THE SOUL’S WEARINESS IN ITS SINFUL WAY
Isaiah 57:10. Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way, &c.
There is a littleness and there is a greatness in men’s sins. Some people are mean, timid in wickedness, would indulge passions more freely if they dared. But there is a force and boldness about the sins of others; they disregard public opinion, rush impetuously along broad roads, &c. Whilst we condemn, we also mourn, because such strength and manhood are wasted in the “greatness of their way.”
The text refers to a period of great iniquity in Jewish history during Manasseh’s reign. The light of Divine truth had not utterly faded away, so the nation was full of unrest and misery, and yet would not retrace its steps, and make its peace with God. Pathetic is this picture of the misery of sin.
I. THE SOUL’S WEARINESS IN IT SINFUL WAY.
Various are the causes of weariness.
1. The attempt of the creature to be independent of the Creator. A sinful life is an attempt to do without God. But our noblest instincts impel us to lean upon the power and love of God. Dependence is stamped upon every faculty and fibre of our nature. Who then can wonder that men grow weary when they strive to live an independent, self-sufficient life? The creature can no more do without the Creator, than streamlet without fountain, or branch without tree.
2. A sense of the unworthiness of a sinful life. No one can be really happy without some degree of self-respect. Other persons can laud a man to the skies, but it spoils all if in his heart he despises his own motives and conduct. Self-contempt is a source of keenest misery. There are moments of clear insight, when many a Christless man sees the utter disproportion between the life which he leads, and the nature God has given him—between what he is and what he was meant to be, and might be. When he thus begins to despise himself he is “wearied.”
3. The efforts of an outraged nature to avenge itself. It is impossible for a man to ill-treat himself without his very nature protesting against the injury. There are forces of pain which start into activity as soon as the evil is done. The body avenges its own wrongs—so also the soul. Give it error when it needs truth; husks of worldly pleasure when it hungers for bread of life, and a cry of discontent and pain will break forth from the injured soul. So the path of sin is a tiresome road, and men often grow “wearied.”
II. THE SOUL’S PERSISTENCE IN ITS SINFUL WAY.
Weary but persistent. Many things impel men to pursue the road even when faint.—
1. The marvellous vitality of hope. Hope is like a hardy plant, which may be trampled under foot, but presently springs up into fresh life and beauty. Men are often baffled, deceived, achieve grand results, led on by living energy of hope. Yet all great things draw greatly astray when wrongly directed. So hope impels men to persist in folly and sin. Disappointed, wearied, they still persevere.—-
2. Dislike to confess failure. It seems a degradation to many a man to admit that he has made a mistake. Pride often leads the sinner to persist in his way. Weary at heart, yearning for a nobler life, still it is hard work for him to humble himself, to go back, to say, “I have sinned.”—
3. Ignorance of God’s character. Some think they are beyond Divine mercy—that God is “altogether such an one” as themselves—impatient and unforgiving toward those who have wronged Him. Weary souls would sometimes eagerly return to Him, and seek His grace, if they only saw into the depths of His heart and knew the truth.
CONCLUSION.—There is a Divine purpose in pain and weariness. God makes the sinner’s way difficult, so that he may be led to forsake it. When we cry, “There is no hope,” then there is hope through Christ, who was once wearied in the greatness of His way.—F. W. Mays, M.A.: The Homiletic Magazine, vol. vii. p. 145.
Isaiah 57:11-12. I. Hypocrisy. Fearless, false, inconsiderate, presumptuous. II. Its exposure. Certain, full. Its righteousness, nought; its works, wicked; its hopes, vain.
Isaiah 57:12. I. Men’s righteousness. II. Its exposure. III. Its worthlessness.
Isaiah 57:13-16. I. The insufficiency of human confidences. II. The all-sufficiency of God.
Isaiah 57:13. I. False confidences. Cannot save. Will be swept away. End in destruction and misery. II. True confidence. Fixed in God. Enjoys present blessings. Inherits future happiness.
Isaiah 57:14. I. The stumbling-blocks. Inconsistencies. Errors. Divisions. False professors. II. Their removal. Necessary. Imperative. Personal.—Dr. Lyth.