And our own corrupt hearts, too, are ready enough to in- dulge all manner of irregular desires, and to draw us into the commission of actual sin.
What would become of us, if, at such seasons as these, we had none to succour us, no arm but our own to help us?]
2. Of trouble—
[" We are born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward:" it is the inheritance of every child of man. No one is exempt : a king upon his throne is open to its incursions, no less than the meanest of his subjects. In his own person, he is exposed to pains and disorders: in his family, to feuds and bitter be- reavements : in his circumstances, to all the varieties of change, embarrassment, and loss. To all of these the saints are ex- posed, as well as others; whilst they are oppressed with many troubles peculiar to themselves. What they often endure from the workings of corruption, the hidings of God's face, the assaults of Satan, the fear of death and judgment, can little be conceived by those who fear not God. Most generally, too, they are exposed to hatred and persecution for righteousness' sake; and find amongst their " greatest foes the people of their own household." True it is, that we are not in the present day called to " resist unto blood:" but let it not, therefore, be accounted a small matter to be treated with contempt by friends and enemies, and to be reduced to the alternative of sacrificing all that we hold dear in this life, or the hopes and prospects of a better. These are great and heavy trials : and every child of God must expect to be conformed to his Lord and Saviour in the endurance of them.]
3. Of difficulty—
[Truly spiritual obedience is at all times difficult : and how much more so under such circumstances as those in which Daniel and the Hebrew Youths were placed! To resist an ordinance of a powerful monarch, when the whole empire were joining in the observance of it, and when that disobedience was menaced with a fiery furnace; and to maintain steadfastly the public worship of Jehovah, when, by a temporary neglect or concealment of it, an exposure in a den of lions might be avoided — were no easy matters. It surely needed much grace to maintain a good conscience under such circumstances. And there will be, in the experience of every saint, some special occasions where a strict adherence to duty is inconceivably difficult and painful. Such " clays" the promise in our text teaches us to expect, and against such days it makes for us a merciful provision.]
But let us distinctly state,
II. What it engages and assures —