IL There is prater which is not unheard, but the answeb to which is not IHMBDIATB AND IS NOT JUST WHAT IS EXPECTED. Denial Is ODO thing, delay is another. Perhaps it may be said that every true prayer is both heard and answered. For every acceptable petition takes the tone of our Saviour's ever-memorable and incom- parable prayer, " Not my will, my Father, but thine, be done." Misinterpretation is to be avoided. The reason of delay, of seeming denial, is to be sought in ourselves. God often withholds for a season, in order to awaken our faith and submisaion, what be intends eventually to confer.— T.
Tar. 1,1,—FrMptrity /orgettm. What a touching picture of extreme adverdty aad
OH. ui. 1—66.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEBBMIAH. 49
distress do these words present : " I forgat prosperity " I Dayi of happiness are so distant that they have faded into oblivion ; their memory ii obliterated by recurring sorrows, by continuous misfortunes.
I. Adtebsitt does not fulfil m intended fubfobk if rr leads to despaib. There are natures in which a reverse of circumstances induces depression, which gradually deepens into despondency. Where this is the case there is ground for fearing that thu affections and desires have been too much centred upon things earthly and perishable, that the gifts of a kind Providence have been regarded as possessions to which those who enjoy them liave a right, that the higher purposes of this earthly discipline called life have been neglected.
II. Adversity should be beoabded bt the Chbistiah as tehfobabt, and as an APPOINTMENT OF DiviNE WISDOM AND LOVE. To forget prosperity in the past is to forget that, lor the devout, obedient, and submissive, there is prosperity in reserve in the future. Tlie cloud comes over the sky, but the sunshine of the morning will be followed in due time by the brightness which shall close in glorious sunset. The disciple of Christ cannot lose sight of the fact that his Master was " a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," and that he assured his followers that " in the world they should have tribulation." But the voice that foretold conflict promised victory. To the faithful favour shall be restored and pro3[ierity shall be renewed. " Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." — T.
Vers. 19, 20. — Semembering affliction. As the prophet entreats the Lord to remember the afflictions he and his countrymen have passed through, he records his own vivid recollection of bygone misery and humiliation. Now, the counsel of the world would be— Forget your troubles; they are past;, why allow them to disturb and to distress the mind? There are, however, good reasons why this advice should be rejected, why the afQictions we have passed through should sometimes be recalled to mind, i
I. This exercise sebves to bemind us of the unoebtaintt and vicosbitudkb of this life. It is well that in days of prosperity men should not forget how soon the sky n.ay be clouded, that in times of health liability to sickness and disease should be borne in mind, that the living and the active should hear a voice gently counselling them Memento mori I
II. This exebcibe serves to pbbsbbvb ub fbou a disposition towabds wobld- LINESS. In prosperity it is very common for men to cling to this world, to over-esti- mate its wealth, its pleasures, its honours. Let them remember days of adversity ; let them consider how possible it is that such days may recur ; and thus preserve them- selves from the threatened sin of worldly miudedness.
III. This bxeboise mat lead us to glorify the Divine Deliverer. Affliction is to many a thing of the past; they have lelt the tempestuous seas and are in the quiet haven. Let such consider by whose great mercy such deliverance has been effected, to whom their gratitude is due. Who interposed upon their behalf and brought them into safety ? Do they forget to sing, " This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his troubles " ?
IV. This exercise mat suggest the expectation op heaven, and mat lend attractiveness to the fbospect. The past naturally suggests the future. In remembering the afflictions of earth we are reminded of that state where " the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." — T.
Ver. 21. — Hope reviving. At length the unmitigated angidgh and desolation expressed in the previous parts of this book seem relieved. A ray of light breaks through the dense mass of clouds. Despondency gives place to hope.
I. Fbom what state this language betokens a ebvulsion, a reaction. Jeremiah has, not unnaturally, been plunged into distress, dismay, despondency. The terrible calamities which have befallen his nation are sufiScient to account for this. Yet, as a child of God and a believer in Divine providence, he could not remain in desolation, he could not abandon himself to despair.
II. The origin op hope. How was the prophet lifted out of the discouragemant and despondency into which he had fallen ? it seems that here, as ao often, ttoj^ia
lamentations, K
60 THE LAMENTATIONS OP JEREMIAH. [ch. in. 1—66.
aprang out of humility. When his heart was bowed and humbled within him, then he began to lift up his eyes unto the hills from whence alone his help could come.
III. The obeat Object of hope. The prophet saw nothing in existing circum- stances which could afford a ground for anticipating better things and brighter days. But his hope was in the Lord, who listens to the lowly, the penitent, the contrite, and, in answer to their cry, delivers and exalts them in due time.
IV. The expectations of hope. When within the prophet's heart the star of hope arose, to what did it point, with its enlivening, cheering rays? To consolation, to deliverance, to revival of natural life, to renewal of Divine favour. No hope, based upon God's faithfulness and compassion, is too bright for him to fulfil and realize. — T.
Ver. 22. — Sparing compassion. At this point the meditations of the prophet take a turn. He looks away from his own and his fellow-countrymen's afflictions and directs his gaze heavenwards. The scene of his vision changes. No longer the calamities of Jerusalem, but the character and the purposes of the Mo.st High, absorb his attention. There is a rainbow which spans even the stormiest sky. Earth may be dark, but there is brightness above. Man may be cruel or miserable, but God has not forgotten to be gracious.
L The Lord's sbacious attributes. These are described as (1) his mercies and (2) his compassions. It is the glory of revelation that it makes known a personal God, invested with the noblest moral attributes. The heathen saw in the calamities of cities and nations, either the caprice of angry deities or the working of inexorable fate. The Hebrews saw the presence, interest, and superintending providence of a God of righteousness, holiness, and grace.