Sermon 3164. The Mission of Affliction

(No. 3164)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 8, 1873.

"Let him alone, and let him curse, for so the Lord has ordered him. It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, andthat the Lord willrepay me with good for his cursing this day." 2 Samuel 16:11,12.

THE bright side of David's character was generally seen either when he was actively engaged or when he was greatly suffering.He was the man of action. When he ran to meet Goliath and returned with the giant's head in his hand, or when it was necessarythat he should lead forth the hosts of God to war against Philistia, then David was in his element. He was one who never fearedthe face of man! He was courageous, dauntless and full of confidence in God.

Equally well does he stand out in the time of his trouble. He will not lift up his hand against Saul even when the king isin his power. If he cuts off the skirt of Saul's robe, even then his heart smites him. When his adversaries are before himand with a blow he can put them to death, with unusual magnanimity he restrains his hand and will not touch them. Revengewas not in his spirit. He was full of gentleness and tenderness. It is well for men of this kind when they have somethingto do or something to suffer. And perhaps this may account for it, that men have to be very busy or very faithful if theyare to avoid being sinful. There are spirits so ardent, so fervent, that unless they have either to do or to bear God's willwith a high degree of intensity, they are lacking in brightness and cheerfulness. David was seldom at leisure without fallinginto mischief. His great sin, his grievous sin was on this wise. It was the time when kings went forth to battle, but Davidsent Joab to fight against Ammon and he stayed at home. We read that at eventide, "David arose from off his bed and walkedupon the roof of his house." He had become luxurious and then it was that temptation came and he fell. His second great offensewas very much after the same order. He had subdued all his enemies. The rebellion of Absalom was put down with a strong hand.All was quiet within and without-and then Satan moved him to number the people. He thought, "I am the king of a great countryand I should like to know how many subjects I have. I should like to know how many troops I have. Joab, go and take a censusand bring it to me, that I may understand how great I am."

And then it was that God sent His servant to warn him that He would chasten him for his pride of heart. And He gave him thechoice of three chastisements-one of which must fall upon the people. David was like a sword, which if hung up on a wall,would soon gather rust, but when he was moved to fight the Master's battle, he was of wondrous keen temper and could cut tothe dividing asunder of the joints and the marrow! Let us dread, then, ease and repose-

"For, more the treacherous calm I dread Than tempests hanging over head."

Let us be afraid of having nothing to do and be thankful for something to sufferif we have not something to do actively, forlet us alone and the best of us will corrode! And if I am addressing any man who has lately given up business and is enjoyingrepose, I would urge upon him the wisdom of seeking some service for Christ which would engage his faculties, for it is trueof Christians as well as other people, that-

"Satan always mischief finds, For idle hands to do."

Our text tonight exhibits David in the time of his trouble. He is here so admirable and his conduct is here so commendable,that I hold him up as an example to all. There are four things in this transaction which we all ought to copy. The first wasthe absence of resentment from the heart of David. The second was his entire resignation to the Divine Will. The third washis expectancy from God, alone. And the fourth was his looking to the bright side and still having hope.

I. First, then, ADMIRE DAVID AND THEN TRY TO COPY HIM IN THIS RESPECT. We read you the story just now. [The exposition wasalways read first, but printed at the end of the sermon.] Now the attack of Shimei upon David was very cowardly. David hadbeen king for many years but you never hear a word from Shimei while the king was on his throne and in power. This man wasskulking in the farthest corners of the land, no doubt often biting his tongue, but having too much sense to use it againstthe powerful king. But now that David is fleeing from the palace and his son is pursuing him, eager for his blood, out comesthis coward from his skulking place and begins to accuse the king. Those who would not have dared to speak against David before,now abuse him to his face with opprobrious epithets! It is very hard to bear a cowardly attack. One is very apt to reply anduse hard words to one who takes advantage of your position and deals you the coward's blow. Only the coward strikes a manwhen he is down. It is just possible that somebody here may be suffering from an injury which he knows the person responsiblefor it would not have dared to inflict in years gone by. That helps to make the blow more cutting-when it comes from a coward'shands.

Besides being so cowardly, it was so brutal. We pity a man that is in distress. When a king has lost his throne. When a fatherhas his own child in rebellion against him, one says, "Whatever may have been his fault, this is not the time to mention them."When the poor heart is bleeding and the man is already suffering the very extremity of misery, who would wish to add a singleounce to the crushing weight that he has to carry? Sympathy and common humanity seem to say, "Be quiet! Hush! Another time,when he mounts again to prosperity, then, if it is necessary, let us faithfully rebuke him for his faults, but not now. Itis not seemly." If this dog of a Shimei must fly at David when he is suffering, most surely Satan, himself, must have sethim on to aggravate to the last degree the miseries of David! And yet David has not one hard word to say against him. No,he becomes his advocate, bears with the brutal attack-cowardly as it was-betrays no temper, but peacefully, calmly, gratefullyspares the life which was in his hands!

Moreover, remember that the attack was especially a false one. He called David a bloody man and accused him of having destroyedthe house of Saul. Nothing could have been more false, for when Saul was in David's power on two occasions, once in the caveand once when he lay asleep on the slope of the mountain, David did not put out his hand to touch the Lord's anointed! WhenSaul and Jonathan were slain on Gilboa, David sincerely mourned and wrote that pathetic elegy-the song which he bade themlearn to sing in mourning for Saul who fell on the high places. And afterwards, when the Amalekite came with the crown ofSaul, hoping to be rewarded, David had him put to death on the spot! When wicked men came with the head of Ishbosheth, hopingto gratify David, he slew them both for the murder. Moreover, he sought out Mephibosheth and though he was lame in both hisfeet and could not stand, he bade him sit at his table and did him honor. So far from being a bloody man, he had, on the contrary,even though hunted by Saul and his blood had been sought by the leader of that house, yet had he never returned evil for evil.

It is very hard to be reproached for what you do not do. I do not know how, but somehow the falseness of an accusation doesput a degree of sting into it. I have heard of a woman who was charged with a certain degree of dishonesty. Her minister saidto her, "You need not be so grieved about it if it is not true." "No, Sir," she said, "I should not be grieved about it, ifit were not true, but there's the point about it, it is true." And just so, if we were sensible, we should only feel thosecharges that are true-and the edge would be taken off others when we knew our conscience did not justify them. But it doesnot happen to be so. We do not hold the scales well. We feel that it is a very cruel thing to have things laid to our chargethat we knew nothing of-and when our whole life has been in one direction-to have it laid to our door that we act quite contraryto that is a very stinging thing. Shimei, I suppose, could not have uttered anything that could sting David more to the quickthan when he said to him, "You are a bloody man and have destroyed the house of Saul." Yet David did not put out his handto him. He said, "Let him alone! Let him curse." Magnanimously he allowed him to escape unscathed, though Shimei cast stonesand dirt upon him.

Sometimes the way in which a thing is put is more cutting than the thing itself. For Shimei did not merely speak his chargeagainst David, but he put it in the bitterest way, "Come out, come out!" as though he scorned him! And then he threw stonesand dirt at him, as though he did not mind him now, as though he thought David the very dust beneath his feet and called himthe offscouring of all things. Few among us can bear scorn. I suppose that a bitter sarcasm often stings where a downrightcharge, however false, might not have done so. A little bit of ridicule, with malice in it, will often wound, and little dowe know how many may have gone with broken hearts all their days through unkind words that have been spoken, perhaps halfin jest, but which, being taken in earnest, have made terrible wounds in the soul. Yet

David would not be provoked by this man's lies nor by the tones in which he spoke them-but like a true king, all royal ashe was, he said-"Let him alone. Let him curse. It is hard to bear, but I will bear it."

Now remember that David could very easily have put an end to all this. It was in his power to put an end to Shimei at once."Off with his head," said Abishai-and there would have been the end of the argument. Sometimes we are very patient with thingswe cannot cure. It is good sound doctrine, "What can't be cured, must be endured." And, "Stooping down as needs he must, whocannot sit upright." If you cannot prevent, you may as well forgive-every fool will adopt that unless he is a strange fool,indeed! But David could take this fellow's head off and that in a moment, and yet he said, "Let him alone. Let him curse."And this makes a splendid example. If you can revenge yourself, DON'T. If you could do it as easily as open your hand, keepit shut! If one bitter word could end the argument, ask for Divine Grace to spare that bitter word.

Reflect, too, that David was urged by others to put an end to this man. Sometimes we readily follow advice, especially whenthere is something that we like in the advice. And who among us would not like the advice? I confess on reading the Chapter,that if I had been in Abishai's case, I am afraid I should have taken his head off first, and asked permission afterwards.I am afraid it would have been very bad and wicked, but in such a case as that, when my dear king for whom I had lived andwould have died-such a blessed king as David-was scoffed at by such a dog as that-who would not have said, "Off with his head!"and have thought he did him too much honor in those rough days? Yet David said, "No, we must not follow bad advice, we mustnot let the zeal of earnest friends lead us too fast." If they are too fast, we must be too slow. In all matters of vengeance,if others would go forward, we must draw back and say, "Christ has bidden us forgive even to seventy times seven," and sowill we do. Remember this is under the old dispensation, when the Law of God said, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,"and so on-and, therefore, David might have been more excused if he had avenged himself! But he seems to have caught, likea Prophet, the light of the coming time, and spared the man as Christ would have spared him, if He had been there. In thishe is to be copied by us all!

To gather all up in one, Beloved, if the trouble that comes to you, comes to you as a second cause, don't look at the secondcause so as to quarrel with it and don't say, "I would not mind if it had not been So-and-So." That is why God selected So-and-Soto chasten you, for when a father wants to make a child smart, he gets his heaviest rod! And so does God. He has taken upthat instrument which will make you smart and cry out most! It is always foolish for us to fret about the second cause. Ifyou threaten a dog with a stick, he bites the stick-but if he were a sensible dog-he would bite you, only he does not knowany better and so he bites the stick! And if we rebel against the second cause we are in error. If there is anyone we shouldcomplain against, it would be God who uses the instrument! But as we cannot and would not if we could complain against Him,it is best for us to say as David did, "Let him alone! Let him curse! The Lord has ordered him. The Lord has ordered him."

Now don't we tonight say, "I could have borne that other trial if God had sent that"? Well, accept your present trial andoh, if you are vexed with So-and-So, forgive him! There is a higher hand than his in this matter. It is a rough knife thatyou have been pruned with, but it is the gardener that used the knife-and your God is using this affliction for your good.Don't look at the affliction as much as at the end and at the design of God.

It was very beautiful for David to make excuses for Shimei. Notice how he puts it. "Well, there is Absalom, my son-he is seekingmy life. No wonder that this man should! He is no relation of mine! I could not expect love from him. And then, moreover,"he said, "he is a Benjamite. Now God has been pleased to put me, David, into the place of Saul that was a Benjamite, and ofcourse this man sympathizes with the tribe that has lost the royal crown." David put his finger on the secret. "The man hasbeen a sufferer through me, therefore he is angry, he is estranged from me. I could not expect gentle treatment from him andI have unconsciously, without intending to injure him, taken away some authority from the family to which he belongs and,therefore, I can somewhat shut my eyes to his hard treatment of me and, at any rate, I will show that God is using him asan instrument and will freely forgive him." Now I am talking very simply and upon simple conduct, but I am sorrowfully consciousthat a great many Christian people need to be preached to about giving lessons to others. As soon as ever a child learns tosay, "Our Father, which are in Heaven," which is a little infant's prayer-he is taught to say, "forgive us our trespassesas we forgive those that trespass against us"-and yet I find that some who have been Christians for years-at least they saythey have-if they get a little put out about some insignificant trifle, take a long time to get their feathers smooth again!Perhaps it is something they need hardly have noticed, Volume 55 www.spurgeongems.org 3

and yet they will go fretting about it day after day! Oh, let us be men and women, and let us be Christian men and women,and let us be able to forbear! "In many things we offend all." "It is necessary that offenses come, but woe unto that manby whom the offense came." I think it is equal woe unto that man who will not let the offense go away. Someone says, "I supposesomebody must have been offended here." I am sure I don't know of anybody, but if the cap fits, let them wear it. May we alwayslearn to forgive as we hope to be forgiven!

II. Now the second thing is this-DAVID'S COMPLETE RESIGNATION TO THE DIVINE WILL. "It is enough for me that the Lord has biddenhim," or, as in the 10th verse, "Let him curse, because the Lord has said unto him, 'Curse David.'" David felt very keenlythe wicked act of his enemy, but he felt that it was sent for his further chastisement and, therefore, he accepted it willingly.I daresay he said to himself, "I don't deserve this charge. It is a very base one, but if Shimei had known all about me, hemight have charged me with something quite as bad as that and he would have been quite correct." When we are railed at bygraceless men and they slander us, we may say to ourselves, "Well, well, if they did but know us better and could see ourhearts, they could perhaps have said something worse against us-so we will be well content to bear this." For David, thoughShimei did not know about it, had grievously sinned. It does not make Shimei's conduct any better, but David felt, "I havedeserved this at the hands of the Lord, or something else if not on this particular occasion." Then feeling it was the Lord,he said to himself, "I do not see the meaning of this, but I am sure there is love in it. Did God ever do anything to Hischildren except in love? I do not see the necessity of it, but I am certain there is wisdom in it. Did the Lord ever do anythingto his children that was not right? I do not see the benefit that may come out of it to me, but did God ever exercise Hischildren with fruitless trials?" Is there not a Divine necessity for all chastisements It is the Lord-that is enough for David.

Brothers and Sisters, is that enough for you? The Lord has done it, shall I open my mouth again when I know my Father didit? Did He take my child? Well, blessed be His name that He loved my little one so well! Did He take my gold? Well, He onlylent it to me and a thing borrowed ought to go laughing back to its owner! Let Him take back what He lent. He gives and, blessedbe His name, He takes but what He gave! Therefore let Him still be praised! David seems to me, as it were, to have lain downbefore God under a sense of having done wrong in days gone past and said to Him, "My Father, chasten me just as You will.My rebellious spirit is humbled before You. If it is necessary for my good that I suffer from Your hand, this affliction anda thousand others, go on, go on! Your child may weep, but he will not complain. Your child may suffer, but he will bring nocharge against You. What You please to do, it shall be my pleasure to bear. Your pleasure and my pleasure shall be one pleasurehenceforth and forevermore. If the Lord has done it, so let it be."

I invite every troubled Brother and Sister here to cry for Grace from God to be able to see God's hand in every trial andthen for Grace to, seeing God's hand, submit at once to it!No, not only to submit, but to acquiesce and to rejoice in it!"It is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him." I think there is generally an end to troubles when we get to that, forwhen the Lord sees we are willing that He should do what He wills, then He takes back His hand and says, "I need not chastenMy child-He now submits himself to Me. What would have been effected by My chastisement is already effected and, therefore,I will not chasten him." You know David was not long in the dark after he was condemned to be there. "Well," says the Lord,"if My child does not cry because he is left without a candle, he shall have his candle. Now I have tried him and proved him,he shall come before Me in the light."

What is the use of our kicking and struggling against the Lord What benefit ever comes of our rebellion against Him? The oxand the mule which have no understanding have to be held in with bit and bridle. What comfort ever came to you from your rebellionsand reluctances? And so with self-will and desiring to have your own way-what do you get from these but the scourge? Oh, itis the happiest and most blessed condition to lie passive in God's hands and know no will but His-to feel a self-annihilationin which self is not destroyed but is absorbed into God so that we delight in the inner man in the will of God and alwayssay, "Father, Your will be done." This is a hard lesson-far easier to preach about than to practice-and a great deal easierto think of when you have learned it than to carry it out.

I am often reminded of an old friend, Will Richardson, I used to talk with. He, said, "When it is winter time, I think I couldmow and reap and fancy if you were only to give Will the sickle and scythe, what a splendid day's work he would do! That isin the winter, but in the summer I have not been half a day at work before I begin to feel that my poor old bones won't standmuch more work and to think that I am hardly the man for a farm laborer." Now so it is with our own

strength. If we fell back upon the strength of God, we would be strong when we are weak, but when we fancy we are gettingstronger, we are very much weaker and might very often measure ourselves in the inverse ratio of what we think!

III. DAVID IS TO BE IMITATED IN ANOTHER RESPECT, NAMELY, THAT HIS EXPECTATION WAS ONLY FROM GOD. Notice the text-"It may bethat the Lord will look upon my affliction." There was Abishai ready to take off this man's head, but David said, "It maybe that the Lord will look upon my affliction." He thought that when he was in such great trouble, God would surely have pityupon him! Oh, you tried ones, look away, once and for all, from man to your God! "My Soul, wait you only upon God, for myexpectation is from Him." There are two ways of going to a place. One is to go round and the other is to go straight. Nowthe straight road is the shortest way. And there are two ways of getting help. The one is to go round to all your friendsand get disappointed-and then at last go to God! The other is to go to God first. That is the shortest way. God can make yourfriends help you afterwards. Seek first God and His righteousness, and the help of friends will be added afterwards. Straightforward makes the best running. Out of all troubles, the surest deliverance is from God's right hand. Therefore from all troubles,the readiest way to escape is to draw near to God in prayer. Go, not to this friend or that, but pour out your story beforeGod. Remember how the poet puts it-

"Were half the breath thus vainly spent, To Heaven in supplication sent, Our cheerful song would oftener be, Hear what theLord has done for me!"

Human friends fail us! The strongest sinew in an arm of flesh will crack and the most faithful heart will sometimes waver-andwhen there is most need of our friends, we find that they fail us. But our God is eternal and Omnipotent- who has ever trustedin Him in vain? Where is the man that can say, I looked upon Him and hoped in Him-and I am ashamed of my hope?

The beauty of David's looking alone to God came out in this quite calmly and quietly. He said to himself, "God will get meout of this," therefore he was not angry with Shimei. He did not want his head to be cut off or anything of the sort. "Godwill do it." Oh, that is the man for life, that is the man for death, that is the man for smooth waters and that is the manfor storms who lives upon his God! If a man stays in that frame of mind, what can disturb him? Though the mountains were castinto the midst of the sea and the earth were moved, yet still would he in patience possess his soul and still be calm, forof such a man I may say, "His soul shall dwell at ease, his seed shall inherit the earth." At destruction and famine, he willlaugh. God has given His angels charge concerning such a man to keep him in all his ways, for this is the man that dwellsin the secret places of the most High and he shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty! The Lord says of him, "Becausehe has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known My name. He has provedit by trusting in Me and Me, alone. Therefore will I never fail him, neither shall he suffer long." "Trust you in the Lord,alone, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength." Gather up your confidences, make them into one confidence andfix them all on Him! Lean not here and there-you will grow crooked in yourself and the staff you lean on shall turn to a spearand pierce you. Lean wholly upon God and, as He is everywhere, you shall stand upright in leaning upon Him. This shall bethe uprightness of your ways that you stay yourself on the Rock of Ages. May we learn this lesson! It is a high one. May theSpirit of God teach it to us!

IV. Now the last of the four lessons is this-DAVID LEARNED TO LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE. What is the bright side of trouble?What is the bright side of your trouble, dear Friend? Well, I don't know what you would call the bright side, but David consideredthe bright side of his trouble to be the black side-and I think every man who walks by faith knows that to be so. If you readthe text you see it at once, "It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction and will repay me with good for his cursingthis day." Much as if he said, "though my affliction is so very bitter, God will pity me." So the black side is the brightone! "This man has cursed me. That will move God to come to my side and defend me." So the black side is the bright one again.

There is a sailor and the tide has ebbed out altogether. "Now," he says, "is the turning." Those that watch at night are gladwhen it comes to the darkest, because they know it certainly cannot be darker-and they know that daylight is coming soon.The darkest part of the night is that which precedes the day. We have an old saying about the weather, "As the day lengthens,the cold strengthens." And so it does, but soon it will come to an end. The cold will soon yield. Be

thankful when you have got into midwinter because you cannot go any deeper. Let us be glad of that. Now if in our blackestparts of sorrow there is brightness, there must be brightness elsewhere and, indeed, if we were half as inquisitive to findout that which will cheer us, as to discover that of which we may complain, we should soon have reasons of gratitude in thelowest and worst condition! We rummage our affairs to find out something to distress ourselves about, ambitious to multiplyour sorrows, diligent to increase our distresses as though our woes were wealth and our sorrows were worth hoarding up! Butif we turned that curiosity and inquisitiveness of ours into another channel, we would begin to find that there are diamondsin dark mines, pearls in rough oyster shells, rainbows that deck the brow of the storm and blessings that come to us in thegarb of curses! We should soon have cause for joy. I suggest to our friends, therefore, the blessed habit of trying to findthe silver lining of the dark cloud-to look away from the black surface into the bright gleam so that they may have reasonto rejoice in the Most High!

To conclude-David was a glorious man. If instead of having expectation from God he had only had confidence in his fellow menand had gone about always repining and mourning and finding out the dark side of everything-well, he would have been a verysmall Psalmist! In fact, I don't think he could have written a Psalm at all, except a poor one. He would have been a poorking-a mere pigmy-and would never have shone out as a saint. Now if you, dear Brother and Sister, want to shine before Godand be among the illustrious elect who the Lord makes as stars in the Church's history, pray for patience towards men andpatience towards God. Pray for bright eyes to find out the light even in the darkness. Pray to always lean wholly upon Godand keep yourself upon Him. You will glorify God in that way and you will be the means of bringing others to God. Distrustfulpreachers do not win souls. Moaning and repining Sunday school teachers will not bring children to Christ. "The joy of theLord is our strength." The patience which makes us possess our souls gives us the fullness of the blessing of the Lord! Maythe Lord teach us in that school-we are very foolish. The Lord strengthen us in His Grace-we are very weak. And may all ofus on earth live quietly and happily the risen life which our Savior did!

Now if I am speaking to any here tonight who are rebellious and do not love the Lord, I would remind them that there is acure for these maladies-faith in Jesus Christ!He that believes in Him shall find the water that flowed from His pierced sideto be the double cure of sin. May you have that cure-everyone of you-for Jesus' sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: ISAIAH43:1-7.

In this Chapter the Lord comforts His people. By His Divine foresight He perceives that there are great and varied trialsa little way ahead and, therefore, He prepares them for the ordeal. They are to go through rushing waters and flaming firesand He kindly bids them not to be afraid. How often in God's Word do we read those tender, gracious words, "Fear not"!Shouldnot the trembling ones listen to the voice of their God and obey it when He says to them "Fear not" It is not right for youwho fear God to fear anything else. Once brought to know the Lord, who can harm you? Abiding under the shadow of the Almighty,what danger need you dread? No, rather, be of good comfort and press forward with peaceful confidence, though floods and flamesawait you!

To encourage His people to rise superior to their fears, the gracious God goes on to issue matchless promises- " When youpass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." Present good-"I will bewith you. "Absent danger-"they shall not overflow you." God stays His people's hearts by His own promises. In proportion totheir faith, those promises will lift them up. If you do not believe the promise, you shall not be established by it. Butif, with childlike confidence, you accept every Word of God as true, then His Word shall be to you the joy of your heart andthe delight of your spirit, and you shall be a stranger to fear. The Lord proceeds, after giving those promises, to set beforethem what He Himself is and what He has done for them, and what they are to Him. He is speaking, of course, to Israel. AndHe says of Israel, His chosen nation, "I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you." What cause for fear now remains?All Believers are of the true Israel. Abraham was the father of the faithful. The faithful, or the believing, are, therefore,Abraham's seed according to the promise! The seed was not after the flesh, else would the children of Ishmael have been theheirs of the Covenant, but the true seed was born according to promise and in the power of God, for Isaac was born when hisparents were old, by faith in the power of God! Isaac was

not the child of flesh, but he was born according to promise, so that we who are not born of the flesh, nor of the will ofman, but of God, by His Spirit and according to the Divine promise, are the true children of Abraham! We are the spiritualIsrael. Though after the flesh Abraham is ignorant of us, and Sarah acknowledge us not, yet are we the true seed of him whowas the father of Believers. The literal Israel was the type of those chosen and favored ones who by faith are born-againaccording to promise. To these heirs, according to promise, the Lord said, "I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Sebafor you." Let us now meditate on this passage verse by verse.

Verse 1. But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and He that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemedyou, I have called you by your name; you are Mine. "Fear not" is a command of God, and is a command which brings its own powerof performance with it. God, who created and formed us, says to us, "Fear not," and a secret whisper is heard in the heartby which that heart is so comforted that fear is driven away. Observe the tender ties that bind our God to His people-Creation,the formation of them for His praise-Redemption, the purchase of them for Himself and the calling of them by their name. TheLord remembers the bonds which unite us to Himself even when we forget them. He recollects His eternal love and all the deedsof mercy that have flowed from it. Though our memory is treacherous, and our faith is feeble, "yet He abides faithful: Hecannot deny Himself." Blessed be His holy name!

2. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walkthrough the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you. " When you pass through the waters, Iwill be with you." The godly have the best company in the worst places in which their lot is cast! God's Presence is all thatwe need even in the deepest floods of tribulation. This He has promised to us. He does not say what He will do for us, butHe does tell us that He will be with us-and that is more than enough to meet all our necessities. "When you walk through thefire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you." That is a wonderful picture of a man walking throughthe fire and yet not being burned-but there was a greater wonder that was seen by Moses which may well comfort us. He sawa bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed! Now a bush in the desert is usually so dry that at the first applicationof fire, it flames, glows and is speedily gone! Yet you and I who are, spiritually, just as dry and combustible as that bushwas naturally, may burn, and burn, and burn and yet we shall not be consumed, because the God who was in the bush is alsowith us, and in us! "Neither shall the flame kindle upon you." You shall come out of the furnace as the three holy childrendid, with not so much as the smell of fire upon you, for where God is, all is safe.

3. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you."For I am the Lord your God." This is the grandest possible reason for not fearing! Fall back upon this when you have nothingelse upon which to rely. If you have no goods, you have a God. If your gourd is withered, your God is still the same as Heever was! "For I am Jehovah, your God." "I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for you." And He has given infinitelymore than that for us who are now His people, for He gave His only-begotten Son that He might redeem us with His preciousblood! Now that we have cost Him so much, is it likely that He will ever forsake us? It is not possible!

4. Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you,and people for your lif. How sweetly this verse comes home to those whose characters have been disreputable! As soon as theyare truly converted to Christ, they become "honorable." "Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honorable." Goddoes not call His people by their old names of dishonor, but He gives them the title of, "Right Honorable," and makes themthe nobility of His Court. "Unto you that believe He is an honor," and you have honor in Him and from Him.

5-7. Fear not: for Iam with you: I will bring your seed from the east, andgather you from the west; I will say to the north,Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; even everyonethat is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed Him; yes, I have made Him. "Fear not: for Iam with you." This is the second time that the blessed words, "Fear not," ring out like the notes of the silver trumpet proclaimingthe Jubilee to poor trembling hearts! "Fear not, for Iam with you." The Lord seems to say to each troubled Believer, "My honoris pledged to secure your safety. All My attributes are engaged on your behalf right to the end. Yes, I am, Myself, with you,therefore, fear not." "I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring My sons from far, My daughterfrom the ends of the earth; everyone that is called by My name." Whatever happens, God will be with His Church. His own chosenpeople shall all be gathered in. There shall be no frustration of the Divine Purpose. From east or west, north or south, allHis sons and daughters shall come unto Him, everyone that is called by His name. "For I have created him for My glory, I haveformed him; yes, I have made him." And God will be glorified in His people! The object of their creation is the glory of theirGod, and that end shall, somehow or other, be answered in the Lord's good time. The Lord seems to dwell upon that note ofthe creation of His children for His own glory. This accounts for many of our troubles and for all our deliverances-it isthat God may be glorified by bringing His children through the fires and through the floods. A life that was never testedby trial and trouble would not be a life out of which God would get much glory, but they that do business in the great waterssee the works of God and His wonders in the deep, and they give Him praise and, besides, when they come to their desired haven,then they praise the Lord for His goodness and God is thereby glorified!