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Solomon's ships
had returned in safety, but Jehoshaphat's vessels never reached
the land of gold. Providence prospers one, and frustrates the
desires of another, in the same business and at the same spot,
yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another.
May we have grace today, in the remembrance of this text, to
bless the Lord for ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for
vessels freighted with temporal blessings; let us not envy the
more successful, nor murmur at our losses as though we were
singularly and specially tried.
Like Jehoshaphat, we may be precious in the Lord's sight,
although our schemes end in disappointment.
The secret cause of Jehoshaphat's loss is well worthy of notice,
for it is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord's
people; it was his alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship
with sinners. In 2Chr.20:37, we are told that the Lord sent a
prophet to declare, "Because thou hast joined thyself
with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works."
This was a fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been
blest to him; for in the verse which succeeds our morning's text
we find him refusing to allow his servants to sail in the same
vessels with those of the wicked king. Would to God that
Jehoshaphat's experience might be a warning to the rest of the
Lord's people, to avoid being unequally yoked together with
unbelievers! A life of misery is usually the lot of those
who are united in marriage, or in any other way of their own
choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love to
Jesus that, like him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners; for if it be not so with us, we may
expect to hear it often said, "The Lord hath broken thy
works."
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