Unexpected Issues
George H. Morrison
2 Chronicles 32:1
There is a note of wonder in these words, an evident feeling of perplexity. The writer is as a man who has been staggered by the mysterious providence of God. Hezekiah was one of the best kings who ever sat upon the throne of Judah. The great ambition of his reign was to reorganize religion in the land. How strenuously he addressed himself to that and how unremittingly he labored at it is told us in the preceding chapters of this book. Other monarchs gave themselves to conquest, Hezekiah to the reformation of religion. Other kings consulted their own interests, Hezekiah the interests of God. For that he labored, and for that he lived; to that he subordinated everything; he was a God-fearing and a pious king. Now to the Jew, more than to other men, one result to such conduct seemed inevitable. God would remember godly Hezekiah and would bless him with prosperity and peace. And the perplexing thing for pious souls, the thing which they found it hard to understand, was that after these things Sennacherib came. After that life of strenuous endeavor, after these years of loyalty to heaven, after that noble effort at reform which was the glory of Hezekiah's reign, the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. It is no wonder the writer was perplexed and the godly utterly confounded. It was as if the promises of heaven were shattered into fragments. Men could not understand the meaning of it nor fathom the mystery of such a providence, when after these things and that faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came.
Yet when we meditate on human life, such an outcome does not seem exceptional; it is a common ordering of God. Only a week ago, for instance, we sat together at the communion table. It was a blessed hour of spiritual fellowship, and the banner over us was love. We felt as if heaven were not far away, as if Jesus of Nazareth were passing by, so conscious were we of the redeeming presence. What memo ...
George H. Morrison
2 Chronicles 32:1
There is a note of wonder in these words, an evident feeling of perplexity. The writer is as a man who has been staggered by the mysterious providence of God. Hezekiah was one of the best kings who ever sat upon the throne of Judah. The great ambition of his reign was to reorganize religion in the land. How strenuously he addressed himself to that and how unremittingly he labored at it is told us in the preceding chapters of this book. Other monarchs gave themselves to conquest, Hezekiah to the reformation of religion. Other kings consulted their own interests, Hezekiah the interests of God. For that he labored, and for that he lived; to that he subordinated everything; he was a God-fearing and a pious king. Now to the Jew, more than to other men, one result to such conduct seemed inevitable. God would remember godly Hezekiah and would bless him with prosperity and peace. And the perplexing thing for pious souls, the thing which they found it hard to understand, was that after these things Sennacherib came. After that life of strenuous endeavor, after these years of loyalty to heaven, after that noble effort at reform which was the glory of Hezekiah's reign, the Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold. It is no wonder the writer was perplexed and the godly utterly confounded. It was as if the promises of heaven were shattered into fragments. Men could not understand the meaning of it nor fathom the mystery of such a providence, when after these things and that faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came.
Yet when we meditate on human life, such an outcome does not seem exceptional; it is a common ordering of God. Only a week ago, for instance, we sat together at the communion table. It was a blessed hour of spiritual fellowship, and the banner over us was love. We felt as if heaven were not far away, as if Jesus of Nazareth were passing by, so conscious were we of the redeeming presence. What memo ...
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