Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2893
“O Lord, I know that the way ofman is not in himself: it is not in main who walks to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23.
THIS declaration follows after Jeremiah’s lamentation over the Lord’s ancient people who were about to be carried away captive into Babylon. The Prophet speaks of a fact that was well known to him. It is always well, Brothers and Sisters, to know the Truth of God and to know it so certainly that you are able to remember it just when you most need it. There are some people who are very much like that foolish captain of whom we have heard who had a good anchor, but he left it at home when he went to sea, so it was of no use to him. So, these people know what would comfort them, but they do not remember it in the time of their distress. Jeremiah says, “O Lord, I know,” and he utilizes his knowledge as a source of comfort in his hour of need.
What Jeremiah knew was this—that the affairs of this world are not under the control of men, however much they may imagine that they are. There is a Supreme Authority to theirs and a power which rules, overrules and works according to its own beneficent will—whatever men may desire or determine to do. Nebuchadnezzar was about to carry the Jews away from the land which flowed with milk and honey to his own far distant country, but the Prophet consoled himself with the reflection that whatever Nebuchadnezzar meant to do, he was only the instrument in the hands of God for the accomplishment of the Divine Purpose. He proposed, but God disposed. The tyrant of Babylon thought that he was working out his own will, yet he was really carrying out the will of God in chastising the idolatrous and rebellious nation! This was Jeremiah’s consolation, “I do not know what Nebuchadnezzar may do, but I do know that ‘the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.’ I know that, in God’s eternal purposes, every step of Judah’s way is mapped out and in the end He will make it all work for His own Glory and the good of His chosen people.”
Child of God, will you, for a moment, reflect upon the overruling power of God even in the case of the most mighty and wicked of men? They sin grossly and what they do is done of their own free will—and the responsibility for it lies at their own door. That we can never forget, for the free-agency of man is a self-evident Truth of God. But, at the same time, God is Omnipotent and He is still working out His wise designs, as He did of old, in the whirlwind of human wrath, in the tempest of human sin and even in the dark mines of human ambition and tyranny—all the while displaying His Sovereign Will among men even as the potter forms the vessels on the wheel according to his own will!
This Truth of God ought to be remembered by us because it tends to take from us all fear of man. Why should you, O Believer, be afraid of a man that shall die, or the son of man who is but a worm? You are, as a child of God, under Divine Protection, so who is he that shall harm you while you are a follower of that which is good? Remember that ancient promise, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.” The most powerful enemy of the Church can do nothing without God’s permission! God can put a bit into the mouth of leviathan and do with him as He pleases. The Almighty God is Master and Lord even over the men who imagine that all power is in their hands!
And while this Truth should banish our fear of man, it should also ensure our submission to the will of God. Suppose that the Lord allows Nebuchadnezzar to devastate the land that He gave to His people by Covenant? It is God who per-
mits it, therefore do not think so much of the instrument employed by Him as of the hand in which that instrument is held! Are you afflicted, poor Soul, by some hard unkind spirits? Remember that God permits you to be so tried, so be not angry with that which is only the second cause of your trouble, but believe that the Lord permits this to happen to you for your good and, therefore, submit yourself to Him! A dog, when he is struck with a stick, usually bites the stick. If he had more sense, he would try to bite the man who holds the stick. So your contention must not be against the instrument of your affliction. If there is any contention, it is really against God—and you would not, I trust, think of contending with your Maker! Rather, say, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.” Let your back be bared to the rod and look up into your Heavenly Father’s face and say, “Show me why You contend with me.”
This Truth ought to also strengthen our faith. When fear goes, faith comes in. It is an easy matter to trust God when everything goes smoothly, but genuine faith trusts God in a storm. When the land of Judah was hedged about by God’s Providence and no enemy ventured to set foot upon the sacred soil, it was easy for a Prophet to praise the Lord. But it was quite another matter to trust God when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the villages, besieged the cities and, by-and-by, took them and gave them up to utter destruction and carried away their inhabitants into captivity. To trust in God then, was not so easy, yet that was the time for the display of real faith. Faith in the storm is true faith! Faith in a calm may be, or may not be, genuine faith. Summer-weather faith may be true, or may not be true, but winter faith that can bring forth fruit when the snows are deep and the North Wind blows, is the faith of God’s elect! It proves that it has Divine vitality in it because it can master the circumstances which would have utterly crushed the faith which appertains only to flesh and blood!