Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 36:19

I. These inquiries may, by a slight accommodation, be used as showing some characteristics of false gods, and showing by implication the glory and worship which are due to the one living Lord. Men have a distinct right to inquire for their gods. Almighty God Himself does not shrink from this test of personality and nearness. He will be inquired of. He has proclaimed Himself accessible.

II. Many a man has felt the most intense pain on observing what he supposed was God's absence from the scene of human affairs. God has been looked for, and looked for apparently in vain. When His voice might have hushed the storm, not a sound was heard. In reply to this difficulty, I suggest three things: (1) As a mere matter of fact, attested by a thousand histories known in our own experience, God has appeared in vindication of His name and honour; (2) God Himself is the only Judge as to the best manner and time of interposition; (3) The very absence of God, being dictated by wisdom, and controlled by love, must be intended to have a happy effect upon human faith. When God is absent, what if His absence be intended to excite inquiry in our hearts? When God is absent, what if His absence be intended to develop the trust of our nature? It is in having to grope for God we learn lessons of our own blindness and weakness and spiritual incapacity. We know not what God may be working out for us in the very act of withdrawing Himself for a small moment, and for a space immeasurably minute.

Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 193.