". . . we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind." Isaiah 26:18
This is the figure Isaiah uses to describe Israel's vain attempts to please Jehovah and work for their own redemption. They are represented as making this confession in the latter days of their conversion, "Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain . . . we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind" (Isaiah 26:17,18). Nothing to show for all her labor! How much labor there is which produces nothing. Like the folks in Jeremiah 51:58, the people "labor in vain."
Some months ago an inventor exhibited a wonderful machine. It had 5,626 wheels and gears, shafts and axles, eccentric wheels, chains and belts, together with too many bolts and nuts and screws, and cotter pins, to mention. The machine was about six feet high and at least five feet long. It ran perfectly. When he plugged it in, it began to hum and whirl and its thousands off wheels and gears began to spin. Then he was asked, "What does the machine do?" The answer was, "Absolutely nothing! It's just a bunch of wheels I put together for my amusement in my spare time. It produces nothing!"
How much Christian activity is a whir and a hum and a roar and a clanging of machinery but nothing comes out! It is organizations, committees, boards, programs, and meetings, but no souls are saved, no missionaries are sent out, no hearts are stirred to service for Christ. Many churches have become just big social centers - places of entertainment amid a religious atmosphere. What have all the activities of your church program to do with saving souls and sanctifying saints? Must we say with Israel, "We . . . have brought forth wind?" It is not how busy we are, but what we produce that counts. Jesus said that He had ordained us to "bring forth fruit!"
"Bread For Each Day"
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