Man proposes, God disposes.
Recalling the scheme at which Rezin and Pekah had been so busy, arranging everything so cleverly, and making so sure of a speedy and triumphant success, Jehovah, sovereign Ruler and Judge, looks from above upon it all, and says of it, "It shall not stand, neither shall it be." "The plan shall not even take practical shape, much less would it achieve a permanent success." "They should neither of them, Syria nor Israel, enlarge their dominions nor push their conquests any further; they shall be made to know their own; their bounds are fixed, and they shall not pass them" (Matthew Henry).
I. THE LIMITS OF MAN'S FREEDOM. He is
There is a sense in which man has dominion over the world in which he is set, and over the circumstances in which he is placed. God, in a sense, put man, separate from himself, in the garden of this world, and stands aloof to see what he will do. Man has the trust of
(a) by brain-capacity;
(b) educational opportunity;
(c) conditions of health;
(d) surrounding prejudices;
(e) measures and degrees of Divine revelation.
And it is carefully circumscribed free-will—graciously limited because man's decisions are constantly made upon
(a) imperfect knowledge, and
(b) upon impulses of biased feeling.
The will of man is also limited by the condition of its accordance with the supreme will of God. Man can plan, purpose, and propose; but there he must stop until he can gain Divine permission to carry out his plans. If he dares to force his plans into action against God, he will surely find that he does but run "upon the bosses of Jehovah's buckler." Who hath ever resisted God and prospered?
II. THE ILLIMITABLE CHARACTER OF GOD'S CONTROL. There is the firmest and most peremptory tone in this declaration, "It shall not stand." Affirming his authority over all nations, the Lord of hosts says, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance" (Isaiah 19:25). God controls
Watching everything, God has the arresting hand, and can say, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no further."—R.T.