Of meditation upon the hidden judgments of God, that we may not be
lifted up because of our well-doing
Thou sendest forth Thy judgments against me, O Lord, and shakest all my
bones with fear and trembling, and my soul trembleth exceedingly. I
stand astonished, and remember that the heavens are not clean in thy
sight.(1) If Thou chargest Thine angels with folly, and didst spare
them not, how shall it be unto me? Stars have fallen from heaven, and
what shall I dare who am but dust? They whose works seemed to be
praiseworthy, fell into the lowest depths, and they who did eat Angels’
food, them have I seen delighted with the husks that the swine do eat.
2. There is therefore no holiness, if Thou O Lord, withdraw Thine hand.
No wisdom profiteth, if Thou leave off to guide the helm. No strength
availeth, if Thou cease to preserve. No purity is secure, if Thou
protect it not. No self-keeping availeth, if Thy holy watching be not
there. For when we are left alone we are swallowed up and perish, but
when we are visited, we are raised up, and we live. For indeed we are
unstable, but are made strong through Thee; we grow cold, but are
rekindled by Thee.
3. Oh, how humbly and abjectly must I reckon of myself, how must I
weigh it as nothing, if I seem to have nothing good! Oh, how profoundly
ought I to submit myself to Thy unfathomable judgments, O Lord, when I
find myself nothing else save nothing, and again nothing! Oh weight
unmeasurable, oh ocean which cannot be crossed over, where I find
nothing of myself save nothing altogether! Where, then, is the
hiding-place of glory, where the confidence begotten of virtue? All
vain-glory is swallowed up in the depths of Thy judgments against me.
4. What is all flesh in Thy sight? _For how shall the clay boast
against Him that fashioned it?_(2) How can he be lifted up in vain
speech whose heart is subjected in truth to God? The whole world shall
not lift him up whom Truth hath subdued; nor shall he be moved by the
mouth of all who praise him, who hath placed all his hope in God. For
they themselves who speak, behold, they are all nothing; for they shall
cease with the sound of their words, but the truth of the Lord endureth
for ever.(3)
(1) Job xv. 15. (2) Isaiah xxix. 16. (3) Psalm cxvii. 2.