“Arise, and depart.” — Micah 2:10

The hour is approaching when the message will come to us, as it comes to all—“Arise, and go forth from the home in which thou hast dwelt, from the city in which thou hast done thy business, from thy family, from thy friends. Arise, and take thy last journey.” And what know we of the journey? And what know we of the country to which we are bound? A little we have read thereof, and somewhat has been revealed to us by the Spirit; but how little do we know of the realms of the future! We know that there is a black and stormy river called “Death.” God bids us cross it, promising to be with us. And, after death, what cometh? What wonder-world will open upon our astonished sight? What scene of glory will be unfolded to our view? No traveller has ever returned to tell. But we know enough of the heavenly land to make us welcome our summons thither with joy and gladness. The journey of death may be dark, but we may go forth on it fearlessly, knowing that God is with us as we walk through the gloomy valley, and therefore we need fear no evil. We shall be departing from all we have known and loved here, but we shall be going to our Father’s house—to our Father’s home, where Jesus is—to that royal “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” This shall be our last removal, to dwell for ever with him we love, in the midst of his people, in the presence of God. Christian, meditate much on heaven, it will help thee to press on, and to forget the toil of the way. This vale of tears is but the pathway to the better country: this world of woe is but the stepping-stone to a world of bliss.

“Prepare us, Lord, by grace divine,
For thy bright courts on high;
Then bid our spirits rise, and join
The chorus of the sky.”

 Micah 2:13
Morning and Evening

“The breaker is come up before them.” — Micah 2:13

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had he never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but he has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to his cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of his children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.

“Proclaim aloud the Saviour’s fame,
Who bears the Breaker’s wond’rous name;
Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell.”

Micah 5:2
January 26
Spurgeon, C. H. 
Daily Help

Those “goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2). The Lord Jesus had goings forth for His people, as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was “from everlasting” that He signed the compact with His Father that He would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death on the behalf of His people. It was “from everlasting” that He gave Himself up without a murmuring word. His “goings forth” as our surety were “from everlasting.” Pause, my soul, and wonder! You had goings forth in the person of Jesus “from everlasting.”

Micah 5:2
Morning and Evening

“Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” — Micah 5:2

The Lord Jesus had goings forth for his people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was “from everlasting” that he signed the compact with his Father, that he would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death, in the behalf of his people; it was “from everlasting” that he gave himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot he might sweat great drops of blood, that he might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus “from everlasting.” Not only when thou wast born into the world did Christ love thee, but his delights were with the sons of men before there were any sons of men. Often did he think of them; from everlasting to everlasting he had set his affection upon them. What! my soul, has he been so long about thy salvation, and will not he accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been going forth to save me, and will he lose me now? What! Has he carried me in his hand, as his precious jewel, and will he now let me slip from between his fingers? Did he choose me before the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep were digged, and will he reject me now? Impossible! I am sure he would not have loved me so long if he had not been a changeless Lover. If he could grow weary of me, he would have been tired of me long before now. If he had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, he would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am his everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to him by his Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night.

Micah 5:4
Morning and Evening

“He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord.” — Micah 5:4

Christ’s reign in his Church is that of a shepherd-king. He has supremacy, but it is the superiority of a wise and tender shepherd over his needy and loving flock; he commands and receives obedience, but it is the willing obedience of the well-cared-for sheep, rendered joyfully to their beloved Shepherd, whose voice they know so well. He rules by the force of love and the energy of goodness.

His reign is practical in its character. It is said, “He shall stand and feed.” The great Head of the Church is actively engaged in providing for his people. He does not sit down upon the throne in empty state, or hold a sceptre without wielding it in government. No, he stands and feeds. The expression “feed,” in the original, is like an analogous one in the Greek, which means to shepherdize, to do everything expected of a shepherd: to guide, to watch, to preserve, to restore, to tend, as well as to feed.

His reign is continual in its duration. It is said, “He shall stand and feed”; not “He shall feed now and then, and leave his position”; not, “He shall one day grant a revival, and then next day leave his Church to barrenness.” His eyes never slumber, and his hands never rest; his heart never ceases to beat with love, and his shoulders are never weary of carrying his people’s burdens.

His reign is effectually powerful in its action; “He shall feed in the strength of Jehovah.” Wherever Christ is, there is God; and whatever Christ does is the act of the Most High. Oh! it is a joyful truth to consider that he who stands to-day representing the interests of his people is very God of very God, to whom every knee shall bow. Happy are we who belong to such a shepherd, whose humanity communes with us, and whose divinity protects us. Let us worship and bow down before him as the people of his pasture.
 

Micah 5:7
Faith's Checkbook
At God’s Bidding

“And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.”—Micah 5:7

IF this be true of the literal Israel, much more is it true of the spiritual Israel, the believing people of God. When saints are what they should be, they are an incalculable blessing to those among whom they are scattered.

They are as the dew; for in a quiet, unobtrusive manner they refresh those around them. Silently but effectually they minister to the life, growth, and joy of those who dwell with them. Coming fresh from heaven, glistening like diamonds in the sun, gracious men and women attend to the feeble and insignificant till each blade of grass has its own drop of dew. Little as individuals, they are, when united, all-sufficient for the purposes of love which the Lord fulfills through them. Dewdrops accomplish the refreshing of broad acres. Lord, make us like the dew!

Godly people are as showers which come at God’s bidding without man’s leave and license. They work for God whether men desire it or not; they no more ask human permission than the rain does. Lord, make us thus boldly prompt and free in thy service, wherever our lot is cast.

Micah 7:7
Faith's Checkbook
“My God will hear me.”—Micah 7:7

FRIENDS may be unfaithful, but the Lord will not turn away from the gracious soul; on the contrary, He will hear all its desires. The prophet says, “Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. A man’s enemies are the men of his own house.” This is a wretched state of affairs; but even in such a case the Best Friend remains true, and we may tell him all our grief.

Our wisdom is to look unto the Lord, and not to quarrel with men or women. If our loving appeals are disregarded by our relatives, let us wait upon the God of our salvation, for He will hear us. He will hear us all the more because of the unkindness and oppression of others, and we shall soon have reason to cry, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy! ”

Because God is the living God, He can hear; because He is a loving God, He will hear; because He is our covenant God, He has bound Himself to hear us. If we can each one speak of Him as “My God,” we may with absolute certainty say, “My God will hear me.” Come, then, O bleeding heart, and let thy sorrows tell themselves out to the Lord thy God! I will bow the knee in secret and inwardly whisper, “My God will hear me.”

Micah 7:8
Faith's Checkbook
Victory in Distress

“Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when l sit in darkness the Lord shallbe a light unto me.”—Micah 7:8

THIS may express the feeling of a man or woman downtrodden and oppressed. Our enemy may put out our light for a season. There is sure hope for us in the Lord; and if we are trusting in Him and holding fast our integrity, our season of downcasting and darkness will soon be over. The insults of the foe are only for a moment. The Lord will soon turn their laughter into lamentation, and our sighing into singing.

What if the great enemy of souls should for a while triumph over us, as he has triumphed over better men than we are, yet let us take heart, for we shall overcome him before long. We shall rise from our fall, for our God has not fallen, and He will lift us up. We shall not abide in darkness, although for the moment we sit in it; for our Lord is the fountain of light, and He will soon bring us a joyful day. Let us not despair, or even doubt. One turn of the wheel and the lowest will be at the top. Woe unto those who laugh now, for they shall mourn and weep when their boasting is turned into everlasting contempt. But blessed are all holy mourners, for they shall be divinely comforted.

Micah 7:18
January 26
Spurgeon, C. H. 
Daily Help

God is love in its highest degree. He is love rendered more than love. Love is not God, but God is love. He is full of grace; He is the plenitude of mercy; He “delighteth in mercy” (Mic. 7:18).

I believe that every flower in a garden which is tended by a wise gardener could tell of some particular care that the gardener takes of it. He does for the dahlia what he does not for the sunflower; something is wanted by the rose that is not required by the lily; and the geranium calls for an attention which is not given to the honeysuckle. Each flower wins from the gardener a special culture.

He loves us better than we love ourselves.

Micah 7:19
Faith's Checkbook
From Anger to Love

“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt castall their sins into the depths of the sea.”—Micah 7:19

GOD never turns from His love, but He soon turns from His wrath. His love to His chosen is according to His nature; His anger is only according to His office: He loves because He is love; He frowns because it is necessary for our good. He will come back to the place in which His heart rests, namely, His love to His own, and then He will take pity upon our griefs and end them.

What a choice promise is this, “He will subdue our iniquities!” He will conquer them. They cry to enslave us, but the Lord will give us victory over them by His own right hand. Like the Canaanites, they shall be beaten, put under the yoke, and ultimately slain.

Micah 7: EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.

The prophet begins in a sorrowful strain, and there is much that is sad in the chapter, yet there is also much of holy confidence in God.

Verse 1. Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

It is a terrible thing for a good man to find good men growing very scarce, and to see wicked men becoming more wicked than ever. It makes him feel his loneliness very keenly, and joy seems to be banished from his heart.

2. The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

Those were sad times in which Micah lived; and yet, under some aspects, one might be willing and even glad to live in such times, for, if ever one could be useful to one’s fellows, surely it would be then. God had need of a voice like that of the prophet Micah in the days when his worship was forsaken, and the true faith had almost died out among men. Unless God had left a Micah here and there, the land would have been as Sodom, and have been made like unto Gomorrah. So the more unpleasant the age was to the good man, the more necessary and profitable was he to that age.

3. That they may do evil with both hands earnestly,

I wish the professed followers of Christ did good with both hands, that is, with every faculty, with every capacity, in every way, and at every opportunity, just as wicked men “ do evil with both hands earnestly.”

3. The prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

Honesty seemed to have died out of the nation; the highest people in the land, who ought to have been beyond the power of bribery, sold the administration of justice to the highest bidder. Ah I those were ill times indeed.

4. The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.

Sin brings sorrow in its train; and, as nations will have no future as nations, God deals with national sin here upon earth, and visits it with national punishments. Now that sin had become so rampant in Israel, it would be the time of their perplexity, and when sins, like chickens, come home to roost, then will be the time of the sinner’s perplexity. He lets his sins fly abroad, and thinks that, like the wandering birds of the air, they will soon be gone, and he shall never see them again, but they will all come home to him, and he shall be made bitterly to rue the day in which he thought that he could make a profit by transgressing the righteous law of the Lord.

5. Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

So saturated with dishonesty had the nation become that the evil had penetrated even into domestic life, so that, where all should have been in a state of mutual happy confidence, the prophet felt bound to tell them that each confidence could not exist between those who appeared to be friends, or even between husbands and wives.

6. For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

And this is true in a measure still, for, without the fear of God, you will find that even the nearest and dearest relationships will not keep the unconverted from being the enemies of the godly. In that respect, a gracious man cannot trust her that lieth in his bosom, if she be not a true child of God.

Now mark the grandeur of faith. Set this white spot right in the middle of the black darkness of which we have been reading:-

7. Therefore I will look unto the LORD;-

There was nowhere else for the prophet to look. According to what he tells us, all men had become false; “therefore,” says he, “I will look unto Jehovah;”-

7, 8. I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

And this is all the light that God’s people need. Even if it be the darkness of a black Egyptian night into which our spirit has fallen, yet, if God shall but appear to us, there shall soon be light for us. Dr. Watts truly sang,-

“In darkest shades, if he appear,
My dawning is begun;
He is my soul’s sweet morning star,
And he my rising sun.”

9. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

Listen to this testimony of the prophet, tried child of God; even when in your own household you find enemies, put your trust in God, for he will yet appear to deliver you. Let this be your joy. Sit still in humble patience, and “ bear the indignation of the Lord, “ for, even though trouble is laid upon you, it is not so heavy as it might have been, and it is not so severe as it would have been if the Lord had dealt with you in strict justice. Therefore in patience possess your soul, and wait quietly before your God. Be not without hope, expect that he will plead your cause and that he will execute judgment for you; watch for his light, which will most surely come, and in which you shall behold, not your own righteousness, but his.

10. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

This verse relates to the nation which, at that time, was oppressing Israel She should have her turn of suffering for she should be crushed beneath Jehovah’s foot as the mire is trodden in the beets.

11, 12. In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

This is what was to befall those who had sinned against God, and oppressed his people; he would let loose the oppressors upon them, and they should find foes in every quarter.

13. Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

That is a wonderful expression, “the fruit of their doings.” All doings bear fruit of one kind or another, and sinful doings bear bitter and deadly fruit. Woe to the man who is made to eat the fruit of his own doings! That which men eat on earth they may have to digest in hell, and there shall they lie for ever digesting the terrible morsels which they ate with so much gusto here below.

14. Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of shine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Sometimes, there are pastures in the very center of woods, and God’s people in Micah’s day were like a little flock of sheep hidden away from their enemies in the midst of a wood, but God will bring them out by-and-by to far larger liberty. They shall yet have Bashan and Gilead to be their pasture, “ as in the days of old; “ and so the little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a great nation, and they that were hidden away because of their many enemies shall have such liberty that everywhere they shall worship and praise the Lord their God.

15-17. According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will issue unto him marvellous things. The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their cars shall be dead: They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.

The day will come when there shall be such a fear of the people of God upon those who formerly persecuted them that they shall tremble before the Lord, and be afraid of the very people whom once they derided and oppressed.

18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

He never delights in anger, especially in anger against his own people. That is but temporary anger, and is, after all, only another form of love, for the parental anger which hates sin in a dear child is but love on fire. May God never permit us to sin without being thus angry with us! We might almost beseech him never to tolerate sin in us, but to smite us with the rod rather than suffer us to be happy in the midst of evil. Perhaps the worst of horrors is peace in the midst of iniquity, happiness while yet sin is all round about us.

19. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

We read about their sins in the earlier part of the chapter; and what a horrible catalogue of evils it was, yet here we read, “ Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth inquiry?” Even those mountainous sins of which the prophet writes, the Lord will tear up by their roots, and cast them into the depths of the sea.

20. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Micah 1:12: MAROTH; OR THE DISAPPOINTED
NO. 3184
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH, 1910,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,
ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPT. 25TH, 1873.

“For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.” — Micah 1:12.

The village of the bitter spring, for that is probably the meaning of this name Maroth, experienced a bitter disappointment. At the time when the Assyrians invaded the land, the inhabitants expected that deliverance would come to them from some quarter or other. From the context, I judge that they placed some sort of reliance upon the Philistines. Possibly, they had some hope, that the king of Egypt would come up to attack Sennacherib. Evidently, they looked for help anywhere except to God; and, consequently, as no good came to them from the men upon whom they had relied, trial and overwhelming distress came to them from the hand of God. He was angry at their trust in men, and their want of trust in himself, and therefore he punished their unbelief by their total overthrow. The Assyrian swept over them, and stopped not till he reached the gate of Jerusalem, where Hezekiah’s faith in God made the enemy pause and retreat.
The fact recorded in the text suggests to us, first, sad disappointments: “the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came;” and, secondly, strange appointments: evil came down from the Lord.” When we have considered these two things, we will change the subject, altogether, and speak about expectations which will not end in disappointment.

I. First, then, we are to think of Sad Disappointments: The inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came.”

Disappointments are often extremely painful at the time. Even in little things, we do not like to be disappointed; if our expectations ate not realized, we feel as if a sharp thorn had pierced our flesh. But in great matters disappointment is much more serious. In the case of the inhabitants of Maroth, it was fatal, they expected to be delivered from the Assyrians, but they were either slain on the spot, or carried away captive to Nineveh. It would be the most terrible disappointment of all if our expectations concerning our souls should not be realized. It would be painful to the last degree to discover, upon our dying bed, that the good we had looked for had not come, — to find that we had built our house upon the sand, and that, when we most needed its shelter, it was swept away. O Lord, disappoint not thy servant’s hope! All my expectation is from thee, and thou hast said, “They shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” Any other expectation beside this, concerning our eternal interests, will only bring us, pain and misery for ever.
Disappointments in this life, however, although they are at times very painful, are sometimes of such a character that, could we know all the truth, we should not lament them. There are many who have looked forward to a change in their condition in life, or their position in society, and they have been disappointed. For a time, they have been ready to wring their hands in anguish; yet, if they knew what the consequences would have been if their expectations had been realized, they would fall down upon their knees, and devoutly praise the Lord for the disappointment which had been so great a blessing in disguise to them. You, my brother, had expected to be rich by this time, but God knew that, had you been rich, you would have been proud and worldly, and would have ceased to enjoy fellowship with him, so he kept you poor that you might still be rich in faith. You, my friend, had expected to be in robust health at this time; but had you been so, you might not have been walking so humbly before the Lord as you are now doing. You, my oft-bereaved brother, had hoped to see your family spared to grow up, so that you might have had sons and daughters upon whom you could have leaned in your declining days, yet they might have proved a plague and a sorrow to you instead of a comfort and a blessing. Complain not that they were taken from you in their childhood by that kind hand which made them blest for e’er, and only deprived you for a while of their companionship, which, might not have been an unmixed blessing to you. Rest assured, O child of God, that whatever happens to thee is as it should be! Believe that, if thou couldst have infinite wisdom, and the helm of thy life’s vessel could be entrusted to thy hands, thou wouldst steer it precisely as God steers it; thou wouldst not always guide the ship through smooth water any more than he does. If thou couldst be unerring in judgment, and couldst be thine own guide, thou wouldst choose for thyself the track which God has chosen for thee. It is divine love and infallible wisdom that have ordered all things for thee up to this very moment; so, whatever thy disappointments may have been, comfort thyself with the assurance that they have been amongst thy greatest blessings.

There are some expectations which are certain to be disappointed. When a man expects to prosper through wrong-doing, his expectations will certainly not be realized; at least, not in the long run, however much he may seem to prosper for a while. When a man thinks that happiness can be found in the ways of sin, he will be bitterly disappointed sooner or later. When a man expects that by self-reliance, he will be able to gain all that he needs without trusting to a stronger arm than his own, his expectations will not be realized. When a man is relying upon his fellow-creature, when he thinks that the all-important matter for him is to have some rich patron or powerful friend, and he is under the delusion that he can do without any help from heaven, he is sure to be disappointed; and he who is depending upon his own good works, and trusting to his own unaided resolutions that hold on in the way of holiness, will be terribly disappointed unless he repents before it is too late. There are some things which only fools will expect, — things which are contrary to the laws of nature, and things which are contrary to the rules of grace. The man who never sows good corn, and yet expects to reap at harvest time, is a fool, and his disappointment will come in the form of thorns and thistles all over his fields. The sluggard, who lies in bed, and lazily says, “A little more sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to sleep,” may expert in that way to become wealthy, but Solomon long ago said to him, “Thy poverty shall come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” This is true, in spiritual things as well as in temporal. God gives blessing to effort, and diligence, not to idleness and lethargy.'

Besides this, in many cases disappointments are highly probable. Some of our familiar proverbs relate to such cases as these. One says, “Those who wait for dead men’s shoes are pretty sure to go barefoot.” Another is, “If they never drink milk till they get their uncle’s cow, they will be long thirsty for the want of it.” Yet there are persons who waste a great part of their lifetime in vain expectations of what they call “windfalls.” We know that the “windfalls” in the orchard generally fall because they are rotten and are not worth picking up, and other “windfalls” are often no more valuable. There are men who might have prospered if they had not foolishly sat down in the expectation that, somehow or other, a great fortune would hunt them out, and make them independent; such expectations are usually doomed to disappointment. If any of you have fallen into the pernicious habit of reading works of fiction, and so have formed romantic ideas of what is likely to occur to you, the great probability is that your day-dreams will be only dreams, and that your castles in the air will never be inhabited by you. I pray you not to fritter away your time and opportunities in vain expectations while most probably will never be fulfilled. Expect to receive not quite all you earn, nor all you lend, and probably your expectations will not be disappointed, but, as another of our proverbs puts it, if you count your chickens before they are hatched, it is highly probable that your expectations will not be realized.

There are also other expectations that will possibly end in disappointment. Even the most legitimate hopes are not always realized. “There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.” When we feel almost sure that a certain plan must succeed, suddenly it turns out to be all a mistake. We think that, as prudent men, we have arranged matters so wisely that they must succeed, yet in the issue we are grievously disappointed. Be not hasty in condemning those who do not succeed in business for at least in some cases failure has come through no fault of theirs. Do not judge harshly all who are in need; no doubt there are all too many instances in which poverty is the result of idleness or drunkenness, but there are other cases in which poverty is blameless and even honorable. Men may toil hard, and do the very best they can, and seek God’s blessing upon their efforts, and yet they may not be permitted to secure a competence. If you, my friend, reckon upon seeing all your schemes succeed, you are very likely to be disappointed. If you, my Christian brother, imagine that, between here and heaven, the way will be laid with smooth turf well rolled, you will certainly be disappointed. If you think that, the sea will always be calm as a lake, and that no storm will ever ruffle it, you will be disappointed. There will be some things that will fulfill your expectations, but there will be others that will not, and in those you will be like that inhabitant of Maroth, who “waited carefully for good, but evil came.”

In every case, disappointments should be borne with the greatest possible patience and equanimity. I am sorry to say that we do not all bear them so, not even all of us who profess to be Christians. Remember that God has never promised that all our expectations shall be fulfilled; it would have been a doubtful blessing if such a thing had been guaranteed to us, and we might easily have expected ourselves into utter misery. Who are you that everything should happen just as you wish? Should the weather be fine simply because you want it to be so when a thousand fields are gasping for rain? Should you have the channels of trade turned in your direction when, if that were the case, scores of others would be beggared? Is everything in this world to be so arranged that you shall be the darling and pet of providence? It cannot be right for such a state of things to prevail; therefore, when we are disappointed, whether it is in little matters or great ones, let us bear the disappointment bravely, and lay the whole case before the Lord in prayer. Let us ask him wherefore he contendeth with us; and if there be any reason for it which we can discover in ourselves, let us endeavor to remove it; or if we can find no cause, let us believe that God acts in wisdom and in love, and let us cheerfully submit to whatever he appoints for us.

We should bear our disappointments with all the greater equanimity if we would always remember that disappointments are often exceedingly instructive. What do they teach us? Well, first, they teach us that our judgement is very fallible. We learn from them that we are not such prophets as we thought we were; we fancied that if we said that such-and-such, a thing was going to happen, it would surely be so; but when the result proved to be just the opposite, we found that our judgment was not as reliable as we thought it was, and therefore our forecast was quite inaccurate. So our disappointments teach us our need of greater wisdom than our own, and also teach us the folly of trusting to our own understanding.

They also teach us the uncertainty of everything that is earthly. What is there here that can be depended upon for a single hour? The life of the most robust may suddenly end, the current of affairs may change more rapidly than the tide. Riches take to themselves wings, and fly away. The greatest wisdom becomes the greatest folly. All is vanity, and vexation of spirit. If our disappointments teach us this lesson, we shall be well repaid for having suffered them.

Let them also teach us to speak correctly, as Christians should. You know how the apostle James writes, “Go to now, ye, that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow ... For that, ye ought to say, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” Let our past disappointments warn us to speak with bated breath about to-morrow and the more distant future, and not to say without any qualification what we will do as if all time were at our disposal, and we were the disposers of all events. Even if we do not always use the words, “If the Lord will,” “If God pleases,” “If we are spared,” or similar expressions, let the spirit of them always be in our mind, so that we do not think and speak unconditionally concerning the unknown future.

Let our disappointments also teach us to submit, absolutely and unquestioningly to the Lord’s will. We wish to have things in a certain fashion; but God plainly indicated that they are not to be so, therefore let us cheerfully surrender our wish to his will. Surely, O child of God, you would not think of wanting to have your way when once you learn that it is contrary to your heavenly Father’s way! If you are right-minded, you will at once give up your wish, and will say, “Not my will, O my Father, but thy will be done!” You will probably do that all the more decidedly if some disappointment has burnt into your soul the truth that God is wiser than you are, and that his will must always prevail above yours. Stand to the surrender at all times, and say to the Lord, “Show me thy way, and let me hear the voice behind me, saying, ’This is the way; walk ye in it.’”

Let me also add that disappointments may be greatly sanctified. They are not so always, for sometimes they irritate and so cause sin; or they create a murmuring spirit against God, and so make us worse then we were before. But sanctified disappointment are part of that rod of the covenant which is so beneficial in the hand of a chastening God. Sometimes, a grievous disappointment has changed the whole current of a person’s life. A man was looking forward to what he hoped would be a happy marriage, but his intended bride suddenly died, and then he surrendered his heart to Jesus, who became the Bridegroom of his soul. A soul had expected to inherit a large estate, but by some means the wealth came not into his possession; and when he found himself poor, he sought true riches in Christ. A strong man had hoped to build up a prosperous business, but he was unexpectedly smitten with serious illness, his former prosperity departed from him, and then he fixed his hopes upon the ever-blessed Son of God, and so he attained to bliss which no earthly success could ever have brought him. I remember meeting a man who told me that he could never see spiritually until he had lost his natural eyesight; and there have, doubtless, been many who were never rich until they became poor, and others who were never happy until their earthly happiness was blighted and blasted, and then they sought and found true happiness in Jesus. What a blessed disappointment it is that leads us to a Saviours love!

Disappointments are also sanctified to believers when they help to wean them from the world. There is a sort of glue about this world that makes it adhere to us, and makes us adhere to it. David found it so when he wrote, “My soul cleaveth unto the dust.” Earth naturally clings to earth, but I will warrant you that David cared little enough for earth when his handsome son Absalom became a rebel, and when his house, which had been such a comfort to him, became a terror, and when his subjects, who had almost worshipped him, joined in rebelling against him. Then did he plaintively sigh, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Yes, disappointments wean us from the world, and make us plume our wings ready to be up and away to that fair country where, hope shall reach its full fruition, and disappointment shall be unknown for ever.

Moreover, brethren, when we meet with disappointments in this life, we prize all the more the faithfulness of our God. When you have had an unkind word from one whom you have loved, how much more closely you have nestled down in the embrace of your everloving Savior! When you have been betrayed by a friend in whom you trusted, what sweet communion you have had with the friend that sticketh closer than a brother! When your gourd above you has withered, and you have lost its welcome shade, however more you have prized the shadow of a great rock in a weary land! It is a good thing for us to have all earthly props knocked away, for then, we value more than ever the faithfulness of the God who, never fails those who put their trust in him. Those who always remain on dry land will never learn by practical experience what the sailors know. “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters: these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep; “and it is when, like the storm-tossed mariners, our soul is melted because of trouble, that our dear Lord and Master, coming to us upon the crest of the wave, becomes tenfold more precious to us than he had ever been before. If our disappointments would only make us hold with a loose hand all the we have, — house, and lands, and children, and health, and reputation, and everything, so that, if God should take them all away, we should still continue to bless his name, because we never reckoned that they were ours to keep, but were only lent to us during our Lord’s good will and pleasure, — if our disappointments only brought us to such a condition as that, they would be indeed most soul-enriching things.

II. Now I must leave that part of the subject, and turn to the second portion, which is Strange Appointments: “the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord.”

This expression must not be misunderstood. “Evil came down from the Lord.” The word “evil” here means trial, affliction, chastisement, and to a Christian this kind of “evil” is often for his highest good. It does seem singular to a child of God that even that which he thinks to be evil should come down from the Lord. How can it be that God is loving and kind when he deprives one of his children of her husband, or bades away her babe from her bosom. How can it be that God is infinitely wise, yet he sometimes casts his poor weak children into difficulties where they are at their wits end, and know not what to do? How is it that he loves the righteous, and is gracious to them, yet he puts some of the best of them into the hottest part of the furnace, and makes it burn most furiously like that of Nebuchadnezzar of old? If our ashes and pains came from Satan, if our losses were the result of chance, or if our sufferings arose only from the malevolence of the wicked, they would be comprehensible but it is oftentimes a marvel and a mystery to a Christian why the Lord sends the trials which lays upon him. Be patient, brother; what thou knowest not, now, thou shalt know hereafter; so be content to wait until God reveals the mystery to thee if he pleases to do so, and then it will make thee marvel that thy Lord should have taken such pains in training thee for the service he has for thee yet to render to him. Perhaps I am addressing some child of God who is sorely puzzled as to why certain things have happened to him. But, father, does thy child always understand all that thou doest to him and for him? It was not long ago that thy boy was sent away to school; perhaps he thought thee unkind in treating him so, yet is was real love to him that prompted thee to send him away from thee to be all the better trained for whatever may lie before him in his after life. He does not understand all that is in your mind, and you can never comprehend all that is in the infinite mind of your Father who is in heaven. Be satisfied that whatever God does must be right.

Yet, remember that, in a certain sense, all trials do come from God. There may be secondary agents coming in between, but let us not cavil at them, or quarrel with them. When Shimei cursed David, Abishai said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head” but David said, “Let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.” He felt that he deserved to be cursed so he looked upon Shimei’s insults as being a form of chastisement from God. If you strike a dog with a stick, he will bite the stick; but if he had more sense, he would try to bite you, and when we are chastened, it is foolish for us to be angry with the rod that God employs, and we dare not be angry with God. There may be sin in the person who causes us to suffer, as there was in the case of Shimei, but we must look beyond him even as David did, and learn what, God’s intention is in thus chastening us, and submissively accept whatever God appoints.

There are some trials which come very distinctly from God. Perhaps you have lost one who was very dear to you; let it comfort your heart that it was the Lord who took away your loved one. There is an empty chair in your house, and every time you look at it your eyes fill with tears, yet never forget that it was the Lord who called to himself the one who used to occupy that chair. Or possibly your trouble is that you yourself are gradually fading away by consumption or some other deadly disease. Well, if it is so, that is God’s appointment for you in the order of his providence, so do not rebel against what is clearly his will. Or it, may be that your trial is that you have struggled hard to gain an honest livelihood for yourself and your family; but, instead of attaining that end you are constantly getting further and further away from it. If it is so, look upon your trouble as coming from God, and bear patiently what you are unable to alter.

This leads me, to say to every Christian whose trial is distinctly from the Lord, — My brother or sister, this makes it all the easier for you to submit without murmuring to God’s will. When such a trial comes, there is nothing for a believer to say but this, “It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.” There may be cases in which submission will best be indicated by silence before the Lord. When Nadah and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered strange fire before the Lord, and there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, it must have been a terrible trial to their father, yet we read, “Aaron held his peace”,” as if he thought, “Since God has done it, what can I say?” You know the oft-repeated story of the gardener who had a favourite rose, and when it was plucked, be was very angry; but when he was told that the master had taken it, he said no more about, the matter. May not the owner of the garden take any flowers in it that he pleases, and may not the Lord take away his beloved ones from us whenever he chooses to do so? We ought not to be vexed with him when he does so, but we ought rather to say, with Job, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” No, my Lord, I must not and I will not cavil at anything that, thou hast done. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth, but let not man strive with his Maker. In our case, it would not only be striving with our Maker; it would be striving with our best Friend, our Father, our All-in-all, and that we must never do. So, if the trial has come distinctly from God, it should be easy to submit to it.

And, further, if it comes distinctly from God, it gives all the more powerful plea in prayer. One may plead thus, “O Lord, this trouble is not of my own making; thou hast sent it to me for thine own wise purposes, wilt thou not bring me, through it?” Another may say, “O Lord; I am very poor, yet this is not because I have been imprudent or extravagant, but because thou hast permitted it, so will thou not help me in my time of need?” A sister pleads, “O Lord, I am in deep distress; my dear husband has been taken away, and I am left with many children, and with very scanty means, but as thou hast put me into this furnace, wilt thou not be with me in it, and keep me from being consumed?” When a soldier is sent on a campaign, he is not expected to bear his own charges; and if the great Captain of salvation has sent thee out to fight for him, he will meet thine expenses. He will also cover thy head in the day of battle, and make thee more than conqueror through his might. Did the Lord ever lay a heavier burden on any man than that man was able to bear unless he also gave him extra strength to enable him to bear it? Rest thou confident, concerning the trial which God sends thee, that he will also send thee deliverance from it, or grace to glorify him in it. If his left hand smites thee, his right hand will support thee. If he frowns upon them to-day, he will smile upon thee to-morrow. If he leads thee into deep waters, he will bring thee up again to the hills where he will gladden thee with the light of his countenance. The deeper thy sorrows, the higher shall be thy joys; as thy tribulations abound, so also shall thy consolations abound by Jesus Christ. The groans of earth shall be surpassed by the songs of heaven, and the woes of time shall be swallowed up in the hallelujahs of eternity. So that, if in any of these senses evil comes down upon you from the Lord, I pray that he may give you the grace to accept it, and even to rejoice in it.

III. Now we are to close by thinking, of Expectations Which Will Not End In Disappointment.

For instance, I expect, and so do you if you are the Lord’s children, that God will keep his promise. It is not always so written, for they make many promises which they never fulfill. There are men, who are so rich and so reliable, that their signature to a cheque is as good as gold to the full value of the cheque; and God’s promise is his cheque, which can be cashed at the Bank of Faith in every time of need. We are all too apt to rely upon our fellow-men, even though they have failed us again and again; but we sometimes find it difficult to depend upon our God, although he has never failed anyone who has trusted him. O beloved, what wickedness lurks in that fact! If you believe every promise that God has given, you will be able to endorse the testimony that Joshua gave to the children of Israel just before he died, “Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.”

Then, next, expect much from the merits and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If thou hast really believed in him, expect to be justified by him; expect that he will answer every accusation that can be brought against thee either now or at the last great judgment day. Expect also to be preserved and kept by him. Expect that he will go before thee as thy Shepherd, making thee to lie down in green pastures, and leading thee beside the still waters. Expect that he will plead for thee in heaven, and that he will soon come to take thee up to dwell at his right hand forever. You cannot expect too much of Christ, and large as your expectations may be, none of them shall be disappointed.

And, beloved, expect much from the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit of God has quickened you from your death in sin, what, is there that he cannot and will not do? Are you in trouble? He can comfort you. Are you depressed? He can cheer you. Are you in the dark? He can enlighten you. Are you at this moment fighting against sin? He can enable, you to gain the victory. I am sure that many of God’s children do not expect half as much as they ought from the Holy Spirit. They seem, to imagine that there are some sins that, cannot be driven out, of them, they do not, in the power of the Spirit, put the sword to the throat of all their sins. Yet, this should be the constant aim of every Christian, to drive out the Canaanites, and smite the last Amalakite with the edge of the sword. The Spirit of God is able to subdue the fiercest temper, he is able to impart activity to the most slothful nature, he is able to repress the wildest and most evil desires, he is able, to excite us to those virtues which seem to be directly opposite to our natural temperaments and characters. “All things are possible to him that believeth.” If he will but wholly trust to the Holy Spirit, he shall be able to do great exploits in the war that has to be waged within his own heart, and also in the fight against evil which is raging all around him.

If time would permit, I might go on urging you to cherish expectations which are not likely to be disappointed, but I can only summarize them very briefly. Expect to-night that God will bless you as you offer up your evening prayer. Expect that the Lord will be with you to-morrow sustaining you amid all the cares and toils of the day. Expect for all the days of your active life that, as your days, so shall your strength be; and when your declining years come, expect that consolation will be given to you to meet every emergency. In sickness, expect, to receive sustaining grace. In death itself, expect the Lord’s very special presence. Expect a glorious resurrection. Expect the triumph that you shall share with, Christ in his millennial glory. Expect, all eternity of bliss with him as he has promised, and rest assured that none of these expectations shall be disappointed.

I fear that there are some here, who have no right to cherish any of these expectations. You have probably had disappointments about many things already. I cannot pity you very much concerning the trivial disappointments of this life; but if you do not seek the Savior where he is found, there is a disappointment in store for you that might well fill all Christian hearts with tenderest pity and compassion. There is a man who has lived a life of selfish pleasure; he has been clothed in scarlet and fine linen, and has fared sumptuously every day; and, on a sudden, the voice of God declares that he must die. What was to his horror when he sees all his treasures melting away, and himself doomed to depart out of this world as naked as when he entered it. Imagine the case of the man who has been what he calls religious, who has attended to all the ceremonies of his church, or who has been orthodox after the fashion of the sect to which he belongs: but who has had no new birth, and, consequently, none of the life of God in His soul, no indwelling Spirit, no vital connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior. Yet he has expected to be ferried across the bridgeless river by one called Vain-hope; but when the hour of death has come, God has opened his eyes to let him see his real position, and the dread future that is awaiting him. Oh, the terror of that man when his vain and unfounded hopes are disappointed! We have read of some who have offered a great portion of their wealth if they might only be allowed to live another hour, but it was all in vain, for die they must. God save all of you, my dear hearers, from such a doom as that! In order that it may be so, put not your trust in things below; be not like the inhabitants of Maroth, who looked to the Philistines and the Egyptians to help them, and so waited in vain for the good that never came; but turn your eyes unto him who says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved,” and then your expectations shall not be disappointed. So may it be, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

Micah 1:12: Sermon Notes
C H Spurgeon

For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem. — Micah 1:12

The village of the bitter spring (for such is probably the meaning of the name Maroth) experienced a bitter disappointment.

The more eager and patient their careful waiting, the more distasteful the draught of evil which they were compelled to drink. Their trust in man proved to be vain, for the Assyrian swept over them, and stopped not till he reached the gate of Jerusalem, where Hezekiah's faith in God made the enemy pause and retreat.

Let us consider, as suggested by the text:

I. SAD DISAPPOINTMENTS. "waited carefully for good: but evil came."

Disappointments come frequently to the sanguine, but they also happen to those who wait — wait carefull, and expect reasonably.

1. Disappointments are often extremely painful at the time.

2. Yet could we know all the truth, we should not lament them.

3. In reference to hopes of several kinds they are certain. As for instance, when we expect more of the creature than it was ever meant to yield us, when we look for happiness in sin, when we expect fixity in earthly things, etc.

4. In many cases disappointments are highly probable. Conceited hopes, groundless expectations, speculations, etc.

5. In all cases they are possible. "There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip."

6. They should be accepted with manly patience.

7. They may prove highly instructive, teaching us:

Our fallibility of judgment.

The uncertainty of sublunary things.

The need of reserve in speaking of the future (James 4:14).

The duty of submitting all our projects to the divine will.

8. They may be greatly sanctified.

Sometimes they have turned the current of a life.

They are intended to wean us from the world.

They tend to make us prize more the truthfulness of our God, who fulfills the desire of them that fear him.

They bring us precious things which can only come of experience.

They save us from unknown evils which might ruin us.

II. STRANGE APPOINTMENTS.

The text tells us, "evil came down from the Lord."

1. The expression must not be misunderstood. God is not the author of moral evil. It is the evil of sorrow, affliction, calamity that is here meant.

2. It is nevertheless universally true. No evil can happen without divine permission. "I make peace, and create evil" (Isa. 45:7).

3. Some evils are distinctly from the Lord. "This evil is of the Lord" (2 Kings 6:33).

For testing men, and making their true character to be known,

For chastening the good (1 Chron. 21:7).

For punishing the wicked (Gen. 6:5-7; 19:24-25).

4. Hence such evils are to be endured by the godly with humble submission to their heavenly Father's will.

5. Hence our comfort under them: since all evils are under divine control, their power to injure is gone.

6. Hence the antidote for our disappointments lies in the fact that they are God's appointments.

III. EXPECTATIONS WHICH WILL NOT END IN DISAPPOINTMENT.

1. Hopes founded on the promises of God (Heb. 10:23).

2. Confidence placed in the Lord Jesus (1 Pet. 2:6).

3. Desires presented in believing prayer (Matt. 21:22).

4. Harvest hopes in connection with sowing seed for the Lord (Ps. 126:5-6).

5. Expectations in falling asleep in Jesus (1 Thess. 4:14). Is your life embittered by disappointment?

Cast the cross into the bitter water, and it will become sweet.

Gatherings

During the period when lotteries were unhappily allowed to flourish in this country, a gentleman, looking into the window of a lottery office in St. Paul's Churchyard, discovered to his joy that his ticket had turned up a £10,000 prize. Intoxicated with this sudden accession of wealth, he walked round the churchyard, to consider calmly how he should dispose of his fortune. On again, in his circuit, passing the lottery office, he resolved to take another glance at the charming announcement in the window, when, to his dismay, he saw that a new number had been substituted. On inquiry, he found that a wrong number had at first been posted by mistake, and that after all he was not the holder of the prize. His chagrin was now as great as his previous pleasure had been. — W. Haig Miller's "Life's Pleasure Garden"

It is wise, when we are disappointed in one thing, to set over against it a hopeful expectancy of another, like the farmer who said, "If the peas don't pay, let us hope the beans will. "Yet it would be idle to patch up one rotten expectation with another of like character, for that would only make the rent worse. It is better to turn from the fictions of the sanguine worldling to the facts of the believer in the Word of the Lord. Then, if we find no profit in our trading with earth, we shall fall back upon our heart's treasure in heaven. We may lose our gold, but we can never lose our God. The expectation of the righteous is from the Lord, and nothing that comes from him shall ever fail.

I knew one who had made an idol of his daughter, and when she sickened and died, he was exceedingly rebellious, and the result was that he died himself. Expectations which hang upon the frail tenure of a human life may fill our cup with wormwood if we indulge them. Could this father have owned the Lord's hand in the removal of his child, and had he beforehand moderated his expectations concerning her, he might have lived happily with the rest of his family, and have been an example of holy patience. — C. H. S.

Who has not muttered "Marah" over some well in the desert which he strained himself to reach, and found to be bitterness? Have you found no salt waters where you thought to find sweetness and joy? Love, beauty, the world's bright throngs, marriage, home, the things which once wooed you, and promised to slake the thirst of your soul for happiness, are they all Elims, sweet springs and palms? Oh, what fierce murmurings of "Marah" have I heard from hearts wrung with anguish, from souls withered and blasted by a too fond confidence in anything or any being but God! Believe it, no man, with a man's heart in him, gets far on his wilderness way without some bitter soul-searching disappointment; happy he who is brave enough to push on another stage of the journey, and rest in Elim, where there are twelve springs, living springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees. — L B. Brown

Disappointments in favorite wishes are trying, and we are not always wise enough to remember that disappointments in time are often the means of preventing disappointments in eternity. — William Jay

Micah 2:7. THE HOLY GHOST THE NEED OF THE AGE.
NO. 1952
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 13TH, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

“O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” — Micah 2:7.

Brethren, what a stern rebuke to the people of Israel is contained in the title with which the prophet addressed them — “O thou that art named the house of Jacob”! It is as much as to say to them — “You wear the name, but you do not bear the character of Jacob.” It is the Old Testament version of the New Testament saying, “Thou hast a name to live, and art dead.” They gloried that they were the seed of Israel, they vaunted the peculiar privileges which came to them as the descendants of God’s honored and chosen servant Jacob; but they did not act in the same way as Jacob would have acted: they were devoid of Jacob’s faith in Jehovah, they knew nothing of Jacob’s power of prayer, and nothing of his reliance upon the covenant. The words of Micah imply that the descendants of Jacob in his day were proud of the name of “house of Jacob,” but that they were not worthy of it. Nothing is more mischievous than to cling to a name when the thing for which it stands has disappeared. May we never come to such a stage of declension, that even the Spirit of God will be compelled, in speaking to us, to say, “O thou that art called the church of God!” To be named Christians, and not to be Christians, is to be deceivers or deceived. The name brings with it great responsibility, and if it be a name only, it brings with it terrible condemnation. It is a crime against the truth of God if we dare to take the name of his people when we are not his people. It is a robbery of honor from those to whom it is due; it is a practical lie against the Holy Ghost; it is a defamation of the character of the bride of Christ to take the name of Christian when the Spirit of Christ is not among us. This is to honor Christ with our lips and disgrace him by our lives. What is this but to repeat the crime of Judas, and betray the Son of man with a kiss? Brothers and sisters, I say again, may we never come to this! Truths not names; facts, not professions, are to be the first consideration. Better to be true to God, and bear the names of reproach which the adversary is so apt to coin, than to be false to our Lord, and yet to be decorated with the names of saints, and regarded as the most orthodox of believers. Whether named “the house of Jacob” or not, let us be wrestlers like Jacob, and like him may we come off as prevailing princes — the true Israel of God!

When the Lord found his chosen people to be in such a state that they had rather the name than the character of his people, he spoke to them of the spirit of the Lord. Was not this because their restoration must come from that direction? Was not their evil spirit to be removed by the Lord’s good Spirit? “O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” I believe, brethren, that whenever the church of God declines, one of the most effectual ways of reviving her is to preach much truth concerning the Holy Spirit. After all, he is the very breath of the church. Where the Spirit of God is, there is power. If the Spirit be withdrawn, then the vitality of godliness begins to decline, and the energy thereof is near to dying out. If we ourselves feel that we are backsliding, let us turn to the Spirit of God, crying, “Quicken thou me in thy way.” If we sorrowfully perceive that any church is growing lukewarm, be it our prayer that the Holy Spirit may work graciously for its revival. Let us direct the attention of our fellow Christians under declension to the Spirit of God. They are not straitened in him, but in themselves; let them turn to him for enlargement. It is he alone who can quicken us and strengthen the things which remain which are ready to die. I admire the wisdom of God here, that when speaking by the prophet he rebukes the backsliding of the people, he immediately directs their minds to the Holy Spirit who can bring them back from their wanderings, and cause them to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith they were called. Let us learn from this divine wisdom, and in lowly reverence and earnest faith let us look to the Spirit of the Lord.

In speaking to Israel upon the Spirit of God, the prophet Micah uses the remarkable language in our text, upon which I would now speak to you. “O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?” May the Holy Ghost help me to speak, and you to hear!

I. And, first, I think we may consider these words to have been spoken To Denounce Those Who Would Control The Spirit Of God. “Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” Can you hold him a captive, and make him speak at your dictation?

On turning to the connection you will find that there were certain prophets sent of God to Israel who were unpopular. The message which they brought was not acceptable: the people could not endure it, and so we read in the sixth verse; “Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.” The words of these prophets came so home to their consciences and made them so ashamed of themselves, that they said, “Do not prophesy: we wish not to hear you.” To these Micah replies, “Is the Spirit of the Lord to be straitened by you?”

There were some in those days who would altogether have silenced the Spirit. They would banish all spiritual teaching from the earth, that the voice of human wisdom might be uncontradicted. But can they silence the Spirit of God? Has he not continually spoken according to his own will, and will he not continue to do so? Is he not the free Spirit who, like the wind, bloweth where he listeth? If the adversaries could have slain with the sword all the messengers of God, would he not have found others? and if these also had been killed, could he not out of stones have raised up heralds of his truth? While the Scriptures remain, the Holy Spirit will never be without a voice, to the sons of men; and while he remains, those Scriptures will not be left without honest hearts and tongues to expound and enforce them. Is it possible for men anywhere to silence the Spirit of God? they may be guilty of the crime because they desire to commit it, and attempt to do so; but yet its accomplishment is beyond their reach. They may “quench the Spirit” in this and that man; but not in those in whom he effectually worketh. The Almighty Spirit may be resisted, but he will not be defeated. As well might men attempt to stop the shining of the sun, or seal up the winds, or still the pulsing of the tides, as effectually to straiten the Spirit of the Lord.

“When God makes bare his arm, What can his work withstand?”

Jehovah speaks, and it is done; who shall resist his word? When his Spirit attends that word, shall it fall to the ground? “My word,” saith he, “shall not return unto me void”; and all the sinners on earth and all the devils in hell cannot alter that grand decree. Every now and then there seems to be a lull in the history of holy work, a silence as of God, as if he were wearying of men, and would speak no longer to them. But ere long, in some unexpected quarter, the voice of the Lord is heard once more; some earnest spirit breaks the awful silence of spiritual death, and again the adversary is defeated. Outbursts of the great spirit of life, and light, and truth come at the divine will, when men least look for them or desire them. When Jesus has been crucified, even then the Holy Ghost descends, and the victories of the cross begin. No, my brethren, the Spirit of the Lord is not silenced: the voice of the Lord is heard above the tumults of the people.

The apostate Israelites also tried to straiten the Spirit of God by only allowing certain persons to speak in his name. They would have a choice of their prophets, and a bad choice too. See in the eleventh verse: “If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.” They had a liking for preachers who would indulge their lusts, pander to their passions, and swell their pride with windy flatteries. This age also inclines greatly to those who have cast off the restraints of God’s revelation, and utter the flattering inventions of their own boasted “thought.” Your liberal spirits, your large-hearted men, your despisers of the old and hunters after the new — these are the idols of many. As for those who would urge upon men separation from the world and holiness to the Lord, they are Puritanic, and out of date. In Micah’s days Israel would only hear false prophets; the rest they would not listen to. “What!” says Micah, “is the spirit of the Lord then to be shut up to speak to you by such men as you would choose? Is he not to speak by whomsoever he pleases?”

It is the tendency of churches in all ages to fetter the free Spirit. Now they are afraid that we shall have too many preachers, and they would restrain their number by a sort of trades-unionism. In certain churches none must speak in God’s name unless they have gone through a certain humanly-prescribed preparation, and have been ordained after a regulation manner: the Spirit of God may speak by the ordained, but he must not speak by others. In my inmost soul I treasure the liberty of prophesying. Not the right of every man to speak in the name of the Spirit, but the right of the Spirit to speak by whomsoever he pleases. He will rest on some rather than on others, and God forbid that we should straiten his sovereignty! Lord, send by whomsoever thou wilt send; choose whom thou wilt to the sacred office of ministers of God. Amongst the poor and illiterate the Spirit of God has had voices as clear and bold as among the educated and refined, and he will have them still; for he is not straitened, and it is the way of him to use instruments which pour contempt upon all the vain-glory of men. He anoints his own to bear witness for his truth by life and lip; these the professing church may criticize, and even reject, saying, “The Lord has not spoken by these;” but the word of the Lord will stand, notwithstanding the judgment of men. God’s true ministers shall be owned of him: wisdom is justified of her children. The Lord’s Spirit will not be straitened or shut up by all the rules, and modes, and methods which even good men may devise. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and the power of the Spirit waiteth not for man, neither tarrieth for the sons of men.

Further, this people tried to straiten the Spirit of God by changing his testimony. They did not wish the prophets to speak upon subjects which caused shame to them. They bade them prophesy smooth things. Tell us that we may sin with safety; tell us that the punishment of sin is not so overwhelming as we have feared. Stand up and be advocates for the devil by flattering us with “a larger hope.” Hint to us that, after all, man is a poor, inoffensive creature, who does wrong because he cannot help it, and that God will wink at his sins; and if he does punish him for a while, will soon set it all right. That was the style of teaching which Israel desired, and no doubt they found prophets to speak in that manner, for the demand soon creates the supply. But Micah boldly asks, “Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” Do you think that he will have his utterances toned down, and his revelation shaped to suit your tastes?

Brethren, let me ask you, do you imagine that the gospel is a nose of wax which can be shaped to suit the face of each succeeding age? Is the revelation once given by the Spirit of God to be interpreted according to the fashion of the period? Is “advanced thought” to be the cord with which the spirit of the Lord is to be straitened? Is the old truth that saved men hundreds of years ago to be banished because something fresh has been hatched in the nests of the wise? Think ye that the witness of the Holy Ghost can be shaped and moulded at our will? Is the divine Spirit to be rather the pupil than the teacher of the ages? “Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” My very soul boils within me when I think of the impudent arrogance of certain wilful spirits from whom all reverence for revelation has departed. They would teach Jehovah wisdom; they criticize his word and amend his truth. Certain Scriptural doctrines are, forsooth, discarded as dogmas of the medieval period; others are denounced as gloomy because they cannot be called untrue. Paul is questioned and quibbled out of court, and the Lord Jesus is first belauded and then explained away. We are told that the teaching of God’s ministers must be conformed to the spirit of the age. We shall have nothing to do with such treason to truth. “Is the spirit of the Lord straitened?” Shall his ministers speak as if he were? Verily, that same treasure of truth which the Lord has committed unto us we will keep inviolate so long as we live, God helping us. We are not so unmindful of the words of the apostle, “Hold fast the form of sound words,” as to change a syllable of what we believe to be the word of the Lord.

Certain of these backsliding Israelites went so far as to oppose the testimony of God. Note in the eighth verse — “Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy.” It is sad when God’s own people become the enemies of God’s own Spirit; yet those who professed to be of the house of Jacob, instead of listening to the voice of the living God, began to sit in judgment upon his word, and even to contradict the same. The worst foes of the truth are not infidels, but false profess