Of the many truths which the passage before us teaches, the mysterious intervolution of the plans of God with the plans of men will seem to some minds the most impressive.
I. The enclosure of the plans of men within the plans of God is such that commonly men appear to be left very much to themselves.
II. In leaving men to themselves in the forming and working of their own plans, Divine control does not prevent the occurrence of very shocking catastrophes.
III. Yet the plans of God envelop and use the plans of men with more than motherly tenderness for every man, every woman, every child.
IV. The interlacing of the plans of God with the plans of man goes far towards explaining the mystery of shocking and exceptional calamity. Suffering is God's great remedial antithesis to sin.
V. The interworking of the plans of God with the plans of men suggests the only true method of happy as well as holy living. It is to make our plans one with God's plans.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book,p. 215.
Reference: Jeremiah 52:11. J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 140.