The Worst of Enemies

When men are in trouble they are apt to blame God.

But the blame lies with themselves. “Are these his doings?” (verse 7.) Does the good Lord arbitrarily cause sorrows? No, they are the fruit of sin, the result of backsliding.

The Lord here answers Israel’s complaint of him by a deeply truthful complaint of them.

They should not have wondered that they suffered, for they had become enemies to God, and thus enemies to themselves.

I. LET US LISTEN TO THE GRIEVOUS CHARGE.

There is a deep pathos about this as coming from the God of love.

1. They were his own people. “My people.” God has enemies enough without his own beloved ones becoming such. It is horrible ingratitude and treachery for the chosen to rebel.

2. They had risen up “as an enemy.” Faithless friends wound keenly, and are often more bitter than other antagonists. For favored ones to rise up as foes is cruel indeed.

3. They had lately done this: “even of late,”—“yesterday,” in the margin. The sin is fresh, the wound is bleeding, the offence is rank. A fit of wilfulness was on them.

4. They had done this wantonly. (See latter part of verse.) They picked a quarrel with One who is “averse from war.” God would have our love, yet we turn against him without cause.

   • How far may this indictment lie against us?

II. LET US HEAR THE MORE GRIEVOUS EVIDENCE BY WHICH THE CHARGE IS SUBSTANTIATED.

Taking the words “my people” as referring to all professing Christians, many of them “rise up as an enemy” from the fact of—

1. Their separation from their Lord. “He who is not with me is against me”: Matthew 12:30. They walk not in communion with him, neither are they diligent in his service, nor careful in obedience, nor consecrated to his cause.

2. Their worldliness. By this the Lord’s jealousy is moved, for the world is set up as his rival in the heart. “The friendship of the world is enmity with God”: James 4:4.

3. Their unbelief, which stabs at his honor, his veracity, his immutability. 1 John 1:10. A man cannot treat another more maliciously than by calling him a liar.

4. Their heresies, fighting against his revealed truth. It is wretched work when the church and its ministers oppose the gospel. It is to be feared that this is by no means uncommon in these degenerate days.

5. Their unholiness. Unholy professors are, par excellence, “the enemies of the cross of Christ”: Philippians 3:18.

6. Their lukewarmness: by which they sicken their Savior (Revelation 3:16), grieve his Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), encourage sinners in sin (Ezekiel 16:54), and discourage seekers.

   • By these, and other miserable courses of action, those who should be the friends of God are often found to be “risen up as an enemy.”

III. LET US HEARKEN TO MOST GRIEVOUS WARNINGS.

No good can possibly come of opposition to the Lord; but the most painful evils will inevitably ensue.

1. In the case of true Christians, there will come to them heavy chastisements and humiliations. If we walk contrary to the Lord, he will walk contrary to us. Leviticus 26:23, 24.

2. With these will come the keenest regrets, and agonies of heart. It may be pleasant to go down By-path Meadow, but to return to the King’s highway will cost many a groan and tear.

3. In the case of mere professors, there will soon come abandonment of profession, immorality, seven-fold wickedness, etc.

4. To such may also come special punishments, which will make them a terror to the universe of God.

   • Be anxious to be truly reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus.
   • Abide in peace with God by yielding to his Spirit.
   • Increasingly love and honor him, that no root of bitterness may ever spring up between him and you.

Home-Thrusts

It is not, perhaps, that we are determinately his enemies, but his love is so great that he feels very keenly the slightest swerving of our hearts from him. So much so that he who is not with him is against him, he who turns aside from his friendship is felt to be “an enemy.”—From “Wounded in the House of his Friends,” by F. M.

Sin will cause repenting work, even for the children of God. The sins of the wicked pierce Christ’s side, but the sins of the godly plunge the spear into his heart.

Carlyle, speaking of the changes made by time, says, “How tragic to me is the sight of old friends; a thing I always really shrink from!” Sin has made still more painful changes in some once numbered among the friends of God.

Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, the king of Pontus, sending a crown to Caesar at the time he was in rebellion against him, he refused the present, saying, “Let him first lay down his rebellion, and then I will receive his crown.” There are many who set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession, and yet plant a crown of thorns upon his head by an evil conversation.—Secker.

After poor Sabat, an Arabian, who had professed faith in Christ by the means of the labors of the Rev. H. Martyn, had apostatized from Christianity, and written in favor of Mohammedanism, he was met at Malacca by the late Rev. Dr. Milne, who proposed to him some very pointed questions, in reply to which, he said, “I am unhappy! I have a mountain of burning sand on my head. When I go about, I know not what I am doing!” It is indeed an evil thing and bitter to forsake the Lord our God.—Bate’s Cyclopædia.

Blow, blow, you winter wind,

You are not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude; Your tooth is not so keen, Because you are not seen,

Although your breath be rude.

Freeze, freeze you bitter sky,

You do not bite so near

As benefits forgot:

Though more the waters warp,

Your sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not.—Shakespeare.