Because Thy Sins Were Increased
By W. S. Sadler
THE MISSION OF PAIN AND THE LANGUAGE OF DISEASE. NO. 8.
Because Thy Sins Were Increased
“The show of their countenance doth witness against them.” Isa. 3:9. EVEN the show of the countenance is a witness against the evil-doer. There are certain inevitable results that, sooner or later, make their appearance as a consequence of every transgression of either physical or spiritual law. The symptoms of physical disease or spiritual backsliding are a warning voice, admonishing us to return to our rest. The prophet Jeremiah, who was compelled to undergo many hardships and endure much suffering, has left on record for our benefit much that sheds light upon the mission of pain and the object of affliction. Let us here consider some points found in his prophecy. “For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; tho I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” Jer. 30:11. Every correction is measured by the evil it is designed to correct and by the love of the divine Corrector. Human affliction is presided over by a loving Creator. Man may often have sown for his complete destruction, but yet the Lord says, “I will not permit him to make a full end of himself.” He will so manage the harvest of man’s evil sowing that he shall experience such pain and hardship as will bring him to a realization of his evil work before the end is reached. God is managing the correcting afflictions of humanity with infinite precision, dealing out its sorrows and sufferings with far more precision than any apothecary could deal out his medicine. “For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up; thou hast no healing medicines.” Verses 12, 13. From a human standpoint the bruise of sin; the wound of iniquity, is incurable. There is none that we may go to for help. There is none on earth to plead our cause. We have no healing medicine. There is no power on earth to heal disease, to restore the health that has been lost in transgression. So these conditions are brought upon us that we may recognize our utter helplessness, and turn to Him who is our strength and health. “All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.” Verse 14. The evil habits that were formerly so sweet to the sinner, the evil associates that professed so much love for him, have fled in the time of affliction, the time when our flesh wasteth away and our body is consumed as the withering grass. Says the Lord, “I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy.” True, God has bruised us with the harvest of our transgression, but it was the enemy that tempted and led us to transgress. He says that He has chastised us with the chastisement of “a cruel one.” Yes, the Lord loves His creatures, and therefore He chastens them. But not without cause, for even His chastisement is that of a “cruel one.” The enemy of the soul must succeed in tempting us to stray away from God before His correcting judgments are dealt out to us. And why is this affliction and distress permitted? The answer is plain: “For the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased; . . . because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.” The first step to take in seeking to free ourselves from the consequences of disobedience is to examine into the cause of our affliction, to repent sincerely of the deeds that have made it necessary for God to speak to us in the language of adversity; and then learn the lesson which Paul had learned when he wrote, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Phil. 4:11. But too often man comes to look on God as altogether such a one as himself; and so regards Him as an all-powerful Being who punishes His subjects in wrath or anger when they have in any manner displeased Him. The God with whom we have to do is not such a being. He is a God of love, one of infinite mercy and justice; even one in whose justice His love is shown forth. His correcting hand of judgment is laid upon His children only when the still small voice of His Spirit has been persistently disobeyed or ignored. It is a Satanic delusion that human beings may continue in transgression, trampling under their feet daily the light and truth of heaven, and then, when the penalties of their disobedience are as piercing arrows within the soul, and body, be able to appeal to the doctors, and—without repentance or reformation—secure physical healing, or appeal to the ministers, and—without a change of their evil habits—receive spiritual healing. Very often there is work for both doctor and minister to do; but their work can help the wrong-doer only so far as it assists him in discovering the error of his way, and in departing from his soul-and-body-destroying practices. In other words, the first help the doctor or the minister must give to either the spiritual or physical sufferer is that of pointing out the sinful cause that is responsible for these effects of affliction. “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” Verse 17. If repentance and reformation have been permitted to do their work for the soul, the Lord promises to “restore health” and heal “thy wounds;” thus clearly proving that all the way along it was not His purpose to cause to6unnecessary suffering or to destroy the wrong-doer. Pain, suffering, and sorrow, which are permitted to overtake us, are only designed to call us away from our wrong habits and purposes, our soul-and-body-destroying practices, and guide us back to the path wherein may be found restoration of health,—healing for the wounds that sin has made in soul and body.