Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
The Prophet, after having mentioned the blasphemy which prevailed everywhere at that time, strongly condemns so gross a stupidity. Who is this? he says. He checks such madness by a sharp rebuke — for the question implies an astonishment, as though the Prophet had said, that it was like a prodigy to find men who imagined that God was content with his own leisure, and...
No design of man comes to pass unless God ordains it; the Chaldeans said they would destroy Jerusalem, but it happened because God commanded it. Men are tools in God's hands, managing themselves as He pleases, and nothing they contrive succeeds unless His counsel determined it beforehand.
AI summary
Commenting on Lamentations 3:37-41
Let us lift up our heart with our hands,.... Lifting up of the hands is a prayer gesture, and is put for prayer itself; see Psa 141:2; but the heart must go along with it, or it is of no avail; the soul must be lifted up to God; there must be an ascending of that unto him, in earnest desires after him; in affection...