Standing and Singing
(No. 3375)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY
31, 1867.
"My foot stands in an even place; in the congregations will I bless the
Lord." Psalm 26:12.
You will remember our taking a pathetic verse for our meditation, some
little while ago, which was the prayer of a saint in trouble, whose
prayer was, "Look upon my affliction and my pain." [See Sermon #741,
Volume 13–a troubled prayer.] We must now look upon the reverse of the
picture and think
upon a Christian in prosperity and joy and, perhaps, as there may have
been some comfort to afflicted souls before, so there may be some
instruction tonight to those who are prosperous.
It is worthy of remark, at the outset, that the condition of a
Christian cannot readily be judged by anyone but himself. Certainly his
outward condition is a very unfair test of his real state. When Paul
and Silas had been scourged and laid with their feet fast in the
stocks, they seemed to others to be very miserable. But when, in the
dead of the night, they began to sing God's praises and the prisoners
heard them, they proved themselves to be among the happiest of men! So
was it with David. When the Psalmist wrote this song, he was slandered
and vilified–every evil thing was laid to his charge. This was the
case externally, and yet within, his mind was at such perfect peace
that he could say, "My foot stands in an even place."
It seemed to the common onlooker as though his foot would slip, as
though he were like one hurled from the Tarpe-ian rock to be certainly
dashed to pieces–but his soul's experience was the absolute reverse of
this. He seems to say to them all, "Hoot at me if you will! Seek to
trip me up as you please! God is high above you all, and in Him I shall
still stand my ground, for, blessed be His name, notwithstanding every
attempt of the enemy to throw me down, my foot stands in an even place
and in the congregation will I bless the Lord."
There are two things in the text to which I would call your attention.
The first is a Believer in a happy position. And the second is, a
Believer engaged in a happy occupation. His "foot standing in an even
place," a happy position. "Praising and blessing God," a happy
occupation. We have here, first, then–
I. A BELIEVER IN A VERY HAPPY POSITION.
Now, what does he mean by his "foot standing in an even place"? Well,
is it not the very worst evil that a genuine Christian can suffer to
fall into sin? To fall finally, would, of course, be our everlasting
ruin. To fall at all, in any sense, is our greatest grief. Every true
child of God would sooner sorrow a thousand times than sin once. His
Father's rod he has learned to love, but sin, even when it is the
choicest pleasure, he has learned to hate. "Lord," he says, "allow me
to go anywhere except into sin. If the way is rough, so be it, if it is
Your way, I will bless You for being in it. But if the road is ever so
smooth, allow not my feet to tread it, if it is Bye-Path Meadow." The
worst evil that can befall a Christian, I say, is to fall into sin and
continue to do so. On the contrary, one of the richest blessings that a
Christian can enjoy is to be kept aright in his walk and
conversation–year after year to wear a spotless character–year after
year to be such an one as Daniel, that even the man's enemies can find
nothing against him except touching the Law of his God. Oh, this is a
great honor! This is a rare jewel! There are some of God's servants who
will get to Heaven who never wore this jewel. They have been the Lord's
people, but yet their slips and falls have given them broken bones and
troubled hearts–and they have been saved at the last "so as by fire."
But it is a choice mercy if the child of God is able not only safely to
get into the harbor, but to get into the harbor without having touched
a rock, without having sunk in a quicksand, without
having suffered shipwreck–not only to come safely to Heaven, but to
have "an abundant entrance ministered to him" into the Kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Now, dear Friends, the standing which is spoken of in the text relates
to the secure standing of the child of God in respect to sin–and it
may be understood in two senses. Sometimes the Christian is in an even
place with regard to common, outward sin. And secondly, he is at all
times in an even place with regard to the sin of other men–there he
stands in such an even place that sin touches him not.
First, I say there are some Christians who may take the language of the
text in regard to outward sin and thank God that they are not just now
exposed to vehement temptations. They are not journeying in slippery
places, but their foot stands in an even place.
This may be occasioned by several causes. Sometimes it is caused by
Providence. My Brothers, you have, perhaps, sometimes wished that you
were rich. You have been in a little way of business and you have
thought, "I wish I had a larger capital that I might launch out a
little, that I might speculate, that I might get a larger income and
accumulate at a faster rate." Ah, you do not know. Those high places
are slippery places, as some of late have proved to their own sorrow.
You have need, instead of asking God to put you there, to thank Him
that you are not so rich, that you are not therefore subject to the
peculiar temptations incidental to great transactions of business, or
great accumulations of gold. Comparatively, you may sit down and thank
God that you are not in this position, but that your "foot stands in an
even place."
You may be thankful, too, if you are not extremely poor, for extreme
poverty, like extreme wealth, is a very dangerous position. When a
person is extremely poor, he may be tempted to steal. If he should be
able to overcome that, he will be tempted to envy and may be very
jealous of those who are better off than himself. And I do not know a
more miserable spirit than an envious one! Nothing can be more
un-Christian than to be angry with my fellow man because he happens to
have more of outward good, and of inward excellence, too, perhaps, than
I may happen to have. Thank God that your lot is cast in the middle
place! If Agur's prayer is fulfilled in you–"Give me neither poverty
nor riches"–if you have just enough to have food and raiment, be
content therewith and say, "I thank God that Providentially I am not
exposed to the temptations of fashion and all its mazes, and I am not
thrust into the temptations of penury with all its grief–in that
respect my foot stands in an even place."
How many a young man is dazzled with the idea of fame! "Ah" he thinks,
"if I could but carve my name on that rock! If I could, I would mount
higher than that last, and carve my name high up there!" Yes, but how
many have rolled back, have tried to scale the battlements and have
fallen to the bottom, mangled corpses?–
"The path of glory leads but to the grave!" Be thankful, young man, if
God should mark out for you a quiet path of usefulness in the Sunday
school, or in some village station, or in some place where, in the
midst of your little family, you may bring your children up as a godly
parent should, and at last, before the clods of the valley shall close
over you, you may have, before you go hence, to thank God that your
foot stood in an even place, though it might have slipped if you had
been called to a more dangerous point on the hill! It is best for us to
be thankful for the position in which Providence has placed us, for I
suppose that most of us now present will see that we are not peculiarly
exposed to either of the extremes and, therefore, in that sense our
"foot stands in an even place."
Sometimes this is the case not so much with regard to our own
condition, as to the place of our abode and the surroundings of our
family circle. How many of you young people ought to bless God that you
are converted and live where you do! I know the temptation with some
young persons is to wish to get away from the parental roof very early
and to try to set up on their own account. Young woman, if you have a
godly father and a godly mother, be in no great hurry to go away from
the hearth where piety has been your joy! Young man, if you are
apprenticed with godly people, do not be in such hot haste to be away
from the place. This is a wicked city and for every place where a young
man's foot may stand "in an even place" in it, there are 50 places
where it will need all the Divine Grace he has and a great deal more
that only God can supply, to keep him from giving way to temptation!
I am afraid that now-a-days, such is the general business habit, as we
say, and the fastness of our living, that many of our young people do
not think enough of religious privileges. I have read of a Jew who
would not trade in a certain town because there was no synagogue in
it–he said he would rather be at another place because there was a
synagogue there.
And what the Jew felt in this respect, surely the Christian ought to
feel far more! If you have to put up with far less money, yet if you
have an opportunity of hearing the Gospel, and mixing with God's
people, be not in a haste to throw away your golden privileges for the
sake of those poor brazen gains which are pitiful in comparison with
spiritual wealth! It is a wonderful mercy–a mercy which some of my
dear Friends now present would prize very much if they could have
it–it is a wonderful mercy, I say, to live in the midst of godly
people! Contrast it to the living with the ungodly! There are those in
this place now who, when they go home from this place of worship
tonight, will hear oaths and blasphemy before they fall asleep. They
will probably be startled in the morning by hearing the name of God
profaned. Their religion provokes the animosity of their dearest
friends! They cannot be at their work without hearing ribaldry and
without being selected to be the butt of all the archers who shoot at
them, sorely wound them and grieve them–for though there are no
burnings at the stake now-a-days, yet there are "trials of cruel
mocking," and these "mockings" are sometimes very "cruel" indeed! There
is all the difference between the plant in the sheltered corner of the
garden and the other plant set out in the wild, bleak waste for every
frost to nip! Be thankful, dear young friends, yes, and let us be
thankful who are not so young, if we are placed in a position where we
are not continually exposed to the vicious example, or to the frowns of
gainsayers. Let us say thankfully with David, "My foot stands in an
even place in that respect: and in the congregation will I bless the
Lord for it."
Besides this, our foot may be kept by Providence and Grace combined.
Providence may have placed us where the ministry is instructive and
established–and then our foot stands in an even place. I have known
some shepherds of flocks and, in the short time in which it has been my
privilege to preside here, I think I have seen them veer to all points
of the compass. There are some I know now whose particular position in
theology no one ever did know and, I suppose, will never be able to
ascertain, for there seems to be no definite teaching, no declaration
of Doctrines, no laying down of established Truths of God! And, mark
you, it is a great mercy when the Lord teaches us something and makes
us know what we do know, and when what we hear we understand and
receive into our souls by the teaching of the Holy Spirit! It is a
great mercy when we are not carried away by this fanaticism, nor the
other enthusiasm, but when we are cast into connection with people who
hold fast to the faith which is delivered to them and are not to be
carried about by every novelty, but are conservative of the grand old
Truths and hold fast to the Doctrines of the Cross of Christ! It may
have been the lot of some of you, dear Friends, to sometimes be members
of one church and sometimes of another–sometimes of a church given to
quarrel and to break up, or, on the other hand, members of churches
that are taken up with every novelty. Oh, be thankful that you have,
many of you young Christians, round about you, fathers in Christ and
matrons in Israel who confirm you in the faith, under God, and through
whom your foot has been made to stand in an even place. For this mark
of Grace, bless the Lord!
But to go still farther. Sometimes the Christian may thank God for his
standing, not so much because of his position in life, nor because of
the outward means of Grace, but because of the inward establishment and
spiritual growth which God the Holy Spirit has given him. Oh, what a
mercy it is, Christian, if your experience has been your own and you
are come at last to a settled state of rest of heart! The devil
sometimes says to you, "You will never be able to attain to the Glory
and the Kingdom–you will never overcome your foes." But you can say,
"Ah, in this respect my foot stands in an even place, for I know whom I
have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him until that day." Sometimes your outward
troubles are very many and the fear is that they will be too much for
you–but oh, what a mercy it is to be able to stand in an even place in
that respect, and say, "Goodness and mercy followed me all the days of
my life, and I am persuaded that they always will. Yes, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for God
will be with me to be my Stay!" When experience and patience have
produced in us unstaggering faith in God, what a blessed life we lead!
But the unbelieving heir of Heaven, the man of little faith and little
confidence in God–he is blown about by every wind and every difficulty
staggers him–he is ready to weep under every trial! But the true
Christian knows that these light afflictions, which are but for a
moment, will work out for him a far more exceedingly and eternal weight
of glory! He believes that Jesus walks the stormy waters. He can hear
Him say, "It is I," and he is not afraid. He feels that he cannot
suffer shipwreck while Christ is in the vessel with him and, therefore,
if not always rejoicing, yet he is calm and patient, waiting for the
salvation of the Lord. I think I know some of you who have been for
years in this condition. You are not now as you used to be–all in
Heaven one day and all in the depths the next. You are not so readily
excited as you once were. An earnest Prayer Meeting fills you with holy
joy, but it does not transport you quite out of the body as it once
did. On the other hand, if some sharp affliction should come upon you,
it still distresses you, but it does not perplex you and cast you into
despair as it would once have done! You are no longer an infant, but
you have become a man or woman in Christ Jesus! You have grown strong.
You are rooted, grounded, and settled in the faith! Now, be very
tranquil, dear Friends, and thankful that you can say concerning these
things, "I am not to be moved by them–temptations that were once
formidable to me are so no longer, for I know the promise and the
faithfulness of my God–and my foot stands in an even place."
Once more. This may sometimes be peculiarly true of the Christian, when
he has been enjoying near, dear, and ripened fellowship with the Lord
Jesus. We sometimes stand on Tabor with our transfigured Lord! It is
not always Geth-semane. It is sometimes the mount of the first Glory
and sometimes whatever occurs has no more effect upon us than tempests
upon solid rocks! The joy of the Lord, the Presence of our Savior, the
light of His love, the feast at His banqueting table–these things
become so all-absorbing to us that we can say with Dr. Watts–
"Let earth against my soul engage,
And hellish darts be hurled.
Still I can smile at Satan's rage,
And face a frowning world."
Such a soul, all taken up with Divine Love, sitting at the feet of
Christ with Mary, has neither room nor time for Martha's cares and
encumbrances, but can rejoice and say, "My heart is fixed, oh my God!
My heart is fixed, I will "sing and give praise." Such an one may be
poor and yet cannot be poor! Such an one may be sick and yet must be
well! Such an one may be alone and yet not alone, for his Lord is with
him! I wish that you and I could more often say in this respect, "My
foot stands in an even place, and in the congregation I will bless the
Lord."
Now you can see that all this view of the text is but occasional. But
there is a view of the text that is permanent. As I have already said
with regard to the great sin, the sin which is unto death, the sin
which would destroy a Christian, every child of God may at every time
say, "My foot stands in an even place." The child of God may sin, but
he cannot sin away his birthright. The heir of Heaven may fall, and he
may fall foully, too, but though he falls seven times, he shall be
lifted up again–and the eternal hand of God shall keep him, even to
the end! Beloved, it is our mercy to believe that–
"Once in Christ, in Christ forever, Nothing from His love can sever."
If you stand on the Rock of Ages, my dear Brothers and Sisters, you
stand on a Rock which never can reel beneath you, and from which no
power, either earthly or infernal, can ever tear you! If you are in the
hands of Christ, you know what He says–"No one is able to pluck them
out of My hands; My Father which gave them to Me is greater than I, and
none is able to pluck them out of My Father's hands." Oh, how safe they
are, then, in the hands of Christ, first, and in the hands of God
after–as if to give a double security, a two-handed guarantee–the
power of Christ and the power of the Eternal Father being both
guaranteed to the safety of the Believer!
But may the Believer ever say within himself that he is safe? Beloved,
he may never say that he is safe in himself! No, that were, indeed, but
a lie! But he may always say that he is safe in Christ Jesus. He may
never say, "My mountain stands firm; I shall never be moved." But he
may say–
"My life is hid with Christ in God, Beyond the reach of harm,"
And, "Because He lives, I shall live also." He may not say, "I know
that I, by my own strength, shall persevere to the end." But he may
say, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day." The
perseverance of the Christian is not ensured by the Christian's resolve
to persevere unto the end, nor by the Christian's own power, nor by any
plans which the Christian can adopt! That perseverance is secured by
the promise of Christ, by the energy of the Spirit, by the watchfulness
of God and by the faithfulness of God to His own Covenant!
Oh, Christian, how happy are you to be loved with an everlasting love,
to have your name written in an Everlasting Covenant, to know that if
your house is not so with God, yet He has made with you an Everlasting
Covenant, ordered in all things and sure! Your foot stands at all
times, in this respect, in an even place where justice and mercy are
sweetly balanced, where justice and truth have taken away all
irregularities, where the path is even and plain! Oh, let your tongue
sing praises unto the Lord!
And now just a few words, and only a few words, though as earnest as
possible, upon– II. THE CHRISTIAN'S HAPPY OCCUPATION.
The Psalmist says, "In the congregation will I bless the Lord," and
surely we ought to do the same. Oh, think, dear Friends, in your own
remembrance, how many professors have perished! I scarcely dare to look
back upon them. They once floated as calmly upon the surface of the sea
as you or I do. There they are. I see the broken hulks, the boards and
broken pieces still tossing upon the surf! Can you see the corpses as
they strew the ocean–corpses of warriors apparently as brave and as
well armed as we are! There is Demas, he has made shipwreck. There is
Judas, too, the first son of perdition. Now, Brothers and Sisters, if
we have been kept, if our feet have been made to stand in an even place
and we do not bless the Lord, the very stones will cry out against us!
Why is it that we have not fallen into sin as many others have done?
Why, indeed, but that the Grace of God has prevented us? There was
everything in us that would have led us into the same mischief–the
same sin, the same unbelief, the same evil habit of departing from the
living God–and if it had not been for preventing Grace which has held
us fast, we would have made shipwreck as well as others! Let us praise
God if, after 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years, or perhaps more, we are still
spared to stand in the midst of the Christian Church upholding our
integrity! Surely we ought to say, "In the congregation will I bless
the Lord."
And then, again, as the Christian ought to do it, so it is the best
thing that he can do, for nothing can be more useful to him. I fancy if
we praised God when we are in the enjoyment of mercies, we would keep
mercies longer. If God had more gratitude from us when we are well, He
would help us to continue in good health, but He knows that we need to
be sick, sometimes, to make us know the value of health and, therefore,
He sends us to the bed of sickness that we may learn a lesson of
gratitude? And if we were more grateful, we might, perhaps, be spared
some of our troubles. And so while we are kept standing, if we bless
the Lord for it, it may be that He will continue thus to keep us, but
if not, He may allow us to slip in order that we may learn where our
great strength lies–and may thenceforth praise His name! Christian, to
praise God will be of the utmost service to you. The fact is, you must
praise somebody–and if you do not praise God, you will slip into
praising yourself–and that will make you hateful in God's esteem, for
the Lord hates a proud look. If you once begin to say, "It is my own
goodness and the excellency of my natural temperament that have kept
me," you will soon come down–and great will be the fall thereof. But
if you praise God, it will keep you from, self-conceit.
To praise God is, also, one of the sweetest medicines for worldliness.
Most medicines are very strange–sour or bitter. I sometimes think
doctors make them thus, for many persons would not think them effectual
if they were not nasty! Probably there might just as well be sweet
medicines as bitter. I do not know why there should not be. Certainly
praise, though it is sweet and pleasant, is profitable and curative,
too!
It will cure you of worldliness quite as much as will sorrow. If you
sit down to a loaded table and bless the Lord for it, the abundance
will not give you "fullness of bread." If you go abroad in the world
and God increases your wealth, and you are grateful for it, it will not
eat as does a canker, nor injure you, but the gratitude you have will
be a sweet corrective force to keep you from being a mere
earth-grubbing mole–as you would have been if you had not been lifting
your eyes to Heaven and mounting up on the wings of praise, as the
eagle does, with his face towards the sun! Praise God that you have
been able to bear your prosperity and you will probably have a longer
time of it, and you will get good out of it. Moreover, as you ought to
praise God and it is useful to praise God, so let me say that it is
honorable to God that you should praise Him. There ought to be somebody
to speak well of Him, for this wicked world is constantly abusing Him.
If a man's own children do not praise him, where can he expect to have
a good name? Oh, you who are the children of God, I am afraid you
sometimes give your God a bad Character! Those long faces of yours.
Those dolorous tales about Providential afflictions–when they hear and
see these, the world says, "Ah, we always said so–they are a miserable
set and they serve a very hard Master!" But it is a gross lie! There
never were servants that had such a good Master as we have! We love His
House! We love His service! We love His wages! We love Him! We are the
happiest people in all the world and though the worldling will have it
that we must be wretched because we are religious, we reply, "Our
religion is our joy and our comfort! It is our delight and our bliss!
We wish we had more of it! We serve a blessed God and we will speak
well of His name."
To bless the Lord, while it is honorable to Him, will often be useful
to our fellow creatures, and this should be the most practical point.
David said, "In the congregation will I bless the Lord," by which I
understand he felt that his blessing God might be useful to others,
else he might have shut himself up in his room and praised God there.
David was not
like some of whom we know. I hear of some about the country who say, "I
shall not go to the place of worship in my village. I cannot get on
with the minister. I buy Mr. So-and-So's sermons and I find more Truth
in them, so I shall stay at home." You remember the view the Apostle
took of this when he wrote, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves
together, as the manner of some is"–a very bad manner, let me say, by
the way the Apostle mentions it! If there are a few people of God
anywhere, join with them, and if they are such a people as you cannot
think of joining as people of God, open a place of your own! Make it a
point of conscience that where you have a house, God shall have one,
and that where there is a tent for you, there shall be an altar for
Him! How much might the Kingdom of God spread if Christian people
everywhere took care of this! David could have praised God alone, it is
true, but he was not satisfied with it. He loved that genial warmth,
that glow of holy fire which always comes when hearts come together.
And so he says, "In the congregation will I praise the Lord."
There are several ways of doing this. You may praise the Lord, you
know, by singing–and what a delightful employment that is! I sometimes
wish we all knew how to sing. It is very well for us to sing our best,
but that best might be a great deal better. Our Moravian friends can,
nearly all of them, sing, and if you were to go to their settlement you
would find all of them able to join in the sacred song. It is miserable
work where there are two or three fellows in white surplices who get up
to praise God, or where there is a big machine out of which the music
is brought. I suppose the Lord does have mercy upon such folly, but how
there can be anything like spiritual worship coming from a box of pipes
I cannot understand! The hearts of God's people praise Him out of
living organs! We must bring something like spiritual worship and when
we have learned to praise God with the understanding as well as with
our hearts, surely it will be none the less acceptable to Him, but all
the more! He ought to have the best of the best and when we bring Him
our praise it should be the best praise that it is possible for even
hearts to make!
But there are other ways of blessing Him. You who cannot sing, can
perhaps praise Him by your preaching. Oh, how we can help the Lord when
we speak well of His name from the pulpit! It enlarges the scope and
sphere of our praise when we can call upon hundreds, or on these
occasions here, in this house, upon thousands of others, and say, "Oh,
magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together! Come, let
us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker–let us
come into His Presence with thanksgiving and unto His courts with joy."
It is sweet work to preach when our preaching is blessing God!
Some of you cannot preach and you cannot sing. Well, you can bless God
by your conversation. May the Lord give us many of His servants to
bless Him in the farmyard, in the counting-house, behind the counter
and in the factory! To bless Him when they are driving their carts,
whose hearts are so full of praise that they naturally speak well of
God as they speak well of some good friend who has helped and prospered
them! Let me enlist you to bless God this very night before you go to
bed–bless Him, I mean, in talking to someone else to whom your
testimony for God may be blessed. Now, I charge you–you who love the
Lord Jesus Christ and are His followers–if He has treated you badly,
tell of it, speak honestly!
If you have found Him to be a hard Master, tell it to warn others
against Him! But I know you cannot! You dare not say a word against
Him, though you can say ten thousand words for Him–and would do so if
it were not for your bash-fulness. You can all say–
"Lord, unloose my stammering tongue. Who should louder sing than I?"
Tell others that you have tasted and handled the good Word of Life,
that you have found it a delightful thing to weep the tears of
penitence, to turn with faith to the Savior and trust in Him. Do you
say, "To whom shall I tell it?" Go, husband, tell it to your wife! My
good Sister, tell it to your husband! Tell it to your child! Tell it to
your brother! "Andrew first finds his own brother, Simon Peter." You go
and do the same! Tell others and so help them to praise Him, too!
And there is another way of blessing God, even without much time. A
Christian can bless God by his life. I heard somebody say of a
Christian Brother at Manchester that "he preached with his feet." Ah,
that is a noble way of preaching! May we have many such preachers! That
is to say, by practical living, by walk and conversation. May you
praise God by your consistent cheerfulness! There are Brothers and
Sisters in this place to look at whose face is always enough to make
one feel happy! They are not better nor richer than many I know of, but
they seem always happy. They seem to live with Jesus–and when they
speak, they speak well of Him. I am sure they are the most likely
people to bring in converts.
Ask the Lord to make your face to shine. Pray that you may look at Him
until you are changed from glory unto glory! You know what that
means–that the Glory there is in Christ may come upon you–from glory
to glory–that your face may shine like that of Moses, the Light of
God's Countenance being upon you through your praising and blessing
Him!
I am afraid my sermon has no relation to some here present, but I ask
them whether God has not been good to them in many respects. They have
been kept alive–let them be grateful for the mercies they have and let
their gratitude lead them to penitence, to think that they have sinned
against so good a God! Ah, my Hearers, if you will but repent and come
to Him, He will be found of you. Knock and His door will be opened.
Speak to Him and He will hear and listen to you! Trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ and He will wash you in His blood and bring you to His
Father's right hand in the Kingdom! The Lord bless these words, spoken
in much conscious weakness, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM37:17-40.
17. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholds
the righteous. They must stand, therefore, for how shall he fall whom
God upholds?
18-19. The LORD knows the days of the upright: and their inheritance
shall be forever They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the
days of famine they shall be satisfied. These are bad times now.
Everyone complains and, indeed, there seems to be abundant cause, for
distress is universal. But let us fall back on the promise. "In the
days of famine they shall be satisfied."
20-23. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall
be as the fat of lambs: they shall be consumed; into smoke shall they
vanish away. The wicked borrow and pay not again: but the righteous
show mercy and give. For such as are blessed of Him shall inherit the
earth: and they that are cursed of Him shall be cut off The steps of a
good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delights in his way. There is
a mutual delight, you see. If we delight in God, God delights in us. He
delights in the conduct of His people. When they walk with Him, He
takes pleasure in every step that they take. What do you say, Brothers
and Sisters? Have you tried to live today so that God may take pleasure
in you? He cannot do it if we have lived carelessly, or fruitlessly, or
selfishly. But when we live to Him, then the Lord delights in our way.
24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD
upholds him with His hand. Just going to fall, but in came the
interposing hand. Grace catches us up when sin would throw us down.
25. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. It was so unusual a
thing that David had never seen it. I have several times seen the seed
of the righteous begging bread, but in every case it has been because
of their drunkenness or their laziness, or because of their own vice
which they brought upon themselves. But, as a rule, God takes care of
the children of His children. He does not allow them to want. They may
be brought into great straits, but He will not permit them to come to
beggary.
26-29. He is always merciful, and lends; and his seed is blessed.
Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forever-more. For the LORD
loves justice, and forsakes not His saints; they are preserved forever:
but the seed of the wickedshall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit
the land, and dwell therein forever. There is a grand time coming (oh,
that God would hasten it!) when truth and righteousness shall rule the
earth, and then shall the godly have their portion! At the present
time–
"Every prospect pleases, And only man is vile."
But the day shall come when the vile person shall cease from off the
earth and the saints shall have the Kingdom.
30. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of
justice.You may often judge a man by his mouth. The physician looks at
the tongue to see how the man is–and so is a righteous man known by
his mouth and his tongue, for he talks ofjustice.
31-40. The Law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall
slide. The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. The
LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
Wait on the LORD, and keep
His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land: when the wicked
are cut of, you shall see it. I have seen the wicked in great power,
and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and,
lo, he was not: yes, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the
perfect man and behold the upright. For the end of that man is peace.
But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the
wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the
LORD: He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall
help them, and deliver them: He shall deliver them from the wicked, and
save them, because they trust in Him.