The Pulpit Commentary — Lamentations — Section 43

It tends to confirtn ein. His the prospect of mercy that softens the heart and prompts feelings of penitence. II. 'l'IIE nEASON WHY OHABTISEMENT 18 ONLY Jl'OR A BEASON. This reason is to be found in the character of God. "He doth not afflict willingly," or rather, "rrom his heart." There is an essential dilforcncc bctwl!en cha~tisement and mercy. Chastise- ment is necessary and sent reluctantly, but mercy springs from the heart of God and is given willingly. That is a false and libellons representation of God, according to which the theologian describes the outpouring of Divine wrath as though th&e were a real satisfaction to God in the process of causing pain to his creatures, The description of everlasting perdition as given to lost souls with a flood of wrath is more like the action of a malignant demon than that of a merciful God. It is sometimes so spoken of as though every attribute in God but mercy were eternal. Truth, justice, holiness, wrath, vengeance, are to endnre for ever. Onl_y mercy has its day. Only this one grace is short-lived and soon to be exhausted. The calumny is a direct contradiction to Scripture, which teaches over and over again that the mercy of the Lord cndureth fnr ever. This attribute at least is eternal. This one springs most directly from the heart of God; for it is the fruit of love. While we say God is angry at times, we do not say God is anger, because anger is not of the essential nature of God. But we do say, not only God loves, but God is love. But it may be said, if God does not afflict "from his heart," why does he afflict at nll? It must be because the circumstances of his children make it necessary. He does it not for his own sake. Then he must do it for their sakes. Seeing, however, that the chastisement is not agreeable to them, there must be s_ome object in it, some result of it by which they are to profit. It must, there- fore, cease in due time, that it may give place to that happy result. Ver. 38.-How evil and good both proceed from God. The Hebrew prophets sbo,v no inclination towards Persian dualism. They never attempt to solve the mystery of evil by the doctrine of two principles in nature, a good and an evil principle, in any respect co-ordinate one with another. On the contrary, they emphasize the moni~m of their creed by ascribing sole supremacy and originating power to "the Eternal." Nevertheless, they do not teach that moral evil is caused by God. This they reg:arcl. as springing from the heart of man. In the verse before us we have no question of this darkest kind of evil. It is not sin, but suffering, that is referred to, as the context clearly shows. We have just been told that God will not cast off for ever because he does not afflict from his heart. We are now reminded that it is not the less true that God sends adverse as well as pleasant things. I. THE WHOLE OF OUR LIFE-EXPERIENCE IS UNDER THE DIBECTION OF Gon. Our con- duct is in our own hands; but what is not thus immediately dependent on our own will is directed by God. Other men influence us, but they are overruled by the Most High. Chance and accident seem to strike us, but chance and accident only exist to our ignorance. They are not really, for Providence excludes them. We sometimes speak of visitations of God, e.s though he came and went. But that only means that we perceive his action e.t one time more than at another. God is ever working in us. "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Things great and small, pleasant an<l painful, spiritual and physical, eternal and temporal, are under the hand of God and regulated by his will. II. Gon TREATS us IN VARIOUS WAYS. He sends both evil and good. He bas not one unchanging method of action. He varies his tre:\trnent according to requirement. To one he sends more evil, to another more good. Yet to none does he send experience of one kind only. The hard lot he.s many mitigations. The pleasant places have their shadows. As we pass through life we see how God deals with us in wise suitableness, now sending most good, now most evil. III. WE MUST NOT INFER THAT IF Gon IS WITH us NO TROUBLE CAN BEFALL, If evil as well as good proceeds from the mouth of the Most High, no assUiance of the presence of the Author of both will justify us in disbelieving in the coming of either experience. We must be on our guard or we shall be disappointed. We must be prepared to expect evil things even while we are under the care of God. IV. WE MUST NOT INFER THAT IF EVIL BEFALL us Gon CANNOT llE WITH us. This inference of unbelief is the natural consequenoe of disappointment in the presumption  44 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [on, m. 1-60.