When Affliction May be Said to have Failed of its Object
D. Hessey. 2 Chronicles 28:22-23 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.… I. I suppose that you have set your heart upon some CHERISHED DESIGN — that you have dwelt upon it to such a degree as to neglect for it many social duties and all your thoughts of God. You have missed attaining it, and are deeply disappointed. If you have not learned thenceforward to strive more soberly, to plant and sow, and build and labour, and not look for success without uttering, "Father, if it seem good to Thee, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt"; if you are still engaged in the same projects with the same temper, or one even more infatuated — then distress has been sent to you in vain: you are sacrificing to the gods that smote you; trespassing yet more against the Lord. II. Suppose that you have been SMITTEN WITH SOME DISEASE, mental or bodily — the not unnatural, consequence of dissipation or thoughtlessness, or perverseness, or the like. If you have not learned from God's displeasure; if you have not resolved that with renewed health you would walk in newness of life; if you have returned to your old sins with new zest from being for a time debarred from them — then the distress which God sent you has hardened and not softened you. You are worshipping the idols of your own hearts with a devotion which it will be more difficult than ever to displace. III. Or, in conclusion, suppose that you HAVE GIVEN WAY TO ILL-TEMPER, and that God has punished you by alienation of friends, by retaliation on the part of ill-wishers, by distrust on the part of all. Has this set you upon governing the impetuousness of passion, or checking the reproachful word? Or have you merely turned your spirit into some more unkindly channel — moroseness, peevishness, misanthropy? If so, distress and chastisement have not done their proper work upon you. Like Ahaz you are going on to trespass yet more against the Lord. (D. Hessey.) Parallel Verses KJV: And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. WEB: In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz.