I. CONSIDER HOW WORTHY OF PRAISE ARE THE WORKS OF GOD. We do not prize them so much fro' their vast bulk and infinite number as for their character and the manner in which they are executed. A small statue is more admirable than a huge boulder, and a minute and finely cut gem more precious than a great sea crag. Wherein, then, shall we find the specially praiseworthy characteristics of the works of God? 1. In thoroughness. The infinitely little is as well wrought as the infinitely great. Thought and care are lavished on tiny insects. Exquisite workmanship is seen in humble weeds. The unseen parts of God's works are as perfect as those which are most prominent. The hosts of flowers that bloom on uninhabited prairies are as beautiful as those that smile at us from an English hedgerow. 2. In harmony. The various parts of God's works fit together and aid one another with mutual services. Not only is there a general peaceable arrangement of nature, but there is also a reciprocity that makes each part necessary to the whole. Plants live on the soil, animals on the plants, and these again on the perishing bodies of animals. 3. In beauty. The direct utility of nature might have been served in an ugly fashion. Clouds might all have been black, and leaves and flowers and earth of one dull hue. But God has breathed a spirit of beauty over his works. 4. In joy. God has made existence itself to be a gladness. Insects, birds, and beasts rejoice in the sunlight of a summer day. Man finds life a source of joy. 5. In progress. All nature is moving on in a grand progress to higher forms of life and more perfect types of organization. It is lull of hope, and it looks forward to God's greater future works. II. REMEMBER HOW WELL IT IS THAT WE SHOULD PRAISE GOD FOR HIS WORKS. 1. In gratitude. We are ourselves part of his works, and we have to thank him that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." Then other works of God minister to our welfare, and as we profit by their utility or enjoy their beauty, it is becoming that we should praise him who is the Maker and Giver of them all. 2. In admiration. It is a miserable thing to sink into that cynical pessimism that can only criticize adversely and can never see and enjoy merit. It passes for cleverness, but it is really a form of dulness, for it is the result of a want of capacity to perceive the good points of that which only arrests attention on account of its real or supposed defects. This habit of mind prevents us from rising to any true greatness ourselves, because men are dawn upwards by admiration. When, however, we have learnt to admire the works of God, it is only fitting that we should go on and adore their great Artificer. The praise of the picture is the praise of the artist. Yet there are lovers of nature who seem to forget her Author. 3. In aspiration. The wings of praise carry the soul aloft. When we sing of the great and marvellous works of God with the heart and the understanding, we shall enter into the thoughts of God lovingly and with sympathy. We grow like what we adore. Following the angels in songs of praise, we shall grow like the angels in heavenly character, if we live in a spirit of worship, praising God not only by the hymns of the sanctuary, but by the grand psalm of a whole life of worship. - W.F.A.
Who teacheth like Him? The God of the Bible is represented to us under different names and views peculiar to Himself. He is represented to us as the source and comprehension of all truth, goodness, happiness, and glory. When we try to reduce our conception of God to a finite form, the best conception we can form of Him is the highest combination of all the attributes that are good, pure, and glorious. We now view Him as our Divine Teacher.I. THE TEACHING CHARACTER OF THE DIVINE ORDER. The teaching intention is seen everywhere in the established economy of the whole arrangement of the constitution of the universe. It is not an arrangement to be noticed here and there, but a matter of law and universality, unchangeable and regular. The whole range and laws of nature, the whole animal economy — providence, revelation, Christianity, and the whole works of God as known to us — have a teaching commission. All have their science to make known to men; all have their influence in the moulding of human character. Everything has its message; everything is backed by Divine law and authority. This order is intended, in its teaching power, to lead and reunite us with the source and end of our life, and thus to realise the chief good of our being. 1. The supreme order of which we are subjects is one of universal relation and dependence. Illustration: relation of parent and child. One is made to teach, and the other to be taught. 2. As a teaching power, the order of which we are subjects is one of advancement. The whole is intended to advance. The order of God is ever forward. 3. The order under which we live is one of universal and unending obligation. A condition of dependence is one of obligation. To our obligation there is neither limit nor end. All we have are things to fulfil our obligation with, and the degree of our possession is the limit of our obligation. 4. The order in which we are established is one of useful purpose in its laws and provisions. The high design is to fit all its dependent creatures for the end of their being. The order of God intends to economise all its gifts and talents. No talent is to be buried, no power is to lie dormant, no plot uncultivated, and no opportunity unemployed. All are fitted for themselves, for one another, and all to show the praise of the great teacher Himself. 5. The teaching order of God has fit and sufficient resources to meet its requirements, and fulfil its designs. Everything is an educational link to some higher development. The order of God has everything in itself to make it complete. He requires no foreign element. All perfect order precludes the possibility of deficiency, or any goodness outside itself. II. GOD'S TEACHING IS OUR PATTERN TO FOLLOW. All men require much teaching themselves before they are competent to teach others. Teaching is Divine. 1. God's teaching is our pattern in the kindness of its execution. There is nothing harsh and oppressive in the teachings of God. He allures by promises, and leads on by the cords of tenderness and love; giving us a pattern how to teach those who are under our care and our charge. 2. The teaching of God is one of repeated application. God repeats His calls and applications. If one way and means are not effectual, He tries and uses others. 3. The Divine teaching is one of rule and order. Every period has its work, every work has its laws, and every act its certain and fit results. Constancy is one rule. Attention to small points is another. Earnest action is another. Every power must act its part. 4. The teaching of God is one of gradual advancement. Our wants and capacities, in the order of being, keep pace with each other. When one is small, the other is not great; and as one increases the other advances. God suits His teaching to our wants and powers. 5. God's teaching contains in it hard lessons for us in our present state and condition. 6. God teaches, by suitable means, to accomplish the end He has in view. III. THE AIM AND END OF DIVINE TEACHING. Wisdom is right in the end in view, and the means used to obtain it. One end is — to teach us self-insufficiency and trust in Him. Another, to teach us the evil of disobedience and sin. Another, to educate our nature in its highest powers, to its highest possible capacity. That we should understand the law of His order, and respect it. To fit us for the precise work intended to be done by us. To lead us to Himself, and to make us fit for all His will and purpose. Conclusion — The obligation on our part which the Divine administration of teaching involves. (T. Hughes.) Homilist. I. His BEING, as here presented. Elihu points our attention to three great facts concerning this Great Being.1. He is mighty. "Behold, God exalteth by His power." 2. He is independent. "Who hath enjoined Him His way?" He is amenable to no one beyond Himself. 3. He is righteous. "Who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?" 4. He is adorable. "Remember that thou magnify His work, which men behold." Man is here called upon to adore Him in His works, which are visible to all. 5. He is incomprehensible.(1) In His nature. He is the fathomless mystery.(2) Incomprehensible in His duration. "Neither can the number of His years be searched out." Notice — II. His AGENCY as here presented. His agency both in the mental and the material domains is here referred to. 1. His agency in the mental realm. He is a Teacher. "Who teacheth like Him?" He is an incomparable Teacher.(1) He teaches the best lessons.(2) He teaches the best lessons in the best way. (a) (b) 2. His agency in the material realm. Four ideas are suggested here concerning His agency in nature. It is — (1) (2) (3) (4) (Homilist.) People Elihu, JobPlaces UzTopics Afar, Attentively, Behold, Beholdeth, Beholds, Gaze, Sees, ThereonOutline 1. Elihu shows how God is just in his ways16. How Job's sins hinder God's blessings 24. God's works are to be magnified Dictionary of Bible Themes Job 36:24-27Library Whether by his Passion Christ Merited to be Exalted?Objection 1: It seems that Christ did not merit to be exalted on account of His Passion. For eminence of rank belongs to God alone, just as knowledge of truth, according to Ps. 112:4: "The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens." But Christ as man had the knowledge of all truth, not on account of any preceding merit, but from the very union of God and man, according to Jn. 1:14: "We saw His glory . . . as it were of the only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth." … Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether Christ Acquired his Judiciary Power by his Merits? Whether Christ Will Judge under the Form of his Humanity? Whether the Old Law was from God? Whether Man Can Know that He Has Grace? Whether the Judicial Power Corresponds to Voluntary Poverty? Whether Hypocrisy is the Same as Dissimulation? The Great Teacher "That which was from the Beginning," Whether Hypocrisy is Always a Mortal Sin? Whether those to whom Christ's Birth was Made Known were Suitably Chosen? Divine Grace. Messiah's Easy Yoke Epistle v. To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor. The Greatness of the Soul, Job Links Job 36:25 NIVJob 36:25 NLT Job 36:25 ESV Job 36:25 NASB Job 36:25 KJV Job 36:25 Bible Apps Job 36:25 Parallel Job 36:25 Biblia Paralela Job 36:25 Chinese Bible Job 36:25 French Bible Job 36:25 German Bible Job 36:25 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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