Sirach 2
Overview:
v.1
My child, when you come to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for testing.
v.2
Set your heart right and be steadfast,
and do not be impetuous in time of calamity.
v.3
Cling to him and do not depart,
so that your last days may be prosperous.
v.4
Accept whatever befalls you,
and in times of humiliation be patient.
v.5
For gold is tested in the fire,
and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.
v.6
Trust in him, and he will help you;
make your ways straight and hope in him.
v.7
You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, or else you may fall.
v.8
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
v.9
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.
v.10
Consider the generations of old and see:
Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken?
Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected?
🔥About 1652, [John Bunyan] relates, during a time of deep depression, he found comfort in a text which came to his min: ‘Look at the generation of old, and see: did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded?’ He could not remember where it came from, could not find it in his Bible, and received no help from others whom he asked for guidance in his quest. Then, after the lapse of year, he writes: casting my eye upon the Apocrypha books, I found it in Ecclesiasticus, chap. 2:10. This at first did somewhat daunt me, because it was not in those texts that we call holy and canonical; yet as this sentence was the sum and substance of many of the promises, it was my duty to take the comfort of it. And I bless God for that word, for it was of good to me. That word doth still oft-times shine before my face.
v.11
For the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.
v.12
Woe to timid hearts and to slack hands
and to the sinner who walks a double path!
v.13
Woe to the fainthearted who have no trust!
Therefore they will have no shelter.
v.14
Woe to you who have lost patience!
What will you do when the Lord’s reckoning comes?
v.15
Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his words,
and those who love him will keep his ways.
v.16
Those who fear the Lord will seek his favor,
and those who love him will be filled with his law.
v.17
Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts
and will humble themselves before him.
v.18
Let us fall into the hands of the Lord
but not into the hands of mortals,
for equal to his majesty is his mercy.