Man Transient–god's Word Eternal
(No. 3439)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1914.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 26, 1868.
"The grass withers, the flower fades; but the Word of our God stands
forever." Isaiah 40:8.
A FEW thoughts, first, upon the things that wither. Then a word or two
upon that word which endures. And then the lessons which the contrast
will suggest. I. THE THINGS WHICH WITHER.
The things which wither–grass and its flower; man and all that comes
of man; the creature and all that springs from the creature. We are apt
to think man a long-lived creature, and as we look upon races and
nations, we regard the history of mankind as though it were of
considerable length. If we could form any idea of eternity, we should
ridicule ourselves for thinking a thousand years or six thousand years
to be anything at all. They are but as a watch in the night in
comparison with the endless ages of the life of God! They are no sooner
come than they have gone! We look upon the grass as a short-lived
thing, and talk about the frailty as well as the loveliness of the
flowers–but is there so great a difference? They have their
seasons–we have ours–and the seasons differ not so much after all.
What if they last a month, and we last 70 years? Yet when both are
withered, what does it signify? He that died but yesterday is as much
dead as he that died a thousand years ago! And when the season is over,
it comes to pretty much the same thing, whether we count that season by
years or count it by hours. After all, the short-lived thing and we are
cousins–and, looked at in the light of eternity, we and the insects
are things which are and are not, floating for a while in the sunbeam,
and then are gone from the land of the living. The voice that cried in
the wilderness warned all mankind of that familiar truth, that all men,
being but flesh, will as surely pass away as all the grass! Grass,
being but grass, will surely, in its season, come to the scythe, or
wither where it stands!
But the meaning of the text, as opened by the context, is not only that
man is frail and must die, but that everything connected with man is
so–everything that man can do, all his surroundings, especially
everything in which man glories, as the grass may glory in its
flower–everything of which man boasts about, which he measures and
esteems himself, shall also pass away. And I shall remind you of this,
dear Friends, that if you are rejoicing in anything which belongs to
time and sense, you may decrease what the poet calls, "this brainless
ardor," and may set your affections upon something more worthy of an
immortal spirit! Remember that all the hopes of man that have to do
with man are but as the flower of grass.
You are setting your hopes, perhaps, upon that dear boy when he shall
have grown up and come to maturity. What a comfort and a stay he will
be! Or your hope is resting upon that speculation which you trust will
turn out successfully, or more solidly, perhaps, upon the gains of
perseverance which, if slow, are sure. Set not your hopes on any of
these things, for if you do, they may end in disappointment as you
grasp them, like the apples of Sodom, which are fair to look upon, but
which turn to ashes in the mouth! These hopes may be eggs that never
shall be hatched, phantoms that have no reality in them. If your hopes
are fixed on God's Word–the Word that endures–be as optimistic as you
will, for you shall never be deceived! But if your hopes are
earth-born, hear the cry of the Prophet–"All flesh is grass, and all
the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field"–your hope will
wither as flowers do.
Equally so will it be with the joys you have already attained. It may
not be altogether hoping with you. You have passed the early morning of
life and you have realized something. You are content and that is to be
rich. You are thankful that God has smiled upon you in Providence and
that He has blessed you in many respects. Yes, but still even
contentment may be a sin if it is an earthly contentment which checks
your aspirations for the skies. If you are content enough to say with
the rich man, "Soul, take your ease, you have much goods laid up for
many years," then remember that of all the attainments of this world,
by way of pleasure, satisfaction and wealth, it may be said, "The
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." You will die and
leave these things–and then what pleasure will you have in your
garden, in your home, your well-stored chambers and your money? What
can all yield you when your eyes shall be glazed in death? Or, before
you depart from them, these things may depart from you, for riches have
wings and oftentimes but one clap of the hand of Providence and all
these birds have flown to nests somewhere else!
But if this is true of common hopes and ordinary attainments, you must
not think it is not true of higher matters, for in these it is equally
the case. Suppose we have been seeking after mental acquisitions, have
been great students, have read many books, have tried to be learned?
Now, there is something in this far more elevating than in seeking to
gather together so many coins of the realm, but still, all the learning
that comes of man and that comes in man, is but as the flower of the
field that withers! You shall find, Friends, that, "much study is a
weariness of the flesh, and he that increases knowledge increases
sorrow unto himself." The more you know, the more you shall discover of
your own ignorance– and as you attain unto what you think to be the
light, you shall find the very excess of light causes you a greater
sense of the surrounding darkness! And when you come to die, if you
have neglected the knowledge of God, how will it avail you to have
measured the stars, to have counted those mighty orbs, to have fathomed
the depths of oceans, or have soared the heights of the hills? Where
are all the philosophies of the man in Hell? Where is all the wisdom of
yon corpse that slumbers in the sepulcher, while the spirit is driven
from the Presence of God? All such comeliness is but as a withered
flower.
Perhaps, however, you are accumulating around you love, which is the
richest of treasures, and the best of wisdom. You are living in the
affections of your household, and you are grateful to do so–and I
honor you for having thought it better to win the love of others than
to selfishly amass anything to yourself. But yet, dear Friend, remember
that even this must go! There is not a child in the household that is
immortal. The fondest object of your affections must certainly, before
long, succumb beneath the arrows of death. Insatiable Archer! You carry
many arrows and you spare no human hearts! All of woman born must be
targets for your shafts! Set not, then, your heart's choice, to be
chief affections on those dear ones here, but upon another Husband,
another Father, another Brother, another Friend! Let these aspirations
of your heart become Immortal, lest in the bitterness of your spirit,
you find of all these that "the flower thereof fades away."
Going a step higher, there is a kind of spiritual life, so called,
which is not of God, and even this, coming entirely of man, is just as
fading as everything else that is human. Beloved, if you and I should
seek to obtain a righteousness by exact obedience to the Law of God, by
patience under suffering, by zeal in the service of our Master–if we
were to be successful in this righteousness and, year after year, by
consistency of character and excellence of conduct, should win the
esteem of our fellow men and deserve it, yet, mark you–even that
righteousness, if not worked in us by the Holy Spirit, but only the
fruit of our own resolution, would be only as the flower of grass, and
in due time it would wither away! Do you remember when your
righteousness did wither? Some of us will never forget when ours did.
We prided ourselves much. We supposed–and we were probably not wrong
in the supposition–that we were about as good as our neighbors, and we
were satisfied with this belief. Indeed, we had some degree of
generosity, good feeling and good desire towards God, of a sort, and in
all this we wrapped ourselves up and we said, "Surely this will
suffice! I may safely venture into eternity with such a preparation as
this!" But oh, when the Sun of Righteousness began to shine into our
souls, though He brought healing under His wings to everything that was
good within us, He brought death to all this proud righteousness of
ours! And how it began to droop, decay and wither–just like a lily
that is snapped when the heat of the sun begins to pour on it. Surely,
Brothers and Sisters, the best that man can do for himself, with all
his diligence and all his care, is but as a fading flower! And when he
sits himself down at ease in his contentment and says, "I shall see no
sorrow. I have served my Maker. I thank God that I am not as other
men," even then is he naked, and poor and blind and miserable–a
blighted, blasted, withered flower, though he thinks "himself to be as
a rose of Sharon, or a lily of the valley."
So, Brothers and Sisters, it is equally true of everything in the child
of God that does not come from God. Not only is our own righteousness a
conceit of righteousness, but all our attainments in the Divine life
which are made in our own strength will all wither. Oh, what holy
frames of mind we sometimes think we have, and how we are getting on in
spirituality! We half believe in attaining to perfection–we mean to
get to within an inch or two of it, at any rate. We think the old Adam
is dead, and if the devil is not dead, yet we think, at any rate, he is
busy somewhere else and he is going to leave us alone. If we are not
quite past temptation, yet we think we are such experienced Christians
that if temptation shall come, we shall be aware of Satan's devices and
be able to escape. But in a moment all this melts away. Some new
temptation comes, we are smitten in a place for which we are not
provided with any armor–we are wounded and fall down. Oh, the quantity
of confectionery sanctification that some of us have made–such gilt
gingerbread confectionery, all molded into the most delicate shapes,
but somehow or other the stand on which we place these things slips
aside and there is such a breaking! There is discovered such foulness
and abomination lurking within our hearts that we could not have
believed that we could have been such as we turn out to be! We would
have said, if we had been told, "Is your servant a dog that he should
do this thing?"–but such dogs we, after all, turn out to be! Brothers
and Sisters, I am afraid of my good frames! I am afraid of my graces! I
am afraid of anything that I begin to think is good in myself, for
although sins are dangerous and to be abhorred, yet we generally know
what they are, and we watch against them, but under the cover of that
which is supposed to be good and excellent, pride creeps in, as does
self-sufficiency and carnal security, and so we get many a deadly stab!
Believer, remember when you work yourself up into devotedness, when you
think you have got a Divine Grace and have not got it, but have only
got that which you gave yourself–this is but the flower of the grass
and it will wither–it cannot stand.
So do I believe it is in all religious exercises. Everything which is
got up and worked for by man always comes to an end. Those excitements
which some delight in, I do not think come of the Spirit of God. At
least they may come of His work as much as the dust in the road has to
do with the progress of a carriage. It is a nuisance that somehow or
other is tied to a good thing, but the excitement some people seem to
think is the progress, is just as the fly, as he sat on the carriage,
thought that he made it roll along the road. But it is not so! It is
not so at all! How many churches have been revived into perpetual
barrenness! The bladder has been blown till it burst. There has been a
pumping and a heaving, and a trusting in the artificial, instead of
waiting quietly upon God. People have been driven pretty nearly mad,
and this has been thought to be spirituality and the work of the Grace
of God! Brother and Sisters, it is only the flower of grass–a very
pretty flower–oftentimes a most tempting and fascinating flower–but
it will all fail, for nothing will stand but the work of the Holy
Spirit! Nothing will endure even the test of time, but the Spirit's own
work upon the heart and conscience! Anything that comes of man, and not
of God, will as surely disappear as the smoke of the chimney when the
wind blows it away, or as the hoar frost of the morning when the sun
has fully risen with his fervent heat. Take this, then, as the first
Truth of God, that everything in us, or which we glory in, or trust to,
or rejoice in, will as certainly pass away as does the grass from the
field and the flower which springs of it. But now, in the second place,
we have a much more comfortable subject of reflection in the next
sentence–
II. THE WORD THAT ENDURES.
"But the Word of our God stands forever." What "Word" is this? I think
the term applies to the Word of God in five different ways. First, it
is the Word of His purpose. The Word of our God. Has He said it and
shall He not do it? Has He purposed and shall it not come to pass? God
has, from all eternity, a wondrous plan by which He will manifest all
His attributes in the salvation of His people. Now from His plan He
will never vary, and in the details of it He will never change.
Whatever He has decreed shall most certainly come to pass! And as for
the salvation of His elect, all the powers of evil, both of earth and
Hell, shall never be able to thwart the Eternal Mind as to the
salvation of any of those whom He has predestinated unto eternal life.
We do not find ministers often preaching about this Eternal Purpose,
but we do find the Apostle Paul often writing about it. And the saints
of old were accustomed to dwell upon it with very much delight. Oh,
beloved Friends, there is a purpose concerning His people, even their
eternal salvation–and that purpose will as surely be fulfilled as God
is God–yes, though before conversion they plunge into sin! Yes, and
though during their conversion they resist the Spirit of God! Yes, and
though after conversion they go astray like lost sheep, yet shall the
ous power of Sovereign Grace is more than a match for the waywardness
of nature–and the will of God shall sweetly lead in Divine captivity
the will of man, and though the man resolves on his own
destruction–God, who ordains salvation, shall accomplish His own
purpose, earth and Hell notwithstanding! Oh, precious Truth of God, on
which the child of God may fall back in his darkest moments! The grass
withers, but the Word of the Divine Purpose stands forever!
This "Word" also refers to His Word of promise. Every Word which God
has spoken to His people by way of promise is as true today as when it
was first uttered by the Prophet who was originally sent with it. And
if this world should exist through tens of thousands of years, every
promise will still have the raven locks of its youth about it. No
promise will grow stale! No Word of God will cease to be of effect. It
may have been fulfilled ten thousand times ten thousand times, but it
will still be fulfilled. The promise shall be forever a well flowing
for thirsty souls to drink of. It shall be a granary forever stored for
the hunger of the Lord's people to be supplied from. What a mercy it is
for us that the promise cannot be made to fail! Though we believe not,
yet He abides faithful. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not a jot
or tittle of the promise shall fail–
"His every Word of Grace is strong, As that which built the skies– The
voice that rolls the stars along, Spoke all the promises."
The Words spoken to Nature by God when He bade seedtime and harvest,
summer and winter, never cease, have all been kept! The promise that
the rainbow should be seen in the cloud in the day of rain has not been
forgotten–nor shall any one of the promises of the Covenant ordered in
all things and sure be forgotten by the God of Grace! Oh, Christian,
how you may go, tonight, to your Bible and read out the promise and
find it as new to you and as true to you as if an angel came from
Heaven to bring it in fresh language from the Divine Throne! You have
lost your child. Your husband is gone. Your property has melted. Your
health declines. You draw near to death, but the promise, the promise
is still yours, "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk
uprightly." "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "As your days so
shall your strength be." "I am God, I change not; therefore, you sons
of Jacob are not consumed." The Words of purpose and the Words of
promise stand forever!
So, Brothers and Sisters, especially is it with the Incarnate Word. We
are in the habit of calling the Bible, "the Word of God." I suppose
that is accurate enough, but the Word of God is not the Bible–it is
Jesus Christ. His name shall be called, "The Word of God." "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God." Well now, of this Incarnate Word, this Everlasting Logos, we may
say that He stands forever. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today
and forever." When I, a trembling sinner, went to the great High Priest
and looked up to Him who wore the miter and the many-jeweled
breastplate, looked up to His wounds, saw the blood marks, trusted Him,
fell at His feet and heard Him say, "I have blotted out your sins like
a cloud, and like a thick cloud your iniquities," how dear He was to my
soul that day, how fairer than the sons of men! And this day, though
years have passed since then, He is the same, and to Him I may come
again, tonight, as I did then, and find that He has still the fountain
filled with blood and that its efficacy has in no degree been
diminished! And so, should I live till gray old age, I shall find that
He abides still the same. That precious blood of His–
"Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed Church of God,
Is saved to sin no more."
Oh, to have a faithful, an unchanging Friend, one that never
departs–this is comfort, indeed, regardless of what trouble may come.
The Word of our God, Christ Jesus, stands forever!
The fourth signification of the term must be surely the Word of the
Gospel–the Word of Gospel Truth which we preach, for so says the
Apostle as he quotes this passage, "This is the Word which by the
Gospel is preached unto you." That Word stands forever! Brothers and
Sisters, the old Gospel of the Apostles is the Gospel of today! There
has been a notion abroad about discoveries in theology, but recollect
that everything that is new in preaching is not true–and everything
that is true is not new! We may say, concerning the preaching of the
Gospel, "The old is better." Let us keep to the good old ways. You will
never advance upon Peter and Paul! If you do, you will have to go back
again. All the advances there are, are but running on a fool's errand,
running before the clouds, running beyond the Wisdom of God– and he
who is wise beyond what is written will only find himself landed in
folly. The Gospel was to have been disproved years ago, according to
the notion of some. Modern discoveries were to have proved this, that,
and the other to have been all a mistake, and we were to have given up
this dogma as being a delusion and that other teaching as being a
superstition! But it is not so. The Gospel has gone through the furnace
and come out like silver, well refined! The Gospel of Jesus Christ has
not lost one iota of its glory and perfection. There is not a Doctrine
that has been disproved–not one of her
Truths has been broken, nor so much as one single pillar of the house
been shaken, nor shall it be! There may be atheists and deists,
philosophers and skeptics, but when they have done their best, or done
their worst, the Gospel shall bestir itself, like Samson, when he had
been bound with green withes, and shall snap all their cords and send
the Philistines in confusion, flying here and there! Believe in the
power of the Gospel, dear Christian Friends, and never be afraid. Do
not believe in the wisdom of those who are wiser than God, and do not
tremble at all their boasts. Many men open their mouths widest when
they have nothing to say, and so may it be with these. They would not
brag and boast so much if they felt secure, but feeling that they have
not touched the vitality of our religion, they do but rage and rave.
And fifthly, this term, "The Word of our God" refers to the inner
spiritual life of the Christian, for remember, you are quickened by the
incorruptible Seed which lives and abides forever–and that
incorruptible Seed is said to be the Word of God. Now, all other seed
throughout the world, and that which comes from a mortal source, dies,
but the Seed of the Divine Truth, dropped by the Holy Spirit in the
heart, is incorruptible and, therefore, it lives and abides forever!
What a blessing it is to get the Word of God into the heart, because if
God puts it in, none but God can take it out again. If you get a word
into your heart from the lip of one man, the lip of another man may
drive it out, but if you get living Truth burned into your soul by God,
the Holy Spirit, Himself, then you may defy the devil himself to remove
the glorious work! Oh, Beloved, remember the Words of Jesus, "The water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto
everlasting life." "He that lives and believes in Me," says Christ,
"though he were dead, yet shall he live." We do not find our Master
speaking of this new life decaying, or of the fountain which He puts
into the soul drying up, but He says, "Out of him shall flow rivers of
living water." And, "I give unto My sheep, eternal life, and they shall
never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." Men may
die, but Christians shall not–I mean the natural life expires but the
celestial life never dies! Death does not affect the principle which
God implants at Regeneration. No, it sets free that principle. It
delivers it from the bondage of flesh and blood, from the slavery of
corruption and introduces it into liberty, into a region where it can
expand and develop, and come to all its glorious perfection! The grass
withers, the flower thereof fades away, but the enduring Word of our
God neither withers nor fades, but stands fast forever! And now, to
close–
III. WHAT ARE THE LESSONS WHICH THIS STRONG CONTRAST OUGHT TO TEACH US?
Everything of the creature dying, everything of the Creator living,
everything of man withering, everything of God blooming in eternal
youth–what should this say to us? Why, it should say to us, first–
Weave not a chaplet of flowers that shall surely fade for your brow! Do
you seek fame? Let it be the fame that comes from God! Do you seek
wealth? Let it be a wealth that will be current in the skies. Do you
seek love? Let it be a love which will exist where they marry not,
neither are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God. Flowers?
Yes, if you will, but gather them in Paradise. Garlands? Yes, if you
please, but let them be woven in the King's own gardens, in that land
where–
"Everlasting spring abides, And never withering flowers." You are an
immortal, trade for immortality! You shall never die, Christian–there
is a new life within you–you shall exist forever! Equal with the life
of God shall be your life. Oh, then, be not gathering trifles–things
that melt. Let not your life be as a miser's dream, who dreams he
gathers gold and wakes and it is gone. Be not like that foolish Roman
Emperor who took his troops to Britain, landed them in full State, bade
every man gather a handful of shells and then go back to Rome with
great triumph! He had taken Britain, he said–here were the shells from
the shore. Oh, never say, "I have conquered life–here is the money! I
can say I have lived grandly–here is honor!" Oh, these things are but
the broken shells upon the shore. Seek jewels and pearls that shall be
jewels and pearls before God, that shall be looked upon by Him as being
precious because they last and continue in eternity. Dear Hearer, seek
your soul'swealth. Seek to have your sins forgiven. Seek to wrap your
soul in the righteousness of Christ–that garment which the moth cannot
fret! Seek to be one with Jesus! There is nothing beneath the stars
worth having if you have not these things! Trust in Him. All else shall
be like a bubble on a wave and melt and fly before you, if you have not
confidence in Jesus! There stands the first lesson. Since all of earth
shall melt and fade away, build not your house with these shadows, but
with substantial timbers and hewn stones that shall stand through the
lapse of ages and last into eternity.
Another lesson. If you are on God's side, never be afraid of the
mightiest opponent. What are they? What are they? Grass! Where is the
mower? Then he comes, there is an end of them. And what are their
boasts, and what are their railings? The flower of grass! Here comes a
breeze–the sharp breath of winter, and they are gone! Some people are
always afraid of the Pope, and some are dreadfully alarmed at Puseyism,
some are shocked at the Broad Church movement. I do not know where we
are not going to, Brother and Sisters, according to the accounts we are
daily receiving from those who ought to know! We are in a dreadfully
bad way and it seems that the Church of God is going to be broken up,
sold for old timber, and put an end to! And there will be burnings in
Smithfield again, and I do not know what besides! Ah, the Lord knows
how to take care of His Church without the help of some of those
gentlemen who are so very earnest in taking care of it just lately, and
I am pretty sure that if He could not take care of it without them, He
won't do much at it with them! But his Truth of God will never shake
nor be moved, come what may! You never need be alarmed. If all the
kings, and emperors, and cardinals, and popes, and priests, and great
men and mighty men, and merchants, and mobs, and crowds should rise
against the Lord's Truth and against the Lord's Anointed, what would it
matter? Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that shall die,
and the son of man that is but a worm? The grass in the field–why, let
it boast! What cares the King with His army about the grass? "Why," He
says, "the steeds of My cavalry shall eat the grass! It shall soon be
gone." So God shall overthrow all their show of strength! In an hour,
if so God willed it, He could convert the world! In a single hour, if
so it pleased Him, dominant superstitions would be relinquished, and
the old systems of idolatry would totter to their fall. Never think of
the Church of God as if she were in danger. If you do, you will be like
Uzza–you will put forth your hand to steady the Ark and provoke the
Lord to anger against you! If it were in danger, I tell you, you could
not deliver it! If Christ cannot take care of His Church without you,
you cannot do it. Be still, and know that He is God.
Who am I that I should begin to agitate myself about the safety of the
Empire of France and should go to Napoleon and should tell him that I
was afraid the empire was insecure, and I was come to help him manage
the Government? I think I should be sent back about my business. And
so, surely, when you begin to say, "The Church is in danger! The Church
is in danger!" what is that to you? It stood before you were born–it
will stand when you have become worm's meat! Do your duty. Keep in the
path of obedience, and fear not. He who made the Church knew through
what trials she would have to pass, and He made her so that she can
endure the trials and become the richer for it. The enemy is but grass,
the Word of the Lord endures forever!
And so, Beloved, take heed, let each of us take heed that we keep to
the enduring Truth of God. Never let us be tempted by the flash of
novelty, or by the attractions of supposed intelligence, to turn aside
from the Word of God. "To the Law and the Testimony: if they speak not
according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." If
our creed is partly made up of the Word of God, partly of the
traditions of the Fathers, partly of the speculations of thinkers, it
will be like Nebuchadnezzar's image–part of gold, part of iron and
part of clay–and the clay will fly and the iron will be melted. But if
we can get a creed that is made up, as far as our poor fallible
judgments can enable us, altogether of the Word of God, then we have a
creed that we can take with us into eternity! The Word of the Lord
endures forever. How I like to get my own thoughts and beliefs put
through the fire every now and then. I do not think there is a single
Doctrine that I have not doubted. I am happy to have to say that now,
painful as the process was. It has been such a blessed thing to have to
go to the bottom of it, to get arguments for it, to dig up and see
whether the roots were sound and healthy, and oh, what a deal of what
we think we know goes to the dogs in the hour of trial! But that which
comes to us through the Word, and concerning which we can give a, "Thus
says the Lord," that, and only that, will stand with an honest man who
subjects himself to a daily examination–and asks the Holy Spirit, like
a refiner's fire, to go through and through his soul! I fear there are
many who could not abide the day of the coming of this work into their
hearts. It acts like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. It burns
up a thousand fancies! It washes away I do not know what of
predilection and of prejudice. It might induce some here to give up
some of their most cherished things! It might involve a solemn
sacrifice for the future, but I beseech them to do it. Side not with
the grass that must wither, for you must wither with it if you take it
for your defense. But keep to this grand old Book! Keep the Word of
God, for this shall neither wither, nor shall you, if you abide in the
living Spirit of God hard and fast by what this Word teaches you.
God grant us this, and His be the praise forever. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM119:153-174.
Verse 153. Consider my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget
Your Law. As much as if he said, "Lord, I do not forget You–do not
forget me." Your Grace has kept my memory–let your Grace keep me
altogether.
154-56. Plead my cause and deliver me: quicken me according to Your
word. Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not Your
statutes. Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD, quicken me according
to Your judgments. Oh, how the saints need quickening. They know they
do! They feel that they get dull, and they cannot endure it–they are
not happy unless they possess vivid Grace and true light!
157-58 Many are my persecutors and my enemies: yet do I not decline
from Your testimonies. Ibeheld the transgressors, and was grieved;
because they kept not Your Word. The very sight of them gave me sorrow.
Even though they tried to be mirthful, I was not amused by them, and
beheld them and was grieved, "Because they kept not Your Word."
159. Consider how I love Your precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according
to Your loving kindness. My heart is right, I do love You, but I feel
dull and heavy. Lord, come and quicken me, not according to my love to
You, but according to Your loving kindness, come and quicken me. "Your
Word is true from the beginning"–from the first page of the Book of
Genesis to the very last–true about everything, true from the first
moment it began with me! Every promise has been kept. There has not
been a falsehood all the way through.
160. Your Word is true from the beginning: and everyone of your
righteous judgments endures forever. "Princes have persecuted me
without a cause." David was a prince–and a man expects to be fairly
dealt with by his peers–but it was not so in his case.
161. Princes have persecutedme without a cause: but my heart stands in
awe ofYour Word. When we are in awe of God's Word, we shall not be in
awe of princes. The fear of God is the best cure for the fear of men.
162. I rejoice at Your Word, as one that finds great spoil He had more
joy in reading the Scriptures than in winning a great battle, or in
being surprised at the finding of a great treasure!
163. I hate and abhor lying: but Your Law do I love. Now the Orientals
did not hate lying–they generally tried to be proficient at it. The
only fault about lying with them is to be discovered–then they think
they must have been very unskillful. David, therefore, was far ahead of
his time–far ahead of his fellow countrymen.
164. Seven times a day do I praise You because of Your righteous
judgments. He could not have enough of praise! He did it often, he did
it perfectly–seven times a day–and if he praised God seven times a
day because of His righteous judgments, how much more ought we to do it
because of His abounding Grace! Ah, there is a special cause for
thanks.
165-66. Great peace have they which love Your Law: and nothing shall
offend them. LORD, I have hoped for Your salvation, and done Your
commandments.Two good things to put together–hope in God's mercy and
obedience to God's will.
168-174. My soul has kept Your testimonies; and I love them
exceedingly. I have kept Your precepts and Your testimonies: for all my
ways are before You. Let my cry come near before You, O LORD: give me
understanding according to Your Word. Let my supplication come before
You: deliver me according to Your Word. My lips shall utter praise when
You have taught me Your statutes. My tongue shall speak of Your word:
for all Your commandments are righteousness. Let Your hand help me, for
I have chosen Your precepts. I have longed for Your salvation, O LORD,
and Your Law is my delight. Cannot we say that, dear Friends, this
evening? I hope we can–with all our failings and wandering, yet the
Law of God is our delight–and if we could have our wish, we would
never again go beyond its restraints, nor fall short of its demands!