I. The Christian thrives better from not being permitted to make haste in acquirements. This passage is directed against anything like hurry or bustle. It does not so much declare that the believer can never advance rapidly as that he shall never move with that agitated step which betokens insecurity. It does not denote a sluggish pace to be unavoidable; but simply implies that what is hasty and sudden will not be allowed. And a little reflection will convince us of the advantages of such an arrangement. It holds good in almost everything, that what is done hastily is seldom done well. There is a great deal of rough work in all matters of learning, which the scholar would gladly avoid; but there will be nothing substantial in it unless this natural inclination be carefully opposed. The case is just the same in regard to religion; there is a great deal of rough work here as well as in languages or sciences. It is for the believer's advantage that he is not allowed to slur over this rough work. Take the experience of Christians, and you will find that where progress has been most rapid, the commencement has been most arduous. If the Christian have once been greatly humbled, emptied of self, and alarmed at the view of God's wrath against sin, he will never afterwards lose the feelings thus excited within him. They will accompany him; not to agitate him, but to admonish him; not to terrify, but to alarm.
II. Consider certain of the comforts and enjoyments which are ensured to the believer by the promise that he shall not make haste. (1) He has a protector always at hand, so that in seasons of emergency he need not run to and fro in search of succour. He has nothing to hasten from, for he is shielded against every assault. He has nothing to hasten to, for he is already enclosed within a rampart of security. (2) We speak of the advantages which result from what is called presence of mind. If the Christian but live up to the privileges which this promise includes, he will never know what it is to be scared by unexpected things, or hurried into injudicious. He can never be called upon for instant decision, so. as to have no time for asking counsel of God. (3) Meekness and patience are included in the announcement of our text. It promises the believer that he shall be collected in the midst of danger, confident in the face of difficulties, hopeful in trial, happy in affliction, steadfast in death. "He that believeth shall not make haste."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 2061.
Our day is one in which men, emphatically, "make haste." Hurry, bustle, drive, meet us at every turn. Of this state of things every one complains, but no one seems able to extricate himself from it. We are drawn into a vortex; it is useless to struggle; all we can do is to yield.
In the passage to which the text belongs, a contrast seems to be drawn between those persons who construct some refuge of their own to protect them from the ills of life, and those others who are willing to avail themselves of that well-built and well-founded House which the Lord God hath provided for them; and then the dismay and disappointment of the one party, when their expectations are found to deceive them, are contrasted with the calm security and confidence of the other. The idea of the text is, that if a man believes in God, and trusts in God, and will consent to work on the lines which God has laid down, he will be saved from that restless, worldly agitation of mind which produces so frequently such calamitous results.
I. Notice how, in temporal matters, this desirable state of things will be brought about. Let a man believe thoroughly in God as one who rewards faithful labour, although He may not see fit to reward it at once, and that man will be kept from the perils into which a restless and unsettled agitation of mind would probably betray him. He can afford to be strong and patient, for he knows that the reward will come.
II. Turn from temporal to spiritual matters. (1) The man who "believeth" has not to run helplessly hither and thither, when a strain comes upon him, seeking for principles to sustain him in the hour of trial. He has got his principles, and they are ready for use. Restless agitation is not his, for his soul is centred and held in equipoise. (2) The man who believes in a living God will not be full of nervous apprehensions about the future of Christianity. Men may break themselves in pieces against the Rock of Ages, but the Rock itself will never move. "He that believeth shall not make haste."
G. Calthrop, Words Spoken to My Friends,p. 136.
References: Isaiah 28:16. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xi., p. 277; J. G. Murphy, Book of Daniel,p. 62; H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit,No. 2061; S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches,p. 38.