August 12

The Lord shall comfort Zion. - Isaiah 51:3

WE may observe here three things-First, That distresses and discouragements are not incompatible with religion. We may sometimes think that our case is peculiar and hard to bear, and that no one has ever been so exercised as we have been, or have experienced such depressing and melancholy feelings as ourselves; arising out of the unfounded and unfavourable conclusions respecting our state, character, circumstances, and prospects, which we have been more disposed to cherish than to suppress. In reference to these we may be ready to say with David, “I shall one day fall by the hand of Saul.” And with Paul, “When I would do good, evil is present with me.” “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” And Zion had said just what we have feared: “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”

Secondly, We here see how concerned God is not only for his people’s safety, but also for their comfort. Their doubts and fears might continue, and they at the same time would be perfectly safe, but he will not have them perpetuated; he is concerned to have them and the causes of them removed. He has left us “exceeding great and precious promises,” that we “might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” He not only threatened the base prophets in the days of Jeremiah, who “made the hearts of his people sad,” when he had commanded them to “make them merry,” but he issues this commission to all his ministers: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

Thirdly, If the Lord has thus graciously promised to comfort Zion, and has made such ample provision that she may be comforted, we should fall in with his gracious design; we should be humbled, and mourn over our ignorance and perverseness, our impatience and unbelief; that we have entertained such hard thoughts of God; that we have charged God foolishly, unrighteously, and unkindly. Let us remember how dishonourable these conclusions are to him; how injurious to ourselves; and say, with David, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” It is better that a Christian should err on the side of privilege than on the side of legality. It will have a better influence over his experience and practice. Let us take care that we are not in any measure or degree robbed of our confidence in a God of grace. Our confidence is our security. Without this, how can we rejoice, or ought we to rejoice? But “my sheep,” says he, “hear my voice, and I know them, and give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.”