We are here taught that in all our affairs, 1. We have a necessary and
constant dependence upon God. All our natural actions depend upon his
providence, all our spiritual actions upon his grace. The best man is
no better than God makes him; and every creature is that to us which it
is the will of God that it should be. Our enterprises succeed, not as
we desire and design, but as God directs and disposes. The goings even
of a strong man (so the word signifies) are of the Lord, for his
strength is weakness without God, nor is the battle always to the
strong. 2. We have no foresight of future events, and therefore know
not how to forecast for them: How can a man understand his own way? How
can he tell what will befal him, since God's counsels concerning him
are secret, and therefore how can he of himself contrive what to do
without divine direction? We so little understand our own way that we
know not what is good for ourselves, and therefore we must make a
virtue of necessity, and commit our way unto the Lord, in whose hand it
is, follow the guidance and submit to the disposal of Providence.