II. The godlessness of powerful men. 1. Mistaking the use to which their strength should be put, they also forget its source. They are so besotted as to think that it is theirs, something which they have originated; as if the jets of a fountain should boast of the water that leaps up through them, forgetful of the reservoir whence it comes (1 Cor. iv. 7). We see how foolish this is; let us not forget how common it is; let us be on our guard against an error so common and so absurd (Deut. viii. 10–18; Dan. iv. 29–31. P. D. 2861). 2. Their godlessness appears, too, in their imagination that there is no limit to their power (vers. 8–11; chap xxxvii. 24). In their projects there is no dependence on Divine guidance and support, no submission to the Divine will (Jas. iv. 13–15).

III. The real position of powerful men. They imagine that they are autocrats: they really are merely instruments in the hand of God. God will be served by us, voluntarily or involuntarily. He knows how, without impairing the freedom of the will, to use powerful men for the accomplishment of His purposes; in much the same way as the miller deals with the stream that rushes past his mill—he does not try to destroy it, or to stop it, he merely turns it in among his wheels, and then unconsciously it uses its mighty force in doing his work (vers. 5, 6; P. D., 2899). So it was with Pharaoh: though resolved not to serve Jehovah (Exod. v. 2), he did serve Him most effectively (Exod. ix. 16). So, though we may not be able in all cases to trace it, we may be sure it is with all wicked men (Ps. lxxvi. 10). God absolutely controls the vast universe over which He rules: if we will not serve Him as sons, we must do it as slaves or as tools.

IV. The end of men who forget the source of their power, and use it in a godless spirit. They are but rods in God’s hand, and when He has accomplished by them what He intended to do, He breaks them, and casts them aside. In their folly they imagine that they can never be broken (Ps. x. 6); yet how easy it is for Him utterly to destroy them! Far-stretching and mighty they seem as a forest, yet how easily is a forest destroyed by fire (vers. 16–19). God’s judgments are as axes, by which even the monarchs of the forest are brought low (vers. 33, 34). By Isaiah we are reminded of three historic instances in which all this has been verified: the Egyptians (vers. 24, 26); the Midianites (ver. 26); the Assyrians (vers. 17, 18, 32–34; xxxvii. 36). If we needed any proof that God and His government of the world are still the same, surely we have it in the history of Napoleon I. Let the mighty nations of the earth lay these lessons to heart (P. D., 2787). Let all who are disposed to vaunt their wealth or power be mindful of them: the ruler or the merchant-prince of to-day may be a beggar tomorrow (1 Sam. ii. 3, 4, 7–10; H. E. I., 4404, 4976; P. D., 149, 1617).

Man Proposes, God Disposes.

x. 7–15. Howbeit He meaneth not so, &c.

“Man appoints, but God disappoints,” “Man proposes, but God disposes,” are proverbs which sum up a good deal of human experience. We are often reminded of their truth even when we are striving to be on the side of God, and to be co-workers with Him. There will be great differences between what we “mean” and “think,” and what He has determined in reference to the same actions.[1] But more frequently we see this in the case of men who, like the Assyrians, are constructing their plans in direct opposition to God, fully bent on carrying out ambitious and rapacious schemes. All the while they are only agents in effecting Divine purposes; they do what they never “meant” to do.

I. Man’s purposes are often godless. In the sense, 1. Of being formed independently of God (vers. 11, 13, 14). Men forget that God is inseparably connected with us and all our movements (Ps. cxxxix. 1–12); they never ask whether God will approve of their plans, nor what will happen should He frown upon them; they assume that they have only to plan and execute, forgetting the lessons of experience. Their conduct is as foolish as it is irreligious; irrational because it is atheistic (Jas. iv. 13–15). 2. Of being formed in defiance of God. Men harden themselves against the appeals and warnings of conscience and Scripture, and deliberately engage in enterprises upon which they know they cannot ask God’s blessing, upon which they know must rest God’s curse. Amid all their dark designs there is the torturing thought, which they would fain banish, but which clings to them still, that there is a Sovereign Lord whose counsel shall stand. II. God knows how to use man’s godless purposes for the furtherance of His glorious designs. This is done, 1. Sometimes by making an evil purpose the very means of continuing and spreading His good work. How often is this seen in the history of persecutions! (See Acts xviii. 1, 2. The Pilgrim Fathers. Tyndale’s Bible. Martyrdoms, &c.). The means which men take for putting out the light are used by God for spreading it. 2. Sometimes by allowing the evil purposes to work on up to the point when its success appears certain, and then bringing about a totally different result. The device of Joseph’s brethren only needed time to effect God’s purpose. Haman; enemies of Daniel. There is no stage of a wicked design safe from the chance of utter confusion, and even the last act that was intended to be a triumph may turn out a tragedy. 3. Sometimes the evil purpose is allowed to do all that was intended, and yet God effects through it His highest designs, even when human wisdom would declare that the case was hopeless. The crowning example of this is to be found in the suffering and death of our Lord Himself. Every step of that malignant crime, which was thought to be a step towards the utter destruction of the Saviour’s mission, was but helping on the triumph intended in the counsels of Eternal Love (John xii. 32).

Learn, 1. The folly of leaving God out of our plans. To plan without Him is presumptuous arrogance (vers. 15). It is to invite defeat, our knowledge being so limited and so certain to leave out some disturbing influence that will frustrate all our anticipations. A godless plan always means defeat in proportion to its apparent successes. The choice that really lies before us is to work with God as His children, or for Him as his slaves, His tools, His instruments. Our choice will be left perfectly free; but if we choose to reject His paternal guidance, we shall find that all we have secured for ourselves is merely the contemptible honour of figuring in our small way as reprobates (Exod. ix. 15). 2. The dignity of human life generally, as being comprehended in the supreme plans of God (Gen. xlv. 8).[2] 3. How to regard the disappointments of life. When things turn out differently than we “meant” or “thought,” it is useless to fret and fume against them. Instructed by God’s Word, let us humbly and reverently acquiesce in our disappointments as forming part of a plan of God, conceived in paternal love, which is unfolding moment by moment: each event, whether bright or dark, having its mission from Him, and clothed with the grandeur of an unerring counsel. If our purpose has been a righteous or beneficent one, though it may seem for a time to have been utterly set aside, yet in the end we shall find that God has used it to further results more important and glorious than it entered into our mind to ask or think.[3]—William Manning.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] P. D., 2899, 2906.