Lamentations 3:31-36 For the LORD will not cast off for ever:… Sorrow, pain, change, and death, affecting ourselves, affecting others, everywhere prevail. This fact we cannot alter. But in the manner in which we view it, our happiness, our improvement, are deeply concerned. That God could terminate such a state of things, is certain. That He does not, is equally certain. And yet, "He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." I. THE PROOFS OF THIS DOCTRINE. 1. The first proof that He cannot afflict willingly, or, as it is in the Hebrew, "from His heart," is found in His nature. Love can take no delight in our afflictions, and must ever be ready to mitigate or remove them. 2. We can trace all misery up to causes independent of the will and appointment of God. 3. In all cases we find more of mercy than judgment. You have sickness, but how much more health! pain, but how much more ease! disappointment, but how many gratifications! You sigh for a good which you have not; but how many do you actually enjoy! 4. The success of prayer in removing afflictions. II. MUCH AFFLICTION WILL BE FOUND TO REMAIN AFTER ALL; AND WE STILL WANT THE REASON OF IT. 1. To keep man in mind that God notices his sins, although He may delay their final punishment, Sin is no trifling evil. 2. To give a spiritual direction to our affections, by showing to us the vanity of the world. 3. To call good principles into exercise, and thus to prepare us for heaven. Faith, patience, sympathy for others, are all strengthened in affliction. III. THE LIMITATIONS BY WHICH IT IS GRACIOUSLY REGULATED. 1. He does not so afflict and grieve, as to crush under His set the prisoners of the earth. Oh no. Our Lord has purchased liberty for the prisoners of the earth, and the Gospel is the proclamation of it. We are called forth into light and liberty, into joy and hope. 2. He doth not so afflict as "to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High." The face of the Most High; the Shechinah, or visible glory of the Lord; symbolising the throne of grace in heaven; God accepting the oblation and offering of His Son for our sake, and appointing Him our Mediator, and giving us the covenant right of approaching to Him, with all our guilt and misery, that we may obtain the provided deliverance. And never does God turn away the exercise of this gracious right. In darkness, ask His light; in sorrow, inward joy; in temptation, strength and victory; in all pressing circumstances, help in thy time of need; in sickness, patience; in death, life; in all, submission. (R. Watson.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the Lord will not cast off for ever: |
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