Ezekiel 24:15-27 Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying,… I. WHAT IS THE DESIRE OF THINE EYES? 1. Some loved object of human relationship whom with "the body you worship." 2. Some dazzling dream of ambition that with the mind you grasp at; or, 3. Some ideal condition of spirituality that with the soul you aspire after. II. WHY IS THE DESIRE OF THINE EYES THUS TAKEN AWAY AT A STROKE BY A WISE AND JUST GOD? 1. To wean you from setting your affections too much upon perishable, disappointing earthly objects. 2. To develop in you the passive virtues of patience, fortitude, etc., which men are so prone to sacrifice to the active virtues, such as courage, etc., which they are compelled to display in the battle of life. 3. To make you look to eternal love, to eternal grandeur, and to eternal happiness to be realised hereafter in the presence of God, as alone calculated to satisfy the aspirations of your own immortal spirits. III. IN WHAT SPIRIT SHOULD YOU BEAR THE LOSS WHEN THUS THE DESIRE OF THE EYES IS TAKEN AWAY? 1. Not in a spirit of passionate anger against the Creator for taking away what was His own to give or take away. 2. Not in a spirit of repining, tearful melancholy, weeping fruitlessly for "the things that might have been." 3. Not in a spirit of sullen and voiceless despair, sorrowing "as one without hope." 4. Not in a spirit of affected stoical indifference, gnawed as to the inward heart by the bitterest disappointment, and careful only to hide from the eyes of men all outward signs of sorrow or chagrin. 5. But in a spirit of gentle resignation to, and of full trust in, the providence of God, exclaiming with the patriarch of old, "The Lord," etc. (R. Young, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, |
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