The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 146

L THE CIIALLENGE OF FAITH. In the Name or Jehovah, Isaiah bide the king ask a sign from ebove-a sign "going deep down to hell or high into heaven." 'l'ruth should be its own evidence to every mind; .intuition is better than proof. Isaiah has seen and listened to God in the depths of his own spirit, anrl no sign in the air above or in the e,1rth beneath can p;ive him more assurance than he already possesee11. Would any·man but listen and look, be ~hould find the shrine, the oracle, the Shechinah, in his own heart. Within that awful volume of the he.'\rt, it may be said, lies the mystery of mysteries. Yet not to a.II is it given to read therein clearly; all other reading, even in dead tonguea, is easier. " Happiest they of human raoe To whom our God has granted grace To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, To lift the latch and foroe the way I" The duller eye, untrai1led to such visions, needs the large bold characters of the visible sign. "It comes in with its palpable meaning to aid human weakness. 'l'he prophets complain&.1 of the craving for signs, yet were compelled to comply with it. Men trust their senses more than they trust the ghostly and majestic shape of abstract truth}.and the appeal to the ear, as the Roman poet said, produces but a sluggish movement 'iii the mind compared with the appeal to the faithful eye. • We must all confess ourseivi:s weak; needing to see before we can believe, instead of believing that we may see. Yet such incidents as this may remind us that there is a Spirit to help our infirmities, and restore its poise to the mind unhinged by doubt. When Mid.ian threatened lsraet iii the da_ys of old, God's voice was heard by Gideon:' "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour." T et the heart of the hero still quailed. "0 my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which out fathers told us of?"(Judg. vi.12, sqq.). Again the voice came: "Go and save I11rael: have not I sent thee?" And again the diffident reply: "0 my Lord, wherewit,h, shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor, and I am the least in my father's clan." Then the sign is asked for and granted ; the fire, bursting from the rock, consumes Gideon's offering. God, in the strength of an almighty wisdom, "reasons togeth.er'' with men. In our day it is equally bard to "bold on and hope hard in the subtle thing ·caned spirit;" and we crave as urgently for signs, though not of the same kind. 11 THE EXCUSE OF MISTRUST. The king alleges tb'.at he dare not" tempt Jehovah." True, this was a deep reproach of olJ agaiust Israel's temper. At Rephidim, in the wil~ derness, Moses sti;rmatized the demand of the people for water'by this phrase, "Is the Lord among ns or not?" (Exod. :xviL 2). . There lay the canker of guilty scepticism. In a general way the same thing is seen in our time, in 1.he impatient dtmaud that the difficulties of the great problem of the universe shall be cleared up to our private satisfaction. Who gave us the right thus t-0 interrogate and cross-examine -him whose works, as a whole, witness to his goodness and love? God did not copy our _pJ.my schemes in this construction; nor does he manage the universe as wa manage a busmess, an e1Kpedition, the government of a state. "Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God," means-You shall not weigh him in the scales of your finite intelligence, nor call upon him to execute your wishes as if they were the same as hje holy will. So difficult is it to ..distinguish the plea of honesty and humility from that of dishonesty and disbelief, it looks aJ1 if Ahaz might be right, and Isaiah wrong; the latter too bold, the former more reverent. Scripture may be made to mean anything and everything; the right heart alone reads the right meaning for particular time, place, and person: , While it is the mark of presumption to "tempt God," it is the symptom of unbelief when proffered light and help are refused. • . III. THE PERSEVERANCE OF FAITH. With a rebuke of the king's-spirit, charging him in effect with despi,;ing the goodness and tending to weary the patience of God, the prophet proceeds with bis unasked-for message. What are we to learn frolil the expres- sion, "wearying God"? All such poetical figures of Scripture have their deep meaning, 'l'o despise the riches or God's forbearance, to grieve his Spirit, to quench his Spirit, -these are ways of pointing out and stigmatizing that indifference and coldness to .the true and Divine which may be a worse symptom than open hostility. We may either neglect to ask Divine guidance, we may disobey it when we have it intimated, 9r W'> may refuse its proffer. PerhaP3 this last sta.te of mind is the worst. It sho111  THE BOOK OF 'I'HE PROPHET ISAIAH. 135