LivePrayerSermon 3265. Faith Tried and Triumphing
(No. 3265)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 31, 1911.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him." Job 13:15.
THERE are some speeches which could not be made by ordinary men. As soon as you hear them, you feel that there is a ring aboutthem which is by no means common. Certain expressions which have been heard and remembered could have been uttered only bygreat warriors, or by men who have navigated the vast ocean. Certain other still nobler expressions, because spiritual ones,could have been uttered only by those who have had to fight with spiritual foes, or have done business on the great watersof soul trouble. When you hear the expression, "If there are as many devils at Worms as there are tiles on the housetops,I will go there in God's name," you are quite certain the speaker is Martin Luther. No other than he could have said it! Andjust as certainly, I think, I would have felt if I had read tonight's text for the first time, that it was Job who said itand nobody else.
Job was a master sufferer. No man went deeper into grief than he-his children all dead, his wealth all swept away, his wholebody covered with sore boils and blisters and the friends who pretended to comfort him, only accusing him of being a hypocrite,while his own wife bids him, "curse God, and die." He was brought lower than any and, therefore, being a man of faith, havingovercome and triumphed by faith, it was like he to utter such a noble speech as that which our text brings before us. "ThoughHe slays me, yet will I trust in Him," is not the utterance of any ordinary commonplace Believer! It is a sort of word which,we are quite sure, could only come from a triumphant Job-triumphant by victorious faith! However, I trust there are some herewho could use this expression, now that another has fitted it for their lips, and I hope that all of us who have any faithat all, may have that faith so increased that yet, without boasting, we may still be able to say, "Though He slays me, yetwill I trust in Him."
I. In speaking upon this text I would note, first, THAT FAITH IS THE HABITUAL GRACE OF THE CHRISTIAN. To trust in God is hisusual mode of life. He does not sometimes trust and sometimes cease to trust, but, "the just shall live by faith." Faith isnot a Grace of luxury but a Grace of necessity. We must have it and if we have it not, we would not be the people of God atall! The common habit of the Christian, then, is a habit of trusting. The Christian's walk is faith and his life is faith!
Faith is to the Christian all the spiritual senses, not one, but all. The natural man has his eyes, but by faith we see Himwho is invisible! The natural man has his hands and his feelings. We live not by feeling, but our faith is the hand by whichwe take fast hold upon eternal realities! The natural man has his ears, and they are delighted with sweet sounds, or throughthem the language of friendship enters his heart. Our faith is the ear through which we hear the voice of God and, sometimes,even catch stray notes from the harps of the angels! The natural man has the nostrils with which he becomes aware of sweetperfumes-and to our faith the name of Jesus is as choicest ointment poured forth! If we receive Christ as our heart's Lord,all the inlets by which we receive Him and His Grace are made of the agate of faith. Gates of carbuncle, windows of agateare true faith. The Light of God and the Love of God come into our consciousness by our faith.
Faith, too, is with the Christian his first and his last Faith looking to Christ is the very beginning of spiritual life!We began to live at the foot of the Cross when we looked up and saw the flowing of those founts of forgiveness-the five woundsof Christ! And as faith was the first, so it will be the last. We expect to die looking for our Lord's appearing and stillresting upon His finished work. And all between the alpha and the omega-all the other letters-we read them all by faith! Thereis no period of our life in which it is safe for us to live by feeling, not even when our enjoyments run high-
est. On the mountain where Christ is transfigured and where, in the midst of the Glory we shall fall asleep in amazement,we cannot live by sense! Even there we can only enjoy the Glory as faith shall continue to be in exercise. We must all theway through, from the first to the last, look out of ourselves and look above to the things which are seen, to grasp the thingswhich are not seen, to be touched with the eternal hand and realize that which does not seem real to sense. This is the lifeof the Christian from the first to the last!
And I would add, as it is his first and last, so faith is the Christian's highest and his lowest. If we ever get upon themountain summit and bask our foreheads in the sunlight of fellowship with God, we stand there only by faith! It is becauseour faith is strong and in active exercise that we realize the things not seen as yet, and behold the God whom mortal eyescannot gaze upon! Our very noblest, happiest and most heavenly times are those which are the results of faith. And so in ourlowest. We can only live there by faith. Have you never lain shattered and broken, crushed and destroyed, expecting somethingyet more terrible? And have you not felt that now in your faintness you could fall back into the Savior's arms? That now inyour brokenness you could drop into His hands? That now in your abject nothingness He must be All-in-All to you, or else therewill be an utter end to you? Oh, the faith that is as wings to us when we fly, becomes a lifebuoy to us when we sink! Thefaith which bears us up to the gates of Heaven, also lifts us up from the very gates of Hell! 'Tis our first and our last!'Tis our highest and our lowest! It is all the senses of our spiritual nature. We must have it and always have it. We musttrust in the Lord!
The matters about which the true Christian is to trust are very many, but they are chiefly these.
We trust for the pardon of our sins to our God in Christ Jesus. The only hope that any Christian has for the forgiveness ofhis iniquity lies in the Sacrifice presented on Calvary by the Lamb of God whom God has given for the sins of the world. Ifany shall ask us whether we trust that our sins are forgiven us because of our repentance, or because of a long life of activeChristian service, we shall reply that we are thankful if God has given us these things, but our sole reliance is in our dearLord and Master who was once fastened to the Cross, but now sits in power in the highest heavens! Our trust for the pardonof sin in every degree and every respect lies in Christ, the Son of God-and there only! In this matter we can use the languageof Job and say, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him," for the fact is, the more fully we are slain, the more trulywe trust! When we see ourselves to be utterly dead, slain by the two edged sword of the Lord, and all hope of our own self-salvationto be a corpse-then it is more easy than ever to come and cast ourselves upon the Christ of God and rest there for all oursalvation from the guilt of sin!
But in God also we trust for the purification of our spirits from all the indwelling power of sin. Some Christians do notappear to make this a matter of faith and, therefore, they do not succeed therein. You can no more conquer sin in yourself-reallyconquer it by your own strength-than you can remove the guilt of it by your own merits. The same Christ who is made unto us"justification" and "redemption," is also made unto us "sanctification," and we must never forget that while we wash our robesand make them white in the blood of the Lamb as to pardon, we also overcome our sins through the blood of the Lamb! The sameSavior who takes away the guilt, takes away the power and the defiling power of sin. Well has Toplady put it-
"Let the water and the blood From Your riven side which flowed, Be of sin the double cure- Cleanse me from its guilt andpower."Now, the true Christian can say that he trusts in God for his effectual purification and his final perfection. He does nothope to drive out one of these Canaanites by his own arm. He does not think that he shall slay one of his corruptions in hisown strength. But his eyes are unto the hills from where comes his help and he believes that the Eternal Spirit will, likerefining fire, go through and through his soul till everything in him shall be burnt up except that which is of God- thatwhich will endure the fire and be well-pleasing in Jehovah's sight!
The matters upon which we rely upon God, then, are as far as I have yet gone, the finished work of Jesus Christ and the powerthat there is in Christ and in the Blessed Spirit to sanctify us-spirit, soul and body.
But our trust is in God in another sense, namely, first- we trust Him believing that He always must be just. It does not occurto us now that God could be unjust. In the days of our flesh we used to think, if we suffered some extreme pain, or if wepassed suddenly from wealth to poverty, that God had dealt very harshly with us, but now we feel that His strokes are fewerthan our crimes and lighter than our guilt. And it does not occur to us in any way to impeach the Jus-
tice of God, let Him do what He will. We feel that if He not only should slay us, but if He should cast us into Hell forever-rememberingwhat we are in ourselves and standing on our own footing, we could not complain against Him. This is our firm confidence,that whatever our position is, God has always dealt justly with us, that He will never deal unjustly with us and we shallnever have to say of any one transaction that we have with Him, "This is not according to the rule of right."
But we go a great deal further. Having believed in Christ Jesus, and having become His children, we trust, believing thatGod will never do anything to us but that which is full of love. We are assured that His eternal love does not only come forth,now and then, that it does not only permeate and infuse itself into a few of His actions-but that all His conduct towardsHis children are actuated by the motive power of love. He is always Love towards those who put their trust in Him. We aresure that He never gives us a pain more than is necessary and that He never lets us suffer a loss more than is necessary."Though for a season, if necessary, we are in heaviness through manifold temptations," we know and are convinced that thereis a necessity for it. We trust His Justice and we trust His Goodness.
And, more, we trust His Wisdom mingled with all this. He has said that "all things work together for good to them that loveGod," and we believe it. We have had some bitters in our cup, but we still believe it. We may yet have a great many more,but we are assured that through the help of God's Spirit we shall still believe this-that come what may, expected or unexpected,in the ways of grief and sorrow, still that ultimate good shall come out of the whole! God's purpose of love shall not bethwarted, but rather shall be answered by every circumstance of our history. Therefore do we trust in God that He is justand cannot do us an unrighteous action! That He is loving and cannot do a cruel thing to us! That He is wise and loving andjust-and will make all things work together for good!
In fine, we trust Him as a child trusts its parent, that is, for everything. There are many things about Him that we cannotunderstand-as there were about our parents in our childhood-but we trust Him and know that there is none like He. "There isnone like unto the God of Jeshurun." We trust Him in all that He does. We cannot understand Him, for His way is in the seaand His footsteps are not known. But we are sure that they are footsteps of holiness and they are ways of righteousness. Wetrust Him for all the past and all the present, yes, and for all the future, too-that future which sometimes looms beforeus in the mist-and half alarms us till we are ready to shrink back from it. We gather up the skirts of our robe, again, andthough we fear as we enter into the cloud, yet are we comforted with the full conviction that He who has done so well in thepast, will be with us even to life's close.
Thus have I tried to show you that the whole tenor of the Christian's life is trust-that, as in the text, "Though He slaysme, yet will I trust in Him."
II. Now the second point shall be that those of us who have learned to trust in God expect that OUR FAITH SHALL BE TRIED.The text holds the plain supposition that it shall be extremely tried. He does not say, "Though I die"-that would be a greattrial. Death is not a pleasant thing. It is no child's play even to the strongest Believer. Job does not say, "Though I die,"but, "Though He slays me." That is more. He does not say, "Though He permit me to be slain," but, "Though He slays me-thoughHe should seem to be so much my enemy as to turn round and kill me! Though I may not believe His action, I will believe Him-Iwill believe His Infallible Word. "Even though He slays me." It is not, "Though He makes me hunger." Or, "Though He puts mein prison, though He allows me to be mocked, though He allows me to be banned from all my friends and to live a solitary andwretched life." No, it is more than that-"Though He slays me." And mark, it is not, "Though He slays my children. Though Hetakes away my wife. Though He removes all my dear kindred." It is more than that. "Though He slays me. Though it comes righthome to myself."
Ah, Job knew what He meant, for all other things had been done except the slaying of him! His children were dead and the housein which they had met was a ruin. All he had was gone-his health had gone and he could not rest by reason of the disease whichwas all over him-most painful and most acute. He had nothing left on earth that was worth having. He was even friendless andhe was worse than wifeless, for his wife had turned against him. Yet he says there is but one thing more that can be done-andGod has kept Satan back from that. He said, "Only you shall not take his life." But if the Lord chose to let loose the dogwithout even the link of a chain upon him-though He allows me now to lose my life itself-
"Though He slays me, I will trust, Praise Him even from the dust-
Prove, and sing it as Iprove, His eternal gracious love."
Now, the text evidently implies that faith will be tried and tried severely. Let us think a moment about this. Has it notbeen always the case that if any man has had a faith beyond his fellow men, it has met with trial? If you go a step beyondthe ordinary rank and file, you will be shot at for that very reason! Columbus believes that there is another part of theworld undiscovered-what ridicule is heaped upon him! Galileo says the world moves-he must be put into the Inquisition-thepoor old man must be forced to deny what he was quite sure was the truth. It was dangerous in those days to know too muchand to believe a little more than other people. And in spiritual things it is just the same. The world is against the truefaith. The faith of God's elect is not a flower that men delight to admire and praise-it is a thing which, wherever they seeit, they count as a speckled bird and they are sure to be against it! If you have faith in God, remember that this is notthe world of faith, but the world of unbelief-and the darkness that is in the world will try to quench your Light!
But remember that true faith scorns trial and outlives it It is not worth having if it does not. If I believe in the friendshipof my friend and yet it cannot bear a little trial, it is not real friendship. Perhaps in your youth, as with most of us,there was someone exceedingly dear to you. In your boyish or girlish days you would walk with some companion and you sworeinseparable friendship. Ah, how many of those friendships did you make-and they were broken? Since then, perhaps, we havethought that someone with whom we took sweet counsel could never, by any possibility, betray us-but there came a test of ourfriendship. We were not worth as much as we once were, or we were not as much esteemed as we used to be, or there happenedto be a misunderstanding-and in a little tiff, the friendship was marred. But that faith which a man has in his fellow menthat is worth having will not yield so easily. No, says the man, "If you say anything to me against my friend, I do not believeyou! I think there is some other way of reading it. If you speak the truth, you do not know all about it-there is somethingelse that would change the complexion of it. And even if you were to convict him of a fault, I would still love him, for thereare many virtues in him and if he did this thing, he must have made a mistake. I will defend him."
Now, transfer this from common life to faith in God. If a man says, "I trust in God," and it is all smooth sailing, and hischildren are about him and he has plenty upon the table, his body in full health and he has all that heart could wish- well,we will see what sort of faith that is! It is not yet proven-will the man believe his God when God begins to take away allhe loves? Will he believe Him when the wife pines away with a long and painful sickness? Will he believe Him when child afterchild is taken to the tomb? Will he believe Him when he sees his property taken away before his eyes? Will he believe hisGod when he, himself, can scarcely move hand or foot upon the bed off sickness? Will he still be able to bless the name ofthe Lord when he is stripped of everything? If he can, then this is faith worth having! But if he cannot, then it is not thefaith that is worthy of God and it is well it does give way, for then it may drive the man to seek the true faith which wouldbear these tests!
You see, then Brothers and Sisters, if we have faith, we must expect to have it tried by reason of faith being an unusualthing in the world and because if it would not bear trial it would not be worth having! History tells us that the best servantsof God have had their trials-and why should we expect to escape? We turn over the historical pages of this Book which areso full of instruction to us and we find that all the Lord's children have had to do battle for the preservation of theirfaith. There is no smooth road to Heaven! Steam rollers can be used for the earth, for our common roads, but you shall findflint stones on the road to Glory! They have never been rolled smooth and they never will be-
"Thepath of sorrow, and that path alone Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown." Faith must and shall be tried as surelyas it is the faith of God's people! And if the best of saints have been obliged to say that through much tribulation theyhave inherited the Kingdom, we must not expect that God will change His rule in His treatment of us. I would not, however,encourage one thing which I have sometimes noticed, namely, the fear which comes into some Christians that they are not God'speople because they have not been much tried. All the saints meet with trial. I know a dear friend who is suffering just now,who says that he was occasionally afflicted with a fear that he could not be a child of God because he was so long withouta sickness or without a trial. Ah, you will have that case met quite soon enough! Do not run after trouble-remember troublesof our own seeking would not be genuine strokes of
the rod. You may leave that in God's hands. Do not fret yourself there. Only when the trials do come to you, let this consoleyou, that-
"Bastards may escape the rod, Plunged in sensual vain delight! But the true-born child of God Must not-would not, if he might!"
In our peace of soul, if God has given it to us by lot and by inheritance, some thorns and thistles must and will spring upin this present world.
Moreover, dear Brothers and Sisters, the trial is greatly for our good and greatly for God's Glory. Our faith could nevergrow, neither could we be sure of it, if it had not been tested. They do not send steam vessels out to sea at once. Oftenyou see on the Clyde, vessels being tried-tried on the Gairloch-before they go out to sea. And God tries us here, before wetake the great ocean of judgment-before we come to the time of death. We have our trials here and we grow by our trials. Amongthe best mercies we have ever received are those mercies that have come to us dressed in the somber garb of mourning whichhave carried treasures in both their hands. God be thanked for the fire! God be thanked for the refiner's furnace and thecrucible! They have been among the best things we have inherited from His mercy!
Thus I have brought out two ideas of the text. The Christian lives by faith and he expects that faith to be tried.
III. But now the next point is the main point of the text-that A TRUE FAITH, PUT ON TRIAL, WILL CERTAINLY BEAR IT. "ThoughHe slays me." It is an extreme expression. "Though He does His worst. Though He gives the last and uttermost stroke that canbe taken, yet will I believe Him. Though He slays me."
Faith will be justified to the uttermost. It is very easy to believe the creature too much. It is a common fault. It is impossibleto trust the Creator too much! To trust Him too little is one of the most usual of sins. Faith in the creature is hardly everwarranted. Faith in the Creator can be warranted, push it as far as ever you like. You know that there is a point where faithin the creature must stop. Our dearest friends can go with us only to the Jordan's brink and then they can help us no longer.But though we go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God is with us and we need fear no evil. Though it actually comesto the slaying and to the death, still we may trust in Him-for He cannot-He will not fail us!
Why is it that the Believer is warranted in trusting in God to the very last extremity? The answer is because He is alwaysthe same God. If He is worth trusting one day, He is worth trusting another. He cannot change. His Character is such thatif it is infinitely worthy of my confidence today, it will be just the same in the rough weather that may come tomorrow! CouldHe change, then my faith in Him ought to change-but if He is always the same true, faithful, loving and tender God, rulingall things by His power-there can be no reason why my faith should make a change. I ought to trust Him, who at all times isthe same!
I ought to trust Him, also, to the last, because outward Providences prove nothing to us about God. We cannot read outwardevents correctly-they are written in hieroglyphics. The book of God is readable-it is written in human language! But the worksof God are often unreadable-
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain.
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain."
We begin spelling God's works and making mischief out of them because we do not know the letters or understand the alphabet,and cannot readily know what He means. If the Lord says He loves us, do we believe it though He smites us? Do we believe that-
"Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling face?"
Be wise, then, and believe in the God you cannot see-not in the outward Providence which you can see-for if you could seethat outward Providence aright as God sees it, you would see it to be as full of love as assuredly God's heart is to you ifyou are a Believer in Him! Therefore, since the outward is no sign to us, let us, when it gathers all the black it can, stillbelieve in Him. When it shall seem most severe and deep calls unto deep at the noise of God's waterspouts, let us still hopein Him, for He is the health of our countenance and our God!
Moreover, Brothers and Sisters, there is another cause why we should always trust in Him. To whom else can we go? We are shutup to this. When it comes to slaying, to cutting, to striking and to killing work, what can the soul do but fall into theCreator's arms? When it comes to dying, what words shall fit these lips so well as these-"Father, into Your hands I commitmy spirit." The course of the Christian's life is such that he feels it more necessary to trust every day he lives. He doesnot get off the line of faith-he gets more into the middle of it as he feels his weakness more. And at the last, when hisweakness will be more apparent, he will need faith more than ever-and he will have it! He shall be able to say, "My fleshand my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Ah, I ask again-To whom should we go in ourtrouble but unto God? All other sources are then dried up! The world mocks us, it seems to be a howling wilderness. 'Tis onlyfrom Heaven the manna can come-only from the Rock, Christ Jesus, the living water can gush forth!
And there is one other word I will say before I leave this point-we may depend upon it, God will always justify our faithif we do trust Him. There was never one who in the long run had to say, "I was a fool to trust in God." Many have said tous, in time of trouble, "He trusted in God that He would deliver him, let Him deliver him," and they have hissed between theirteeth that hideous taunt, "Where is their God now?" But God has not left the righteous to be ashamed and to be offended forever!They have had, perhaps, a blush on the cheek for a moment, for the flesh is weak, but they have not been confounded for long.Faith has come to the rescue and God has fulfilled their faith! Many a man has trusted in himself and been deceived. Manyhave trusted in their wealth and been disappointed. Thousands have relied on friends and have been betrayed. But blessed isthe man, O Lord of Hosts, who stays Himself on You! You can go beyond your friend's line and measure-you may readily expecttoo much of him. You can try the temper of the dearest one you have on earth and at last feel that you have tried it too much.But you can never go beyond the line of God! Your sin will rather be in limiting the Holy One of Israel! You will never openyour mouth too wide for Him! You will never ask too much at His hands! You will never expect too much! You will never believetoo much! Has He not, Himself, said, "I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, open your mouth wideand I will fill it"? The wider you open it, the better! The larger your expectations, the better, for according to your faithso shall it be done unto you!
Now, in closing I would observe that if we say the text, it will take a good deal of sayingand, if it is true, it will needthe power of God, Himself, to make it true. You can stand up tonight and say, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him."But how would it be if He took you at your word? Did you ever question yourself thus, Christian Brothers and Sisters? Youhave said, "Well, I hope I have a faith that will bear me safely into the Presence of God." Did you ever put yourself in theposture of a dying man and think whether you could look Death in the face? You have said, "I hope when I am weighed in thebalances I shall not be found wanting." Did you ever get in the scales and try? Have you made a self-examination, an earnestpraying, testing, trying of yourself? They do not send out a gun from the foundry without putting it into the proof-houseto see whether it will bear the discharge of the powder. Have you ever put yourself into the proof-house?
But beware, above all things, of religious boasting! Remember that God does not care for our words-it is the heart, it isthe reality and truth of what we say-not the verbiage-that commends us to Him. Many a man says very boldly, "Though God shouldslays me, I will trust Him," and yet when God denies him a week's work, he does not trust Him! If he had a sick child, hisfaith would begin to waver. A little puff of wind will alter some people's faith, for heaviest the heart is in the heavy air!O for a faith that can stand the test! Seek such faith, look to the Strong for strength in this matter and cry loudly untoHim who is the Author and the Finisher of faith, that He would strengthen it in you. Say, "Lord, I believe; help You my unbeliefand bring me to this-that I can look anything in the face." And then say, "Let all the floods of earth, and all the out-flowingfrom Hell, and even the drenching trials that come from Heaven, itself, come upon me, yet will I stay myself on the Lord,for He will not fail me, neither will He leave me! His mercy cannot depart from His chosen. He will keep to the end thosewho have rested in Him.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM26.
No doubt this Psalm was written by David when his cruel persecutor, Saul, the more effectually to stab at him, spread falsereports concerning his character. When the wicked can use no other weapons, they always have their quivers full of slanderousreports. Let us learn, here, that the best of men must expect to be misrepresented and to have the worst of crimes laid totheir charge. Let us learn, also, from the example of David, to carry our case to the highest court at once, not to meddlewith the lower courts of earth, but to go at once to the Court of King's Bench in Heaven and there plead our cause beforethe Eternal Throne.
Verse 1. Judge me, O LORD As if he turned away from all other judges, bribed and false as they had proved themselves to bein his case, and put himself on trial before God. "Judge me, O Lord-
1. For I have walked in my integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. He pleads two things.First the outward life and second the inward faith, which as it is the main-spring and source of the outer life of integrity,is also the more important of the two. Mark that as the case is between himself and his accusers, he pleads his life, forthough we are justified before God by faith and not by works, yet before men we must be justified by our works, rather thanby our faith. It is in vain for me to plead my faith when I am slandered. The only answer that can effectually shut the mouthof the adversary is to point to a blameless life. Hence in this case he not only brings his faith before his God, but he alsobrings the fruit of his faith. Note the inference which he draws from God's mercy to him in enabling him to walk uprightlyand to trust Him-"therefore I shall not slide." He rests for the future upon his God! His position was slippery, his enemieswere always busy trying to trip up his heels, but he says-"I shall not slide."
2. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart This is a wonderful verse. One would hardly dare to pray it.Here are three kinds of trial. According to the etymology of the Hebrew, the first is the trial by touch- "Examine me." Thenext is the trial by smell-"Prove me." And the next is the trial by fire-"Try my reins and my heart." You see how anxioushe is to really have the matter decided by God. "Lord, search me through and through. You know I am not a hypocrite." Nowwho dares to say this but that true man of God whose soul is wholly fixed upon the Lord? The reins and the heart are mentionedbecause those were believed to be the seat of the affections-and when the affections are right the whole man is right. Theheart is the fountain from which issue streams of life and if the fountain is pure, the streams cannot be impure-hence heasks chiefly that the examination may be directed to his reins and to his heart.
3. For your loving kindness is before my eyes-Right straight before his eyes he had God's loving kindness. Some people appearto have their miseries, their sorrows, their sins before their eyes, but happy is that Believer who always has God's lovingkindness before him!
Come, my Brothers and Sisters, forget for a little while the burden of your business cares-now for a little season let thesickness that is in your house be left in the hands of your God and let His loving kindness be before your eyes. Loving kindness-pullthe word to pieces. Remember the ancientness of it, the constancy of it, the variety of ways in which it shows itself andthe lavish bounties which it bestows upon you! Do not turn your back to God's goodness, but now, right straight before yousets the loving kindness of your God!
3. And I have walked in Your truth.By which he may mean two things. First that he endeavored to hold fast to the Truths ofGod both in Doctrine and in practice. Or, secondly, that by God's truthfulness in giving him the promised Grace, he had beenenabled to walk uprightly.
4. I have not sat with vain persons-I never took counsel with them. They never were my choice companions.
4. Neither will I go in with dissemblers.He makes a vow for the future that all crafty, lying, and foolish men shall neverhave his companionship.
5. I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. By which he does not mean that he does notassociate with them in any way, for we must go out of the world if we will not have communion with sinners- but he means thathe did not seektheir company, found no pleasure in it and never went in it to abet them in their evil deeds.
6. I will wash my hands in innocence. Pilate did this, but alas, the water was very dirty in which he washed his hands! Thiswas an old Jewish rite when a man was found murdered-if the people in the valley in which he was found would be free fromthe crime of murder, they took a heifer, slew it, and then washed their hands in water over the head of the victim. They werethen clear. So here he says-"I will wash my hands in innocence."
6. So will I compass Your altar, O LORD. He is innocent as far as men are concerned, but he still confesses that he is a sinner,for he goes to God's altar. Perfect men need no altars. It is the sinner that needs a sacrifice. So let the saint always knowthat though he can plead innocence against the charges of men-yet before God his hope lies in the blood-sprinkled altar ofwhich Jesus Christ is the great High Priest!
7, 8. That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous works. LORD, I have loved the habitationof Your House, and the place where Your honor dwells. I am sure many of us can say this, that when the Sabbath comes round,it is the best day of all the week! And that hour in the week-night when we can get to the House of God-what an inexpressiblerelief is that! It is to us like a green oasis in the midst of the sandy desert. There are no beauties in Nature and no changesto be perceived in traveling that I think can ever compensate for the loss of the constant means of Grace-after all, God'sHouse is the fairest spot on earth! Zion, I will prefer you above my chiefjoy! If I forget you, let my right hand forget hercunning. "I have loved the habitation of Your House, and the place where Your honor dwells."
9, 10. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: in whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is fullof bribes. See, he so loves God's House that he cannot bear the thought of being shut in with sinners! And this is our comfort-thatif we have loved God's House on earth, we shall dwell in His House forever!
11. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me. See again, my Beloved, how in the Christian'spractice, good works and faith are seen happily blended. He declares that he will walk in his integrity, but still, stillnote, he prays as one that is conscious of a thousand imperfections-"Redeem me and be merciful unto me." We rest on Christ,alone, but still we desire to walk in holiness with as much exactness as though our salvation depended upon our good works!
12. My foot stands in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.