Could He Not? Ah! But He Would Not

Could He Not? Ah! But He Would Not

(No. 3420)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And some of them saaid–Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the
blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" John
11:37.

HERE was very good reasoning. Jesus Christ had opened the eyes of the
blind–could He not, therefore, have healed Lazarus of the disease
which proved fatal? Of course He could! He who can avert one evil can
avert another. It could have been no more difficult for Christ to have
turned aside the fever, or whatever it may have been which afflicted
Lazarus, than to have opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. The
first was impossible, but that achieved, no difficulties remained.
"Impossible" is a word which does not fall into language when you have
to deal with Christ and, therefore, when He has once proved, by a
miracle, that He is truly the Christ, then it is clear that, ever
afterwards, nothing is difficult or impossible for Him.

The same Truth of God, in another shape, holds good, namely, that when
Christ has conferred one blessing, He can also confer another. He is
not as we are, who, with one gift, have exhausted our stock and who can
only bestow good wishes afterwards because we have no more means. But
Jesus Christ is just as full of power as if He had never exerted that
power. And after a thousand miracles, He is just as willing and as able
to bestow further favors! One evil averted is a good argument that
another can be–one good received is a good argument that another may
be received from the same Divine hand!

Stop a minute, therefore, and encourage your hearts with such reasoning
as this. "The Lord that delivered you out of six troubles, can He not
also deliver you out of the seventh? The Lord, who has been with you
these 40 years in the wilderness, shall He leave you in this 45th or
50th year? He that has brought you thus far and bestowed upon you early
tokens of His faithfulness, is it a hard thing for you to believe that
He will continue to do the same? You have been preserved out of many
dangers–why not out of another? You have been provided in
necessities–why not be provided for again? You have been raised up
when most are cast down–why not raised up again? You have found a way
out of the very depths, when the pains of Hell got hold upon you and
the snares of the devil surrounded you–why can there not be a way
found for another rescue?" The Lord that has done, can do, and is
doing! That He has done so in the past is a guarantee that He will do
so in the present and in the future! He has already made an
investment–if I may so speak–of His love and of His Grace and of His
faithfulness upon you and He will not lose what He has already spent,
but He will carry on the good work to perfection, till He shall bring
you to Himself in everlasting Glory! Comfort yourself, then, Christian,
with this blessed remembrance of your past experience and rest assured
that this Man, who opened your eyes when you were blind, can keep your
life from spiritual death! Yes, and were you dead, yet should you live
by His strength, for He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what
you ask, or even think!

The same encouragement may be suggested to any here who are anxious
about their souls. The salvation of anyone ought to be an encouragement
to any other. If God has saved one sinner, why not another? If the
precious blood of Jesus has made one drunk sober, why not another? And
if among the white-robed hosts there are some who had defiled their
garments with the foulest stains, why should not I yet be there by the
same blood-washing and the same mercy of my gracious God? He that
opened the eyes of one blind man can open the eyes of all blind men if
so it pleases Him–and He that gives perfect pardon and acceptance to
one, can give to another the same, wherever He chooses to bestow them!
Let no man despair! There are examples of great sinners saved on
purpose to encourage others to trust in Christ. I care not how
aggravated your sins may have been, I am quite sure they have been
already paralleled in some other cases–in some other cases, too, where
salvation has ultimately come! You are not beyond the Divine range. You
have not sinned yourself yet into Hell. Mercy yet can reach you! The
blood can yet cleanse you! The Divine bosom can yet receive you and
even the Heaven of God can yet find room for you, though you are the
chief of sinners! This is good argument, we say–this which was used by
Jesus. What has been done can be done. If Christ does one form of good,
He can do another. If He opens the eyes of the blind man, He can cause
that the sick shall not die!

But now, after that encouragement, there comes up a great difficulty.
It is certain that if Christ had willed it, Lazarus need not have died.
Then Mary need not have sat still in the house weeping. Then Martha
need not have said, with sorrow and with a broken heart, "Lord, if You
had been here, my brother had not died." There was no need that Lazarus
should suffer all that pain, all that languishing and pass through the
gates of the grave–no absolute need for it! Christ could, if He had
chosen, have prevented that man from dying and, what is more, if Christ
willed it, He could prevent all your troubles and all mine. If He
chose, none of His people need ever have so much as a headache, or a
pin's prick of the finger! They need not, one of them, ever be poor, or
have any losses or any crosses. They need, none of them, ever be
tempted, for He could chain up the devil. They need, none of them die,
for He could take them up to Heaven, like Elijah, or translate them,
like Enoch. It stands proof positive, if He could open the eyes of the
blind, He could, if He would, prevent any of His people from sickness,
from death and from all other ills! It were possible for Christ, if He
so willed it, to avert all our sufferings and all our losses from us.
Then why does He not do it? ' 'Behold how He loved him!" said the Jews,
and yet the next thing they said was, "Well, but if He opened the eyes
of the blind, could He not, if He had willed it, have prevented this
man's dying?" Yet He did not do it–and Lazarus died."

Now, I am quite sure, Brothers and Sisters, if you had a dear one at
home that was sick, and I came in to see you, and I could, with a word,
raise your sick friend, I dare not go out of your room without doing
it! You would feel very grieved with me if I did. You would think it
very unkind and, moreover, I am sure I could not find it in my heart
not to do it. Speak a word? Why, I would speak any number of words, if
I could raise your sick ones from being sick, and keep them from dying!
You would think me very unkind if I did not, and so these Jews could
not comprehend it. They said of Christ that He burst into tears at the
thought of Lazarus being dead! They said, as they saw Him in that
genuine burst of sacred passion, "Behold how He loved him!" And they
could not comprehend it, that with a power which could open the eyes of
the blind, and which must be sufficient to prevent the death of
Lazarus, yet He did not prevent it, but the loving Christ allowed His
friend, Lazarus, to sleep till he was laid four days in the grave and
His body began to stink with corruption!

Brothers and Sisters, we are now about to look the question in the
face–and what shall we say about it? The first thing we shall say
about it is this, that–

I. IT IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT FOR US TO MAKE ENQUIRIES AS TO THE LOVE AND
THE WISDOM OF OUR LORD.

It may seem a very strange thing to us that He does not prevent the
afflictions which are so grievous, and that He does not give us some of
those mercies which we think would make us so comfortable. But we have
no right to ask questions. A servant must not be always asking his
master, "Why do you do this?" Or, "Why do you do that?" And the scholar
is not expected to understand all the doings of the professor at whose
feet he sits. A master-builder would soon discharge the carpenter on
the work who should always be saying, "Why should that piece of timber
be of that shape," or, "Why must those stones be placed in such a
position?" The architect is supposed to know the plan, not the Irish
laborer! It is enough for the architect to know, without every small
body on the work understanding everything that is to be done. We are
not, therefore, to be always asking questions. There is another spirit
that ought to rule us, rather than the spirit of captious criticism. A
man goes and takes stones, and he puts some of them into the earth,
deep down. Some of them He places higher up, one upon another. Some he
daubs with mortar, some he places where they cannot be seen and some he
polishes and puts into the corners. Are the stones to say to the
builder, "Why do you place me here?" Or, "Why do you place me there?"
The potter takes his lumps of clay and puts them on his knees–and one
vessel is made to dishonor and another is made a graceful form to
honor–but shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why do you
make me thus?" It is not for the thing that is created to begin to
question its Creator, for then the Creator might well reply, "Who are
you and where were you when I made the Heaven and the earth? When I
balanced the clouds and laid the foundations of the earth? Declare now,
if you can answer Me!" That wonderful sermon from the mouth of God
Himself, at the close of the book of Job rolls like crashes of thunder
over our heads and makes us cower down conscious of our insignificance!
And when we dare to lift up our heads once more, we find upon our lips
words like those which came from the mouth of Job, "I have heard of You
by the hearing of ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes." For you and for me to think to
understand God is as though some tiny insect, whose whole life was
comprehended in an hour, should expect to understand the marches of the
heavens and to comprehend the revolutions of the spheres! The child by
your side, taking up a shell full of water, has no idea of what the sea
is, and you, when you look at God's ways, see no more of God's ways
than that little shell full, as it were, compared with the sea! Stand
still and see that He is God! Let Him be exalted in the earth! Yes, let
Him be exalted in the heavens! He gives no account of His matters. He
does as He wills in the armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of
this lower earth. Ah, Lord, it is better for us to lie passive in Your
hands than to be attempting to sit upon Your Throne, holding the
balance and judging Your work! What if He does not make me rich, but
lets me pine in poverty? What if He does not heal me, but allows me to
linger out a life of sorrow? What if He does not bless my undertaking,
but He permits heavy trials to overcome me? I will not ask Him why! "I
was dumb with silence. I opened not my mouth because You did it"–that
is the spirit in which we may look at this question. One thing more I
want you to remember, and that is this–

II. THAT WHATEVER GOD MAY DO OR MAY NOT DO WITH US, IT IS ALWAYS THE
CHRISTIAN'S WISDOM TO STAND TO THIS–THAT CHRIST IS ALWAYS LOVE.

The Jews said, "Behold how He loved him!" They could see that by His
tears, though He let him die. Now, there were good reasons, though the
Jews might not see the reasons and, Brothers and Sisters, there are
good reasons why God withholds that right hand of His which is so full
of bounty and why at other times He does stretch it out–and good
reasons why He lifts that left hand of His which is so heavy to smite,
and brings it down upon you, the chosen child of His heart! But do not
think that Christ can be otherwise than kind? If you have trusted in
Him, never believe that He can hate or forget you. Never think that He
can suspend His affection towards you. No, never once will He deal with
you according to any other rule than that of love–never once! The
dispensation may be very dark, but judge not by appearances. Your
conscience may be very guilty, but He is greater than your guilt. Your
heart may condemn you, yet can He absolve you and His love is not
measured by even your consciousness of His Presence. He has forgiven
you and He will not visit you in wrath for sin! No, though Satan tells
you that repeated strokes must argue an angry God, he is the father of
lies from the beginning–believe not that which he suggests! It cannot
be possible that God is unkind! The camels are destroyed, the oxen are
stolen, the children have perished, the body is covered with sore
boils, but, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him," says the
triumphant Patriarch. "Shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord
and shall we not receive evil? The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
away, and blessed be the name of the Lord." Be then as Job was and as
David was when, being about to describe the uneasiness of his mind on
account of the affliction of the righteous, and the prosperity of the
wicked, he began the Psalm by saying, "Truly God is good to Israel," as
if he started with that and nothing could ever drive him from it!
Though the wicked prospered and the righteous were chastened every
morning, yet God was good to His own Covenant people in the most
supreme and emphatic sense! But now let us come to this question,
again, for it still looks difficult. If faith makes no enquiries and
resignation shall be content, still–

III. THERE IS DIFFICULTY.

Let us see now. If Christ had prevented Lazarus's death, what would
have happened?He might have done, if He had liked, but, in the first
place, Christ would not have been glorified by raising Lazarus from the
dead. If Lazarus does not die, he cannot be raised, and that
manifestation of miraculous power could not be evinced. You will let
Lazarus die, then–you all agree to that–that Christ may have an
opportunity of raising him again. See, then, if you do not have a
trouble–and Christ can prevent it if He wills–but if you are not
brought into trouble, you cannot have the deliverance, Christ cannot
put out His hand of love to save you, if there is nothing to save you
from! Oh, then, be quite content to bear trouble, in order that your
blessed Lord Jesus may make Himself illustrious as He comes to you in
the very nick of time and delivers you out of the depth of your
distress!

In the next place, if Lazarus had not died, Lazarus himself would not
have been so honored. Everybody said afterwards, "That is Lazarus whom
Christ raised from the dead." He was a marked man and I am sure if you
were Lazarus, you would say, "Ah, well, it is worthwhile to die to be
raised again to have the honor of such a favor." Now, Beloved, if you
are not tried and troubled, you cannot become one of the experienced
saints! It cannot be said of you by your Brothers and Sisters, "That
man has passed through six troubles and through seven, and yet the
Lord's faithfulness has been proved in them all." You will miss great
pleasure if you miss great affliction! Depend upon it, you will be more
a loser by missing trouble than you have ever imagined!

In the next place, Mary and Martha would not have had such a sweet
lesson from Christ. Their poor eyes were red, I doubt not with their
four days' weeping, and the previous days' watching and nursing. But
then, oh what joy they had when they saw their dear brother restored
again! Such a meeting did make amends for all the grief of parting! And
though they had heard the Lord Jesus talk about the resurrection and
the life, they heard that dear powerful voice cry, "Lazarus, come
forth." Why, it was for their education, their spiritual profit and
benefit that the Lord allows Lazarus to die! He might have prevented
it, but they were such gainers by the affliction that it proved His
love that He did not deny them the benefit of the trial!

Mark, again, if Lazarus had not died, then those few would not have
been converted because they saw Lazarus rise from the dead–and it is
said, "Therefore, many of the Jews believed on Him." Well they might!
It was a wonderful sermon to see a dead man come forth bound in his
grave clothes! But how could he have thus come forth if he had not
died? It was for the benefit of those spectators that the trial was
allowed to come. Oh, you do not know, some of you, how many precious
souls may have their destiny–speaking after the manner of men–wrapped
up in your affliction! There is a necessity, for the good of others,
that through your testimony others may believe–that you should be
brought into the very depths and made to be sad, that afterwards God
may interpose for your rescue!

Yet again, the result of the resurrection of Lazarus was that our Lord
rode in triumph through the streets of Jerusalem. There seems to me to
be a connection between these two things. If you read the next Chapter,
you find our Lord taken in triumph through the streets, with palm
branches and great shouts. And probably that which moved the multitude
to do it, the immediate cause, was this marvelous miracle which Christ
had worked. Oh, Beloved, Christ often gets great triumph among the
rolls of men from the deep trials of His people, out of which He does
rescue them and shall not you and I be well content that He should
stand back and hide His face and even seem to be an enemy to us, if,
out of all this, His glory shall spring? If He shall get hosannas and
shouting, and the waving of palm branches–and if men on earth and
angels in Heaven shall do Him extraordinary homage because of the work
He works in us–oh, shall we not be content that our choicest joys
shall wither and our best comforts for a while shall die?

In the case of Lazarus, you can all see that though he need not have
died–in one respect Christ could have kept him alive–yet it was a
great proof of love on Christ's part that Lazarus did die. Now, I
believe that everything else that has happened in the world, if we had
light enough to see it, would turn out to be the same. I know it is a
difficult question, sometimes, to make out why God permits certain
evils. When people say, as the Negro did, "Well, now, God is greater
than de devil, why don't He kill de devil?" I am sure I cannot answer
the question, but I am very well persuaded that if, on the whole, it
would be the best thing to do, to kill the devil, He would do it! And
it is, after all, in a most mysterious way, the best thing for His
people, and the most glorious thing for Himself, that the devil should
be permitted. The Fall–what a mysterious thing that is! It might have
been prevented. I cannot hold any limit to the Omnipotence of God–if
He had willed it, there need not have been a Fall. Then why did He
permit it? I reply to that in the same spirit. I do not know, and I do
not want to know–but I think I can see such a display of Divine Mercy,
and Love and Grace, and every other attribute, in the redemption of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that the Fall, terrible thing as it was, seems to be
a grand platform on which the Glory of God could be displayed!

When the Lord brought His people out of Egypt, they might have gone
right straight to Canaan. Why did He not take them there at once? Why
did He make them go round by the Red Sea and come to that difficult
place? Why–why did He not, indeed? They would not have had half the
fears, nor half the terrors. No, but then remember, there would not
have been so many Egyptians drowned. And there would not have been such
grand shouts, nor such sweet clashing of Miriam's cymbals, nor such
beating of timbrels, nor such dancing of nimble feet. And they would
not have said, "Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider, He has cast into the sea!" All the difficulty
only led to a greater triumph! God was glorified! His enemies were put
to confusion and His people's memories were stored with thoughts of the
mighty works of God which might stimulate their faith as long as the
world should stand. It is best as it is. God orders all things right,
after all, and though He might prevent this, and does not, and He might
give us that, and does not, we believe it is all for the best and bow
our heads, and wait till the light shines, that we may understand more
of the reason why.

Now, Beloved, the point I want to come to is this–depend upon it, that
as I have proved in the case of Lazarus, it was the best thing that the
worst thing should happen–so it is in your case! You are in trouble
tonight. Now, Christ could have prevented it, could have carried you to
Heaven on a featherbed if He had chosen. He could have made you ride to
Heaven all the way in a chariot that never jolted–on a paved road
right straight up to Paradise, without a single rut, or any stones on
it–but He chose not to do so. Now–

IV. LET US SEE IF WE CANNOT FIND A REASON.

If we cannot, it will not matter if you believe it is right. Still we
will try. The roughness of the road that you are travailing now, may it
not be necessary to wean you from this world? Oh, but the goods of this
world are like bird lime to birds–they stick to our feet and keep us
from mounting towards Heaven. "Ah," said one, as he looked abroad on
his gardens and house and park, "these are the things that make it hard
to die." Yes, and these are the things that make it hard to live near
to God! When a man's heart begins to be content with the things of this
world. When he finds his satisfaction here, he is not inclined to look
up to his God. Now, perhaps you are one of that kind that could not
bear too much prosperity. Every gardener will tell you that there are
some of his flowers that he cannot put in the glare of the sun, for
they would never do there. So with you–you grow better in the shade.
Your nearness to Heaven and your soul's health require this affliction.

Besides, may it not be that this affliction is sent on purpose to try
your faith because it is weak? "What?" you say, "Try my faith because
it is weak? I thought you would have said not try it because it is
weak." Ah, but faith grows by trial. When faith is weak, a too heavy
trial would crush it, but a suitable trial is ruled by God for the
strengthening of it. You must–you must grow! The Lord would not have
His children be stunted and dwarfed–and this trial is sent that you
may be made to grow.

Further, you may not only be made to grow in faith this way, but also
in close communion with your God. I have read lately one old Puritan
whose opinion is that we never grow, except in affliction. I could not
endorse that, but I am afraid there is a great deal of truth in it, for
almost all the sunshiny days we have, we waste, and when God is very
gracious to us in temporals, we generally find that these lean cattle
of our ingratitude will eat up the fat cattle of God's mercies! We grow
best, depend upon it, when the wind blows us away from our natural
havens to the great Port of Peace which is found in communion with God
in Christ Jesus! When our soul has nowhere else to fly to for shelter,
she flies to Christ. When she sees all her crutches and all her props
broken away, and all her foundations made to reel, then she casts her
arms about her own dear Lord and there she hangs in rapture and simple
child-like love and confidence! And she is brought nearer to God than
she ever was by the strength of her trials–and that is always a Divine
result, a Divinely valuable result. It is a great mercy, if nothing
else should come of it–a great mercy to have troubles if they should
have this result!

Brothers and Sisters, if Christ would, He could prevent our having
affliction, but He will not prevent them because He wants to make
something of us. For instance, He wants to make some of us to be
comforters to others, but how can you comfort others in trouble when
you have never experienced the like? Oh, what poor hands some of us
make in trying to comfort some of God's saints who have been in much
deeper water than we have ever sailed on! Why, we find they look upon
us as mere boys and wonder how we have the impertinence to bring
consolation to them! But when we can say, "I have just experienced the
very trial you are now passing through–and the Lord sanctified it and
supported me under it." then the mourner opens wide his ears and the
soul receives our comfort as though it were honey dropping from the
comb!

My dear Brothers and Sisters, you will never be qualified to understand
and explains some of the promises without trials. Some of God's
promises cannot be read except by the firelight of affliction. There is
a kind of invisible ink that people sometimes use, which does not show
till you hold it to the fire–and some of the promises seem to be
written in that kind of ink. You do not understand them until you get a
trial, but in the trial you find out that God has fitted every word of
the consolation to the Providence in which He has placed you. But,
indeed, my Brothers and Sisters, when I consider the infinite variety
of blessings which come to us drawn by the team of black horses that
our Father always keeps for this purpose. When I consider how God is
glorified by the endurance of the saints and by the Divine Graces which
they receive in consequence of tribulation. When I consider how their
joy will be swollen at the last, when they come to their rest, by the
remembrance of their pilgrimage here below, I can but think that it is
a fine mark of special mercy that God does not allow His people to go
into the fat fields of unbroken prosperity, but into the fields of
trial and of trouble– that they may be enriched and that their souls
may be established.

Come then, let every murmuring thought be gone! Let every dark
suspicion be discarded. Let us kiss the hand that smites us, and look
up to our Father's face, even when He chastens us! And in this way we
shall soon find the trial turn to joy, the bitter cup will become sweet
and resignation will sweeten all!

If these words shall have ministered any consolation to God's suffering
ones, my heart shall be glad. I sometimes need such thoughts, myself,
and there are times when if I could have them spoken to me by somebody
else, they would be to me like the paths of God which drop with
fatness. Now there may be some of you–I know you are tried and
troubled–to whom this will be just the very word. If so, do not let
Satan take it away from you. Do lay hold of it by faith and feed upon
it with joy and comfort. Yes. "Comfort you, comfort you, My people,
says your God. Speak comfortably unto Jerusalem." So I would that you
may be happy and a rejoicing people in the midst of all your troubles.

But, alas, this does not belong to all of you. It is only comfort to
those who belong to Christ–some of you do not belong to Him and have
never trusted Him. The Lord bring you this very night to believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ! Those about to be baptized say to you tonight, "We
avow ourselves to be Believers in Jesus! We are buried in water to show
that we desire to be dead to all the world and buried in the death of
Christ. We rise out of it to show that we desire to live in newness of
life by the quickening power of the Resurrection of Christ."

You will have no right to this ordinance until you have trusted the
Savior. When you have trusted Him. When you have relied fully upon Him.
When He becomes All-in-All to you, then may you take the sign, because
the thing signified is yours!

May the Lord bless you, for Jesus' sake.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM119:25-40.

By the help of God's Holy Spirit, this Psalm may serve for the purposes
of self-examination, for we may ask ourselves as we read, "Do I feel
that way? Are my prayers like those of this good man? Is my experience
like his?" We may often ask ourselves, "Am I as watchful, as careful
and as fond of God's Word as he was?" Such questions will do us good.

Verse 25. My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken You me according to
Your Word. He does not like to feel the cleaving of his soul to the
dust. There are some that feel it, and they seem content to continue in
that condition. But no sooner does David feel it than he cries "Quicken
You me." A sense of sin is of small value unless it leads us to desire
to escape out of it. "Quicken You me. I lie as dead as if it were dust
to dust. My soul seems cleaving to it, as if it had come to its own,
and meant to rest there! But, Lord, give me life. Your Word promises me
life. You have ways laid down in Your Word for giving life. Quicken You
me according to Your Word."

26. I have declared my ways, and You heard me: teach me Your statuesI
have told you all about myself. Now tell me about Yourself. "Teach me
Your statutes."

27. Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of
Your wondrous works. It is a bad thing to talk of what we do not
understand. And he who shall preach what he has never experienced is
very likely to do so. Yet Beloved, there is no understanding God's
precepts except He shall teach them to us. We are void of
understanding. He must enlighten. He must instruct. "Make me to
understand the way of Your precepts." Some are very anxious to
understand the doctrines, and some to understand the prophecies. All
well and good, but, "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts."
Give me practical godliness. Help me to live to Your praise, "so shall
I talk of Your wondrous works." I will not talk till You have taught
me. But when You have taught me, then my subject shall be Your wondrous
works. The wondrous work of making me to understand–You shall be
something to speak about! And all the wondrous works of Nature,
Providence and Grace shall be the subject of my continual conversation.

28. My soul melts for heaviness–For the best of men sometimes suffer
the sharpest sorrows. Hearts of stone are not likely to be so sensitive
as hearts of flesh. "My soul melts for heaviness."

28. Strengthen You me according unto Your Word. He wants strength, but
he does not want to obtain it in any way but the way of God's
appointment. "According unto Your Word." Somewhat like our hymn, which
says–

"He that suffered in my stead, Shall my physician be. I will not be
comforted Till Jesus comforts me."

"Strengthen You me," but let it be "according to Your Word."

29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Your Law graciously.
Let me not lie. Let me not be tempted to lie. Let me not be pestered
with the lies of others. Remove the way of lying far from me and oh, by
Your Grace, give me to know the Law. That is a remarkable combination
of words. "Grant me Your Law graciously." Has Law anything to do with
Grace? Yes, such a Law as he speaks of–the Law in the heart–the Law
in the hand of Christ–the Law written in the life of the Believer–not
the law of merit and of Salvation by works, but, "grant me Your Law
graciously."

30. I have chosen the way of truth: Your judgments have I laid before
me. As a seaman spreads out the chart before him, that he may follow
the right channel and not miss his track–as a traveler spreads out his
map that he may keep to the right way. "I have chosen the way of truth.
Your judgments have I laid before me."

31. I have stuck unto Your testimonies. As if I were glued to
them–sealed to them. They said I was very old-fashioned. They said I
did not keep pace with the times. They said I was not a man of thought.
I did not care about that. "I have stuck unto Your testimonies."

31. O LORD, put me not to shame. And He never will! If we stick to Him,
we may be quite sure that we shall come forth out of every difficulty
and every opposition triumphantly!. "Put me not to shame." And although
he thus spoke, yet you perceive the activity of his soul.

32. I will run the way of Your commandments, when You shall enlarge my
heart Give my heart freedom. Knock off my fetters. Take away my
heaviness. Remove from me my ignorance. Give my soul room and she will
run, but it will be in the ways of Your commandments.

33. Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep them
unto the end. Here is the art of finally persevering. Here is the way
of continuing to the end–and the same shall be saved. We must begin
with a teachable spirit. He that is not willing to learn, has not begun
a right. We ought to disciple all nations, but he who will not learn is
not yet discipled. "Teach me." But the teaching we must have must come
from God. "Teach me, O Lord. I am not content to have the Word
secondhand. Be You my schoolmaster. Teach me, O Lord. I shall never
learn unless You teach me. You who did make me. You who did give me a
new heart. You must write that Law upon my heart, or it will never be
written there. Teach me, O Lord. Teach me the way of Your statutes.
Teach me practical godliness. So teach it to me that I stall learn it
and put it into practice. And if I am taught of You, then I shall keep
it unto the end."

34. Give me understanding and I shall keep Your Law: yes, I shall
observe it with my whole heart A want of understanding is a very great
lack. There is little wonder that men turn aside from an outward
religion which has never taken possession of their thoughts and minds.
If they only subscribe to the creed which they have never studied. If
they only carry out a life–the mere shell of a life–the inward
principles of which they do not know, they will soon turn aside. "Give
me understanding and I shall keep Your Law."

35. Make me go in the path of Your commandments; for therein do I
delight "Not only teach me the way, but make me go in it! Take hold of
me as a mother does her little child, and teach me how to walk and help
me in the walking." Make me go. It is a feeble word–a most expressive
prayer. "Make me go, for therein do I delight." When a man delights in
God's way, he will be sure to be made to go in it.

36. Incline my heart unto Your testimonies. Bend it that way–incline
it.

36. And not to covetousness. For, naturally, my heart would go after
the world and cleave to its riches, its treasures, and begin to covet!
But, Lord, bend it the other way. If you do not love God's testimonies,
the tendency will be to become a lover of the world. "Incline my heart
unto Your testimonies and not to covetousness."

37. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Or, "make my eyes to pass
from beholding vanity." I am a runner in the race. Do not let me stop
to look at anything, but may my eyes pass by vanity. Let me not be like
she in the fable who paused to gather the golden apples in the
race–and so lost it and was deceived. If the world's golden apples are
thrown in my way, make my eyes to pass from beholding vanity.

37. And quicken You me in Your way. More life towards You will deaden
me to the world. The more I follow after God, the less shall I care to
follow after the world.

38. Establish Your Word unto Your servant Make it fast, firm, sure.

38. Who is devoted to Your fear. I am established in You. Establish the
Word in me. You have bound me fast to Your altar. Oh, give me the fast
blessings and sure mercies of David!

39. Turn away my reproach which I fear: for Your judgments are good. I
fear lest I bring a reproach upon You, and then upon myself. Oh, suffer
me not to do so! I am not afraid of the reproach of the world. I count
the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.
But, oh, let them never have to charge me with sin and let me not fall
into such pecuniary difficulties or other troubles, that men will be
able to make a charge against me out of them. Help me to provide things
honest in the sight of all men. "Take away my reproach, which I fear,
for Your judgments are good."

40. Behold, I have longed after Your precepts: quicken me in Your
righteousness.