Man's energy put in place of trust in God.
This comes to view in a more precise translation of the passage. The King of Ethiopia, who was nominally also King of Egypt, alarmed by the near approach of the Assyrians, is aroused to the exhibition of great energy, and sends messengers in the light river-vessels to spread the news through the empire as rapidly as possible, and call the troops of all his dependent nations to his standard. Geikie translates, or paraphrases the passage thus: "O land of the buzz of fly-swarms—emblems of countless armies—by the rivers of Ethiopia, which art sending messengers upon the seas, and in swift, light, papyrus boats along all your waters, to gather allies, and muster all the force of your empire: Go back to your homes, ye swift messengers—go back to Ethiopia—the tall and strong race, terrible in war from their rise till now,—the nation very strong and all-subduing, whose land is seamed with rivers! Jehovah, alone, will destroy the invader!" The energy of the Ethiopian king is so far commended, but the prophet urges that in this case it is not needed, for God proposes to take to himself all the glory of driving back the Assyrian invasion.
I. MAN'S ENERGY IS CALLED FOR. Whatsoever a man findeth to do he should do "with his might," "heartily." Success in life greatly depends on the strength and vigor in our touch of life's duties and claims. Energy includes strength of will, decision, promptness, perseverance, power to overcome obstacles and hindrances, and fertility of resources. Energy is the quality most commended in business life; and it is found to make up for the absence of actual abilities. The man of energy compels life to yield him some of its best. It is thought of as a characteristic of American business life, and is illustrated in the man who put together the blackened rafters and boards of his burnt warehouse, and commenced business again before the great fire was fully quenched, putting up this for a sign, "William D. Kerfoot; all gone, save wife, children, and energy." However much this energy may be a peculiarity of individual disposition, it is also subject to culture, and may be nourished into strength by a firm self-mastery of our life and habits. Exercise thyself thereunto.
II. MAN'S ENERGY IS CONSISTENT WITH DEPENDENCE ON GOD. Only the weak man fails to make try harmonize with trust. Here the point may be fully argued and illustrated, that the submission which God seeks is no slavish lying down to bear, which is the Islam, or submission of Mohammedanism, but the submission of an active and cheerful obedience, which expects God's will to be doing rather than bearing, and carries a noble spirit of watching for God and waiting on him, into every detail of life. To suffer and submit is no very great triumph; to carry the spirit of submission at the heart of our work is the sublime victory of Christian life. And just this is the glory of the energy illustrated in the Apostle Paul. To men's view "beside himself;" his secret this, "To me to live is Christ."
III. MAN'S ENERGY MUST NEVER BE PUT IN THE PLACE OF GOD. But just in this the worldly man is constantly failing. "This is great Babylon, which I have builded." "I will pull down my barns and build greater." "See this business which I have established." "My might, and the strength of my arm, have gotten me this victory." Nothing tends more readily to separate a man from God, and God from a man, than life-success attending energy. And of this great peril the Christian man needs to beware. Even he may find that he has dethroned God from the rule of his life, and raised up in his place the old idol of self, dressed in the garments of "energy."
IV. SOMETIMES MAN'S ENERGY MUST BE PUT ASIDE, THAT GOD ALONE MAY WORK. As in this case, the Ethiopian king must stop his hurrying messengers, and be still; for Jehovah would work the needed rescue. There are times m our lives when we cannot work, when we must not work; and in those times we learn how to put energy and enterprise into their right place. God puts us in his school, and teaches us the hard lesson of practically uniting "energy" with "dependence." And yet this is but the same lesson as joining harmoniously together "faith and "works;" or, as the apostle expresses it, "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."—R.T.