exposed, deserted infant, adopted by God, he anon fairly asks to be
shown how to walk. He asks the grace of being able to observe all his
holy commandments, which he never loses sight of through the whole one
hundred-and-fifty Psalms. What else could he do? when it was the only
path to that heavenly house of God, which he had just declared to be the
only wish and desire of his heart.—_Robert Bellarmine (Cardinal)_,
1542-1621.
_Verse 11.—“Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.”_ If a
man, travelling in the King’s highway, be robbed between sun and sun,
satisfaction is recoverable upon the county where the robbery was made;
but if he takes his journey in the night, being an unseasonable time,
then it is at his own peril, he must take what falls. So, if a man keep
in _God’s ways_, he shall be sure of God’s protection; but if he stray
out of them, he exposeth himself to danger.—_Robert Skinner (Bishop)_,
1636.
_Verse 11.—“Because of mine enemies.”_ If once a man commence a
professor, the eyes of all are upon him; and well they may, for his
profession _in_ the world is a separation _from_ the world. Believers
condemn those by their lives who condemn them by their lips. Righteous
David saw many who were waiting to triumph in his mistakes. Hence the
more they watched, the more he prayed: “Teach me thy way, O Lord, and
lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.” It may be rendered,
_because of mine observers_. Christian, if you dwell in the open tent of
licentiousness, the wicked will not walk backward, like modest Shem and
Japheth, to cover your shame: but they will walk forward, like cursed
Ham, to publish it. Thus they make use of your weakness as a plea for
their wickedness. Men are merciless in their censures of Christians;
they have no sympathy for their infirmity: while God weighs them in more
equal scales, and says, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
While a saint is a _dove_ in the eyes of God, he is only a _raven_ in
the estimation of sinners.—_William Secker._
_Verse 13.—“I had fainted,”_ etc. Study much the all-sufficiency, the
power, the goodness, the unchangeableness of God. 1. The all-sufficiency
of God. What fulness there is in him to make up all you can lose for
him; what refreshments there are in him to sweeten all you can suffer
for him. What fulness! You may as well doubt that all the waters of the
ocean cannot fill a spoon, as that the divine fulness cannot be enough
to you, if you should have nothing left in this world; for all the
waters that cover the sea are not so much as a spoonful, compared with
the boundless and infinite fulness of all-sufficiency. What refreshments
in him! One drop of divine sweetness is enough to make one in the very
agony of the cruellest death to cry out with joy, “The bitterness of
death is past.” Now in him there are not only drops, but rivers; not a
scanty sprinkling, but an infinite fulness. 2. Eye much the power of
God, how it can support under the cross, what it can bring to pass for
you by the cross. No cross so sharp and grievous, but he can make it
sweet and comfortable. No cross so heavy and intolerable, but he can
make light and easy. No cross so ignominious and reproachful, but he can
turn it to your honour. No cross so fastened to you, but he can easily
remove it. 3. His _goodness_. His all-sufficiency and power make him
able, his _goodness_ makes him willing to do for his people under the
cross what his all-sufficiency and almighty power can afford. His
_goodness_ sets his mighty power a-work for his suffering saints. His
_goodness_ sets his all-sufficiency, his fulness, abroach for them, so
that it runs freely upon them; and never more freely than when they are
under the cross. “_I had fainted unless I had believed to see the
goodness of the Lord_,” &c. What is it that makes you ready to _faint_
under the cross, or thoughts and foresight of it? Look to the _goodness
of God_, there is support.—_Condensed from David Clarkson._
_Verse 13.—“I had fainted.”_ The words in italics are supplied by our
translators; but, far from being necessary, they injure the sense. Throw
out the words _I had fainted_, and leave a _break_ after the verse, and
the elegant figure of the Psalmist will be preserved: “Unless I had
believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living”——what! what, alas! should have become of me!—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 13.—“Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living.”_ In the Hebrew this verse is elliptical, as Calvin
here translates it. In the French version he supplies the ellipsis, by
adding to the end of the verse the words, “C’estoit fait de moy,” “I had
perished.” In our English version, the words, “I had fainted,” are
introduced as a supplement in the beginning of the verse. Both the
supplement of Calvin, and that of our English version, which are
substantially the same, doubtless explain the meaning of the passage;
but they destroy the elegant abrupt form of the expression employed by
the Psalmist, who breaks off in the middle of his discourse without
completing the sentence, although what he meant to say is very
evident.—_Editorial Note to Calvin_, _in loc._
_Verse 13._—Under sore trouble and distress, labour to exercise a strong
and lively faith. It was a noble and heroic resolution in that holy man
Job, under his singular trials (Job xiii. 15): “Though he slay me, yet
will I trust in him;” as if he had said, Let my strokes be never so sore
and heavy, yet I will not let go my grips of his word and promises, I
will not raze these foundations of my hope. It was the way the Psalmist
kept himself from sinking under his heavy burdens: “_I had fainted,
unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living_.”... Faith brings new strength and auxiliary supplies of grace
from heaven, when the former supply is exhausted and spent; whereof
David had the sweet experience here. As God doth plant and actuate grace
in the soul, so he is pleased to come in with seasonable supplies and
reinforcements to the weak and decayed graces of his people, answerable
to their present exigences and pressures; and thus he doth from time to
time feed the believer’s lamp with fresh oil, give in more faith, more
love, more hope, and more desires; and hereby he gives power to the
faint, and strengthens the things which remain when ready to die.—_John
Willison._
_Verse 13.—“Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living:”_ a cordial made up of three sovereign ingredients—a
hope _to see_; and to see _the goodness of God_; and the goodness of God
_in the land of the living_.—_Sir Richard Baker._
_Verse 13.—“The land of the living.”_ Alas! what a _land of the living_
is this, in which there are more dead than living, more under ground
than above it; where the earth is fuller of graves than houses; where
life lies trembling under the hand of death; and where death hath power
to tyrannise over life! No, my soul, _there_ only is the _land of the
living_ where there are none but the living; where there is a church,
not militant, but triumphant; a church indeed, but no churchyard,
because none dead, nor none that can die; where life is not passive, nor
death active; where life sits crowned, and where death is swallowed up
in victory.—_Sir Richard Baker._
_Verse 14.—“Wait on the Lord, be of good courage.”_ _Be comfortable_,
hold fast (as the Greek hath), _be manly_, or, _quit thee as a man_;
which word the apostle useth. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. These are the words of
encouragement against remissness, fear, faintness of heart, or other
infirmities.—_Henry Ainsworth._
_Verse 14.—“Wait on the Lord, be of good courage.”_
Stand but your ground, your ghostly foes will fly—
Hell trembles at a heaven-directed eye;
Choose rather to defend than to assail—
Self-confidence will in the conflict fail:
When you are challenged you may dangers meet—
True _courage_ is a fixed, not sudden heat;
Is always humble, lives in self-distrust,
And will itself into no danger thrust.
Devote yourself to God, and you will find
God fights the battles of a will resigned.
Love Jesus! love will no base fear endure—
Love Jesus! and of conquest rest secure.
_Thomas Ken (Bishop)_, 1637-1710-11.
_Verse 14._—Think not the government is out of Christ’s hand, when men
are doing many sad things, and giving many heavy blows to the work of
God. No, no; men are but his hand; and it is the hand of God that justly
and righteously is lying heavy upon his people. Look above men, then;
you have not to do with them: there is a turn of matters, just as he is
pleased to turn his hand.—_Ralph Erskine_, 1685-1752.
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1 (first clause)._—The relation of illumination to salvation, or
the need of light if men would be saved.
_Verse 1._—The Christian hero, and the secret springs of his courage.
_Verse 1._—The believer’s fearless challenge.
_Verse 2._—The character, number, power, and cruelty of the enemies of
the church, and the mysterious way in which they have been defeated.
_Verse 3._—Christian peace. I. Exhibited in the calm foresight of
trouble. II. Displayed in the confident endurance of affliction. III.
Sustained by divine help and past experience (_verses 1, 2_). IV.
Producing the richest results, glory to God, etc.
_Verse 4._—Model Christian life. I. Unity of desire. II. Earnestness of
action.
III. Nearness of communion. IV. Heavenliness of contemplation. V.
Progress in divine education.
_Verse 4._—The affection of moral esteem towards God.—_Thomas Chalmers._
_Verse 4._—A breathing after God.—_R. Sibbes’s Sermon._
_Verse 4 (last clause)._—Sabbath occupations and heavenly delights.
_Verse 4 (final clause)._—Matters for enquiry in the Temple of old
opened up in the light of the New Testament.
_Verse 5._—The threefold shelter. See Exposition.
_Verse 6._—The saint’s present triumph over his spiritual foes, his
practical gratitude, and his vocal praises.
_Verse 7._—Prayer. To whom addressed? How? “_Cry_,” etc. When? _Left
indefinite._ On what it is based? “_Mercy._” What it needs? “_Hear_,”
“_answer_.”
_Verse 8._—The heart in tune with its God. Note, the promptness,
heartiness, personality, unreservedness, accuracy, and resolution of the
response to the precept.
_Verse 8._—The successful seeker.—_R. Sibbes’s Sermon._
_Verse 8._—The echo. See Spurgeon’s Sermons. No. 767.
_Verse 9._—I. Desertion deprecated in all its forms. II. Experience
pleaded. III. Divine aid implored.
_Verse 9._—The horror of saints at the hell of sinners.—_James Scot._
_Verse 10._—The portion of the orphan, the comfort of the persecuted,
the paradise of the departing.
_Verse 11._—The plain man’s pathway desired, described, divinely
approved, “_thy way_,” “_a plain way_,” and divinely taught, “_teach me,
O Lord_,” “_lead me_.”
_Verse 13._—Faith, its precedence of sight, its objects, its sustaining
power.
_Verse 13._—Believing to see. See Spurgeon’s Sermons. No. 766.
_Verse 14._—The believer’s position, “_wait_;” his condition, “_good
courage_;” his support, “_he shall_,” etc.; his perseverance, “_wait_”
repeated a second time; his reward.
Footnote 1:
Choose=love.
PSALM XXVIII.
TITLE AND SUBJECT.—_Again, the title_, “A Psalm of David,” _is too
general to give us any clue to the occasion upon which it was written.
Its position, as following the twenty-seventh, seems to have been
designed, for it is a most suitable pendant and sequel to it. It is
another of those “songs in the night” of which the pen of David was so
prolific. The thorn at the breast of the nightingale was said by the old
naturalists to make it sing: David’s griefs made him eloquent in holy
psalmody. The main pleading of this Psalm is that the suppliant may not
be confounded with the workers of iniquity for whom he expresses the
utmost abhorrence; it may suit any slandered saint who, being
misunderstood by men, and treated by them as an unworthy character, is
anxious to stand aright before the bar of God. The Lord Jesus may be
seen here pleading as the representative of his people._
DIVISION.—_The first and second verses earnestly entreat audience of the
Lord in a time of dire emergency. From verses 2-5, the portion of the
wicked is described and deprecated. In verses 6, 7, and 8, praise is
given for the Lord’s mercy in hearing prayer, and the Psalm concludes
with a general petition for the whole host of militant believers._
EXPOSITION.
Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me, lest,
_if_ thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I
lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
1. “_Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock._”—A cry is the natural
expression of sorrow, and is a suitable utterance when all other modes
of appeal fail us; but the cry must be alone directed to the Lord, for
to cry to man is to waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider
the readiness of the Lord to hear, and his ability to aid, we shall see
good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God of our
salvation, and shall use language of firm resolve like that in the text,
“I will cry.” The immutable Jehovah is our _rock_, the immovable
foundation of all our hopes and our refuge in time of trouble: we are
fixed in our determination to flee to him as our stronghold in every
hour of danger. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the day of
judgment, but our rock attends to our cries. “_Be not silent to me._”
Mere formalists may be content without answers to their prayers, but
genuine suppliants cannot; they are not satisfied with the results of
prayer itself in calming the mind and subduing the will—they must go
further and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and
those replies they long to receive at once, if possible; they dread even
a little of God’s silence. God’s voice is often so terrible that it
shakes the wilderness; but his silence is equally full of awe to an
eager suppliant. When God seems to close his ear, we must not therefore
close our mouths, but rather cry with more earnestness; for when our
note grows shrill with eagerness and grief, he will not long deny us a
hearing. What a dreadful case should we be in if the Lord should become
for ever silent to our prayers! This thought suggested itself to David,
and he turned it into a plea, thus teaching us to argue and reason with
God in our prayers. “_Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them
that go down into the pit._” Deprived of the God who answers prayer, we
should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in the grave, and
should soon sink to the same level as the lost in hell. We _must_ have
answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case of dire necessity; surely the
Lord will speak peace to our agitated minds, for he never can find it in
his heart to permit his own elect to perish.
2. This is much to the same effect as the first verse, only that it
refers to future as well as present pleadings. Hear me! Hear me! “_Hear
the voice of my supplications!_” This is the burden of both verses. We
cannot be put off with a refusal when we are in the spirit of prayer; we
labour, use importunity, and agonise in supplications until a hearing is
granted us. The word “supplications,” in the plural, shows the number,
continuance, and variety of a good man’s prayers, while the expression,
“hear _the voice_,” seems to hint that there is an inner meaning, or
heart-voice, about which spiritual men are far more concerned than for
their outward and audible utterances. A silent prayer may have a louder
voice than the cries of those priests who sought to awaken Baal with
their shouts. “_When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle_:” which
holy place was the type of our Lord Jesus; and if we would gain
acceptance, we must turn ourselves evermore to the blood-besprinkled
mercy seat of his atonement. Uplifted hands have ever been a form of
devout posture, and are intended to signify a reaching upward towards
God, a readiness, an eagerness to receive the blessing sought after. We
stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we
seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy seat of Jesus,
for there our expectation dwells. O that whenever we use devout
gestures, we may possess contrite hearts, and so speed well with God.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of
iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief _is_
in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the
wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their
hands; render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation
of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
3. “_Draw me not away with the wicked._”—They shall be dragged off to
hell like felons of old drawn on a hurdle to Tyburn, like logs drawn to
the fire, like fagots to the oven. David fears lest he should be bound
up in their bundle, drawn to their doom; and the fear is an appropriate
one for every godly man. The best of the wicked are dangerous company in
time, and would make terrible companions for eternity; we must avoid
them in their pleasures, if we would not be confounded with them in
their miseries. “_And with the workers of iniquity._” These are overtly
sinful, and their judgment will be sure; Lord, do not make us to drink
of their cup. Activity is found with the wicked even if it be lacking to
the righteous. Oh! to be “workers” for the Lord. “_Which speak peace to
their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts._” They have learned
the manners of the place to which they are going: the doom of liars is
their portion for ever, and lying is their conversation on the road.
Soft words, oily with pretended love, are the deceitful meshes of the
infernal net in which Satan catches the precious life; many of his
children are learned in his abominable craft, and fish with their
father’s nets, almost as cunningly as he himself could do it. It is a
sure sign of baseness when the tongue and the heart do not ring to the
same note. Deceitful men are more to be dreaded than wild beasts: it
were better to be shut up in a pit with serpents than to be compelled to
live with liars. He who cries “peace” too loudly, means to sell it if he
can get his price. “Good wine needs no bush:” if he were so very
peaceful he would not need to say so; he means mischief, make sure of
that.
4. When we view the wicked simply as such, and not as our fellow-men,
our indignation against sin leads us entirely to coincide with the acts
of divine justice which punish evil, and to wish that justice might use
her power to restrain by her terrors the cruel and unjust; but still the
desires of the present verse, as our version renders it, are not readily
made consistent with the spirit of the Christian dispensation, which
seeks rather the reformation than the punishment of sinners. If we view
the words before us as prophetic, or as in the future tense, declaring a
fact, we are probably nearer to the true meaning than that given in our
version. Ungodly reader, what will be your lot when the Lord deals with
you according to your desert, and weighs out to you his wrath, not only
in proportion to what you have actually done, but according to what you
would have done if you could? Our “_endeavours_” are taken as facts; God
takes the will for the deed, and punishes or rewards accordingly. Not in
this life, but certainly in the next, God will repay his enemies to
their faces, and give them the wages of their sins. Not according to
their fawning words, but after the measure of their mischievous deeds,
will the Lord mete out vengeance to them that know him not.
5. “_Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of
his hands._” God works in creation—nature teems with proofs of his
wisdom and goodness, yet purblind atheists refuse to see him: he works
in providence, ruling and overruling, and his hand is very manifest in
human history, yet the infidel will not discern him: he works in
grace—remarkable conversions are still met with on all hands, yet the
ungodly refuse to see the operations of the Lord. Where angels wonder,
carnal men despise. God condescends to teach, and man refuses to learn.
“_He shall destroy them_:” he will make them “behold, and wonder, and
perish.” If they would not see the hand of judgment upon others, they
shall feel it upon themselves. Both soul and body shall be overwhelmed
with utter destruction for ever and ever. “_And not build them up._”
God’s curse is positive and negative; his sword has two edges, and cuts
right and left. Their heritage of evil shall prevent the ungodly
receiving any good; the ephah shall be too full of wrath to contain a
grain of hope. They have become like old, rotten, decayed houses of
timber, useless to the owner, and harbouring all manner of evil, and,
therefore, the Great Builder will demolish them utterly. Incorrigible
offenders may expect speedy destruction: they who will not mend, shall
be thrown away as worthless. Let us be very attentive to all the lessons
of God’s word and work, lest being found disobedient to the divine will,
we be made to suffer the divine wrath.
6 Blessed _be_ the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my
supplications.
7 The LORD _is_ my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him,
and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my
song will I praise him.
8 The LORD _is_ their strength, and he is the saving strength of his
anointed.
6. “_Blessed be the Lord._” Saints are full of benedictions; they are a
blessed people, and a blessing people; but they give their best
blessings, the fat of their sacrifices, to their glorious Lord. Our
Psalm was prayer up to this point, and now it turns to praise. They who
pray well, will soon praise well: prayer and praise are the two lips of
the soul; two bells to ring out sweet and acceptable music in the ears
of God; two angels to climb Jacob’s ladder; two altars smoking with
incense; two of Solomon’s lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh; they are
two young roes that are twins, feeding upon the mountain of myrrh and
the hill of frankincense. “_Because he hath heard the voice of my
supplications._” Real praise is established upon sufficient and
constraining reasons; it is not irrational emotion, but rises, like a
pure spring, from the deeps of experience. Answered prayers should be
acknowledged. Do we not often fail in this duty? Would it not greatly
encourage others, and strengthen ourselves, if we faithfully recorded
divine goodness, and made a point of extolling it with our tongue? God’s
mercy is not such an inconsiderable thing that we may safely venture to
receive it without so much as thanks. We should shun ingratitude, and
live daily in the heavenly atmosphere of thankful love.