The Promises of God.—No. 3.
By H. A. St. John
“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.” Isa. 58:9. The above is but one of a number of precious promises, accompanied with their conditions, found in Isaiah 58. The first condition expressed is the taking away of the yoke, or, as stated in verse 6, the breaking every yoke. This, of course, must not be understood to refer to literal yokes, or literal slavery, but something even more grievous to be borne. Obviously the yoke may consist of several things. First, it may be the casting of burdens or responsibilities upon others that properly belong to us. There are but few real burden-bearers among professed Christians, few who will take responsibilities, and these few are left, many times, to groan under their heavy burdens, as a cart under its load of sheaves. God be praised for those precious souls that are willing to bear all things; for at times it would seem that the cause of God would be ruined if it were not for them. But when this state of things exists, there is an inexcusable neglect on the part of some to fulfill the law of Christ, namely, to bear one another’s burdens. Now all these shirkers of responsibility, that are at ease in Zion, must consecrate themselves to God and come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty, or they will not only fail of the precious promise above given, but in the end will be cursed with a terrible curse. Again, individuals may be filling positions of important trust by the appointment of God or the church, and we may put heavy yokes upon them by murmuring or complaining, or in any way failing to stay up their hands. To be continually finding fault with those in authority, or those over us in the Lord, whether they be leading ministers, or simply the local elders or deacons of a church, is a great wrong, a yoke we must break, in order to experience the blessing of God. “The putting forth of the finger.” I suppose this has reference to the very censurable practice of pointing out the faults of others without the paramount effect in view of glorifying God and helping the erring. There are some who never seem so well satisfied as when discoursing upon the real or supposed weaknesses of others. Deluded souls! Could they but realize that it is all recorded above, they would become more wise, and cease to put forth the finger. “And speaking vanity.” Here there is very great danger. The world is full of vanity. For every idle word that men shall speak, says our Saviour, they must give account in the day of Judgment. Foolish talking and jesting are not convenient, but rather the giving of thanks. Professed followers of Jesus will often spend hours together talking freely and fluently about the world and the things therein, but do not say a word for Jesus. Especially is this true of the youth. How many hours of precious time are worse than wasted in trifling, foolish conversation. It makes the sober-minded almost heart-sick to think of it, and quite so to be obliged to hear it. Do such persons really love Jesus? Oh! no, no. The things about which they can so eloquently talk fill their hearts, and there is no room for Jesus. If these words meet the eye of any such, oh! be entreated to ponder the matter well. Seek the Lord with the whole heart until you feel that your soul is filled with the love of Jesus, and the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; and then above all things you will love to talk about them. But what is it the Lord here promises to those that take away from their midst the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity? It is that when they call he will answer, when they cry, he will say, Here I am. Oh! what a precious promise is this. What is better in this life than communion with God? Reader, do you pray? Do you have communion with God? To you is the gracious promise given, that when you call he will answer. Rest not satisfied until you have the assurance that God regards your prayer. If you live thus in communion with God, he will lead you in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.