David and His Volunteers
(No. 3297)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold
to the wilderness men of might, and men ofwar fit for the battle, that
could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of
lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains; Ezer the
first, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, Mishmannah the fourth,
Jeremiah the fifth, Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, Johanan the
eighth, Elzabad the ninth, Jeremiah the tenth, Machbanai the eleventh.
These were of the sons of God, captains of the host: one of the least
was over an hundred, and the greatest over a thousand. These are they
that went over Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all his
banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the
east, and toward the west" 1 Chronicles 12:8-15.
DAVID, compelled to flee from his own country, and to hide himself from
the malice of Saul, was eminently a type of our Lord Jesus Christ who,
in the days when He dwelt here among men, was despised and rejected of
men. And at this moment it is well known to the true Church of God and
it becomes palpably evident to every earnest Believer in the Gospel
that Jesus, the Son of David, is not received, acknowledged, or
tolerated in this present evil world. He has gone forth outside the
camp. All who would repair to Him must go forth likewise, bearing His
reproach. These eleven Gadites–all of them remarkable men–espoused
the cause of David when he was in his very worst condition–they left
the ease and comfort, the honors and elements of their own homes to
associate themselves with him when he was regarded as an outlaw under
the ban of society. And to this day, every Christian who is faithful to
his profession must separate himself from his fellow men to be a
follower of the despised Jesus. In that way and with that faith which
men still count heresy, must he join himself with that to which is
everywhere spoken against, running the gauntlet of the age if he would
espouse the cause of the Lord's Anointed!
In tracing out the parallel, let me now draw your attention, first, to
the leader who commanded the voluntary homage of good and valiant men.
And then to the recruits who joined themselves to him, of whom we find
a graphic description it our text.
I. THE LEADER, whom we regard as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, was
David, the son of Jesse. And in tracing out some points of analogy, we
begin by noticing that like David, our Lord was anointed of God to be
the Leader of His people. Hence the words of prophecy concerning Him,
"I will make an Everlasting Covenant with You, even the sure mercies of
David. Behold, I have given Him for a Witness to the people, a Leader
and Commander to the people." The Spirit of God is upon Jesus of
Nazareth, for Him has God the Father anointed. "Unto Him shall the
gathering of the people be." We may well be ready to follow a Leader
whom God has appointed and commended to us with such high praise! "I
have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out
of the people. I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I
anointed him: with whom My hand shall be established: My arm also shall
strengthen him." The Lord, in His own Sovereignty, with wisdom and
prudence, has been pleased to fix His choice upon the Man Christ Jesus
to be our federal Head, our King and our Commander. What other
justification do we need for following Christ than that God Himself
thus sets Him forth? To this choice of God our soul agrees. Never be
afraid, young man, of acknowledging Christ! Never let any of us blush
to acknowledge the blessed impeachment that we are followers of the
Lamb! It is an honor to follow One who has the highest sanction of
Heaven in taking the command and exercising the authority that pertains
to Him!
Jesus was like David, too, in that He was personally fit to be a
Leader. David, alike by his character and his deeds of prowess, had
become the foremost man of his times. So our blessed Lord, as to His
Person, is just such a King as one might desire to obey. And as for His
achievements, O tell what His arm has done–what spoils from death His
right hand won! Let His fame be spread over all the earth! He stood in
the gap when there was none to help. He vanquished the foe who
threatened our destruction. He set His people free. He led their
captivity captive. In point of courage and in feats of war He so
outstripped David that I may safely say, "David has slain his
thousands, but Jesus His tens of thousands! He is a Man of war. The
Lord is His name." He has defeated all the principalities and powers
and put to rout all the hosts of Hell that came against His people.
Therefore let Him be acknowledged as King. Who else should be exalted
among the people but He who has done such wonderful things for the
people? It is no marvel that the men of Israel gathered around David
with a glowing enthusiasm and proved their patriotism by their
allegiance to his sovereignty. Nor need we wonder that the children of
God should shout–
"All hail the power of Jesus' name
Let angels prostrate fall,
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all!" Right well does He deserve all the homage
we can ever ascribe to Him!
But our Lord, though anointed of God, and meriting the distinction
which He gained, was, nevertheless, like David, rejected of men. Poor
David! Saul thirsted for his blood and put him upon dangerous missions,
in the hope that he might die. And when he saw that God was with him,
he hated him yet more–till he hunted him like a partridge upon the
mountains! He could find shelter nowhere. If he went to the priests of
Nob, the king sent and slew all the inhabitants of the city. Or if he
went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and saved the
inhabitants of Keilah, yet by-and-by they were willing to give him up
to his enemies! He was safe nowhere. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ here
upon earth was in the same manner despised and rejected of men–nor has
the offense of His Cross ceased to this day. You may be a nominal
Christian and have the good esteem of all men, but if you are a true
disciple of Jesus, obeying Him from the heart, openly avowing His cause
and diligently testifying His Truth, you will meet with bitter
hostility in all sorts of places and among all sorts of people! Rest
assured that until Christ comes again, it will be true that if you were
of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of
the world, but Christ has chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you.
There may be Christians placed in such sheltered nooks and living among
such godly families that they do not come into collision with the
outside world–but if you do come into connection with the world in any
way, you will be sure to prove its enmity! As the world is in rebellion
against God and hostile to Christ, it will be intolerant of you. So
Ishmael persecuted Isaac even in Abraham's own household! So the seed
of the serpent hates the Seed of the woman. So, too, those that are
under the Law own no kindred with those that are the children of the
promise. Marvel not, then–it scarcely becomes you to murmur, though it
sometimes appears to you a hard lot–Jesus Christ is still as a root
out of a dry ground, without form or comeliness to the mass of mankind!
True religion is not to be found in fashionable circles. It finds
little favor among the great and mighty, though today it does not hide
its head in the clefts and caves of the rocks. While the violence of
persecution is abated in its outward manifestations of terror, the
malice out of which it grew still survives and the people of God are
harassed by it in a thousand ways. The iron is made to enter into their
soul. Thus the cruel jealousy and the galling animosity with which
David was driven forth and hunted from place to place, find a
counterpart in the treatment that Christ, Himself, received–and that
all His faithful followers have in their measure to endure!
But notwithstanding the pains and penalties they incurred in those dark
days, the really good and pious people in Israel rallied to the
standard of David. I know it is said that those who were in debt, those
who were in distress and those who were discontented came to David.
That is quite true and well it typifies the abject condition of those
poor sinners who come to Christ for refuge! But many of those
Israelites were reduced in circumstances and brought into debt through
the bad government of Saul. Probably the very best people in the
country were to be found among those who gathered around David. And
certainly there was with David, Abiathar the priest. He came to David
as the representative of the godly, the Puritan Party! With David,
likewise, there was Gad the Prophet. And you know how, in the early
days of David's persecution, he resided with Samuel, the Prophet of the
Lord, so that the gracious party was always on David's
side. Does not the same thing happen among those who ally themselves
with the Son of David at this day? Although He whom we worship is
despised and rejected of men, yet unto you who believe, He is precious!
They that fear the Lord, love Christ and embrace His Gospel. Those that
have a new heart and a right spirit are not at all dubious which side
to take. They have lifted up their hands to the Crucified One and they
are sworn to do battle for His cause as long as they live! We need not
be ashamed to side with Jesus, for we shall be in good company–not in
the company of the nobles of the earth, those who bear its titles, own
its wealth, or enjoy its empty fame–but in the company of the pure in
heart, of the heirs of the promises, of those to whom God has been
pleased to reveal Himself, yes, of the babes out of whose mouths He has
perfected praise! Oh, we may well be content to cast in our lot with
God's elect, be they who they may in the world's esteem, or be their
lot what it may in their pilgrimage to the better country! With them
would we be numbered! With them would we be associated! With them would
we go! Let Christ's people be our people. Where they toil, we would
toil. With them would we live. With them would we die. With them would
we be buried, in the glad hope that with them we shall rise again to
live forever in the fellowship of the saints!
Mark one thing more. Despised as David was among men, yet, being
anointed of God, his cause in the end was successful. He did come to
the throne–and so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. Notwithstanding
all the opposition that still rages against His cause, it must prosper
and prevail. "He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." Well may the enmity of
the wicked provoke the irony of Heaven. "Why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing?" "He that sits in the heavens shall
laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." It is Jehovah Himself who
says it, "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." God's
decree has placed Him there! Do you think the conspiracy of kings and
rulers can unseat Him? No–there must He sit till all His enemies are
beneath His feet! Oh, it is good to be with Christ, today, for then we
shall be with Him tomorrow! It is good to be with Him in the stocks,
for if we can bear the reproach, we shall one day be with Him on His
Throne to share the Glory! If you will walk with Christ through the
mire when He goes barefoot, you shall be with Him in the golden streets
when He puts on the golden sandals and the angels fall down and worship
Him! If you can foot it with Him in His deeds of service when He grows
weary and footsore, you shall ride with Him when He rides on His white
horse of victory, when all the armies of Heaven shall follow Him in His
great achievements! If you are with Him in His humiliation, you shall
be with Him in His triumph!
I think I have told you before a little parable which I will venture to
repeat in this place. There was a certain king whose son was set upon
an errand to a far country. And when he came into that country,
although he was the lawful prince of it, he found that the citizens
would not acknowledge him. They mocked him, made fun of him and took
him and set him in the stocks! And there they scoffed at him and pelted
him with filth. Now, there was one in that country who knew the
prince–and he alone stood up for him when all the mob was in tumult
raging against him. And when they set him on high as an object of
scorn, this man stood side by side with him to wipe the filth from that
dear royal face. And when, from cruel hands, missiles were thrown in
scorn, this man took his full share of them and, whenever he could, he
thrust himself before the prince to ward off the blows from him if
possible–and to bear the scorn instead of him. Now it came to pass
that after a while the prince went on his way and, in due season, the
man who had been the prince's friend was called to the king's palace.
And on a day when all the princes of the court were roundabout and the
peers and nobles of the land were sitting in their places, the king
came to his throne and he called for that man, and said, "Make way,
princes and nobles! Make way! Here is a man more noble than you all,
for he stood boldly forth with my son when he was scorned and scoffed
at! Make way, I say, each one of you, for he shall sit at my right hand
with my own son. As he took a share of his scorn, he shall now take a
share of his honor." And there sat princes and nobles who wished that
they had been there, yes, envied the man who had been privileged to
endure scorn and scoffing for the prince's sake!
You need not that I interpret the parable. May you make angels envious
of you if envy can ever pierce their holy minds! You can submit for
Christ's sake to sufferings which it is not possible for seraphim or
cherubim to endure!
II. Having thus drawn your attention to the Leader, whom David, the son
of Jesse, prefigured, let me turn now to
speak a little OF THOSE WHO GATHERED ROUND HIM AND ENLISTED IN HIS
SERVICE. The recruits who
came to David were eleven in number.
The first characteristic we read about them is that they were
separated. "Of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David"
eleven persons. Observe that they separated themselves. They seem to
have been captains of the militia of
their tribe. The very least among them was over a hundred, and the
greatest over a thousand, but they separated themselves from their
commands over their tribes–separated themselves from their brethren
and their kinsfolk. I daresay many of their friends said to them, "Why,
what fools you are! You must be mad to espouse the cause of a fellow
like David!" And then they would call David all manner of foul,
opprobrious names. "Are you going to be among those who associate with
him–a troop of bandits with that ragged regiment?" I'll be bound to
say they had terms for David and his men which, in polite ears, it
would not be meet to quote! It is a mercy that the language of those
men of Belial has not been recorded. But these men all said, "Yes, we
will separate ourselves." And, for that matter, they did not merely
tear themselves away from their friends, but from their kinsfolk, too!
David needed their right arms and he would have them! He needed valiant
men–and they would go and fight for David–whatever fond connection
should be sundered thereby!
Dear Friends, in these times it is most important that everyone who is
a Christian should understand that he must separate himself from the
world. You cannot serve Christ and the world, too. You cannot be of the
world and of Christ's Church. You may be nominally of the Church and
really of the world–but really of the world and really of the Church
you cannot possibly be! The Christian must differ from the world in
many things. His language must not be the speech of Babylon, but the
chaste, pure language which Christians use. His actions, his customs,
his manners, his habits, must not be like those of other men. He is not
to be full of affectation and eccentricity. He need not adopt a
peculiar garb, or discourse in quaint phrases or speak with an
unnatural twang. All that may be mere formalism! Still, there is ample
room for separateness in that which meets the eye and addresses the ear
of the observer. We need not display vanity in our attire. In dress,
Christians will be simple and chaste, not ornate and gaudy. In their
speech, too, the children of God will certainly never use an oath, or
lend their tongue to the semblance of a lie! And from foolish talking
and jesting, which are not convenient, they will rigidly abstain! The
tongue of a Believer, my Brothers and Sisters, ought to be as a
fountain which sends forth sweet water–in our conversation there
should be the meekness of wisdom! And when we cannot speak to profit,
our silence must bear witness to our sincerity. But it is in his
dealings with the world that the Christian shows the moral force of his
character. There it comes out because it cannot be hid. If his trade
has become used to tricks and stratagems which will not bear the Light
of God, he cannot conform to them! He will shrink from them with
abhorrence! He must keep a clean conscience. Other men may do the thing
without compunction. It may have become "the custom." But no antiquity
or universality of custom will authorize that which is obviously
wrong–so he cannot do it and will not do it, for he is a Christian! He
counts that a higher morality is required of him than of an ordinary
man and after this higher morality he diligently seeks!
From the world's religion the man of God will likewise stand aloof. He
never asks himself, "What kind of religion does the present age
consider most expedient?" Nor does he wish to find out the fashionable
taste in Doctrine, or the order of devotion which is most agreeable to
the undevout! He seeks after God. He diligently enquires for God's
Truth. He joins himself to God's Church and earnestly promotes its
welfare. Moreover, he loves God's ways and desires to be under the
power of God's Spirit. After this manner he separates himself. Does not
the Church in these days need to hear sounded every day, as a thunder
clap, that Divine Commandment, "Come out from among them, and be you
separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons
and daughters, says the Lord Almighty"? Oh, the shameful conformity of
some professors with the world! It degrades the Church and it debases
themselves! God grant that we may be staunch in our nonconformity to
the world! To whatever church we may belong, may we be "holy, harmless,
undefiled and separate from sinners."
But, observe that these people separated themselves unto David. You may
separate yourself and yet not separate yourself unto Christ! And if
not, you only change from one form of worldly-mindedness to another. We
are not to separate ourselves unto self-righteousness, or unto
affectation, or unto a sect, but unto Christ! The people got away from
their friends that they might get to David–we are to get away from the
world that we may get closer to Christ! We often sing–
"Oh, for a closer walk with God!"
But if our walk is to be close with God, it must be a long way from the
world! We must separate ourselves, by Divine Grace, unto Christ! And
then, as you read that they separated themselves unto David in the
wilderness, let me entreat you to ask yourselves if you are ready to
take part with a rejected, Crucified Christ! Tens of thousands would
separate them-
selves to David if he were in Hebron on the throne of Israel. They
would go there to crown David in the day of his prosperity–but the
thing was to separate themselves unto David in the wilderness! That is
the work of real Divine Grace in the heart which leads us to take sides
with a despised Christ. It is a blessed thing when God teaches you to
say, "I will follow the Truth wherever it leads me. I will follow it
though some shall say to me, 'You are inconsistent.' I do not care
about that. Though they shall say, 'Why, you have landed, now, in
fanaticism.' I do not care about that. I will be a fanatic. If the
Truth of God leads me there, I will separate myself unto Christ in the
wilderness." Though they should tauntingly say, "You only go to some
'Little Bethel' which is frequented by a few ignorant and vulgar
people," be it so! If Christ goes there, what matters that to us? If
the Truth of God should lead us down into a hovel where we could only
associate with the very lowest of the low–if they were the Lord's
people, they should be our delight! I wish this spirit were in all
Christians–that they would be loyal to the Truth of God and not pander
to the world! Do not be continually asking yourselves, "What will
So-and-So think? And what will So-and-So say?" Do the right and fear
not! Believe the Truth of God, let what will come of it! Follow the
straight line and do not trim your way. Go not round about for the sake
of policy, but take sides with Jesus Christ in the day of scoffing, on
the ground of principle!
Do I speak to some men here who work in factories? Oh, acknowledge
Christ when other men laugh at Him! Stand up for Jesus when the whole
shop is full of jesting and jeering against religion! If your religion
is worth having, it is worthwhile enduring a little banter for it. He
that is a friend must be a friend in need. If you would be a friend of
Jesus, you will defend His name when it needs a defender and everybody
is raging at Him. To come to the Tabernacle and join your fellow
Christians in praising Jesus is very easy and involves no self-denial.
But the thing is, you merchants, to praise Jesus among your fellow
merchants who are ungodly–to bear witness, you working men, among
others who fear not the Lord–to separate yourselves unto David in the
wilderness, to cleave to Christ where He is scoffed at and despised!
That is a true Christian! I beseech you, test yourselves by this, for
if you are ashamed of Him in this evil generation, He will be ashamed
of you when He comes in His Glory. But if you, out of a pure heart, can
confess Him before a godless world, He will acknowledge you in the day
when He comes in the Glory of His Father and all His holy angels with
Him! Oh, for Grace to be separated unto Christ in this way!
Note, next, about these men that they were men of might. It is said of
them that they were "men of might. . .whose faces were like the faces
of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains." All
who came to David were not like that. David had some women and children
to protect, but he was glad to receive others who were men of might.
Now there came to Jesus, the Greater David, in His day, the weak ones
of the flock–and He never rejected them. He was glad to receive even
the feeblest! But there also came to our Lord and Master eleven men
who, by His Grace, were like these Gadites. Truly, I may say of His
Apostles, after our Divine Lord had filled them with His Spirit, that
they had faces like lions and feet like hinds' feet, so swift were they
for service and so strong for combat! How wondrously they ran to and
fro to the very ends of the earth, like the roes of the mountains! And
how bravely they faced persecution and opposition, like lions that
could not flinch from their prey! And what grand works they did for
Jesus! Would to God that we were like they, Beloved! The Grace God can
make us like they were. The Grace of God can make us brave as lions, so
that wherever we are, we can hold our own, or rather can hold our
Lord's Truth and never blush nor be ashamed to speak a good word for
Him at all times! He can make us quick and active, too, so that we
shall be like the roes upon the mountains! I am afraid that, often, we
are like the donkey that couches down. We need the whip and the spur to
make us move! We are like bulls unaccustomed to the yoke of service.
Yet it ought not to be so. Loved as we have been with such great love
and having tasted, as some of us can testify, of such choice favors
from our Lord, being indulged with such intimate fellowship with Him
and sustained as we are now with such joy and peace in Him, we ought to
serve Him with quickness and activity, with courage and confidence! We
really should outlive the lion for his bravery and the hinds and the
wild goats of the rock for their swiftness. I pray that it may be so.
May God send to this Church men–and women, too–of this order–"strong
in the Lord, and in the power of His might!" To whom the joy of the
Lord shall be their strength, who shall go about their Father's
business with all their might–that might which is given them of
God–and do great exploits for our greater David while He is in the
wilderness and needs their aid!
But it is worth noticing that they were men of war, conditioned to
discipline–"men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield
and buckler." Now there are some men of might who do not seem to be
good men of war because they cannot keep rank. What exploits they may
do, they must do alone, for they cannot march with the army. There are
some Brothers and Sisters I know who are most excellent people as
individuals, but they seem never to be meant to march in the
ranks–they must, everyone of them, lead–they feel they must, they
cannot be second to anybody! Neither can they be under any discipline
or rule. Instead of taking their place in Christ's Church, they seem to
consider themselves independent of the Church and its organization.
However, the men Christ needs in the Church–and I pray Him to multiply
their number in our midst, and enlist all of us among them–are such as
can keep step, observe the rule and preserve order in the march, or in
the fight or the service of the Lord! Men who can smite the foe, who
can handle the sword and buckler, and ward off the arrows of the
enemy–who can use the shield of faith and withstand the assaults of
the adversary–we need these! May God teach us how to keep our places
and to do our work!
Some men have swords, but their swords seem to be more dangerous to
their friends than to their foes. They are the people one wishes to
keep clear of. They are, no doubt, very zealous, but if they had a
little love as well as a lot of zeal– and were endowed with a capacity
for fellowship–it would greatly improve their character! This,
however, seems to be their defeat–they have such an excess of
individuality and they are, therefore, so exclusive that we can hardly
imagine how they could pray, "Our Father, which are in Heaven," or
recognize anybody else as belonging to the family of the Most High! May
God make us men of might, but may He also make us men of discipline!
While we keep our place and do our own work, may we delight to see
others do their share of the work, too! When we smite the foe, may we
delight to see others use the weapons of Christian warfare with skill
and success! Do not shrink from the drill or revolt against discipline,
for it is a great trait of a good soldier that he should know how to
keep rank.
These Gadites, likewise, furnish us with a noble example of strong
revolution. When the eleven men determined to join David, they were
living on the other side of a deep river which at that season of the
year had overflowed its banks– so that it was extremely deep and
broad. But they were not to be kept from joining David when he needed
them by the river. They swam across the river that they might come to
David. Oh, I would like to hold up my Master's banner and be His
recruiting sergeant tonight, if I could entertain the hope that out of
this company there would come men of such mettle whose hearts the Lord
has touched to join themselves to the Lord and fight for His Cross,
whatever might impede and block their way! Do you stand back and shrink
from avowing your attachment to the standard of God's Anointed because
it would involve loss of reputation, displeasure of friends, the frowns
of your associates in the world, or the heartbreaks of anguish of those
you tenderly love? Know, then, that our Lord is worthy of all the
troubles you incur and all the risks you run! And be assured that the
peace which a soul enjoys that once joins Christ in the hold and abides
with Him in the wilderness, well repays a man for all that he has to
part with in getting to his Lord and Master! We have known some of the
rich who have joined Christ's Church who have had to swim through
overflowing rivers of contumely–the unkindness they have braved has
indeed been cold and chilling. We have known many a poor woman who has
had to suffer from her husband's brutality–and many a poor man who has
had to run the gauntlet of a thousand cruel tongues! But who is afraid
of such treatment as that? Once see the King in His beauty and your
fears will vanish like smoke! Did you ever see His face stained with
spit and black and blue with the blows of mailed hands? Did you ever
see that head surrounded with the crown of thorns and mark the painful
agony that was upon His visage, more marred than any man's? And have
you not said, "Savior, since You endured all this for me, there is
nothing that I will count too difficult to endure for You. I will count
shame for You to be my glory, and Your reproach shall be greater riches
to me than all the treasures of Egypt"? Have you not said that? If you
have said so from your very soul, God the Holy Spirit writing it upon
your heart, I know you have resolved to endure any pain or shame if you
could but get to your Lord and stand side by side with Him! They swam
the river to get to David, so, Believer, swim the river to be with
Christ!
Now, it would appear that after they had got across the river, they
were attacked, but we are told that "they put to flight all them of the
valleys, both toward the East, and toward the West." They were men of
such resolution that if they had to fight to be on David's side, they
would fight! And, notwithstanding the position of those on the right
hand and the opposition of those on the left, they still pushed their
way, lion-like men as they were, through all the forces that would
impede them! O you that love our Lord and Master, I beseech you, in
this evil day, this day of blasphemy and rebuke–stand not back–be not
cowards! Cast in your lot with Him and with His people! Come to the
front, hide not away like cowards, for this is the day when he shall be
accursed that comes not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the
Lord against the mighty! See you not everywhere how the Truth of God is
fallen in the streets–how the old idols of Rome are once more set up
in the high places of this land? The whole nation seems to have gone
after the idols which our
fathers removed! O you that love Christ, come out and separate
yourselves from all acquaintance, all association with this evil thing!
Come and join yourself unto the Son of God by a holy covenant! If He is
your Beloved, and if His Grace is in your heart, fear not! What have
you to fear? Greater is He who is with you than all they that are
against you! Fear not. The battle is not yours, it is the mighty God's!
If truth is with you, you must conquer! If Christ the Incarnate Truth
is with you, you are already more than a conqueror through Him that has
loved you! Never be ashamed! Never turn aside from Him who gave Himself
to you! Be steadfast, immovable. For this steadfastness you need to
pray much and often to God, for many are the seductions of the world–
"Can you cleave to your Lord, can you cleave to your Lord,
When the many turn aside?
Can you witness that He has the living Word,
And none upon earth beside?
Do you answer, 'We can'? Do you answer, 'We can,
Through His love's constraining power'?
But do you remember the flesh is weak,
And will shrink in the trial hour?
Yet yield to His love, who around you now
The bands of a man would cast
The cords of His love, who was given for you,
To His altar binding you fast." Examine yourselves. Prove your own
hearts. Consider what manner of men you ought to be. Let the precepts
of the Word admonish you. Let the esprit de corps stimulate you. Never
let disciples of Christ fall behind followers of David in warmth of
attachment, or in order of service. The nearer you get to the Person of
your Lord, the more you will catch of His Spirit! I think, Beloved, you
need direction more than exhortation. The more you live under His eyes
and the more often you listen to His voice, the better, truer, nobler
men and women you will prove to be and the happier recognition you will
find in the day of His appearing!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM56.
To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-rechokim, Michtam (a golden
Psalm) of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
Verse 1, 2. Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up: he
fighting daily oppresses me. My enemies would daily swallow me up: for
they are many that fight against me, O You Most High David was in such
peril from man that he cried to God to come to his rescue. Man was
merciless to him, so he prayed, "Be merciful unto me, O God." His
enemies were many and mighty, so he appealed to the One who was
Almighty–who could destroy them or put them all to flight.
3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in You. He is a happy man who
can trust in God when he is afraid. But he is still happier who can
say, "I will trust, and not be afraid."
4. In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will
not fear what flesh can do unto me. The trusting soul is a singing soul
and it soon becomes a courageous soul! Faith in God drives out the fear
of man–"In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do
unto me."
5. 6. Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me
for evil They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they
mark my steps when they wait for my soul David had many enemies–Saul,
Doeg the Edo-mite, the Philistines and some even in his own
household–but all their malice and craft were in vain since the Lord
was on his side! We, too, have enemies who wrest our words, whose
thoughts against us are evil, who lay traps for us and lie in ambush to
take us unawares. But we need not fear any of them, not even the great
adversary, himself, if we are trusting in the Lord!
7. Shall they escape by iniquity? In Your anger cast down the people, O
God. They sought to cast him down, so he prayed to the Lord to cast
them down, and we know how graciously the Lord answered his
supplication.
8. You number my wanderings: put my tears into Your bottle: are they
not in Your book?David was such a wanderer at that time that he might
not remember all the places where he had hidden away from Saul. But God
had a record of them and even of his tears–"are they not in Your
book?" There is nothing that concerns the Lord's chosen people that is
not noted and remembered by Him.
9. When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back: this I know;
for God is for me. David's confidence in God was not misplaced! He who
can truthfully say, "God is for me," need not fear however many may be
against him!
10. 11. In God will Ipraise His word: in the LORD will Ipraise His
word. In God have Iput my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me. He repeats the declarations he made in verse four–such holy
confidence may rightly be published again and again! It is most
pleasing and honoring to the Lord and it is most likely to lead other
tried Believers to follow such a worthy example! The praising and
trusting man fears not what man can do to him.
12. Your vows are upon me, O God I will render praises unto You. David
had not forgotten the vows that he had made unto the Lord. Vows should
not be lightly made, but once made, they should be sacredly remembered,
and faithfully performed.
13. For You have delivered my soul from death: will not You deliver my
feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the
living?So the Psalm ends, as it began, with prayer–a prayer that was
most graciously answered, as we can see if we turn to Psalm 116:8,
9–"You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my
feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the
living."