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{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…
Cause for Lamentation, Repentance, and Labor
The Sad and Dangerous Effects of the Decay of Heavenly Trade
God and Souls Become Estranged}
There is a growing estrangement between such souls and God. When commerce is thriving among people, there is much acquaintance, conversation, and intimacy between them.320 There are regular occasions of writings, meetings, and conversation while business is active. But when commerce declines, communications cease and people have little interaction with one another. Letters and visits cease and people seldom see one another. And so, at last, people fall out of acquaintance with one another. And so it is between God and souls. Once this heavenly trade is let down, a strangeness begins between God and them. They are in His company less often and inquire of God less often. “And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities” (Isaiah 64:7 NKJV). They were distant from God and did not call on Him as they did previously, and if they did, it was in a general, cold manner that meant little; they did not take hold of Him. They did not take hold of God. The [Hebrew] word means to hold with all one’s strength, as people who are drowning will not let go of what they hold. It also means, says a learned critic, not only to hold a thing but to hold it with increasing strength. But alas, they did not take hold of God as was fitting for one who will perish without Him. They did not stir up321 themselves. They did not wake up and get moving, as the [Hebrew] word implies. They became more remiss in duty and did not importune God for help as they did formerly. And God was estranged from them; He hid His face from them and He concealed Himself that He might not be seen, as the [Hebrew] word signifies. He seems to not care for their company. This made the prophet cry out, “O Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?” (Jeremiah 14:8 NASB). Infrequent visits and short stays show estrangement between those who had been intimate. So it is between God and those who neglect the heavenly trade. The Lord rarely visits them and there are not such warm conversations between them as previously. God has been such a friend to His people and has been all their hope and help. And now He looks askance at them and takes no notice of them. Is this not cause for mourning? This is enough to break a heart that is upright and knows what it is to enjoy God. This estrangement from God not only harms them now, but there is danger of losing Him entirely. “And he went out to meet Asa and said to him, ‘Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you’” (2 Chronicles 15:2 NASB). Thus, when the prophet perceived a change in God’s conduct toward Israel, the next thing he fears is God’s departure from them. He no longer complains of God’s distance, but prays, “Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!” (Jeremiah 14:9 NKJV). Once the relationship between God and His people becomes difficult and there is loathing between them, then terrible judgments follow. “Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. Then I said, ‘I will not pasture [feed] you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh’” (Zechariah 11:8–9 NASB). In the original Hebrew, God reached His limit of patience with them. His heart was not toward them and He could not bear with them as before. And then God said that He would not pasture [feed] them; let those that will die, let them die and those that will be annihilated, let them perish; it does not matter what happens to them. Just think about what kind of state such people are in. It should be a matter of lamentation.
320In contrast to today’s online shopping, self-checkouts, and ever-changing staff in retail stores and even in much wholesale commerce, customers used to interact with vendors on a much more personal level even fifty years ago.
321Stir up has reference to stirring a bed of wood, coals, and ashes in order to allow the ashes to go down and expose the wood and coals to oxygen and get the fire going (again).
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