Lamentations 2:15

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?" Lam 2:15

Thus the bitterness of Zion is increased by the exultation of her foes. Men are always ready to remind the fallen of the days of prosperity. It is hard to pass by a man who is thrown down without telling him what he might have been, what he once was, and how foolishly he has acted in forsaking the way in which he found prosperity and delight. Even our best friends sometimes unconsciously mock us. Without intending to wound our feelings, they cannot forbear to recall holy memories, sacred enjoyments, or opportunities which we might have turned to our higher advantage. In this case Zion is mocked openly by her enemies. We must expect this from all men. It is not in their nature to heal our diseases, to comfort our sorrows, to sympathise with us in the hour of desolation. The Psalmist complained, "Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people." Wonderful things had been spoken of Zion in the better days. In proportion to our exaltation is our down-throwing. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." In Ezekiel we read the exclamation, "How great is his goodness! and how great is his beauty!" But all this will go for nothing where there has been moral apostasy, spiritual disobedience, or spiritual idolatry. Decoration is vanity. All that men can do in the beautifying of their lives is as rottenness if the heart itself be not in a healthy condition. Add to the bitterness of self-remorse the triumphant exultation of enemies who pass by, and say whether any humiliation can be deeper or more intolerable. Where, then, is hope to be found? In what quarter will light arise? If a voice of liberation or promise sound upon the ear, along what line will the music of that voice proceed? Behold, our whole hope is in Heaven. The God whom we have offended must be the God who can forgive us. Do not let us seek to placate our enemies, or turn their triumphing into felicitation: we have no argument with them; not a word ought we to have to say to such mockers; we must acquaint ourselves with God, and make ourselves at peace with Heaven, and if a man's ways please the Lord, the Lord will make that man's enemies to be at peace with him. It is in vain to compromise with men, to arrange for a social armistice, to seek to bribe our enemies into flatterers: we must go direct to the throne of judgment by way of the seat of mercy, and having become reconciled to God, we must leave all other issues to adjust and establish themselves. It should be to the encouragement of our faith that God's judgments are thus gone abroad in the earth, making Jerusalem a heap, and desolating the beauty of Zion. We see most truly the character of God in his dealings with his own sanctuary. He is as impatient with evil in his own temple as with evil in any part of heathenism. It would not be too much to say that he is more so. Where much has teen given much is expected; when judgment begins at the house of God the fire will burn more hotly and destructively than it will be permitted to burn in pagan lands and amongst people who have never known the true altar, the true worship, the true Jehovah. It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for us: for we have seen God's power and God's mercy, and have heard God's welcome to forgiveness and to hospitality. How tremendous are our responsibilities! Truly it is high time that we should awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. Civilised and Christianised countries boast themselves of their temples, their museums, their sanctuaries, their schools, and all the mechanism of social progress; but when the heart is disloyal to truth, when statesmen care more for party than for man, when honour is bought and sold for pelf, when men calculate their own interests rather than the interests of the commonwealth, and when men make an investment of religion, and merchandise of the Cross, their temples, their sanctuaries, their schools, and their buildings consecrated to learning will stand them in no stead before the wind of God's wrath and lightning of his holy anger. We are only safe in proportion as we are obedient.