Isaiah 38:16 O LORD, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so will you recover me, and make me to live. This verse is pregnant with suggestive truth, and finds fulfilment in Christian as well as in Jewish experience. I. THAT THE LIFE OF OUR SPIRIT IS THE VERY LIFE OF OURSELVES. It is no uncommon thing for ungodly men, when they are pressed to give attention to the claims of their spirit, to excuse their negligence by contending that "they must live." By this they mean that the necessities of the body will excuse their want of concern for the state of their spirit. On what a hollow and vain assumption do these thus build! "As if to breathe were life!" As if to eat, and drink, and sleep, and clothe the body and minister to its cravings constituted the life of man! No; "man does not live by bread alone," and, when he has supplied himself with abundance of such things, he has not begun to live. The life of man is in the life of his spirit; it is that life in which he (1) apprehends and appreciates Divine truth; (2) approaches unto and communes wish the Divine Father; (3) engages voluntarily and happily in his holy service; (4) grows into his likeness as he manifests his spirit and illustrates his principles; (5) serves the creatures he has made and the children he has fashioned in his own image. By these things, and in such things as these, does the life of his life consist. II. THAT DIVINE ACTS AND WORDS ARE THE SUSTENANCE OF OUR SPIRIT'S LIFE. "These things" refer primarily to the promise and the providential agency of God (see ver. 15); the Divine word and deed. For us, we find this in: 1. The truth spoken by Jesus Christ. All that he has told us concerning God, ourselves, human life, the way back to the heavenly Father and the heavenly home. 2. The life and death of the Saviour. His life devout, courageous, generous, sympathetic; his sorrows borne in patience and resignation; his death undergone for us. "In all these things," in their apprehension, in their study, in their appropriation, is the life of our spirit. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. |
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