April 15

Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. - Isaiah 38:17.

WE ought always to value God’s mercy; but our successes and indulgences, frequently for a time, make impressions which are injurious. They cause us to forget our present condition, and that other dangers may be yet in reserve and awaiting us. So it was here. Hezekiah had just experienced a marvellous deliverance, and promised himself a continuance of peace and triumph. When lo! he was seized with a distemper, which embittered all his comforts, and threatened his life. “In my prosperity,” said David, “I shall never be moved.” Ah! vain hope; for with the same breath he exclaimed, “Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” Of the many sources of disappointment to which the most favoured child of Providence is liable, let us notice four. And, First, There is nothing more precarious than health. Who can tell what a day may bring forth; what accidents may befal us; or by what diseases we may be laid prostrate?

Secondly, Children may bitterly disappoint a parent’s hope. Here is Rachel, holding up their little robes, which are to be worn no more, “weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are not.” And here is a greater affliction still-a child becoming vicious, and a companion of fools.

Thirdly, The friendships of life may prove how insincere and perfidious are some who have been trusted as friends. Hence the language of David, “It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it; but it was thou, my guide and mine acquaintance.” Thus it was with Job; his friends dealt deceitfully with him. So it was with Paul, when before Caesar, he says, “All men forsook me.”

Fourthly, Wealth is another source of disappointment. Many who began life in affluence are now living in want, or depending on alms. We should therefore take care, and be sober-minded, and not look for more from any of those things, in our passage through life, than they are able to afford.

Let us make the Lord our trust; he will not, he cannot, disappoint us. If creatures are broken cisterns, he is the Fountain of living waters; if they are broken reeds, he is the Rock of Ages.