1. O God, why hast thou cast us off forever? To cast
us off at all is hard, but when thou dost for so long a time desert thy people
it is an evil beyond all endurance—the very chief of woes and abyss of misery.
It is our wisdom when under chastisement to inquire, “Show me wherefore thou contendest with me,” and if the affliction be a protracted one, we should the more eagerly
inquire the meaning of it. Sin is usually at the bottom of all the hidings of
the Lord’s face; let us ask the Lord to reveal the special form of it to us,
that we may repent of it, overcome it, and henceforth forsake it. When a church
is in a forsaken condition it must not sit still in apathy, but turn to the
hand which smites it, and humbly inquire the reason why. At the same time, the
inquiry of the text is a faulty one, for it implies two mistakes. There are two
questions, which only admit of negative replies. “Hath God cast away his people?” (Romans 11:1); and the other, “Will the Lord cast off forever?” (Psalm 77:7). God is never weary of his people so as to abhor them, and
even when his anger is turned against them, it is but for a small moment, and
with a view to their eternal good. Grief in its distraction asks strange
questions and surmises impossible terrors. It is a wonder of grace that the
Lord has not long ago put us away as people lay aside cast-off garments, but he
hates putting away, and will still be patient with his chosen. Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? They are the objects of
thy care; they are poor, silly, and defenseless things: pity them, forgive
them, and come to their rescue. It is to those who are truly the Lord’s sheep a
most painful thing to be the objects of his displeasure. To vex the Holy Spirit
is no mean sin, and yet how frequently are we guilty of it; hence it is no
marvel that we are often under a cloud.
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