I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth.
Youthful religion
I. The rich and glowing description of youthful piety here given.
1. Ardent affection.
2. Union of the soul to Christ.
3. A going after God.
4. Not discouraged by difficulties and troubles.
5. A religion of holiness.
II. The aspect which the Divine remembrance of youthful piety may have on different circumstances of life.
1. A view of approbation.
(1) When you are successfully struggling with the temptations of the world.
(2) When you act under the influence of youthful impressions in promoting the cause of truth and holiness.
(3) When sunk in deep affliction.
(4) When young people come to be old people.
2. A remembrance of regret and displeasure. (R. Winter, D. D.)
“Thy first love”
I. God remembers with grace the best things of His people’s early days.
1. I think that it is, first, because all these were His own work. If there was in thee any light, or life, or love, it was the gift of the Spirit of God.
2. God also remembers with pleasure those best things in His people’s early days because they gave Him great delight at the time. Those first tears, which we tried to brush away secretly, were so precious to the Lord that He stored them away in His bottle.
3. It is very sweet to reflect that, when God says that He remembers the love of our espousals, and the kindness of our youth, He does not mention the faults connected with our early days. Our gracious God has a very generous memory.
4. The Lord so remembers the best things of our early days that He recounts them. He says, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth.” Let us try whether we can recollect how we showed our kindness to our God in our early days. Then the Lord adds, “I remember thee the love of thine espousals.” Oh, some of us did love God very fervently in our early days! Observe that the Lord speaks in our text of Israel’s going after Him into the wilderness: “I remember thee. .. when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness.” Perhaps some of you, when you became Christians, had to give up a situation, or to quit some evil trade. Perhaps you had to run the gauntlet of a workshop where everybody laughed you to scorn. Some of you had hard times in those days; yet I will not call them hard, for you never had in all your life such joy as you had then. When everybody gave you an ill word, then Christ was most precious to you, and your love to Him burned with a steady flame.
II. God remembers with a gracious purpose the best things of our early days.
1. He remembers them that He may make use of and honour us in our after days. There is many a man, now honoured in the service of God, who would not have been if he had not been faithful to God as a youth; and I believe that there is many a man who has missed his opportunity of serving God through not beginning well.
2. God remembers these early faithful ones, to instruct them, and to reveal Himself to them.
3. The Lord also remembers what we do in our youthful love and kindness, that He may sustain us in the time of trouble.
4. Especially do I think that this must be true in the time of old age. “I remember how you worked for Me when you could work for Me; and now that you are getting grey and old, and can do but little in your last days, I will uphold you, and bear you safely through.”
III. God would have us remember the best things of our early days for our rebuke. Ah, you are not what you used to be, not so decided, not so joyous, not so faithful! What have you been at? Do you not owe more to God now than you did then! You have come a good way on the road since then; ought you to love Him less? He has blessed you; He has preserved you; He has forgiven you; He has manifested Himself to you. You have had some grand times when your heart has burned within you; you have sometimes had a taste of heaven upon earth. Should you not, therefore, love Him much more than at the first? Oh, come back with tears of deep regret, and give yourself again to God! Have you ever seen a water-logged ship towed into harbour? She has encountered a storm; all her masts are gone, she has sprung a leak, and is terribly disabled; but a tug has got hold of her, and is drawing her in, a poor miserable wreck, just rescued from the rocks. I do not want to enter heaven that way, “scarcely saved.” But now look at the other picture. There is a fair wind, the sails are full, there is a man at the helm, every sailor is in his place, and the ship comes in with a swing, she stops at her proper place in the harbour, and down goes the anchor with cheery shouts of joy from the mariners who have reached their desired haven. That is the way to go to heaven; in full sail, rejoicing in the blessed Spirit of God, who has given us an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God’s remembrance of our covenant with Him
I. A solemn dedication to God and entering into covenant with Him.
1. A contract founded in love. The soul is under the influence of a supreme love to God, a high esteem of His infinite excellences, and a grateful sense of His innumerable benefits.
2. This contract consists of mutual, unalterable engagements. The soul gives itself to the Lord; enters into covenant to be wholly devoted to His service and interest, and to admit no rival with Him. God avouches such a soul for His; and promises to be its God, its father, portion, and happiness.
3. This covenant, like the marriage covenant, is never to be dissolved.
II. The pleasing remembrance which God has of an early dedication to Him. God accepts it as double kindness.
1. Because in youth the affections are most warm and lively.
2. Because it is rare and uncommon. (Job Orton.)
Backsliding reproved
I. Remarks.
1. Behold in God a disposition to commend, rather than condemn. While we admire this tenderness, let us learn also to resemble it. Let us approve as far as we can; and, in examining characters, let us observe the good more largely than the evil. Let us beware of indiscriminate reflection; of speaking severely of persons in the gross; of branding a whole course of life with the reproach of a particular action.
2. God remembers the past. Our memories soon fail us. Old impressions soon give place to new ones, and we often find it difficult to recall, without assistance, an occurrence that happened a few months ago. But “a thousand years are in His sight but as yesterday,” etc.
3. It is well to be informed of what we once were, and to be led back to our former experience. It is useful for a preacher sometimes to remind us of our natural state; that we may “look to the rock whence we are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence we were digged.” We need everything that is favourable to self-examination and self-knowledge.
II. Application.
1. To Christians under declensions in religion. How dreadful is it that, when everything requires our advancement, we should be stationary! that, when means and ordinances, mercies and trials, unite to urge us forward; that, when our obligations to God are daily increasing, and the day of account every hour approaching so we should not only stand still--but even draw back!
2. To those who promises fair in their youth, and are now become irreligious. Perhaps you say, “But we are not vicious and profligate.” So far it is well. And oh that this was true of all! but, alas! we have swearers now, who in their youth feared an oath; we have Sabbath breakers now, who in their youth revered the sacred hours; we have sceptics and scoffers now, who from a child knew and admired “the Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation.” You say, “We are not like them. But they were not thus drawn aside all at once; they became wicked by degrees. This is always the course of sin. They “proceed from evil to evil”: they “wax worse and worse.”
3. To those who in their early days are truly devoted to the service and glory of God. To such the words are applicable--not in a way of reproach, but honour--not in a way of rebuke, but encouragement. (W. Jay.)
Failures
“Many a fine morning has been overspread with clouds, and followed by foul weather. Many a tree in spring has been covered with blossoms, which have never settled into fruit.” King George had it in his mind to build a marble palace, and he has left behind him nothing but a marble arch. All failures. (W. Jay.)
Changed moral conditions
It is difficult to think that the mighty rocks which are as hard as flint were once as soft as the flesh of a little child, and that your finger dent would have left a mark upon them as upon dough kneaded for the next batch of bread. Upon some rocks there is the impression of leaves and ferns. In our great museums there are stone slabs with the marks of raindrops that fell in gentle showers hundreds and hundreds of years ago, while on other rocks may be seen the footprints made by wild birds upon the soft beach by the side of some rushing stream in some remote age. Gradually the clayey soil hardened into stone, and from the tracery and marks upon the rocks it is possible to tell what kind of trees and birds grew and flourished in those early times. As with the hard rock, so with the hard heart. It was once soft and gentle. God said to the children of Israel, whose hearts had become like stone, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth” (Jeremiah 2:2). (A. Hampden Lee.)