Homilist Nehemiah 2:8 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest… I. A SPIRIT OF DEPENDENCE. There breathes forth a feeling of insignificance. The speaker feels scarcely able to trust himself. 1. Man's technical skill. Having arrived at so high a standard in design, construction, and art, we are very apt to think very highly of ourselves. We gaze on the railway, the steam-engine, the ocean-steamer, the tunnel under the hills, and the canal through the land, and fancy we can do anything. 2. Man's natural conceit. There is a great tendency to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Satan employs this tendency to induce man to lift up his hand against God. II. A SPIRIT OF TRUST. This spirit of reliance will save us from many trials. It will prevent — 1. Anxious care. If we leave our concerns in God's hand, we shall not be careful and cumbered about many things. It will prevent — 2. Worldly-mindedness of disposition. The spirit that leaves its cares in God's hand will leave its joys there also. 3. All bitterness of sorrow. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. |
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