The world could afford to spare many a magnificent library better than
it could dispense with this little Psalm of six verses. If the verses of
this Psalm had tongues and could repeat the tale of their ministry down
throughout the generations of the faithful, what marvels of experience
they would reveal! Their biographies would be gathered from the four
winds of heaven and from the uttermost parts of the sea; from lonely
chambers, from suffering sick beds, from the banks of the valley of the
shadow of death, from scaffolds and fiery piles; witnessing in sunlight
from moors and mountains, beneath the stars and in high places of the
field. What hosts of armies of aliens it has put to flight! If by some
magic or divine touch, yea, some miraculous power, the saints'
experience of this Psalm could shine out between its lines, what an
illumination of the text there would be!
Luther was fond of comparing this Psalm to the nightingale, which is
small among the birds and of homely plumage, but with what thrilling
melody it pours out its beautiful notes! Into how many dungeons filled
with gloom and doubt has this little Psalm sung its message of hope and
faith! Into how many hearts, bruised and broken by grief, has it brought
its hymn of comfort and healing How many darkened prison cells it has
lightened and cheered! Into what thousands of sick rooms has it brought
its ministry of comfort and support! How many a time, in the hour of
pain, has it brought sustaining faith and sung its song of eternal bliss
in the valley of the shadow of death! It has charmed more griefs to rest
than all the philosophies of the world. And I am persuaded that this
little Psalm-bird will continue to sing its song of comfort and cheer to
your children, to my children, and to our children's children, and will
not cease its psalmody of love until the last weary pilgrim has placed
his last climbing footstep upon the threshold of the Father's house to
go out no more. Then, I think, this little bird will fold its golden
pinions and fall back on the bosom of God, from whence it came.
It has been well said that this Psalm is the most perfect picture of
happiness that ever was or ever can be drawn to represent that state of
mind for which all alike sigh, and the want of which makes life a
failure to most. It represents that heaven which is everywhere, if we
could but interpret it, and yet almost nowhere because not many of us
do.
=_Unusual Application_=
How familiar this Psalm is the world over! Go where you will; inquire in
every nation, tongue and tribe under heaven where the Bible is known,
you will find this Psalm among the first scriptures learned and lisped
by the little child at its mother's knee, and the last bit of inspired
writ uttered in dying breath by the saintly patriarch.
This Psalm is so universal, says one, because it is so individual; it is
so individual because it is so universal. As we read it, we are aware
not only of the fact that we are listening to the experience of an Old
Testament saint, but also that a voice comes speaking to us through the
long centuries past--speaking to us in our own language, recounting our
own experience, breathing out our own hopes.
The Davidic authorship of this Psalm has been questioned. We believe
firmly that David is the writer; and yet a man feels as he reads the
Psalm that it is so personal, so true to his own individual experience,
that he could fain claim to have written it himself. It might seem as
though the promises and precious things set forth in this Psalm lie
beyond our reach; we have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep,
but "one of like passions with ourselves has passed that way before and
has left a cup to be let down, with His name and story written on the
rim, and we may let that cup down into the well and draw a draught of
the deep, refreshing water."
=_The Location of the Psalm_=
Have you ever noticed just where this Psalm is located? It lies between
the Twenty-second and the Twenty-fourth Psalms. A very simple statement
that--but how deep and wondrous a lesson lies hidden therein!
The Twenty-second Psalm. What is it? It is "The Psalm of the Cross." It
begins with the words uttered by Christ on the cross: "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" It ends with the exclamation of the cross:
"He hath done it," or, as it may be translated, "It is finished." The
Twenty-second Psalm, then, is the Psalm of Mount Calvary--The Psalm of
the Cross.
What is the Twenty-fourth Psalm? It is the Psalm of Mount Zion--a
picture of the King entering into His own. How beautifully it reads:
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory." The Twenty-fourth Psalm,
then, is the Psalm of the coming Kingdom of Glory.
There you have the two mountains; Mount Calvary and Mount Zion. What is
it that lies between two mountains? A valley with its green grass, its
quiet waters, its springing flowers, with shepherd and grazing sheep.
Here, then, is the lesson we learn from the _location_ of the Psalm: it
is given to comfort, help, inspire and encourage God's people during
this probationary period of our life, between the Cross and the Crown.
Is not this the reason why the tenses of this Psalm are _present_
tenses? "The +LORD+ _is_ my shepherd"; "He _maketh_ me to lie down"; "He
_leadeth_ me." Even the last verse, "_I will_ (not I shall) dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever," describes the _present_ attitude of the
soul of the Psalmist, who determines by no means to miss participation
in the fellowship of the saints in heaven.
We love _the Christ of the Cross_. We may not yet fully understand that
cross; may not yet have found any particular theory of the atonement
which completely satisfies our intellect. But we have learned to say
that we believe in the atonement and in the vicarious death of our
Redeemer. Somehow or other we have come, by faith, to throw our
trembling arms around that bleeding body and cry out in the desperate
determination of our sin-stricken souls to Him who hangs on that cross
to save us by His death. We have come to express our faith in that
divine sacrifice in the words of the hymn:
Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.
Let us never forget that we reach the Twenty-third Psalm by the way of
the Twenty-second Psalm--the Psalm of the Cross. "The way of the cross
leads home." We love the Christ of the Twenty-second Psalm, the Christ
of Calvary, the Christ of the Cross.
We also love _the Christ of the Throne and the Glory_. It may be, that,
at times, we have trembled and feared as we have thought of the coming
judgment, but when we have remembered that He who sits upon the throne
is our Elder Brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; that He
left His throne in the glory and took on Him the form of a servant,
dying the ignominious death of the cross that He might redeem us and
save us from the just wrath of God against sin; that some day, He who
loved us and gave Himself for us, will say: "Come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world," then we take courage and look forward with joy to the time when,
having washed the last sleep from our eyes in the river of Life, we
shall gaze with undimmed vision upon Him, whom having not seen, we have
yet loved.
We love the Christ of the cross, the Christ of the past, the Christ of
Mount Calvary. We love the Christ of the future, the Christ of the
throne, the Christ of Mount Zion. But more precious to us, and we say it
reverently, than the Christ of the past, or the Christ of the future, is
the Christ of the present, He who lives with us now, dwells within us,
walks by our side every moment and every hour of the day. We used to
sing in our childhood days that beautiful hymn,
I think, when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How He called little children as lambs to His fold,
I should like to have been with Him then.
I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me;
And that I might have seen His kind look when he said,
"Let the little ones come unto me."
--_Mrs. Jemima Luke_
Many of us feel that we would have given anything to have walked by the
side of the Christ in the days of His earthly pilgrimage, and we almost
envy those who saw His face in the flesh. Some of us know the thrill of
joy that came to our hearts when we trod the sands of Galilee that once
were fresh with His footprints, trod the Temple's marble pavements that
once echoed with His tread, and sailed the blue waters of Galilee that
once were stilled by His wonderful word.
And yet, we should not forget that the enjoyment of the real presence of
Christ is just as truly ours today as it was the possession of the
disciples in the days of His flesh. As the old hymn so beautifully says,
We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down;
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For Him no depths can drown.
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is He;
And faith has still its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.
The healing of His seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch Him in life's throng and press,
And we are whole again.
--_John G. Whittier_
The name given to our Lord in connection with His birth was Immanuel,
which being interpreted is, "God with us." One of the most beautiful
doctrines of the Christian faith is the divine immanence, the continued
presence of the ever-living Christ with His people; for
For God is never so far off as even to be near, He is within.
--_F. W. Faber_
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands or feet.
--_Alfred Tennyson_
I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.
--_John G. Whittier_