xxxviii. 15. _I shall go softly all my years, &c._
In the case of Hezekiah, belief was restored by a great shock which
brought him into contact with reality. He had been living, as many of
us live, a pleasant, prosperous life, till he had really grown to
believe that this world and its interests were the only things worth
caring for. His treasures, his art collections, the beauty of his
palace, made him love his life and dream that it was not a dream. God
appeared to him not as to Adam, in the cool of the day, but as He
came to Job, in the whirlwind and the eclipse, and Hezekiah knew that
he had been living in a vain show. The answer of his soul was quick
and sad, "By these things men live, O Lord;" these are the blows
which teach men what life really is.
Many are prosperous, happy, and at ease. It will be wise for these to
remember that thoughtless prosperity weakens the fibre of the soul
(H. E. I. 3997-4014).
The blow which sobered Hezekiah was a common one. It did nothing more
than bring him face to face with death. The process whereby his
dependence on God was restored was uncomplicated. But there are far
worse shocks than this, and recovery from them into a godlike life is
long and dreadful.
1. One of these is the advent of irrecoverable disease--protracted
weakness or protracted pain. Then we ask what we have done: we curse
our day. But our misfortune brings round us the ministering of human
tenderness: slowly the soul becomes alive to love; and through the
benign influence of human love the first step towards the restoration
of belief has been made, the soil is prepared for the work of the
Spirit of God. Then the Gospel story attracts and softens the
sufferer's heart. Afterwards he reads that Christ's suffering brought
redemption unto man, and begins to realise how he can fill up what is
behindhand of the sufferings of Christ. This is not only the
restoration of belief--it is the victory of life.
2. More dreadful than protracted disease is that shipwreck which
comes of dishonoured love--
"When all desire at last, and all regret,
Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain,
What shall assuage the unforgotten pain,
And teach the unforgetful to forget!"
For some there is no remedy but death. Others live on in a devouring
memory. And the memory poisons all belief in God. But there are many
who recover, and emerge into peace and joy. Can we at all trace how
this may be? Lapse of time does part of the work. It does not touch
the memory of love. The pain of having a gift thrown aside has
passed; the sweetness of having given remains. When we thought
ourselves farthest from God, we were unconsciously nearest to Him.
And so we are saved, faith is restored. Like Christ, we can say,
"Father, forgive them, for they knew not what they did."
3. Many are conscious, in later life, that their early faith has
passed away. It was unquestioning, enthusiastic. It depended much on
those we loved. Religious feelings which had been without us and not
within, slowly and necessarily died away. Becoming more and more
liberal, we also become more and more unbelieving, and at last
realised that our soul was empty. Are we to settle down into that? It
is suicide, not sacrifice, which abjures immortality and prefers
annihilation. Our past belief was borrowed too much from others.
Resolve to accept of no direction which will free you from the
invigorating pain of effort. Free yourself from the cant of
infidelity. It boasts of love, it boasts of liberality. Its church is
narrower than our strictest sect. Bring yourself into the relation of
a child to a father. We need to come to our second self, which is a
child--to possess a childhood of feeling in the midst of
manhood.--_Stopford A. Brooke: Christ in Modern Life,_ pp. 380-392.