Bible Commentaries

WINE IS A MOCKER

‘They also have erred through wine.’

Isaiah 28:7

I sin against myself when I yield to the power of wine.

You tell me that there is no reason why I should become a confirmed drunkard; that many a one who takes wine never degenerates into its vassal and prisoner; that I may find it a benefit and not a blight and a bane. But I have two answers to return to your argument.

I. One of them is that single acts of indulgence grow by imperceptible degrees into habits.—I protest that I am afraid to tamper with strong drink, lest it should have me entangled in the meshes of its net before I am aware.

II. But my second reply goes further.—One solitary surrender to the appetite, suppose that it is never repeated, is indefensible and unworthy. It is a letting slip the reins of self-control. There is in it a certain parting with personal dignity, a certain forfeiture of the sense of responsibility, a certain degradation and descent from the level on which I ought to stand. A man should always keep himself at his very best—clear, capable, resourceful. A man should always be fully prepared to take advantage of every opportunity that comes to him. But if by his own consent it is otherwise at one instant in his life, then at that instant he is guilty of sin.

THE CALMNESS OF FAITH

‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’

Isaiah 28:16

Our day is one in which men, emphatically, ‘make haste.’ The idea of the text is, that if a man believes in God, and trusts in God, and will consent to work on the lines which God has laid down, he will be saved from that restless, worldly agitation of mind which produces so frequently such calamitous results.

I. Notice how, in temporal matters, this desirable state of things will be brought about.—Let a man believe thoroughly in God as One who rewards faithful labour, although He may not see fit to reward it at once, and that man will be kept from the perils into which a restless and unsettled agitation of mind would probably betray him. He can afford to be strong and patient, for he knows that the reward will come.

II. Turn from temporal to spiritual matters.—(1) The man who ‘believeth’ has not to run helplessly hither and thither, when a strain comes upon him, seeking for principles to sustain him in the hour of trial. He has got his principles, and they are ready for use. Restless agitation is not his, for his soul is centred and held in equipoise. (2) The man who believes in a living God will not be full of nervous apprehensions about the future of Christianity. Men may break themselves in pieces against the Rock of Ages, but the Rock itself will never move. ‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’

—Prebendary Gordon Calthrop.

Illustration

‘This passage brings before us what may be called the establishing power of faith; its power to impart strength and stability to the mind; its power to give solidity of character, to keep the soul calm amid all the changes of the world.’