The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 91

4; bi\. i. 19). It is so lllso with judgments and the threl\t of them (Isl\. xx.vi. ,9; Luko xiii, 3, 5). God takes plel\Snre in the soul's turning (Ezek. xviii. 23, 32), and all hie- dealin~ with it llim at and tend to this result. Therefore, until judgment actually falls, the threat o[ it is kept as a deterrent before the sinner's eyes. 3. Individuals may turn a/lei· national repentance has become hopeless. Language addressed to a nation is really mel\nt for the in,lividuals composing it; and e.s individuals they would be influenced by it. No general forsaking of sin w~s probable in Iere.el. Still, some might turn, as many did in Jerusalem, and were saved after the destruction of the city as a whole was foretold; and, so long a.s this was possible, the means fitted to turn would not be withdrawn. God's expostulations will go forth to glean in corners even when tbe prospects of a harvest are blighted. II. THERI!: IS A SEEKING rn CONNECTlON WITH WHICH IT IS LIFE TO FIND. To Israel here and to all men every,d1ere the great object of search is God, not mere good (Ps. :xiii. 2); and God for himself, not for his gifts. 1. This seeking implies previous non- possession. God is neither the property of the wicked nor his possession. Sin made sl'paration between them, and a severiug of all previously existing ties. Man abandoned G,,d, and God drove out man. Now he is" without God," is" enmity against God,'' bids God depart from him, says in his heart, "No God." It is only by the saint, an,! aft.er seeking, that it can be said, "I have found him whom my soul loveth." "This God is our God for ever and ever." Grace it is that knits again the ties broken by sin, and restores man and God to a condition of mutual love and possession and indwell- ing. 2. It is a quest with the whol~ heart and strength. . The essence of seeking God is to desire him. And to desire him really is to desire him heartily. Not to desire him with other things. Not to desire him more than other things. Not to desire him weakly. ~ot even to desire him strongly. But to desire him wholly, supremely, and intensely. Seeking God is heart-seeking, or it is nothing. Heart-seeking is truly such when it is seeking with the whole heart. Therefore only to such seeking is there a promise of finding (Jer. x:xix. 13; xxiv. 7). God cannot be had till he is adequately wanted, and t-0 be wanted adequately is to he wanted supremely. 3. It i,a synonymous with finding. In God's world everywhere supply meets and measures demand. Plant, animal, and man, each finds on earth, in climate, habitat, covering, and food, exactly the thing it needs. There is no want for which there is not full and fitting provision. So in the spiritual sphere. "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst," etc. . Over against every need of the soul is a Divine supply. That need become conscious, means help waiting; that need expressed, means help already on the way. Spiritual good is obta.ined on the simple condition of its being truly desired. 4. To find .God is to find all good which inheres in him. God is himself the greatest Good; he is, moreover, the Sum, and therefore the Source, of all good. There is certain good which he uncondition- ally bestows on all. even the ungodly. But it ie good of the lower kinda, and which miuisters to the lower needs. All spiritual good, and all temporal good that hae any spiritual aspect, God gives only with and in Jesus Christ (Rom. viii. 32; Matt. vi. 33). The planets attend the sun and follow where he leads. So on Christ, as God's unspeak- able Gift, the other lesser gifts wait. We have them when we grasp him. 6. This good, suirrnied up in one word, is life. Life is a general term for the highest good (Ps. xx.x. 5; c:z.::xxiii. 3). It is phyHical life, the prevention or withdrawal of destroying judgments. It is judicial life, or the reversal of the death-sentence on the soul, and the privilege for it of living. It is spiritual life, being quickened once for all out of the death in sin, being made alive and kept alive. It is everlasting life, the out- blooming in eternity of the flower of soul-life planted on earth. ill Tllis 18 NOT THE SEEKING TO WHIOH MEN NATURALLY TURN. It was under pretence of greater convenience that Jeroboam's calves were set up in Dan and Bethel. But Beersheba was fifty miles south of Jerusalem, and Gilgal was on the other side of Jordan, and so most inconvenient of access. That Israel preferred them to Jerusalem was proof that they preferred idolatrous rites to the worship of God (see Pusey). l. Idols are man's own invention, and therefore the egoist's ch<Yice. 'l'here is self- sufficiency verging on self-worship in all sin. Man puts his own opinion !'-nd will and work above God's. An idol is his own creation, and for that reason, if for no other, iB preferred to God. It is a subtle form of self-worship, and so inevitably preferred io any other. 2. They are credited with, qualities congenial to his nature. OB, V, 1-27.] 'J llE BOOK OF AMOS. 91