In Jeremiah, chapter five, verse twenty-two, “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?” The people did not revere and obey God because they had no fear of Him and did not tremble at the reality of His presence.
Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge God with being unjust in their afflictions. But they may read their sin in their punishment. If men will inquire wherefore the Lord doeth hard things unto them, let them think of their sins. The restless waves obeyed the Divine decree that they should not pass the sandy shores, which were as much a restraint as lofty mountains; but they burst all restraints of God’s law, and were wholly gone into wickedness.
Neither did they consider their interest. While the Lord, year after year, reserves us the appointed weeks of harvest, men live on his bounty; yet they transgress against him. Sin deprives us of God’s blessings, and it makes the heavens as brass, and the earth as iron. Certainly, the things of this world are not the best things. And we are not to think that, because evil men prosper, God allows their practices.
Though sentence against evil works is not executed speedily, it will be executed. Shall I not visit for these things? This speaks of the certainty and necessity of God’s judgments. Let those who walk in bad ways consider that an end will come, and there will be bitterness in the latter end. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall,” as in First Corinthians ten, verse twelve.