispensations, for He never has forsaken His Church. 4. It is contrary to His people's own sober expectations. For Zion does not in her heart believe her own prophetic forebodings. She still speaks of Him, not only as "the Lord" in one part of the verse, but as "my Lord" in the other — which she would never do, as a reasonable person, had she finally forgotten or forsaken God, or believed that God had finally forgotten and forsaken her. (S. Thodey.) Parallel Verses KJV: But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.WEB: But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me." |
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