Bitter and Sweet Things, New and Old Things

Extract

Bitter and Sweet Things, New and Old Things
A. W. Pink

Bitter Things

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil…that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20). Deplorable indeed is the case of those who are incapable of distinguishing between good and evil, who confound objects so radically dissimilar. Yet such by nature is the sad case with all of us. Our understanding is darkened, so that we are unable to perceive the real nature of things. Our wicked hearts deceive us into imagining that profitable exercises are a waste of time, and that pursuits which end in misery are pleasant. Instead of calling the Sabbath a delight (Isa. 58:13), it is a weariness to the ungodly (Amos 8:5). They spend their strength for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which satisfies not (Isa. 55:2). They mistake licentiousness for liberty, and the light yoke of Christ for a heavy burden. True wisdom is regarded as folly, and her ways (which are peaceful) as paths to be shunned. Thus do they befool and cheat their own souls. Instead of making God their chief good, He is abhorred, and Satan, their worst enemy, is served.

“And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage” (Exod. 1:13, 14). The curse which the fall has called down upon man is a multiple one. It has not only alienated him from God, slain his spiritual life, and polluted his entire being, but it has also brought him into abject subjection to sin and Satan. Solemnly and graphically is this aspect of his misery depicted in Exodus 1. Pharaoh, who adumbrated the devil, was a most cruel tyrant over those who were in his power. He loaded them with intolerable burdens and treated them in a barbarous manner. He heaped one job upon another, and set over them taskmasters, who beat them mercilessly when they relaxed. Thus, the Hebrews had no ease of body and no comfort of mind. And such, my reader, is how Satan treats his captives, forcing them to employ their strength and …