10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation. The impression upon the divine mind is most vivid; he sees them before
him now, and calls them this generation. He does not leave
his prophets to upbraid the sin, but himself utters the complaint and declares
that he was grieved, nauseated, and disgusted. It is no small thing which can
grieve our long-suffering God to the extent which the Hebrew word here
indicates, and if we reflect a moment we shall see the abundant provocation
here given; for no one who values his veracity can endure to be suspected,
mistrusted, and belied, when there is no ground for it. Which shall we most
wonder at, the cruel insolence of mankind or the ender patience of the Lord? And said, it is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Their heart was obstinately and constantly at fault; it was not their
head which appealed to their affections, could not convert them. The heart is
the mainspring of the man, and if it be not in order, the entire nature is
thrown out of gear. If sin were only skin-deep, it might be a slight matter;
but since it has defiled the soul, the case is bad indeed. Wanderers in body,
they were also wanderers in heart. Are we better than they? Are we not quite as
apt to misinterpret the dealings of the Lord? Many treat unbelief as a minor
fault, even rather as an infirmity than a crime, but the Lord thinketh not so.
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