GOD’S TERRIBLENESS AND GENTLENESS
Isaiah 42:14-16. I will destroy and devour at once, &c.
The measure of greatness is the measure of terribleness; constructiveness is the beneficent side of destructiveness.
The fire that warms will, if abused, reduce the palace to ashes; the river which gladdens the landscape may devastate it; the engine that bears the laughing child to his longed-for home will, if mismanaged, occasion terrible havoc; the lightning, which may be caught and utilised, can burn the forest and strike armies blind.
In the text we are confronted with the highest expression of the same truth; the Terrible One is gentler than the gentlest friend. Power belongeth unto God as well as mercy; He is either glorious as heaven or fearful as hell. The terribleness of God is the good man’s security; he does not say, “I must worship Him or He will destroy me;” but, “the beneficent side of that power is all mine.”
I. Look at the doctrine of the text in relation to bad men, who pride themselves upon their success and their strength. Daily life has always been a problem to devout wisdom; virtue has often been crushed while vice has flourished. But there is a power beyond man’s; and nothing is held safely that is not held by consent of that power. God cannot be described in parts; He is to be studied in the unity of His character. Men are bound to be as common-sense in their theology as in the ordinary works of life; in building character they should be at least as sagacious as in building houses; they must build for tempestuous as well as for fine weather. We prepare for the severe side of Nature—why ignore the severe aspect of God? This is not preaching the mere terrors of the Lord; it is being simply faithful to facts. The so-called success of the bad man has yet to stand the strain of the Divine trial. God will examine our title-deeds. Remember, we are not stronger than our weakest point.
II. Look at the doctrine as an encouragement to all men who work under the guidance of God. “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not,” &c. God declares Himself gentle to those who truly need Him. He promises nothing to the self-sufficient; He promises much to the needy. A true apprehension of this doctrine will give us a right view of daily providences, viz., that men who are apparently most destitute may in reality be most richly enjoying the blessings of God.
We ought not to overlook the beneficent law of compensation. Blindness may be but another condition of happiness. Defects are the express conditions on which offers of Divine help are founded; it is because we are blind that He will lead us. It is clear, then, that self-sufficiency on the part of man is an offence to God; not only so, it is a vexation to man himself,—all his efforts at independence end in mortification. Towards one another we are to be self-reliant; towards God we are to be humble, dependent, all-trustful. The removal of the mountains and hills that bar our way is God’s own work; why should we meddle with it as if we could do it better than He? The devil says, “Be your own God,” and we snatch at the suggestion as a prize. Behold! we call you to a God whose very terribleness may be turned into an assurance of safety, and whose love is infinite, unchanging, eternal!
CONCLUSION.—Men of business! Know ye that prosperity is the gift of God, and that He who gave it can also withdraw it? “I will destroy and devour it at once: I will dry up all their herbs” (Psalms 37:35-36). Bread cannot satisfy unless it be broken by God’s hands.
Children of God! ye especially who are called to suffering, and weakness, and great unrest because of manifold defect, God offers you His hand. Rest on God. Fear God, and no other fear shall ever trouble you.—Joseph Parker, D.D.: City Temple, pp. 227–284.
THE LEADER OF THE BLIND
Isaiah 42:16. And I will bring the blind, &c.
Christians, “ye are not as yet come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you.” But thus far He has been your helper. What He has done is only a pledge of what He will do. To aid your grateful remembrance of the past and to confirm your confidence in the future, let us survey Him in three characters, which are all plainly set forth in our text.
I. AS OUR LEADER.
“I will bring the blind by a way they know not; I will lead them in paths they have not known.”
1. What could we do without such a Leader? Without God man is a poor wanderer on the mountains of ignorance, a prey to every danger, liable to be led astray by his prejudices and passions, certain to miss the only road to heaven.
2. Observe where He leads them: “In paths they have not known.” This is true—
(1.) In regard to their temporal concerns. He has done so. If you look back, and contemplate the bounds of your habitation as fixed by Providence, your connections formed, your friends, your successes, your disappointments, does not all this appear now surprising? And He will do so. What can you know of the future? (P. D. 1432, 1440).
(2.) In regard to their spiritual concerns. They were not born Christians, but have been made such; and if now they differ from others, and from their former selves, it is because He “hath called them out of darkness into His marvellous light.” Once they knew nothing of conviction of sin, of hatred of sin, of faith in Christ, of prayer. And there are heights of holiness to which He will yet lead them by paths they have not now traversed.
II. AS OUR INTERPRETER.
“I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.”
This is clearly distinguished from the former. You may “lead the blind by a way they know not,” and you may not explain it to them, but only tell them to depend upon you as a guide, while they are unconscious of anything except progress. But God illumines all whom He guides. Observe four instances in which He gradually makes “darkness light before them and crooked things straight.”
1. Doctrine (John 7:17; Philippians 2:15; H. E. I. 2877, 2878, 3127).
2. Experience. There are many things perplexing here.
(1.) Temptations that assail them are among the number, for they hoped to go on in their Christian course without annoyance. They did not remember that Pharaoh, as soon as Israel was gone, pursued, and tried to bring them back again. But presently He shows them that the Christian’s life must be a warfare (H. E. I. 1061, 4768–4776).
(2.) Prayer. They read that God answers prayer; they pray, but no answer comes. Very distressing. But presently He shows them that He is “a God of judgment;” that while His mercy would constrain Him to give, His wisdom leads Him to withhold the blessing for a time (H. E. I. 3897, 3898). Or if in answer to their prayers new and heavier trials are sent them, they are called presently to discern in them discipline and training for greater blessings beyond (H. E. I. 101, 2464, 2465, 3692–3695).
(3.) Joy. They sometimes do not experience the joy of which they read. He corrects their mistakes concerning it (H. E. I. 2064–2074, 3046–3051).
(4.) Assurance. He shows them that they are not to attach undue importance to it (H. E. I. 311–314, 321–323, 340–346). He enables them in the end to rejoice in it.
3. Practical duties. Such as a Christian’s removal from his situation, or his transition from one business to another. In such matters the path of duty is made plain to the man who waits patiently upon God (Proverbs 3:5-6).
4. God’s providential dealings. God’s way is sometimes in the sea, and His footsteps are not known. But sometimes the darkness is dispelled even now, and the Christian sees why he was exercised with such a soul-trouble. Take the case of Joseph (Genesis 45:5-8), or of David (Psalms 119:67).
III. AS HIS PEOPLE’S UNCHANGEABLE FRIEND.
“These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”
1. They deserve to be forsaken, and this they will acknowledge readily enough (Lamentations 3:22).
2. They may think themselves forsaken (Isaiah 49:14; Psalms 77:7; Psalms 31:22).
3. At times He may so deal with them that, in the poverty of our language, we have to speak of them as men forsaken—
(1.) In their outward condition (Hosea 5:15).
(2.) In regard to their enjoyment of spiritual comfort (Psalms 30:7; Psalms 119:82; H. E. I. 1260, 1261).
(3.) In giving them over to a sore conflict with temptation (H. E. I. 4774).
But all these apparent forsakings are short (Isaiah 54:7), and they are never real. Even when they can discern no trace of Him, God is still with His people (Hebrews 13:5; Romans 8:35-39; see pp. 78, 79).—William Jay: Sunday Morning Sermons, pp. 120–129.
In relation to the movements of Divine Providence God’s people are “blind.”
What an infinite mercy it is for them that they have a Guide adapted and adequate to lead the blind! To teach the blind is an exercise of guidance unusual and peculiar; and he who can effectually accomplish this must have some important characteristic qualifications.
I. OUR LEADER’S QUALIFICATIONS.
1. He who leads the blind must have a perfect knowledge of the way. In this respect a blind man can contribute no help and supply no lack. If his guide be ignorant even of a single step of the way, all his other qualifications are vain.
2. He must have a faithful regard to the end. He must display no treachery; the blind are utterly without remedy against any supposable unfaithfulness; their leader must steadfastly keep the end in view, and suffer nothing to turn him aside from the path that conducts to it.
3. He must pay a constant attention to the path. He must indulge in no carelessness. When a guide is careless, it is practically as though there were none. God neither slumbers nor sleeps; innumerable as the objects are which demand His notice, He never withdraws His eye for a moment from the steps of those He loves.
4. He must exercise towards them tender sympathy. The blind are naturally timid; surrounded with uncertainties, they are apt to be full of fears. Such fears are unreasonable, but it would be cruel to treat them with harshness. Above all guides, God might say, “Now you know you have every reason to trust me; let me see no signs of timidity; step boldly in the way I lead you.” He is not angry, however, with the sinking heart and the fearful step (Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 43:2; Psalms 103:14; Hebrews 13:5). Shall we not say cheerfully, “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel”?
II. THE DUTY OF THOSE WHO ARE LED.
While God leads His people as the blind are led, they ought to walk as the blind who are led; for if the leading of the blind is peculiar, the walking of the blind when led is peculiar too. In the walk of the led blind we may notice—
1. A practical acceptance of the guidance offered them. The attitude of God’s people should be one of grateful practical acceptance. “Thou shalt guide me; and where Thou leadest I will go.”
2. A spirit of entire submission to his guide. He feels that it is not for him to ask the question at intervals, “Is this really the right way?” He feels, above all, that it is not for him to be petulant, and to say, “I will not go this way.” And such should the attitude of God’s people be.
3. An unrelaxing grasp. The blind man never for an instant leaves hold of his guide. And not a single step should be taken by God’s people without reference to His discretion.
4. An aspect of cheerful confidence. A blind man who is feeling his own way walks cautiously and anxiously; but a blind man who is led for the most part walks promptly and cheerfully. He has trusted and is in peace. So should the Christian pursue his way, cheerfully and confidingly (P. D. 2970, 2971).—J. H. Hinton, M.A.: The Church, New Series, vol. ix. pp. 1–5.
THE BLIND BEFRIENDED
Isaiah 42:16. I will bring the blind, &c.
I. TO WHOM THE PROMISE IS MADE.
Not to every blind man, nor to all sorts of blind people; for there are some blind people whom God does not lead. They are those who are consciously blind, and who confess that once on a time they were totally blind—that what they thought was sight before was all delusion; people that feel their own weakness, their own want of knowledge, their own nothingness; people that are willing to be led; people that cannot see everything, and do not expect to see everything, but are willing to walk by faith in the unseen God, and to trust Jehovah where they cannot trace His footsteps.
II. THE PROMISE THAT IS MADE TO THEM. “I will bring … not known.”
1. God Himself will be the Guide of His people when they feel their blindness. To lead blind men is not an office generally sought; it is not supposed to be attended with any great honour; but it is a very kindly office, and one which any Christian man may be right glad to render to his afflicted friend. But only think of God Himself coming and guiding the blind—leading His blind children! He will not leave you to stumble and grope your way, nor will He bid you depend upon your fellow-Christian, who is as blind as yourself, but HE will be your Guide. Think of it.
2. Being their Guide, He will lead them in ways they never went before. “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not.” [1372] By the paths of repentance, faith, holiness of life.
[1372] The beauty of the promise appears in its especial adaptation to meet the peculiar exigence: “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not.” Of course, when a blind man knows the way, he can almost go without the guide. Many of our friends afflicted with the loss of sight find their way day by day along the accustomed road; and there have been some that have been so expert, though blind, that they could go over fifty miles of country, or thread their way in town up and down the streets of a milkman’s walk, serving at each customer’s house without ever making a mistake. In fact, they have often acted as guides to others; but then it has always been along a way that they have known.—Spurgeon.
3. Although the way by which we go be a way that we know not, we shall be led safely in it; for it is not only said, “I will lead them,” but “I will bring them,” which is more. [1375] You may lead a man, but he may be unable to follow you. We shall be safely led, even though we may be sometimes conducted along narrow “paths,” and not along the broad and frequented highways.
[1375] The safety follows from the fact that God is the Guide, rather than necessarily from the words of the promise. Alexander translates: “I will make the blind walk in a way they knew not; in paths they knew not I will make them tread;” the meaning being, that God would accomplish the deliverance of His people by a mode of His own choosing, to which they would have to conform.—Spurgeon.
III. WHAT SHALL COME OF IT? “I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.”
1. If you are in the darkness of trouble, trust in God and the trouble will vanish. The light of His countenance will chase away the darkness. The trouble may remain, but it will no longer distress you.
2. There is a crook in every lot, but trust in God. He can make the most crooked thing that ever did happen suddenly turn out to be the very straightest thing that ever occurred for our welfare.
IV. WHAT WILL BE THE END OF IT? The end of it will be (if you can see nothing, if you are blind, and leave yourself to the Lord to lead you, leaving all that concerns you to His counsel and His care), your life will be strewn with mercies, fulfilled promises; “These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” You shall find God present with you as long as you live. You will never be able to say, “I rested in Him, and was confounded; I trusted in Him, and found His promise fail.” [1378]C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. xxii. pp. 468–480.
[1378] Never does a child of God venture everything by faith but the faith answers.… I was greatly refreshed yesterday by what may seem to you a very small thing, but it was not small to God. I was turning over our church books and I came to the year 1861, and somewhere in January there is a record, “This church requires £4000 in order to pay for the New Tabernacle, and we, the undersigned, not knowing where it will come from, fully believe in our Heavenly Father that He will send it all to us in the proper time, as witness our hands.” And there stood subscribed my hand, and the hands of my deacons, and the hands of my elders, and the hands of a great many Christian women amongst us. Well, I was pleased to see that we had thus put our confidence in God. There were one or two names down there of very prudent brethren, and I recollect at the time I saw them sign it I was rather surprised, because they had been doubting most of the time whether we should ever get the money; but they signed their names like men. A month or two alterwards—say two months—there is this record: “I, Charles Haddon Spargeon, who am less than the least of all saints, set to my seal that God is true, for He has supplied us with all this £4000.” And then follows a fresh minute like this: “We, the undersigned, hereby declare our confidence in Almighty God, who has done to us according to our faith, and sent us, even before the time we wanted it, all that was wanted. We are ashamed of ourselves to think that we even had a doubt, and we pray that we may always confide in. Him in all things henceforth and for ever.” And then there is a long list of signatures.… We have had a good many times to do something like that for large amounts, as a church, but has the Lord ever failed us yet? Never! And He never will, and you may depend upon it that in your business, in your household affairs, in your spiritual struggles, if you will trust God, He will be as good as your trust, and better.—Spurgeon.
A blind man in a strange city dare not move. How valuable as well as kind if some one take him by the hand! You are compelled to travel in a country with which you are entirely unacquainted. There are many cross roads and few indications of the paths you should take. Some one overtakes you and shows you the path which conducts to your destination, but which, without his leading, you could probably not have found. It is night. Impenetrable darkness surrounds. You dare not move, lest you should plunge into some dangerous place; for it is a wild moorland. But the morning breaks. The sun begins to shine. The light is in your way. There is a crooked road which must be straightened before you can prosper. You cannot straighten it. Lo! it becomes straight!
Is not man’s path in this world one of darkness until God illuminates it? We are blind and ignorant. He alone can enlighten and inform us. He alone knows our way, and He has promised to lead us.
I. Look at this truth as illustrated by the history of the Church.
1. In Egypt the Israelites were blind. They groaned under their bondage, but saw no way of deliverance. But God did, and in due time He led them forth.
2. Through the wilderness they were led; they did not foresee the way. Even Moses did not arrange their movements. For great disciplinary reasons God kept them wandering forty years in an unexpected path. But He led them notwithstanding. There was the pillar of cloud and fire by day and by night.
3. In Babylon. It was a dark and dreary time. They hung their harps on the willows. They saw no possibility of restoration. But He knew of the Cyrus whom He would raise up, who would lead the besieging army, who would capture the city, who would proclaim deliverance. He knows beforehand the political movements of heathen courts, and how they will affect His Church.
4. From that time to the birth of Christ. The Jewish people in their own land. Wonderful control of circumstances by which the Advent occurred according to ancient promise.
5. Thus in the Church of Christ to the present time. Early Church led in a way quite other than the Apostles would have chosen. Through many vicissitudes the Christian Church has been brought. Yet her great Head has brought her through. Openings have been made for the gospel in unexpected ways. Thus it will be. We are blind. We know not how the final triumph of Christ will be secured, but it will be secured.
II. Look at this truth as illustrated by the spiritual experience of believers.
God has a people in this world. Some of them may not yet have been called from it. They are in the blindness of heathenism or indifference and sin. God’s time comes. Paul sets forth on his missionary journeys, Williams to the South Seas, Moffat to Africa. Souls are brought into contact with the truth. Christian households are formed. Some are called in early life under parental influence; some resist and continue for years in a course of sin; an unexpected sickness or disaster awakens, or God blesses some sermon (H. E. I. 1414, 1415). You did not know the way of salvation. Human wisdom did not devise it. You could never have discovered it. He brought it near. He led you to His feet, and began in your soul the strange new life.
And thus He is leading you to heaven. His Word and Spirit conduct by paths hitherto unknown. Sometimes through pleasant fields of promise, of communion, of holy aspiration, of Christian work; sometimes through dark passages of sorrow and perplexity; now awakening the slumbering conscience, now soothing the troubled heart. Thus He will continue (Psalms 107:7).
III. Look at this truth as illustrated by the course of Divine Providence.
How often are the Lord’s people brought into complete distress and uncertainty! They dare not move a foot lest it should be a fatal mistake. Then, when He has brought them to the realisation of their entire dependence on Him, and to cast themselves on Him in simple faith, He opens an unexpected way, by means quite unlikely. Jacob thus led into Egypt, where he finds the long-lost Joseph. Peter delivered by the angel from prison. Paul’s desire to see Rome gratified, not as he planned, but by his going as a prisoner. You are not to-day where you expected to be at the outset of your career. Recall your changes and deliverances.
Does not this subject teach the lesson of simple trust? Is it dark with you to-day? It is not so with Him. He knows why your sky is overcast. He may have blessings in store which could not otherwise come. Comfort your hearts with His promises. Gather up your courage. Let faith look through the cloud at His guiding hand.—J. Rawlinson.
A blind man touches the sympathies of those who see his condition. They become at once ready to help him. To God we are all blind. We see nothing as He sees it; and unless He lead, we cannot go. But His gracious promise is, “I will bring the blind,” &c.
I. The fulfilment of this promise has been splendidly exhibited in God’s dealings with our general humanity. How remarkable is that mystery of His gracious providence, that the most important things in the universe should come out of their very opposites!—e.g., that the greatest material prosperity should come out of the greatest spiritual aspiration. And yet this has been the history of the world. The only people able to hold itself unpulverised in the conflicts of nations is the one nation set apart wholly to the service of religion. When men try to further the world, enlarge its commerce, increase its mass of material wealth by devoting themselves only to the things which are seen, they become utterly degraded. On the contrary, material things used for spiritual ends gain new splendours. A house consecrated to God becomes a home. Bread eaten rather for the uses of the spirit that is in the body than for the body itself becomes holy.
II. This promise is no less wonderfully fulfilled in God’s dealings with individual souls. No man knows the way. Science cannot find a door in the hard wall of the visible: God must reveal it. When a spirit undertakes to engineer its course, it naturally seeks to enter at a wide gate, and to go in the broad way. To all human appearance there is room there. But when God takes the hand of the soul, He carries it through a very narrow gate, and along a very strait way. From His throne He sees every possible way from Egypt to Canaan. The soul can only see its immediate surroundings, a sea in front, mountain walls on both hands, or a wide, pathless, and devouring desert. We do not know the paths. He does. He is offering to guide us. Let us not go blundering in our blindness, falling over a hundred obstacles for every clear step we make. Let us put our hands in His, who hath promised to lead us.
“For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead;
Lead me aright,
Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed,
Through peace to light.
“I do not ask my cross to understand,
My way to see;
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
And follow Thee.”
—The Study and the Pulpit, 1877, pp. 761, 762.
How rich in comfort we should be if we could get well into the thought of this text, and if we could get the thought well into us! As to our being blind, needing counsel and guidance, in constant danger of taking false and disastrous steps if we attempt to pursue our way alone, how often are we reminded of this!
1. There is the blindness that results from the limitation of our faculties.
2. Blindness that is due to our inexperience.
3. Blindness caused by our degradation.
The promise in our text is very consoling by the very closeness and completeness with which it takes hold of our condition. Not only does it assure us of the loving guidance of God in a general way, but in those cases also where the darkness is deepest, and where the blindness is total. Even the blind have sometimes their familiar paths, where they are safe as long as they keep to them. Here, however, the blind are to be brought by ways they know not: they are to be led in paths they have not known. A very special guidance must here be at work, coming in at the moment of deepest need, taking us by the hand and leading us on, just when even the ordinary knowledge that serves us on the familiar paths can be of no use to us. When the usual roadway ends, when the landmarks disappear, when the well-known signs are gone, and no accustomed object meets the eye, then the Divine Hand comes near to lead the trustful heart, and to direct it into the heavenly way, which otherwise it could not find.
The special thought before us, then, is, that God, in His providence, so orders the critical and decisive steps of His people, that they are safe, even when they cannot see the issues. Illustrate this by a few striking examples.
1. The case of Joseph. Trace the stages of his career. Even he does not dream of the steps that will lead to the fulfilment of his destiny. Yet in what marvellous ways, through a process which now we should term romantic, does he at last reach the goal! The full conviction of Joseph, that God had been working through all that wonderful history, is clearly stated in his memorable words to his brethren (Genesis 45:8).
2. The sojourn of Israel in Egypt. Consider the manner in which Jacob was drawn down to Egypt to begin that sojourn. Joseph’s history had affected, not himself only, but that of the whole family and the whole race of Israel. But how totally unable must the members of that family have been to perceive the critical nature of the successive steps of the history! How wonderful that so many long years after Jacob had given up his son Joseph as being dead, regarding it as the crowning grief of a very strange and sorrowful life, news should be brought him that his son was yet alive, and that he must go and see him before his death! Then consider what that journey from Hebron into Egypt meant. Roots up Jacob from his home in his last days to die in a strange land: inaugurates the life of Israel in Egypt, &c. Yet Jacob, too, could see the hand of God in all the strange history of the past, when he could survey it in its wholeness, and was sure also of the future guidance of the people. Among his dying words he said to Joseph, “Behold, I die; but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.”
3. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Strange process was that by which Moses was fitted to become their deliverer, &c. Similar illustrations might be easily traced in the lives of such men as David, Nehemiah, Daniel, and indeed most of the saints of Old and New Testament Scripture, all bearing out the truth we have previously stated—that God’s providence takes special care of the critical and decisive steps of His people, so that they are safely guided through the paths they did not and could not know.
Our text indicates, also, what these histories beautifully confirm—
1. That happy surprises are in store for those who are thus Divinely led. “I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.”
2. That the Divine purpose and fidelity are all-comprehensive. God does not break off in the middle of things, but fully completes what He begins. “These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.”
Such a subject as this may well be applied to strengthen our faith and hope. It suggests such lessons as the following:—
1. The leading is conducted by Infinite Wisdom and Love. God’s purpose is one of highest beneficence, and He cannot belie Himself. “He who spared not His own Son,” &c. (Romans 8:32).
2. The leadings of God may often cross our wishes, and therefore we must follow in the spirit of trust. Trust is essential to the blind. To break away from the Guide in the spirit of self-will and rebellion is to invite disaster and endanger all that follows. Our safety lies in our self-surrender to God, in our childlike acceptance of His appointed way.
3. This trust is to be combined with the spirit of sincere and honest effort. It is no lazy and spurious resignation, which tamely submits to infirmities it ought to cure, and wearily bears the evils it ought to vanquish. That is not to be led—it is to be carried; and it is a decaying, a rotting religion that will not put its own feet to the. ground and bravely do its part. God guides those who will walk, who will follow. Through many a secret passage of life and over many an untrodden path will He at last bring us out into the open places, where He will make darkness light before us, and crooked things straight. These things will He do unto us, and not forsake us.—William Manning.
The promises of God are not only “exceeding great and precious,” but exceedingly manifold and varied. Now the eye is caught by some single star, shining intensely bright in the midnight sky; and now a clustered constellation seems to burst on the sight. Look, for example, at the text. In it there are four distinct promises, each rising above the other in grace and consolation. They are made by God under the character of a Guide, and they represent Him as undertaking—
1. To bring sinners into the right way.
2. To lead them in the way.
3. To remove difficulties out of the way.
4. To continue His guidance even unto the end.—C. F. Childe: Sermons, pp. 232, 233.
LED BY UNKNOWN PATHS
Isaiah 42:16. I will lead the blind by a way that they knew not, &c.
This is the language and promise of the Lord. He here speaks of Himself, and tells us what He will do—things strange and unknown, and perhaps unanticipated. It is impossible to have a just view of this text without adverting with some minuteness to its original application. But its meaning is no less spiritual than prophetical, and is as applicable to every soul as it was to the Gentile nations. This union of prophetical and spiritual meaning forms one of the most striking characteristics, and one of the greatest beauties, of the writings of this prophet. The prophetical meaning has been verified by centuries of history, and all that history now is a bold and open evidence that the spiritual meaning shall equally hold good. If the darkened Gentiles have been led, &c., the darkened sinner, if he will heed God, shall be led so too.
I. SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF THIS PROPOSITION. When God leads men to true religion, He does lead them very differently from any and from all of their previous anticipations. This is true of every soul in many respects.
1. The thing, circumstance, or truth, whatever it may be, which first fixes the great matter of salvation upon the mind, is something very different from anything commonly anticipated. One man has one set of causes, and another another. So with the young, &c. If they are led to seek God at all, He leads them in a way they knew not. This forms among Christians one of the most common and cherished reasons for gratitude (H. E. I. 1410–1415).
2. The same thing will find illustration in the manner of a sinner’s forgiveness. Anxious inquirers are prone to think they must endure some more painful fears, or attain some righteousness which, somehow, shall be an offset to their guilt, before God’s pardon can ever reach them (Romans 10:2-3). All this is in vain. If God leads them, they will see it is in vain. Salvation is a gift; and that God has led them in an unknown way, their own astonishment is evidence, when they have found peace in believing. Among the sweet and grateful recollections of believers, this leading of God has universally a place.
3. Perhaps the most remarkable of all illustrations of this truth is to be found in the experience of Christians. We should naturally expect them to have more correct expectations of God’s treatment than other people. But they are slow to learn; they are often disappointed; their anticipations are no foreshadowings of God’s treatment of them. Their comforts, their prosperity, and strength seldom come to them in the way of their anticipations; yea, very seldom, or never. The allotments of Divine Providence which affect them most are such as they little expected.
II. SOME REMARKS ON THIS SUBJECT.
1. God will make Himself known as infinitely above us. Be ashamed that you ever distrusted Him.
2. We must have faith. We cannot walk by sight.
3. If God is leading us on toward heaven, He will compel us to trust Him. We are blind. By faith darkness becomes light. Never point out a way for yourself. Take God’s way. Never despond. Trust Him. Accept His Son, and pillow your aching head upon His promises (P. D. 1652–1659).
4. This mode of God’s leading us is calculated to bring us most near to Himself. Has it not been so?
Do nothing but trust Him in His Son.—Ichabod S. Spencer, D.D.: Sermons, vol. i. pp. 247–262.
The great truth which the prophet plainly teaches is, that the whole course of each individual is so guided and arranged by an unseen, but not an unfelt hand, that, like a blind man, he is led by another. Proverbs 16:9 is almost a commentary upon this passage.
“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”
I. Illustrate this by a little introspective inspection of your inner and past history. Recall, as far as you are able, all you can recollect in your past biography. Is not your whole life, in warp and woof, totally different from anything you ever expected years ago? Like blind men, you have been led in a path that you knew not. This is the fulfilment of God’s prophecy. Did not an unforeseen accident, as the world would call it, alter the course of your career? A bereavement—a sudden reverse—an accidental conversation or remark Will any man tell me that all these little incidents fraught with vast issues were chance? Is it not upon the minutest incidents that the most gigantic results often depend? What can be the explanation? God leads us (H. E. I. 3223–3226, 4015–4022).
But what is still more remarkable, God often takes the sins of His people, and out of those sins He elaborates their progress in likeness to Himself, and in fitness for the kingdom of heaven. Nothing so demonstrates the infinite compassion of God as this.
Apply the same great truths to those things that brought you to the Saviour. The heart wounded to the quick, only to apply to it a balm that heals it perfectly and forever. Instances of this in the Bible: The Samaritan woman (John 4); the Feast of Pentecost and Peter’s sermon (Acts 2); Saul visiting Damascus on an errand of proscription and blood (Acts 9); Abraham—Jacob—the Shunamite woman. What are these but proofs that God leads the blind in a way that they know not? And what do they teach us? “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.
II. Some useful practical inferences.
1. God is in everything. In all things. magnificently great, and microscopically minute. There is nothing so small that it is beneath His notice; there is nothing so great that He does not control (Matthew 10:30).
2. This God, that thus leads the blind by a way that they know not, is the Christian’s Father. If it were God only that is in all things, it would not be comfort; it would be awe, &c. Nothing can touch His children till He has given it its mission and its commission.
3. Do not hastily judge, when adversities overtake you, what the issue will be. We are prone to infer from what overtakes us now what must betide us always: such is not Christian logic. Whatever be the issue, all afflictions that overtake us have a present beneficent action. Never let us employ in estimating what God has done that unhappy monosyllable IF. These ifs are the steps of God—the stages of Providence, &c. (Isaiah 50:10). Therefore, whenever you cannot explain the circumstances that surround you, &c., remember that God your Father is leading you, a blind man, by ways that you do not know. Wait, trust, pray, hope, and God will make crooked things straight, and dark places light.—J. Cumming, D.D.: Redemption Draweth Nigh, pp. 357–369.
God has foreordained everything which He Himself will do (Acts 15:18). And He has been gradually unfolding His designs from the beginning. The restoration of the Jews from Babylon and the calling of the Gentiles into the Church were very wonderful events, but in them this prediction was fulfilled. It receives further accomplishment daily.
I. God’s dealings are mysterious.
1. The dispensations of His providence have been at all times dark.
2. The dispensations of His grace are equally inscrutable. This is seen in the first quickening of men from their spiritual death, and in their subsequent spiritual life.
II. His intentions are merciful. The perplexities of His people are often very great, but He has gracious designs in all (Jeremiah 29:11; Job 42:12-13, with James 5:11). Joseph (Genesis 37:6-10; Genesis 37:28; Genesis 39:17-20). The same mercy is discoverable in God’s dealings with all His afflicted people. He suffers their path to be for a time dark and intricate, but He invisibly directs and manages their concerns; He gradually removes their difficulties, and clears up their doubts (Galatians 3:23-24; John 15:2; Malachi 3:3; Psalms 97:2). They are often ready to doubt His love, but—
III. His regards are permanent. God did not forget His people when they were in Babylon, neither will He now forsake those who trust in Him (Isaiah 44:7-8; Isaiah 49:14-16; 1 Samuel 12:22; Philippians 1:6). The prophets declare this in the strongest terms (Isaiah 54:9-10; Jeremiah 31:37; Jeremiah 32:40). St. Paul abundantly confirms their testimony (Romans 11:29; Hebrews 13:5-6).
INFERENCES.—
1. How careful should we be not to pass a hasty judgment on the Lord’s dealings! (H. E. I. 4038–4048).
2. How safely may we commit ourselves to God’s disposal!—C. Simeon, M.A.: Claude’s Essay, &c., p. 229.
A PROMISE FOR THE PERPLEXED
Isaiah 42:16. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.
This promise refers primarily to the manner in which God purposed to deliver His ancient people from bondage, by means at once unprecedented and complete; but it is surely available for all who, confessing their own blindness and powerlessness, cast themselves upon God for guidance and succour. Such persons may plead this promise in reference—
1. To ignorance which they wish to have removed (James 1:5).
2. To mysterious providences. God’s dealings with us and others are often incomprehensible, and inexplicable by us; but let us wait patiently, believingly, and prayerfully, and in due time this promise will be fulfilled (H. E. I. 4040–4058).
3. To Christian duty. The sincere Christian constantly asks, “What is the will of God concerning me?” But many difficulties may be in the way of deciding this question; a variety of points may require to be nicely adjusted; contrary claims may leave the balance of the scales almost in a state of equipoise; but in due season the sincere seeker for Divine direction shall be directed (Proverbs 3:6).
4. To formidable difficulties that appear insurmountable. “There is a crook in every lot;” but in regard to the Christian all “crooked things shall be made straight.” They may give a great deal of trouble for a time, but in the end they will prove helpful and not hurtful to the patient believer.—William Reeve: Miscellaneous Discourses, pp. 434–440.
Sin has its fascinating lustre and flaring splendour; murky clouds often rest upon the way of righteousness and truth; but sin’s splendours go out in pitch darkness, while at eventide there is light for the Christian.
I. The believer’s darkness is turned into light, and the crooks of his lot are straightened.
1. The frequent grim darkness.
(1.) Much of it is of his own imagining. Many of our sorrows are purely homespun, and some minds are specially fertile in self-torture; they have the creative faculty for the melancholy; enjoyments even cause them to tremble lest they should be shortlived.
(2.) Much existing darkness is exaggerated. “Joseph is not, Simeon is not;” but Jacob pictured Joseph devoured of an evil beast, and Simeon given up to slavery in a foreign land. Take up the cross, and mountains will shrink to molehills.
(3.) Troubles disappear just when we expect them to become overwhelming. The waters of the Red Sea stood upright as a heap to make a pathway for God’s people. Who can tell what plan God may have in store for him? Hezekiah was sore dismayed before Rabshakeh. Little did he know that the talk and boasting were all that would come of it.
(4.) When the trial comes, God has a way of making His people’s trials cease just as they reach their culminating point. As the sea when it reaches to the flood pauses awhile and then returns to the ebb, so our sorrows rise to a height and then recede. Hear God bid Abraham sacrifice his son! He makes darkness light when the darkest hour of the night has struck.
(5.) Every trial was foreseen, and has been forestalled. God can furnish a table in the wilderness.
(6.) However severe the trial, God has promised that as our days our strength shall be. Considering that the grace is always proportioned to the trial, and that trials produce manliness, one might even choose trial for the sake of obtaining the grace which is promised with it; the mingled trial and grace will make our lives sublime.
(7.) Especially dwell upon the promise that the Lord will make your darkness light. How soon, and how perfectly, can Omnipotence accomplish this! How soon is it done in the physical universe! A fulness of consolation can be poured forth in a moment. How is it done? Sometimes by the sun of His providence. Often by the moon of Christian experience, which shines with borrowed light, but yet with sweet and tranquil brightness. Frequently by a sight of Jesus going before, and by hearing Him say, “Follow me; fear not; for in all your afflictions I am afflicted.” God had one Son without sin; but He never had a son without chastisement. And often by snatching a firebrand from the altar of His Word, and waving it as a torch before us, that we may advance in its light.
2. The crooks of the believer’s lot.
(1.) One may lie in your poverty.
(2.) Another in some very crooked calamity.
(3.) If he is free from these, he has at least a crooked self. The others would matter little but for this. It may be you have crooked temptations—temptations to profanity or to certain vices.
3. God will make all the crooked things straight.
(1.) It may be that some are straight now; the making straight is only to make them seem so to us. Our crosses are our best estates.
(2.) God can bend the crooked straight, and what will not bend, He can break. The crooked character has been bent straight; the judgment of God has taken away the crook out of the household, so that the righteous might have peace. If He do not this, He will give power to overleap the difficulty (2 Samuel 22:30).
II. Some words to the seeker.
1. Some doctrines are dark to you. God makes all light to faith.
2. Perhaps your darkness rises from deep depression of mind. Faith must precede its dispersion; faith will disperse it.
3. Your crooked natural disposition God can make straight. Note—
(1.) That which saves is not what is, but what will be. “I will make darkness light; I will make crooked things straight.” There is a transformation in store.
(2.) It is not what you can do, but what God can do. “I, Jehovah, will do it.”
(3.) This work may not be yours at once, but it shall be soon. It does not say, “I will make darkness light today;” still it does say, “I will.”
III. Two lessons to believers.
1. If God will thus make all your darkness light and all your crooked things straight, do not forestall your troubles.
2. Always believe in the power of prayer.—C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (1868), pp. 709–720.