ii. 6. _Therefore Thou hast forsaken Thy people, &c._
The doctrine of this verse is, that when men forsake God, God
forsakes them. There is nothing arbitrary in such Divine
withdrawals;[1] they have always a moral cause; and no man has any
right to complain of them (Hosea xiii. 7). Consider +I. When men
forsake God.+ Men forsake God--1. when they set their affection on
forbidden things; 2. when they cease to seek Him in prayer and the
other means of grace; 3. when they give themselves up to the practice
of sin. +II. When men are forsaken of God.+ This doom befalls
them--1. when they are left without that aid of the Holy Spirit,
without which they cannot vividly apprehend the truth; 2. when they
are left without the comfort of God's mercy; 3. when they are left
without earnest distress after God, and consequently a prey to all
the evil within and around them. +III. Men may be forsaken of God in
the midst of temporal prosperity.+ There may be a terrible contrast
between their spiritual and material condition (ver. 6, 7). Temporal
prosperity is from God; it is designed to lead men to repentance
(Rom. ii. 4); failing to accomplish this, it drives them further from
God (Deut. viii. 11-14; Prov. xxx. 9; Neh. ix. 25); and when it has
this effect upon them, the doom of which our text speaks to us is not
far off (Deut. xxviii. 48).[2] +IV. No man need remain thus forsaken
of God.+ 1. God desires to bring all men into fellowship with Himself
(ver. 3, 4). 2. All are invited to come to Him (ver. 5). 3. The light
of God's countenance is offered them, especially in Christ, who is
"the light of the world."--_John Johnston._