Homiletic Review Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense… I. A COMMON TROUBLE. "A fearful heart." Think of some of the causes. 1. Life itself is a cause. A little child does not fear. But the little child has not yet reached into the consciousness of its own personality — has not been awed by the mystery of its own existence. Wrapped in such consciousness there is always a certain fear. 2. Sin is another source of a fearful heart. The ideal relation between God and the soul is that of utmost intimacy, but sin breaks this relation. 3. The sad things emerging in life are causes of a fearful heart. 4. The difficulties of duty. 5. The monotony of duty. Sometimes when dreary stretches of duty, the same thing day in, day out, fill the vision, a real fear comes lest one fail in duty because of its uninteresting routine. 6. The revelation of man's own nature under some great surprise or disappointment is a cause of a fearful heart. The strength one fancied himself to have, turns out under some great strain to be but weakness after all. The heart in Scripture stands for the whole man — intellect, affection, will. The thing needed is that a man see clearly, love wisely, will strongly; but when fear wraps one about with mists, this is the outcome; a weak heart — no strength for doing; feeble knees — no power of purpose. II. THE OLD AND YET NEW REMEDY for this common trouble. 1. A personal God. "Behold your God." 2. A God appropriated — your God. 3. A God active. "He will come." God is not an inert passiveness, having no hand in things. Our Scripture is prophecy; God has come in the Incarnation. 4. A God for your help. "He will come and save you." 5. A rewarding God. "He will come with recompense." Think more of God than of the causes of your fearfulness, and also appropriate God. (Homiletic Review.) Parallel Verses KJV: Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. |
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