"Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22) "Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord." (Jeremiah 17:5)
Why this curse? Is it an arbitrary punishment from the Lord, pronounced upon the one who trusts in man? Not at all; it is simply a statement of fact. The man who trusts in man, whether it be himself or some other man, is under a curse, because he is putting his trust in that which cannot deliver. How little is man "to be accounted of"? The Lord tells us: "[He has] weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." (Isaiah 40:12)
But all the nations of men who dwell on the earth "are counted as the small dust of the balance." (Isaiah 40:15)
That is, the dust that goes to make all nations of men is so small an amount in comparison with all the dust even of this earth alone, that it makes no appreciable difference in the balance. If all the men were off, the weight of the earth would not be sensibly lightened, so that in weighing the mountains and hills the men upon them are not taken into account.
So much for man in comparison with the earth alone. But look up now to the heavens, and see the shining suns that light up an infinite number of worlds, the number of which is known only to the infinite God. When we consider these wondrous works of God's fingers, then we must exclaim with the Psalmist: "What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man that You visit him?" (Psalm 8:4)
Plainly, then, to trust in man for help, is to trust in nothing. Help would utterly fail, if it were not for the fact that the God who made the heavens and the earth, upholds all things by the Word of His power. Think how easily He can do it. "He takes up the isles as a very little thing." (Isaiah 40:15)
Then the burden of all mankind is as nothing to Him. To carry all men in His arms makes no additional tax upon His strength. Yet, insignificant a part of creation as man is, he is not despised, nor forgotten, nor neglected of the Lord. "All nations are before Him as nothing" (Isaiah 40:17) in comparison with the great universe, yet He knows the number of hairs upon the head of every single individual. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matthew 10:30)
So we have at once evidence of God's thoughtfulness for us, and of His ability to carry into effect the thoughts of peace which He thinks toward us. "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end." (Jeremiah 29:11,RV)
The only thing that burdens the Lord is sin. The weight of all nations is nothing to Him, but sin makes Him weary. "you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities." (Isaiah 43:24)
This, however, is no reason why any sinner should hesitate to come to Him. Quite the contrary; for whether we trust Him or not, He has us all, and the burden of all our sins, upon Him. The Lord "bears the sin of the world." (John 1:29,RV,margin)
Then since sin is a burden to Him, and He has all our sins upon Him, (1 Peter 2:24) the thing that we should haste to do is to let Him take the sins away from us, so that He may be relieved of that burden. He can easily bury the sins in the depths of the sea; (Micah 7:19) but He does not wish to cast men there also; therefore He asks us to let Him separate the sin from us, in order that, in casting off that burden, He may not be obliged to fling us off with it.
What marvelous long-suffering and compassion God exhibits for man! For our sake He endures the heavy load of sin which we compel Him to carry. He is compelled to carry it, simply because His love for us will not allow Him to throw us aside. If we would but yield to Him, He would remove the sin from us, and from himself also, and then it would be unalloyed joy for Him to continue to carry us.
And this removal of the sin would be our salvation, for sin is death. (Genesis 2:17; 1 Corinthians 15:56) With what confidence can we trust the Lord to save us from sin, when we know that He wishes to do it in order to relieve himself of the one thing that burdens Him. "Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." (Jeremiah 17:7)--Present Truth, November 24, 1898.