The short-sightedness of sinners.
"Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!" Such is the moan with which this paragraph begins. By "this" is meant the consequence which will certainly follow on their departure from God. By "their latter end" is meant the latter days of their history, when sins which were beforehand in germ should have wrought out to full development. We need not again recount the historical aspects of this serious outlook. We will but note, in a series of consecutive thoughts, the truths which are here indicated, and which are of universal and perpetual application to individuals, families, and nations.
I. IT IS A MARK OF A VICIOUS SHORT-SIGHTEDNESS TO TAKE NO HEED TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF A COURSE OF CONDUCT. If men take no reckoning of their "latter end," it is the reverse of wise. Our Savior asks, "What shall it profit a man?" etc. To take heed only to present appearances and to avoid all preparations for the future, is folly in the extreme.
II. WHETHER WE WILL OR NO, CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES ARE BOUND UP WITH CONDUCT BY A LAW WHICH NO CREATED POWER CAN AVERT OR MODIFY. They may be "sealed up"—hidden from sight at present, but they are "laid up in store" (Romans 2:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:3).
III. THE MOST HIGH RESERVES TO HIMSELF THE EXECUTION OF HIS OWN LAWS. "To me belongeth vengeance." Vengeance cannot safely be entrusted to frail and passionate man. Only in the hands of "the Judge of all the earth" is there an absolute guarantee that in its infliction there will be neither excess nor defect. No weakness will cause delay or halt. No vindictiveness will induce any variation from the right.
IV. HOWEVER LONG VENGEANCE MAY BE DELAYED, IT WILL NOT BE POSTPONED TOO LONG. "Their feet shall slide in due time." £ Time is on God's side. In the moral world there is not a moment's pause. Character is ripening for good or for ill, and great issues are working out at every tick of the dial.
V. IN THE RIPENING OF CHARACTER AND THE ADVANCED ISSUES OF CONDUCT THERE WILL BE AWFUL RESULTS ON THE SIDE OF EVIL. The figurative expressions in each clause are of terrific significance. They indicate:
1. The failure of the refuge to which they had fled.
2. The collapse of their strength in great emergencies.
3. Bitterness of misery.
4. Venomous poison as the fruit of their vine of Sodom.
Now is the day for accumulating; hereafter will be the day for the manifestation, of these hidden treasures of ill.
VI. THIS DAY OF AWFUL RECOMPENSE WILL COME UPON SINNERS SUDDENLY. "The things that shall come upon them make haste". It is one remarkable feature of the Mosaic outlook, that the lawgiver scarcely ever refers to another life, but to the working out of God's judgments in this. The future life comes into view in the New Testament. The law of sowing and reaping holds good for both worlds (Galatians 6:7).
VII. WITH AN OUTLOOK SO GRIEVOUS, THE THOUGHTLESSNESS OF SINNERS IS AN EVIL GREATLY TO BE LAMENTED. "Oh that they were wise!" etc. (cf. Jeremiah 9:1; Psalms 119:136).
IN CONCLUSION. There is at least a threefold application of the text, which should be made use of to warn men against sin.
1. Those who have to direct or influence national affairs should remember that a wrong policy is a foolish one. No nation will continue to thrive that fights against God.
2. Heads of families should remember that, by a course of disloyalty to God, they are sowing the seeds of dishonor, grief, and shame in their families, and are entailing sorrow on the children of their care.
3. Let each individual learn that whatever a man soweth that shall he also reap, both in this world and in that which is to come. "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!"