COME UP TO THE HELP OF THE LORD.
There is a curse pronounced upon inactivity. The Lord wants workers in his cause. When he makes bare his arm for his people, he wants them to second his effort by working for themselves and him, “Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof.” Why? what evil had they done? None that we know of. This was not the charge against them. They were condemned for the good they had not done; “Because they came not up to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” How solemn and impressive a warning is this for our admonition! As much as to say, Curse ye the idlers, curse ye those who when all heaven is interested in their behalf will take no interest themselves, who when God has done and is doing all that he can consistently do for their salvation, will put forth no efforts themselves; curse ye those who still give themselves up to lukewarmness, stupidity and indifference. None will be carried to heaven as if they were paralytics—or mummies. They must show some signs of life for themselves. Think of the many exhortations, we might say, commands, we have to work, to do something. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Phil. ii, 12. Make your calling and election sure. 2 Pet. i, 10. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matt. vii, 21. Go up in the gaps, make up the hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. Eze. xiii, 5. But the inhabitants of Meroz were required to join in the literal battles of the Lord against literal enemies; thus they could easily come up to the help of the Lord, and their absence would be severely felt. But the cause of the Lord is not now carried on in this manner. How then can I come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty? Do you ask how? Know then that the great conflict between the powers of light and darkness, is not less fierce and extensive now, than in the days when the Lord was driving out the heathen to give his people a typical rest in the land of Canaan; and there are battles to be fought now, no less so than the literal and temporal conflicts in which God’s people were then required to engage. And in all these we can come up to the help of the Lord; and we can come to his help, too, against the mighty; for the powers against which we wrestle are mighty—even “principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph. vi, 12. Examine then your position. How far have you taken a stand against the powers of darkness? We are required to be on the Lord’s side. There are his open enemies and his open friends; with which of these have you arrayed yourself? The Lord requires us to turn our feet into his testimonies, to repair the breach which has been made in his law. Have you done this? Have you commenced the observance of the great memorial day of God? Have you thrown up this bulwark against the insidious approach of forgetfulness of God? Have you taken those external steps which publicly identify you with the people of God, in opposition to the ranks of the enemies? If so, you have thus far come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. And all who have not done this, we would exhort to do so speedily, lest the curse of God rest upon you bitterly. Do you then say, all this have I done; and am I required to come still farther to the help of the Lord? How am I to do it? We reply: the conflict in which we are engaged is not wholly an external one. It is a warfare in which every man’s heart becomes a battle field; and here continually and effectually we are to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. It is not enough to be identified with the people of God. The inhabitants of Meroz, though the location of that place is not definitely known, were probably among the Lord’s people, and were nominally his. They were not his open enemies. But this was not enough. Their position did not save them. They failed to work for the Lord, to come up to his help, and so were cursed bitterly. And so we, although we have openly sided with the Lord’s people, and may be endeavoring to walk in all his ordinances publicly, are required to come up still farther to the help of the Lord against our foes. The enemy approaches us with his temptations. He takes advantage of our proneness to evil. He labors for the co-operation of our carnal natures. But the Holy Spirit strives; and we have a part to act in this matter. We have a will and an influence to exert on one side or the other. Shall this be given to the enemy or to the Lord? Will we give our foe an easy entrance, and suffer him to work upon our evil propensities to our destruction? Shall we resist the Devil that he may flee from us, and draw nigh unto God that he may draw nigh unto us? Shall we labor for the Lord against the enemy, or for the enemy against the Lord? Here we are required to take a stand continually. Here we are called upon by every emotion of gratitude which the great plan of salvation is calculated to inspire in our hearts, by every feeling of tenderness which the Lord’s great mercy and goodness towards us should continually produce in our breasts, by every inducement in his great and merciful designs towards us, the heights of glory to which he labors to elevate us, and the great reward promised to us; and on the other hand the evil end to which the enemy would bring us—by all this we are called upon as no other motives and feelings could call upon us, to come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The Lord calls us to his help, not because he needs us, but to stimulate us to action; not but that he could carry out any design and accomplish any purpose of his, by a slight manifestation of his divine omnipotence without our co-operation; but it is not in accordance with his all-wise designs, and our free agency, thus to do in the matter of our salvation. He opens the way before us to the heavenly city, provides armor for us to battle successfully with every foe, in every temptation makes a way to escape, and then calls upon us to act. Shall we yield to the tender entreaties and the gracious influences of his Holy Spirit? Let us with a will give our energies to that side of this controversy which has claims upon us in every respect, and in which ought to be enlisted every enlightened sympathy of our nature, and our deepest emotions of gratitude and love.