Deuteronomy 4:32

Ask now of the days that are past.

Inquiry of the past

1. The past may refer to--

(1) General history. So in context.

(2) Individual life. So we take it now.

2. Inquiry of the past.

(1) Some do not think of the past. This arises from--

(a) Thoughtlessness.

(b) Guilt.

(c) A false philosophy.

(2) It is our wisdom to “ask of the days that are past.”

(a) Because the past is in existence now.

(b) Because for the past we are responsible.

(c) Because the past is full of useful lessons.

I. Ask of past blessings. How have they been received?

1. The blessings.

(1) Material.

(2) Spiritual.,

Prayers answered, inspiring and uplifting influences imparted, help rendered, soul’s need supplied, strength in trial, light in darkness, wisdom in ignorance, discipline to purify and perfect.

2. Their reception. Have they been received--

(1) As from God?

(2) As undeserved mercies?

(3) In a thankful spirit?

II. Ask of past opportunities. How have they been used?

1. Opportunities of getting good.

(1) Mental good.

(2) Moral good. Have they been turned to profit, or lost forever?

2. Opportunities of doing good.

(1) To the bodies of men.

(2) To the souls of men. Instructing the ignorant, guiding the perplexed, comforting the sorrowful, rebuking the sinner, reclaiming the citing, speaking the word in season, etc.

III. Ask of past sills. Have they been repented of and pardoned?

1. Sins of omission.

2. Sins of commission.

(1) Against God. Irreverence. Unsubmissiveness. Ingratitude. Unfaithfulness.

(2) Against man. Injustice. Untruthfulness. Uncharitableness. (Homilist.)

The days that are past

An imperial philosopher, having divided time into the past, the present, and the future, says, we should give the past to oblivion, the present to duty, and the future to Providence. Now, we admire two of these admonitions. We readily give the future to Providence, and we ought to give the present to duty, so that “whatsoever our hands find to do, we may do it with our might.” But we can never consent to give the past to oblivion. “God requires that which is past,” and He requires us to remember it.

I. The past days of others, those who have lived before us.

1. See that your aim in this be not only, or principally, mere amusement; but endeavour to derive lessons mental and moral, and religious instruction, from the characters and the events recorded.

2. Secondly, beware how you place implicit confidence in history. Endeavour to distinguish between fiction and truth.

3. Relinquish the prejudice which Solomon assails when he says, “Ask not why the former days were better than these, for thou dost not wisely concerning this matter.” No, the thing is not true; we ought to be wiser than the ancients, for we are much more ancient than they. Certainly, the world is older now than it was ages ago. Surely mankind are not incapable of intellectual or moral progression and improvement.

II. Those of yourselves: those which you have passed through in your own history and experience. These come nearer home, and are more easily reviewed and compared. There is something very solemn in the thought of days that are past; past, never to return, while their moral results remain forever as subjects of future responsibility. And who has not to reckon upon days that are past? for time, like tide, stays for no man.

1. Let us ask, then, what they have to say concerning the world. Mr. Savage has strikingly remarked, “I never knew any of the people of the world praise it at parting.” Nor need we wonder at this: we should wonder if they did. They have been too much in it, they have seen too much of it, they have been too much deceived by it, to recommend it to others, when dying, from their own history and experience.

2. “Ask the days that are past” what they have to say concerning yourselves. Have they not shown you many things with which you were formerly unacquainted, and filled you with surprise and regret? Ah! how many convictions have you violated, how many resolutions have you broken? Instead of the paradise you promised yourself, you have found yourselves in a wilderness. Have not your dependencies often proved broken reeds--not only unable to sustain your hopes, but which have “pierced you through with many sorrows”? And yet will not these “days that are past” also tell you something else? Will they not tell you that life has been at least a chequered scene If you have been in the wilderness, have you not found grace in the sanctuary Have you not had there the fiery, cloudy pillar to guide you? Have you not had the manna to sustain you? Have you not had the waters from the rock to refresh you? Have you not had some of the grapes of Eshcol?

3. “Ask of the days that are past” what they have to say concerning the Scriptures.

(1) Have they not tended to confirm them?

(2) Have they not tended to explain them?

(3) Have they not tended to endear them?

4. “Ask the days that are past” what they have to say concerning our Lord and Saviour. Ask them whether He has not been a good Master; whether you cannot say at the end of ten, or twenty, or thirty, or forty, or sixty years, “Thou hast dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord.” Ask them whether He has not been a good Master; whether you cannot say at the end of ten, or twenty, or thirty, or forty, or sixty years, “Thou has dealt well with Thy servant, O Lord.” Ask them whether He has not been your powerful Helper and your kindest Friend. Three conclusions are derivable from this:--

(1) The first is, that you commit yourselves to God by prayer, that you may be prepared for all your future days, whatever may be their complexion.

(2) Secondly, that you should beware of presumption; that you should leave off devising, and say, “The Lord shall choose my inheritance for me.”

(3) Thirdly, you should equally guard against despondency; for though you know not what your future days may be, you know that nothing they contain in them will happen by chance. One thing you know, that “all the way of the Lord” towards you will be “mercy and truth.” One thing you know, that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” (W. Jay.)

The voice of the past

Time is a great mystery. “Time,” says Carlyle, “is forever very literally a miracle--a thing to strike us dumb; for we have no word to speak about it.” Strictly speaking, it is we who move, and time stands still, although the contrary appears to be the ease; as to travellers in any speedy kind of locomotion, the objects close at hand seem to flit rapidly past them, whereas they know that it is themselves that are in motion. Of nothing are we more slow to think than of the nature and value of time, both as regards its highest present uses and its relation to that eternity from which, by Divine fiat, it was first drawn, and into which it shall finally return. “The past” is a very solemn word. It is irrevocably gone, marked on the part of us all by manifold follies and sins; replete with painful accusations of conscience. Although the past is so irrevocably gone from our reach that it cannot be used for the purpose for which it was originally given,--that of living in its duration to God,--yet a serious review of the past year, for instance, may and, if rightly made, must, be productive of profit to us all. Just as the ship which has been totally wrecked, although it can no more traverse the sea, yet its shattered planks may be rendered serviceable for many useful purposes. Let us ask of the days that are past--

I. That we may entertain a humbling consciousness of our own unprofitableness in the use we have made of our time. Constituted as we are, it is imperative upon us that we should give much of our attention to the care of the body and to the regulation of our temporal affairs; yet it is a humbling reflection that beings possessed of such amazing capacities as those enfolded in every human soul, should have so much of their attention engaged in things which bear unequivocal marks of insignificance. Much of the past year has passed in sleep, in providing and partaking of food, in humble domestic arrangements, in the dull routine of business or the idle lassitude of relaxation. And who amongst us can plead guiltless to such charges as these? Who can say of the past year, “Its time has gone just as I could have wished; I could not desire any future year to be better spent than this has been”? Alas! none.

II. That we may have a grateful sense of the Divine goodness and forbearance.

III. That we may, by Divine help, resolve to correct in the future those things which have been evils in the past. (J. Foster.)

The goodness of God displayed in creation, providence, and redemption

I. View the text as the language of a contemplative and spiritual mind, retired from the cares of the world, surveying with pious delight the wonders of creation, and tracing in all the works of God the glory and goodness of their Almighty Maker. Universal nature proclaims the glory of God. This earth which we inhabit, the ground upon which we tread, declare to us the greatness and mercy of the Almighty. How great is its beauty! How beneficial its fruits! By its liberal provision all former generations have been supported, and from its unexhausted magazines and varied resources all nations are supplied with food and raiment. When, from the inanimate creation, the Christian turns his views to the animal world, he traces there the footsteps of the Almighty, and the operations of His hand. The beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, their shape and figure, their infinite variety, the fit season of their production, their skill in procuring food, and especially their utility to man, all testify that the earth is replenished with the Creator’s goodness. Man himself is the perfection of this lower world. Let the Christian, from himself and the wonders around him, rise to the contemplation of the heavenly bodies. These celestial luminaries instruct as well as shine. And perhaps, could we wing our way “beyond this visible diurnal sphere,” and soar above these rolling planets, we should discover other suns, other stars, other and perhaps nobler systems, established through the boundless regions of space. But here inquiry stops; here our views terminate; yet from such a survey of the heavens and the earth we feel an elevating impulse: we are lost in wonder and admiration.

II. Consider the text as the reflection of a child of providence, after a serious and devout review of the dispensations of God to himself and to others. Nothing yields us so certain a conviction of the providence of God, or evinces so fully its extent, equity, and care, as the consideration of the experience of it which we ourselves have had. It will therefore be the frequent and delightful employment of good men to recall the memory of God’s great goodness, and to reflect upon the measures of His providence with them in former years. They gratefully contemplate the Divine care which protected them from many dangers. But with still Greater satisfaction the Christian reflects upon the care of providence extended to his spiritual concerns. To Thee, my God, I ascribe all the glory and the praise of all that I am, and all that I enjoy! To the silent, secret, effectual influences of Thy Spirit I owe the pleasures of religion which I experience; to the unseen hand of Thy providence conducting me through the mazes of the world I ascribe that comfortable situation in life which I have attained. But the Christian confines not his contemplations upon providence to himself, or the inconsiderable transactions of his own life. He extends his prospect, and sees God ruling over all; he views the Almighty sitting upon His throne of justice and judgment, dispensing to every man a just proportion of good and evil, according to the counsel of His sovereign will. Numberless events in the course of providence, indeed, are to him dark and intricate; he cannot penetrate into their causes, nor assign any satisfactory reason for them. But he checks every hasty, unguarded thought and expression upon the subject. He knows that only a small corner of the plan of Divine administration is made known to him; how these partial evils shall promote the general good, and display the glory of the sovereign Disposer, he cannot now explain. But a scene far more bright and joyous opens upon the Christian’s view in the conduct of the Almighty respecting the redemption of man. He contemplates, with astonishment, that plan of wisdom and grace into which angels desire to look. He views the kingdom of Christ advancing in the world, mean and contemptible in its origin, opposed in its progress by the hostile persecuting spirit of the rulers of the world, yet gathering strength from every wound, spreading far and wide, including, in process of time, a great part of the habitable world, and now established on such solid permanent foundations as affords warrant, even upon principles of human probability, for believing that no weapon formed against its interests shall finally prosper. These are subjects which, to the pious, contemplative Christian, afford inexhaustible matter of delightful meditation and praise.

III. Consider the text as the breathings of the Christian when adoring the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus, and ascribing all his salvation to unmerited sovereign grace. This is the noblest theme of all. A Christian beholds with delight the Supreme Judge passing an act of indemnity, and acquitting the sinner from the charge of guilt, restoring to favour and adopting him into His family. I conclude with a few practical inferences:--

1. Consider how unsearchable must be the greatness, and how ineffable the glory, of that God who does so great things for the children of men.

2. Observe the ingratitude, the guilt, and danger of impertinent sinners, who remain at ease without God and without Christ in this life.

3. Let the children of God give glory to their heavenly Father for all His mercies. (A. Bonar.)

Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire?--

The speciality of the Bible

This is the eternal challenge of the Bible. The appeal may be regarded as a call to the study of comparative religion There are many religions in the world gather them up rote one view, extend the inquiry far and wide, through time and space, and see whether the Bible does not separate itself from all other books by miracles that cannot be rivalled and by excellences that cannot be equalled. The Bible simply wants to be heard, to be read, and to be understood. It asks nothing from its ablest teachers but a paraphrase true to its own spirit and tone. It will not have addition; it will have expansion: it will not be decorated from the outside; it asks that its root may have full scope to express in leaf and blossom and bud and fruit all the bloom of its beauty and all the wealth of its uses. This is the position Moses occupies: we cannot amend the position; we accept it. Note the speciality which Moses fixes upon. He asks a question--“Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?”--if so, prove it. The challenge is not a lame one. The Bible awaits the evidences. We, if earnest men, should be in quest of the best book, without asking who wrote it or by what authority was it written. If it speak to us as no other book can speak, we are bound to accept it. Christianity says in effect--What other religion is there that deals with sin as I deal with it? I do not ignore it; I do not hasten over it; I do not treat it as a mere incident, or a cutaneous affection which superficial means may subdue and which proper attention may remove. What other religion, theory, philosophy, grapples with sin as Christianity does? It will penetrate it, cleave it asunder, analyse it, search into it, and never rest until it gets out of the soul the last fibre of the bad root, the last stain of the fatal poison. Let us be fair to facts; whether we are in the Church or out of the Church, whether we belong to this section or to that section, do let us in common decency acknowledge that Christianity, come whence it may, does grapple with infinite energy with sin. The appeal of Christianity also is--“Ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other,” whether any other religion tries to make the same kind of men that Christianity makes? Let us judge the tree by its fruit. We are not superstitious or fanatical or narrow-minded; we do ask the question, and insist upon an answer, Does any other religion make such men as Christianity makes? Here Christianity must be judged by its purpose, by its own written word and claim, and not wholly by the men themselves, because we are still in the land of bondage in many particulars: we are in the flesh; we suffer from a thousand weaknesses; Christianity, therefore, must be judged in its declared intention regarding the culture of manhood. What kind of men does Christianity want to make? Weak men? It never made one weak man. Strong men, valiant men, men of the keenest mind, men of the largest judgment, men of the most generous disposition; if that is the kind of men Christianity wants to make, where is the religion that can excel or equal Christianity in that purpose? Produce the men! Judge by facts. Where Christianity has entered into a life, what has it done with that life? Can it be proved that Christianity, fairly understood and thoroughly received, has soured the temper, narrowed the sympathies, dwarfed the noble ambitions of the soul? Has Christianity ever made unhappy homes, unrighteous parents? Let the challenge be thoroughly understood and frankly replied to. Christianity lives visibly in the Christian. Christianity wants to put away all other evidence, argument, and wordy encounter, and to be able to say, Judge me by my children; judge me by my believers; I am what they are. Therefore, if the Church of the Living God could stand up complete in the purpose of its Redeemer and Sanctifier, the snowy pureness of its character, the lofty dignity of its moral temper would abash every assailant and silence every accuser. Do not be harsh, or point with mocking finger to some poor weak soul, and say, If this man represents Christianity we do not want to know further what Christianity is. Christianity can only be judged by the Book which reveals it, by the Christ who founded it, and by the noble history which has surrounded it. So we accept and repeat this challenge. (J. Parker, D. D.)