A Treatise on the Book of Joshua (1889)
AUTHOR: | Gold, Pleasant Daniel |
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WE KNOW THAT GOD has commanded the enemies of
Jacob to be round about him. What shall Jacob therefore do?
Should not he who knows his enemies lie in ambush to decoy
and ambush him, be the more prudent to escape the power of
these enemies. When one goes to war should he not keep far
from evil? Should not one keep watch as well as pray? It is not
what others do that hurts us so much as our own sins. Nor is
there any mercy in these enemies when they acquire the mastery.
They will flatter as a strange woman whose words are smoother
than butter, until you are beguiled, then alas how cruel the oppression,
and how devoid of mercy or pity are these Canaanites?
But there is a use for them. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. It is no more I that sin. It is not the Israelite
that sins, but sin that dwelleth in him; for I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, there remaineth no good thing. This therefore
forbids my having any confidence in the flesh, and serves
to kill me all the day long to self, but it is in this dying that
behold we live, so that we must die to live. God makes the
wrath of man to praise him, and restrains the remainder of
wrath. When I am weak then am I strong. God is the God of
the hills and the valleys, or of all deep places and all high places. |
