The Altering of God's Purpose

‘*To the spirit select there is no choice;
He cannot say, This will I do, or that.

A hand is stretched to him from out the dark,

Which grasping without question, he is led

Where there is work that he must do for God.”
LOWELL.

(ISAIAH xliii. 21.)

HIS refers primarily to Israel. It is the burden of the Book of Deuteronomy, that God chose the seed of Abraham to be a peculiar nation unto Himself, above all peoples on the face of the earth. It was for this He brought them out from Egypt, the house of: bondage, and separated them amid the highlands of iigsan They were to be his own inheritance. Those two words, people and inheritance, are perpetually linked together in the Bible. “The Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance as at this day.” It was as though He viewed his people as a plot of land, which after careful tendance would yield to Him crop after crop of delight (Deut. iv. 20; vii. 6).

In his swan-song, the great lawgiver went so far as to say that when the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, He apportioned their lot, and fixed their bounds with reference to the nation which was as the apple of his eye. Thus a market-gardener will separate a few choice plants, and concentrate on them his most eager attention — not for their sakes alone; but that he may procure seed and slips to sow and

plant over all the acres that belong to him. “The Lord’s D

portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance” (Deut. xxxii. 9).

Jehoyah’s design is clearly declared in the significant passage that heads this chapter — ‘ They shall show forth My praise.” ‘By a long process of careful training, it was his intention so to form the people that their history should turn men’s thoughts to the glory and beauty of his own nature, and elicit perpetual adoration and praise. They were to go forth throughout the world teaching men the love and goodness of Him who had found them in the waste howling wilderness, a race of untutored slaves, and had made them a nation of priests, of sweet psalmists, and of seers proclaiming the transcendent beauty of the only God. By repeated failure the Jews set themselves against the accomplishment of the Divine plan. On three separate occasions they thwarted Jehovah. They came nigh unto cursing instead of praising. They gave men false conceptions of his character. And on three separate occasions they had to learn the temporary suspension and postponement of his purpose (Numbers xiv. 34).

First, in the wilderness they murmured against Him, and were sent back to wander in the waste for forty years. Next, after nineteen kings had ruled from David’s throne, they were exiled to Babylon for seventy years. And lastly, since the rejection of the Beloved Son, they have been driven into all the world, to be a by-word and a proverb. For eighteen hundred years God’s purpose has been under arrest. It shall, no doubt, be ultimately fulfilled. The chosen people shall yet be for a name, for a praise, and for a glory; but in the meanwhile the Gentiles have been called in to take their place, temporarily indeed, but with blessed results for them, until the branches which were broken off are again grafted into their olive-tree, and all Israel shall be saved (Jer. xiii. 11; Rom. xi. 23).

This change of purpose on the part of God has been the opening of the door for us; and the words which were originally addressed to Israel are now applicable to ourselves. Twice at least in the epistles, and by the lips of the apostles Paul and Peter, we are told that Jesus gave Himself for us, to redeem us and to purify us unto Himself, a people for his own possession;

Obe Praise of Gov.. eI

so that we are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. We are what we are, that we may show forth God’s praise; but if we fail to realize his ideal, for us too there will be the inevitable postponement of his purpose. Instead of being realized easily, and blessedly, it will be wrought out, as has repeatedly been the case with Israel, through tears and blood (Titus ii. 14; 1 Peter ii. 9).

I. THE PURPOSE OF God. — “That they should show forth My praise.” It has been said that the word translated frazse is from the same root as Halle, in “Hallelujah”; and that it means, first, a clear and shining light; next, a sweet flute-like sound: from which we learn that the people of God are to reflect his glory until it shines from their lives, attracting others to it; and that they are to speak his praise in resonant and harmonious sounds that shall arrest and attract the listening ear. “How fair He must be whose service has filled these souls with such delight! Come, let us seek Him, that He may do as much for us!”

We may promote God’s praise by suffering, as much as by active service. To lie still day after day, without complaining — satisfied with what pleases Him, and resolute to suffer according to the will of God, though no word fall from our lips — may

be more provocative of praise, than to write psalms which stir successive generations to praise and bless Him whose mercy endureth for ever.

In every life there are three regions. That of the light, where duty is clearly defined; that of the dark, where wrong is no less clearly marked; and a great borderland of twilight, where there is no certainty, where dividing lines are not distinct, and where each man must be fully persuaded for himself. It is here, however, that the temper of the soul is tested. Here the decisions are come to that make us weak or strong. Here, that we may drift into the dark, or start a path of upward climbing that will conduct to the table-lands where the light never wanes. In threading a difficult way through these devious tracks, there is no clue so helpful or certain as to ask what will conduce to the praise of God. All that would hinder this must be avoided; all that would promote and enhance it must be followed at any cost.

We must also s#zze — arid there is more in that expression than simply to do right — that men who see our good works may glorify our Father and give Him praise. It is through the Church that the principalities and powers of heavenly places learn the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 10).

We are disposed to dwell too exclusively on what God is to us — and indeed we can never make too much of the fact that the entire resources of his being, which the apostle Paul calls His fulness, are at our disposal. But let us not forget the other side of this great truth, and go on to know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in us his saints. Let us not forget so to yield Him every acre of our inner life, and every fragment of our time, that from these the great Husbandman may get for Himself crop after crop of praise; bringing all under cultivation, till the cornfields of the lowlands, the pomegranates of the orchards, the vineyards of the terraced heights, yield each in its measure their meed of adoration.

II. THE POSSIBLE THWARTING OF HIS PURPOSE. — “Ye shall know the revoking of My promise” (Num. xiv. 34, R.V., marg.). There is nothing more terrible in the history of a soul than to frustrate the Divine ideal in its creation and redemption, and to prevent God deriving from us that for which He saved us. Such may be thy lot, O fig-tree, standing straight in the pathway of the Son of Man, to which He comes, hungry for fruit: therefore, beware, and learn from this paragraph the symptoms — of Israel’s declension. Be warned by these, lest for thee also there come the suspension of the Divine purpose.

(1) Prayerlessness. “Thou hast not called upon Me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of Me, O Israel” (verse 22). Nothing is a surer gauge of our spiritual state than our prayers. There may be a weariness of the brain which is the reaction of overstrain, and against which it is not wise to struggle. When mind and heart are so overpowered by the fatigues of the body that an inevitable drowsiness closes the eye and restrains the flow of thought, it is better to say with the great Bengel, as we yield ourselves to sleep, “O Lord, we are on the same terms as yesterday.” But this is very different from the perfunctory and hurried devotions which arise from the preoccupation of the mind in things of time and sense, or the alienation of the heart from God by sin. If this lethargy is stealing over thee, beware!:

(2) Neglect of little things. “Thou hast not brought Me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings” (verse 23). The emphasis is on the word small. The people were probably careful of the larger matters of Jewish ritual, but neglectful of the smaller details. None of us goes wrong at first in the breach of the great obligations of the law. It is the little rift in the lute, the tiny speck in the fruit, the small orifice in the bank, where deterioration begins. Nothing is really small that concerns God or the soul. Let us be careful about slight inaccuracies; small deviations from the strict integrity of a holy character; tampering with the gentler admonitions of conscience. Insensibility and carelessness in little things in a child are immediately corrected by the wise parent, who knows to what they may lead.

(3) Lack of sweetness. “Thou hast brought Me no sweet cane” (verse 24). It is possible to do right things from a hard sense of legalism, in which the sweetness and lovableness of true religion are painfully wanting. How often we do things because we must, or because we will, and not because we are led by the silken chains of love to our dear Lord! This is what the apostle calls being married to the law; instead of being united to the Man who was raised from the dead, and whose love should be the supreme constraint. His service is perfect freedom; his yoke is easy, and his burden is light.

Many are the instances of this change of purpose. David substituted for Saul; Solomon for Adonijah; the Church for the Hebrew people; Western for Eastern Christianity; the Moravians and Lollards for the established churches of their time. An instance was narrated recently of a church in the United States, which, by an immense majority, refused to receive coloured people into its communion. A few years after, it had so utterly declined that its building was for sale, and was purchased by the coloured congregation which had gathered around the members it~had driven forth. So God takes away his kingdom from those that prove themselves unworthy of it, and gives it to such as will fulfil his purpose and set forth his praise. “Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee.”

Ill. THE FULFILMENT OF GOD’S PURPOSE THROUGH OUR PaIn. — “They siadZ/ show forth My praise.” God’s purpose cannot be ultimately set aside. It may be brought to a stand by some mountain of prejudice or unbelief; but it will be found pursuing its chosen path on the other side, having tunnelled, or climbed, or gone around it. So it shall be with Israel and with each of us. But the cost — how enormous!

In the case of mankind, God’s purpose to give Adam and his race dominion over the works of His hands, was exposed to the terrific interruption of sin, which has cost four thousand years of untold anguish, besides the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, and the broken heart of Calvary. But, though suspended for four millenniums, the Divine thought in our creation shall yet take effect. The righteous shall have dominion in the morning. All enemies shall be put under our feet. The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head. But, ah! the cost to God, to man, and to the travailing creation!

So in the case of Israel. She shall yet shine as a star, and sing God’s praise like an angel chorister. But again the cost has been excessive. Sorrow such as this world has never seen has been the purifying furnace through which she has been purged from her dross, and poured into the mould, which from the first days of her history was waiting to give her her predestined shape.

So with each child in the family of God. The thoughts of his heart must stand; his ideal shall be realized; his purposes finally achieve their aim. This may be through the willing obedience and acquiescence of the soul; then ‘there need be no great strain, or pressure, or anguish. Strength will be proportionate for every task; the back suited for every burden; the gradient adapted to the engine that has to climb its steep ascent. But if there is obstinacy, rebellion, murmuring complaint, like that which so often filled the camp of Israel, there will be suffering, exile ;-the wilderness with its. desolation and monotony; the long waiting: and only after years of such discipline shall the soul come back again to stand at the gate of Canaan, and enter upon its inheritance, and give to the great Husbandman that praise and glory for which it was originally made.

Has this been thy history up till now? Then turn and repent. God declares that He will not remember the past with all its bitter disappointment and misappropriation of opportunity; that He will outdo the wonders of the bygone times by the mercies He will bestow; and that He will make a way through the wilderness, with flowing streams and waving verdure. What though thou hast brought thyself into the waste ! — He will find a way forth into Canaan again. He will give thee thy vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and thou shalt sing as in the days of thy youth. Formed for Himself, thou shalt yet show forth his praise. Yield to Him, that He may win from thee all on which He has set his heart, at once and easily. It shall be best for thee.