2 Chronicles 28:22
“In his time of trouble, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD.”
It is a common sentiment with men while in health, that they will repent and turn to God in a time of sickness. They imagine that trouble will of course dispose their minds to seriously seek God, and that they may therefore safely postpone all serious attention to their eternal interests, until that hour of sickness shall arrive. But there is no necessary connection between affliction and true piety; “the sorrow of the world works death;” and consequently must rather be adverse to, than productive of, “godly sorrow, which alone works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of! 2 Corinthians 7:10.”
If indeed trouble is accompanied with the grace of God, it then operates like the ploughing up of fallow ground for the reception of the seed; but of itself, afflictions only harden the heart against God, and calls forth into activity the most malignant passions of the soul! This cannot be more strikingly illustrated than in the conduct of Ahaz; in speaking of which we shall notice,
I. The evil of Ahaz.
This was surely exceedingly great. Ahaz, having provoked God by his great and multiplied iniquities, was given up by God into the hands of the Edomites first, and then of the Philistines, as the just punishment of his sins. The Assyrians too, whom he had hired as his allies, eventually, “instead of strengthening him, increased his distress, verse 16-20.”
And what was the effect of these troubles on his mind? Did he humble himself before his God, and implore mercy at God’s hands? No! He renounced his God altogether, setting up the gods of Syria in opposition to him, and shutting up the doors of his temple, and destroying the vessels that had been consecrated to his service, and building altars in every corner of Jerusalem, and, in every city of Judah, making high places, to burn incense unto other gods! verse 23-25.
We must confess that such impiety far exceeds what is commonly found in the world at this day; but in lower degrees it is found to reign among us also. All of us have a measure of trouble inflicted on us by God on account of sin; and in a variety of ways have we misimproved the divine chastisements. The very evils of Ahaz of trespassing yet more in his distress, may be committed by us in our troubles:
1. By indifference.
Nothing is more common than to overlook the hand of God in our trials—ascribing them either to chance, or to second causes, or to regard them as merely the usual events of life. In such a state of mind we meet our trials with a kind of stoical apathy, making the best of existing circumstances, and trying, by the expedients of pleasure, business, company, or occupation of some kind, to divert our thoughts, and alleviate our pains, Isaiah 22:12-13. This is, as the Scripture expresses it, to “despise the chastening of the Lord, Proverbs 3:11.”
How offensive must such conduct be! When he speaks, and we will not hear? Job 33:14. When God’s hand is lifted up, and we will not see it? Isaiah 26:11. What is this but, in effect, to say, “The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad, Zephaniah 1:12.” This indifference is well described by the prophet, in relation to Israel of old, “So He poured out on them His burning anger, the violence of war. It enveloped them in flames, yet they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart!
Isaiah 42:25.” But, however such conduct may be countenanced by an ungodly world, it will surely be visited with God’s heavy displeasure! Psalm 28:5.
2. By obstinacy.
Some, while they are not altogether unconscious from whence their afflictions proceed, are yet determined to go on in their own way, “they refuse to receive correction, and make their faces harder than a rock, and refuse to return to God! Jeremiah 5:3. Isaiah 57:17.” Thus it was with the Jews of old, “The people turn not unto him who smites him; neither do they seek the Lord Almighty! Isaiah 9:13. And on this ground it was that the prophet uttered that heavy complaint against them, “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted!
Isaiah 1:4-5.”
Happy would it be if this rebellious spirit had been confined to them; but it is no less prevalent among us; there are many for whose reformation successive strokes have proved ineffectual; and who are yet as far from God as if no such means had ever been used to bring them to repentance. Yes, like Pharaoh, they seem only to have been hardened by the plagues inflicted on them. The Lord grant that they may see their error, before they be given over to judicial blindness and final impenitence and damnation!
3. By murmuring.
How often do we hear people complaining of their lot, as if their sufferings were intolerable and undeserved! However clearly God marks their sin in their punishment, they do not imagine themselves as the sinful causes of their misery, but on God as the severe and unprovoked author of them! Exodus 16:35, 41. Ezekiel 18:25; Ezekiel 18:29. Thus Isaiah, foretelling the effect of God’s chastisements on the Jews, says, “Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God! Isaiah 8:21.”
And what shall we say of such a disposition? What shall we say of him who by “his own foolishness perverts his way, and then in heart frets against the Lord? Proverbs 19:3.” This we must say, that he manifests the very dispositions of Hell itself; for of these accursed men that are there confined, we are told that, “They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done! Revelation 16:9-11.”
4. By despondency.
As on the one hand we are apt to “despise the chastening of the Lord,” so, on the other hand, we are ready to “faint when we are rebuked by him Hebrews 12:5.” We don’t understand that often God’s chastisements proceeding from his love; and, beholding nothing but wrath in them, we conclude, that it is in vain to call upon God, and that he will never be entreated of us. Thus even from despondency we derive arguments for continuance in sin, “There is no hope; no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go! Jeremiah 2:25.” Of this God himself complains Jeremiah 18:12-13; and well he may, since it is a limiting of his power, as though he were not able to deliver, Isaiah 1:2; or a denial of his mercy, as though he had “forgotten to be gracious, and his mercy were clean gone forever, Psalm 77:7-9.” True it is, that despondency is often indulged under an idea that it is an expression of humility; but it is as offensive to God as any of the dispositions before specified, and tends even more strongly than any of them, to bind our sins upon us.
That we may be the more afraid of following the steps of Ahaz, let us consider,
II. The stigma fixed upon Ahaz.
There is an extraordinary force and emphasis in the expression, “This is that king Ahaz, verse 22, KJV”. It is as though God intended to point him out to the whole world as a prodigy of folly and wickedness; this is that infatuated man, who presumes to “strive with his Maker, like the clay quarreling with the potter! Isaiah 45:9,” or “briers and thorns setting themselves in battle array against the devouring fire! Isaiah 27:4.” This is that ungrateful man, who, when I have been chastening him with parental tenderness in order to prevent the necessity of executing my everlasting judgments upon him, has only multiplied his transgressions against me; breaking through every hedge which I made to restrain him, and throwing down every wall which I erected to impede his course! Hosea 2:6. This is that impious man, who, in the madness of his heart, has determined to banish me from the world, and to blot out the remembrance of me from the earth!
As the expression is emphatic with respect to him, so it is most instructive with respect to us.
It clearly shows us that “sin is a reproach to any people! Proverbs 14:34.” We may vindicate it, and applaud it; but we only “glory in our shame, Philippians 3:19;” for it makes a man as loathsome “as a sepulcher that is full of filth, Matthew 23:27.” Sin is fitly characterized as “filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7:1;” and in that light it is viewed, not by God only, but by all who are taught of God.
Examine the fore-mentioned sins, of indifference, of obstinacy, of murmuring, and despondency; and they will all be found odious in the extreme; so that a man under the dominion of them may well be pointed out as an object of universal abhorrence, “This is that king Ahaz! verse 22, Psalm 52:7.”
It is possible indeed that an ungodly man may pass through life without any such stigma fixed upon him; but he will not escape it in the last day, when all the most secret sins shall be revealed; then will that declaration of Solomon be fully verified, “The wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame! Proverbs 13:5;” however cautiously he may have veiled his wickedness from the eyes of men, or even obtained the applause of man for his pretended virtues, he will “awake to shame and everlasting contempt! Daniel 12:2.”
From this subject we may learn,
1. The great design of God in our afflictions.
God does not willingly afflict His redeemed children. He is a tender Parent, who seeks the welfare of his children, and “chastens them for their profit,” to humble them, and to prove them, and to make them “partakers of his holiness, Isaiah 27:9. Hebrews 12:10.” Hence it is said, “Blessed is the man whom you chasten, O Lord, Psalm 94:10.”
Let us then contemplate our trials in this view. From whatever quarter they may come, let us acknowledge the hand of God in them; and bless his name, as well when he takes away, as when he gives! Job 1:21.
2. Our duty under afflictions.
Every rod has a voice to us, which we should endeavor to understand, Micah 6:9; and, if we cannot immediately discern its true import, we should go to God, and say, “Show me why you contend with me, Job 10:2.” And, when we have found out “the accursed thing that troubles our camp, Joshua 7:11,” then we should “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of our God James 4:10,” and with meek submission say, “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him! Micah 7:9.” We should even be thankful for the fire that purges away our dross, and not so much as wish to be delivered from it until we can come out of it purified as gold!
Charles Simeon