Ezekiel 14:23 - Homiletics.

Purpose in providence.

I. GOD MAY APPEAR TO ACT WITHOUT CAUSE . We cannot discover design in all the movements of nature so easily as we may detect this in its structure. Though we may be startled at times by the aptness of the providential overruling of history, too often we are perplexed, dismayed, confounded. The wicked man flourishes like a green bay tree, and the good man is persecuted or perishes in a vain conflict with adverse circumstances. Psalmists of old noticed this familiar fact, and grieved over it ( e . g . Psalms 17:10 ). We must be prepared to expect mystery in nature and providence, since the experience of the past pellets to the very same difficulties which puzzle and perplex us when they suddenly confront us. "Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?" ( Job 26:14 ).

II. GOD DOES NOT ACT WITHOUT CAUSE .

1 . The failure to discover a cause is no proof that it does not exist . We cannot limit the range of existence to the scope of our knowledge. There are hidden physical causes which the most searching scientific analysis has failed to trace: why may there not be also hidden final causes, deep purposes of God, which no mind of man can reach?

2 . The proved purpose of God in known regions suggests the existence of a like purpose in unknown regions . We can trace more purpose in creation than in providence; but since the same God rules over both, it is to be presumed that the spirit of design which pervades the one runs through the other. We know that God has mind, and that he exercises what with us would be called forethought. Moreover, it is impossible to suppose that his principal dealings with his own children will be aimless when his less momentous works are instinct with purpose.

3 . The righteousness and love of God make it certain that he does not act without a cause . Reckless action is morally defective. Ethics bears directly on motive and purpose. A just God must have a righteous object with which to act. The love of God emphasizes the assurance of purpose in providence, for no one would treat those dear to him with heedless indifference. This is especially applicable to the infliction of chastisement. A just and merciful God cannot send chastisement without adequate cause.

III. THE CAUSE OF GOD 'S ACTION WILL RE ULTIMATELY DECLARED . It is impossible for us to see it yet, for we cannot look beyond the grave, nor can we scale the heights of Divine thought in the infancy of our spiritual experience. The schoolboy cannot see the utility of all his lessons. But if he has been well taught in boyhood, when he is a man he will look back on the hard training with appreciative satisfaction, and will therefore order a similar process for his children. It would not be well for us to see the end yet, for we must be trained by faith. But earthly experience often throws back light on dark passages of life, and they then flash into a new meaning which calls forth gratitude as well as wonder. Beyond this world the fuller explanation will come. With the discovery of the hidden cause there will be ample consolation. The revelation of a good purpose in chastisement is its appropriate consolation ( 2 Corinthians 4:17 ).