Seeing God's Goodness Here
(No. 3017)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST
1, 1876.
"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13.
WE were favored with very much of God's goodness last Sabbath evening,
when we considered the rule of Grace in guiding a Believer's life,
namely, that instead of seeing in order to believe, he has learned to
believe in order to see. [Sermon
No. 766, Volume 13–BELIEVING TO SEE] "Unless I had believed to see,"
says the Psalmist, "I had fainted." And we should never have known true
refreshment, nor enjoyed the comforts of the Lord, but should have been
full of doubts and distracted with fears if we had not learned the
sacred art of believing although we did not see, or even believing in
spite of what we did see, or believing in order that we might
see–fully expecting that sight would inevitably follow if our faith
were but simple and true!
Those of you who were present last Sabbath evening will remember that I
restricted my remarks, for the most part, to the one matter of our
salvation. I tried to show to seekers that instead of first looking for
evidences of salvation and then believing in Christ, they were to
believe in Christ in order to obtain those evidences–that, instead of
looking to their repentance and then having confidence in Christ, their
repentance sprang from their confidence in Christ–that instead of
saying, "We are not fully sanctified and, therefore, we fear we are not
saved," they were to remember that the certainty of their being saved
by Grace, through faith, would be to their minds and hearts, the great
motive power by which they would be enabled to obtain that
sanctification which cannot be theirs as long as they remain in legal
bondage and have doubts about being "accepted in the Beloved." There
were some set at liberty last Sabbath evening who had really known the
Lord for years but were afraid to say definitely that they had trusted
in Christ and that, therefore, they were saved. May God grant that all
of us may not only come to Christ, but may we also exercise a simple,
childlike faith which takes God's Word as it stands in this blessed
Book, believes it, receives it, lives upon it, asks no questions
concerning it and will allow none to be asked by others!
On this occasion I propose to make a particular application of the
general principle of our text. David was a man of many troubles.
Especially in the latter part of his life, he was incessantly in the
furnace and he says that he would have "fainted" under those many
troubles if he had not "believed to see," in the particular matter of
his trials, "the goodness of the Lord" in that land which is the
special sphere of trouble. David believed to see the goodness of the
Lord, not only in the Glory Land yonder, but also in this land here
below. He believed to see the goodness of the Lord, not merely when he
emerged from the furnace, but also while he was in it! As a pilgrim and
a stranger, he believed to see the goodness of the Lord during the days
of his pilgrimage. He did not always see it, but he believed to see
it–he believed in it and anticipated it and, by believing in it–he
did actually come to see it with the eyes of his mind and to rejoice in
it!
We all know that this world is a very unpromising field for faith.
According to our varied experiences, we must all subscribe to the
declaration that this earth is, more or less, a valley of tears, that
it is not our rest, for it is polluted. There are too many thorns in
this nest for us to abide comfortably in it. This world is under the
curse, so it still brings forth thorns and thistles and, in the sweat
of our brows do we eat our bread until we return to the earth out of
which man was at first taken. Were this world really to be our home, it
would be a terrible fate for us! If we were always to live in this huge
penal settlement, it would be sad, indeed, for us to know that we had
continually to dwell where the shadow of the curse always lingers and
where we have only the shadow of the Cross to sustain us under it. But
faith comes into this unpromising field and believes that she shall see
the goodness of the Lord even here! She rushes into the fiercest fight
that ever rages, fully believing that she shall see the banner of the
Lord's mercy and Truth waving even there. She bears the burden and heat
of the earthly toil and expects to experience the loving kindness of
the Lord beneath it all. She knows that she will see more of her God in
the land beyond the flood, but still, she believes to see the goodness
of the Lord even in this land of the living which is so distracted and
disturbed with sorrows, cares and trials and tribulations!
I want to show you, first, that faith is infallibly persuaded of God's
goodness here. Secondly, that she expects clearly to see that goodness
here. And thirdly, that it is this expectation and belief which sustain
the soul of the tried Believer.
I. First, then, FAITH IS INFALLIBLY ASSURED OF THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD
IN THIS TIME STATE.
She is persuaded of this from what she knows of God, Himself She could
not believe that He could be otherwise than good. She reads the
promises recorded in His Word and she believes that they are all true
and reliable. She can detect nothing that is unkind or ungenerous in
any of them–they are all couched in the softest, gentlest and most
consoling words. The language used seems to her to have been selected
on purpose to meet her case and to make the promise suitable and sweet
to her sorrowing heart. She feels sure that God could not be unkind.
With the Psalmist, she cries, "Truly God is good to Israel, even to
such as are of a clean heart." And though, like the Psalmist, she may
have to write afterwards, "But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my
steps had well near slipped," yet she stands fast to her first
declaration, "Truly God is good to Israel," however much surrounding
circumstances may seem to prove the contrary! She knows that from the
necessity of the Divine Nature, God must be good to His people both
here and hereafter.
When faith turns to the Bible and reads the history of the Lord's
people, she sees that God has been good to them. And, knowing that He
is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever," she draws the cheering
inference that He will also be good to her. Inasmuch as she can
distinctly see that the trials and difficulties of the saints in the
olden times always worked their lasting good, she is convinced, beyond
a shadow of a doubt, that her trials and troubles, overruled by the
same loving Lord who cared for them, will work to her lasting good and
that God will bless her, now, as He blessed His saints in the olden
time.
Perhaps some of you have faith, but yet possibly through lack of
thought, you have not exercised it upon this particular point. If you
are given to murmuring against God, you will often think thoughts which
you would not like to hear or to see in spoken or written language. If
someone should say to you, "God has been very unkind to you. I am sure
that you cannot see the goodness of God displayed in your life," you
would at once turn round upon such a slanderer and defend the Character
of your God from such an unjust accusation! Although you often murmur
against the Lord in your spirit, yet, if another person should say in
words what you have felt in your heart, you would then see the
wickedness of your murmuring and you would also see that in the depths
of your soul, there is a firm confidence in the goodness of God to you.
You need to stir up that holy fire and set it blazing, so that you may
get comfort from its warmth, for it is true and it must be true, that
God is now good and always good, and good to the highest possible
degree of goodness to all His children in their worst calamities and
their darkest seasons of sorrow.
But there are some conditions of life in which it is really a trial to
faith to believe in the goodness of the Lord, as, for instance, that of
long-continued, dire poverty. Some of God's choicest saints are so poor
that they not only lack luxuries, but they even lack the very
necessaries of life. As a rule, possibly without exception, God does
give His people bread and water, but sometimes the bread is only a very
small portion and the cup of water–a very tiny one. I have known a
child of God, who has said to me, "I have struggled hard against
poverty. I have undertaken first, this, and then that, but, in every
case, I have failed. My little vessel has tried to enter the harbor of
prosperity, but the cruel winds have always driven it back again into
the rough sea of adversity. If I had been a spendthrift. If I had been
wasteful in the days of my prosperity, or if I had not used my
substance for the cause of God, I could understand my failures. If God
would again entrust me with ample means, I would cheerfully give to His
cause, as I used to do, but, alas, I have not anything left after my
daily needs are supplied." Unbelief asks, "can this be the goodness of
the Lord?" But Faith answers, "Yes, it is, and it must be. I would
faint in this poverty. I would give up in despair if, under all my
trials and hardships, I were not sure of the goodness of God to me! If
I were even starving to death, God would still have a good word out of
my dying mouth. Even if He should let me die of starvation, it must be
right–and He must be good!"
There are others of God's children whose trials come from constant
sickness. And some forms of illness are so trying that we are apt to
ask ourselves why we should be subjected to them. I talked, this
morning, with an aged Sister in Christ who, years ago, met with a
Providence by which her head was so severely injured that every other
day her pain is almost
unbearable. She can never go up to the House of God because the sound
of the preacher's voice, or of the singing of the congregation would be
more than she could endure. When we talked together, gently and softly,
concerning the things of God, she quoted to me Psalm 119:75–"I know, O
Lord, that Your judgments are right and that You in faithfulness have
afflicted me." If anyone asks, "Can it be the goodness of the Lord thus
to keep away one who really loves His House and prizes His ordinances,
to send her such sore sickness?" We must reply, "Yes, it must be right.
We cannot see how God's goodness can thus be manifested, but we are to
believe that it is." I may be addressing some others who are subject to
peculiarly trying infirmities, which keep you from the work you love
and the field of service where you have long been so happy and useful.
Well, dear Friends, in such a case as that, you must believe to see the
goodness of the Lord in the land of the living in thus making your life
to be one of sickness, weariness and pain!
The same rule also applies to our bereavements. How mysterious are the
dispositions of Providence in this matter! Many whom we cannot afford
to lose are taken away from us–while others who seem to do no
good–continue to live. Death appears to spare the hemlock and to cut
down the oak and the cedar! Where there is a man who only cumbers the
ground, he is often allowed to remain, while others who are like
pillars of Christ's Church are taken away. I know a little village
where there were but a few poor inhabitants and one man of substance
whom I very greatly esteemed. Towards the small salary of the pastor in
that village, my friend contributed three-fourths, if not nine-tenths.
He was the mainstay of that little Christian community. When I found
him, last week, very ill with fever, and joined with other friends in
earnest prayer that his life might be spared, it seemed to us
absolutely essential to the welfare of that village church that he
should be kept here at least a little longer. But now that the Lord has
taken him Home to Himself, what can we say? We must not begin to cavil
at what God has done, but say to Him, We are sure that whatever You do
is right. It cannot be wrong, it cannot be unkind! It must be the
kindest thing that could have happened, the very thing which we would
have wished to happen if we could have known what You know and if we
could have formed our judgment upon the same principle as swayed Your
Infallible Judgment."
We sometimes fancy that we should like to make a slight alteration in
some of the arrangements of Divine Providence. We would not interfere
with the great wheels that are always revolving, but just here and
there, where a small cog rather inconveniently touches our personal
interests, we would like to have it so altered as to let us alone. But,
remorselessly, as we sometimes imagine, the great wheels grind on–our
comforts are taken from us and our joy is destroyed. What then? Why,
let us still say, "Lord, not our will, but Yours be done." And let us
kiss the hand that wields the rod as much as the one that bestows
choice gifts upon us! It is far easier for me to say this than it is
for yon poor widow to carry it out. It is easier for me to say it than
it is for that weeping mother who has seen all her children taken
before her to the silent tomb. But, my Sisters, my Brothers, if it is
harder for you, then so much the more earnestly would I urge you to say
it, for the very difficulty of the submission, when you have rendered
it, would prove the sincerity of your confidence in your God and bring
more Glory to Him! So, as we take our friends and relatives to the tomb
and commit the precious dust to the earth, let us still believe to see
the goodness of the Lord even there! If we do not look at our sorrows
in that light, we shall faint under our repeated losses and
bereavements. But if that is the light in which we view them, we shall
see a Glory gilding even the graves that cover the bodies of our
departed loved ones–and we shall rejoice in the full assurance of the
goodness of the Lord to us, and even more to those who have gone to be
"forever with the Lord."
Another matter may, perhaps, have greatly troubled some of you, namely,
your unanswered prayers. You have been praying for certain people for a
long time, but so far you have received no answer to your
supplications. There is a Brother here who has prayed for years for the
conversion of his wife–yet she is still unconverted. If he yields to
unbelief, he will have many difficult questions to answer. God has
said, "Ask, and you shall receive." You have asked for a thing which,
apparently, is for God's Glory, yet you have not received it. And this
will sometimes be a staggering blow to the earnest pleader. Some of you
have prayed, as I have done, for the life of a friend, or you have
sought some other favor from the hands of God, but He has not granted
it. I believe there is a Brother here who has carried an unanswered
prayer about with him for ten or a dozen years. I have known cases of
Believers praying for 30 years and yet not obtaining what they asked
for. And some of them, like the worthies of old, have "died in faith,
not having received the promises." They have not lived to see one of
their children converted, yet their children have been converted, and
saved through their prayers, too, long after the parents slept in their
graves!
In the cases of unanswered prayers, there is always the temptation to
believe that God has not been faithful to His promises, that this
bitter draught of unbelief is an addition to the sorrow which you feel
at your failures at the Mercy Seat. This is the time when you will
faint unless you believe to see the goodness of the Lord even now and
here! You must feel that, in any case, God's will must be done. You
must still continue to pray, for you do not know what God's will is,
but you must pray with resignation, after your Savior's perfect model
in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as You
will." You will be comforted and helped if you can look upon your
unanswered prayers in that light.
And, dear Brothers and Sisters, there is another thing that will
sometimes press upon you very heavily, namely, the desertions which
occasionally fall to the lot of the Believer as to his communion with
God. Sometimes we are left in the dark. Whether you are, or not, I know
that I have been where I could not see sun, or moon, or stars, or even
get so much as a look from my Master to cheer my sad heart, or a word
from His mouth to make my spirit glad. At such times we must remember
that ancient message, "Who is among you that fears the Lord, that obeys
the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness and has no light? Let
him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God." If you
cannot see, you must believe to see. And if your heart feels like a
stone, still believe that Christ is your life. And if, instead of holy
meditations, your soul is racked with blasphemous temptations and evil
thoughts, still hold on to Jesus, sink or swim! If, instead of clear
evidences of salvation, you are half afraid that the Lord has forsaken
you, and given you up–and you fall into an unbelieving frame of
mind–go again to the Fountain filled with blood, that this sin, like
all others, may be washed away! Trust Christ all the more "when the
enemy shall come in like a flood," for then, "the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him." Those must be strange Christians
who never have any conflict raging within their souls. If that is true
Christian experience, I wish I could get it–to be always at peace and
at rest and never again have to wrestle with sins, doubts and fears!
But, Beloved, if we cannot attain to that position–and I believe that
the most of us cannot–let us still walk by faith, for, so we shall
walk triumphantly even under the discouragements of our inward
spiritual conflicts!
One other point I must mention, and then I will leave this part of the
subject. To many Believers, the sharpest trials they ever have to
endure arise from troubles connected with the Church of Christ. What a
grief it is to the godly when any portion of the Church of Christ does
not prosper–when bickering arises among the members, when one Brother
or Sister is jealous of another and when all our attempts to mend the
split only make it worse. It must be very trying for some of you to
have to go on the Lord's-Day to listen to a minister who does not edify
you, but rather provokes you to wrath! Or to attend church meetings, as
I know that some do, and find them anything but a means of Grace. Or to
have to meet with professors who, in their common conduct and
conversation, instead of leading you onward and upward, do you as much
mischief as if they were men of the world! It is sad to see even one of
God's ministers sound asleep and to see other professing Christians
careless and worldly, and to see the whole ship of the Church like the
vessel described by the Ancient Mariner–
"As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean"
when there was no motion, no advance. When–
"The very deep did rot."
It is a dreadful thing when there is such a horrid deathlike calm as
this! Yet, even amidst such trials as these, we must believe to see the
goodness of the Lord. We must still believe that the great Head of the
Church has not forgotten her, that in her darkest times He still wears
her name upon His heart and that He will yet return to her in mercy,
cast out all her enemies, repair her broken walls and cause the banner
of His love to float again over her citadel.
II. Now, secondly, and very briefly, FAITH NOT ONLY BELIEVES IN THE
GOODNESS OF THE LORD, BUT SHE EXPECTS TO SEE IT EVEN HERE
Sometimes, she sees it very soon. God does not guarantee to let His
people see here the reason for all His Providential dealings with them,
but He does occasionally do so. There is many a Believer who has lived
to see the goodness of God to him. Bernard Gilpin's case was a very
clear one. As he was on his way to London to be burned at the stake,
his leg was broken and he had to stop on the road. He said it was all
for the best, and so it was, for, when he reached London, the bells
were ringing, for Queen Mary was dead and Queen Elizabeth had come to
the throne–so he was not burned! The breaking of his leg had saved his
life! Some of us have also seen the goodness of the Lord displayed
under very strange
circumstances. It was so in connection with that terrible calamity at
the Surrey Gardens Music Hall. Notwithstanding all the sorrow and
suffering that it brought upon us, as we now look back upon it, we see
how God, by means of that calamity, called public attention to the
preaching of His Word–and I have no doubt, that for every life that
was then lost, a thousand souls have since been saved from going down
to the Pit–so let God's name be praised for that gracious overruling
of a terrible crime! You may not have to wait even a day before you
will distinctly see the goodness of the Lord! But you must believe it
before you see it. It must be a matter of duty to you to now believe it
and then, by-and-by, it may be a matter of privilege to you to see it!
But faith does not always expect to see the goodness of Godhere at
once. She knows that this is the land of mist and fog, and she is glad
if she can see even one step before her. Yes, and she is quite
satisfied to go on even if she cannot see a step before her. She puts
her foot down on what seems to be a thick cloud, but she finds the
ground solid beneath her. Without seeing where she is going, she takes
the next step, relying upon the faithfulness of God–and again she is
safe– and so she pursues her way in the thick darkness and with
greater joy than those who see far ahead and compliment themselves upon
their shrewdness! She knows that the day has not yet dawned, for the
shadows have not yet fled away, so, while she is in this mortal state,
she walks by faith, not by sight.
Faith understands, too, that man is not endowed with that degree of
judgment which might enable him, at present, even if the light were
clearer, to distinctly see the goodness of the Lord. With such an
intellect as he now has, a child is not likely to see the wisdom of his
father in the use of the rod. Even if he is a well-instructed child, he
may still scarcely be able to see it. The father is the better
judge–he has seen more of life, he knows what the child does not know
and foresees what the child does not even dream of! How can I, who can
only see a little pool in front of me, judge as to how the Lord should
manage the great ocean? Here I am sailing my tiny toy boat upon a
pond–am I to lay down rules of navigation for God in steering the
leviathans of the deep across the shoreless seas? Here I am, an ant of
an hour, creeping about upon the little anthill which I call my
home–am I to judge as to how God manages all the affairs of time and
eternity? Down, foolish pride! What do you know? You are wise only when
you know that you are a fool! But you are such a fool that you do not
even know thatuntil God teaches it to you! Lie down, then, and
trustwhere you cannot understand.
Faith also knows that, at present, she cannot see the whole plan and
procedure of God's Providential dealings with men. We cannot fairly
judge the working of Providence by gazing at a part of it. There is an
old joke about a student who took one brick to the market in order to
show the people what kind of house he had to sell. But who could
rightly judge of a house by looking at a single brick? Yet this would
be less foolish than trying to judge as to the goodness of the Lord by
the transactions of an hour! If, instead of trying to measure with a
ruler the distance between Sirius and the Pleiades, we would just
believe that God has measured that vast distance to an inch and leave
such measurements to the Almighty Mind which can take in the whole
universe at one sweep, how much wiser it would be on our part! God sees
the end from the beginning and when the great drama of time shall be
complete, then will the splendor as well as the goodness of the Lord be
seen! When the whole painting shall be unrolled in one vast panorama,
then shall we see its matchless beauty and appreciate the inimitable
skill of the Divine Artist. But here we only look at one little patch
of shade, or one tiny touch of color and it appears to us to be rough
or coarse. It may be that we shall be permitted, in eternity, to see
the whole of the picture, but meanwhile, let us firmly believe that He
who is painting it knows how to do it and that He who orders all things
according to the counsel of His own will, cannot fail to do that which
is best for the creatures whom He has made and preserved in being!
III. So finally THERE IS A WONDERFULLY SUSTAINING INFLUENCE ABOUT THIS
PRACTICAL BELIEF IN THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD.
There is a man lying upon the surgeon's operating table and the
skillful surgeon has to cut deeply. Why does the man endure that
operation? Because he believes it is for his lasting good. He believes
that the surgeon will not cause him an atom of pain more than is
necessary and, therefore, he lies quietly and endures it all. But
imagine that any of us were there and that we fancied that the surgeon
meant to do us harm instead of good! Then we would rebel! But the
conviction that it is all right helps us to play the man and to bear
the pain with patience. That should be your attitude towards God, my
dear Friend. May your belief in His goodness enable you to bear the
sharp cuts of the knife which He is using upon you!
He must have been a bold man who was the first to plow the ground, all
to bury bushels of good, golden wheat in the earth! But nowadays, our
farmers do it as a matter of course. They go to the granary, take out
that which is very valuable, go off to where they have made the death
trench ready to receive it and cast it in there, knowing that unless it
is cast in there to die, it will not bring forth fruit. And they
believe they will see the fruit that will spring from it! Every farmer,
when he sows his wheat, has the golden sheaves before his mind's eye
and the shouts of the harvest home ring in anticipation in his ear!
And, therefore, he parts with his treasured store of wheat and parts
with it cheerfully. So, dear Friends, let us part with our friends, and
part with our health, and part with our comforts, and part with life,
itself, if that is necessary, believing that "our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory."
Let me just add that if there is such sustaining power about believing
to see the goodness of the Lord even here, what must result from the
still higher belief of seeing the goodness of the Lord in another and
better world than this The expectation of that bliss may well bear us
up on its wings far above all the trials and troubles of this present
life. So let us entreat the Holy Spirit to administer to us this
heavenly cordial. Then, in the strength of the Lord, let us go forth to
serve Him with body, soul and spirit, to the highest degree that is
possible to us!
If there are any of you who have never believed, let me just tell you
what is necessary before I close my discourse. The way of salvation is
this–Believe God's Word. Believe that your Maker cannot lie. Trust His
Son, whom He has given to be the Savior of all who trust Him. And rely
upon what His Word has declared–"He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life." If you trust in Christ, even if you have not a
fraction of other evidence of your salvation, you are a saved soul on
that evidence alone! Cast yourself upon Him and you shall find that
declaration to be true to you, "He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life." But if you believe not, remember that this
declaration is equally true, "He that believes not the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." May God save all of you
from that awful doom, for His dear Son's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:
PSALM 27.
David is in the darkness of sorrow. His enemies are many and mighty and
they make a dead set against him and seek to utterly destroy him. But
he finds his comfort where every true Believer must always seek his
solace, that is, in his God. Thus sweetly does the Psalmist sing.
Verse 1. The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom shall Jfear? The
LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid David leaves
the broken cisterns of the earth which can hold no water, and goes
directly to the Divine Fountainhead. He does not say, "Ahithophel is my
light, Uzzia, the Ashterathite, is my friend and my joy. He says,
"Jehovah is my light." Candles soon burn out, but the sun shines on
and, eventually, "the sun shall be turned into darkness," but Jehovah,
our God, is "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." David does not say, "Joab is the strength
of my life. Benaiah and the Cherethites are my bodyguard." He says,
"Jehovah is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" It is
the height of Christian faith to find everything good in God. And it is
an evil hour for us when we begin to trust anywhere but in Him. Build
your foundation for eternity on a firm and unyielding soil, O Believer,
and let every stone that is laid thereon be quarried from the Rock of
Ages.
2. When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up
my flesh, they stumbled and fell. If we are on the Lord's side,
discomfiture of our enemies shall be total and final–they shall fall
to the ground. They may be very many, and very varied, so as to be
described under two names–enemies and foes. They may be very
ferocious, so that, like the wild beasts of the forest, they are ready
to tear the flesh of their prey and devour it. And they may be able to
make such attacks as actually come upon us–but just at the moment when
they think they shall be able to swallow us, our God will interpose for
our deliverance! It is marvelous how near to the edge of the precipice
of ruin the Lord sometimes lets His people go, yet He always delivers
them just at the right moment–and causes their enemies to stumble and
fall.
3. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:
though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. True
and simple faith in God alone always begets courage. It is the man who
is trusting to the creature
who is the coward. He who truly trusts in the Creator becomes a hero.
Faith is the food upon which God would have His children fed. So, if
you would do deeds of daring, lean only upon God–and then you shall
have your heart's desire.
4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after A true
Christian is a man of one idea, but that one idea is the noblest that
ever possessed the human mind, or influenced the human heart. This idea
is one which not only finds a lodging in his brain, but he carries it
on in the practice of his daily life–"One thing have I desired of the
Lord, that will I seek after." And what is that one thing?
4. That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His Temple. That
is, to gaze upon the mystery of God in Christ, for is not Christ "the
beauty of the Lord?" He is rightly called "the brightness of His
Father's Glory, and the express image of His Person." So all that we
need on earth, or in Heaven, is a perpetual vision of Jesus Christ! "To
behold the beauty of the Lord," and constantly to be enabled to present
our petitions in His Temple, and to receive gracious answers of peace
to our supplications. "Father, my soul would gladly abide within Your
Temple, near Your side. But if my feet must depart from there, still
keep Your dwelling in my heart."
5. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. The
pavilion was the many-colored tent of the king, embroidered with
needlework and richly furnished. It was always placed in the center of
the encampment, so that if there were a night attack, the enemy must
first break through the ranks of the armed men before reaching the
royal pavilion. So the Christian is put into the very center of the
Lord's host! God's Sovereignty encloses him and God's angels surround
him–and the enemy must first break through the angelic guard and
overcome all the heavenly powers–before any Believer can be destroyed.
5. In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. "The secret of His
tabernacle" was the Holy of Holies, into which no man but the high
priest ever entered–and even he only entered it once a year! But now
the Christian is admitted into the holiest place of all, through the
Sacrifice of Christ, and Christ's Atonement and the Sovereignty of God
conjoin to make the Christian's position absolutely safe forever!
5. He shall set me up upon a Rock The Rock of ages is immovable. It
stirs not in the fiercest storm that ever rages. God is Immutable. He
abides the same forever, so that we have three firm grounds of
confidence–God's Sovereignty, Christ's Sacrifice and God's
Immutability.
6. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies aroundme:
therefore willIoffer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I will sing,
yes, I will sing praises unto the LORD. As David's trust was in his
Lord, all his praise was to his Lord. And where we place our
confidence, there let us also display our gratitude. If we trust in
men, it is not surprising if we worship and praise men. But if we trust
alone in God, our homage and gratitude will be laid at His feet.
7. 8. Hear, O LORD, When I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me,
and answer me. When You said, Seek you my face; my heart said unto You,
Your face, Lord, will I seek. Happy is the man who has a tender
conscience–whose heart is like the waves of the sea which are easily
moved by the breath of Heaven–so that when God breathes upon him by
His Holy Spirit, his soul is moved and controlled by that Spirit.
9. Hide not Your face far from me; put not Your servant away in anger.
The sharpest trial a Christian can know is to be forsaken of his God.
As the very pith of the agony of Christ upon the Cross lay in His being
deserted by His Father, so the extremity of a Believer's anguish is
found when he, also, has to cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" Send us any trial that You will, O Lord, but let us never lose the
light of Your Countenance! We are rich in poverty, we are strong in
weakness, we are healthful in sickness, we are living even in death
while we have our God with us–but if our Lord shall once hide His face
from us, we are in trouble, indeed!
9. You have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my
salvation. Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, use your past
experience to encourage you for the present. Draw arguments from your
past experience to use with God in prayer, even as David did–"You have
been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
When my soul was burdened with sin, You were my Helper. You did enable
me to look to Christ when I lost friend after friend, when I passed
through fierce conflicts with the devil, when I was sick, and health
and strength failed me, You were my Helper." Many of you can thus look
back upon a long life and say to God of it all, "You have been my
Helper." And this gives you a foothold in your wrestling with the great
Angel of the Covenant–so mind that you grasp Him firmly and say,
"Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!"
10. When my father and my mother forsake me. They are not likely to do
that, yet, if they should do so, what then?
10, 11. Then the LORD will take me up. Teach me Your way, OLORD,
andleadme in aplainpath, because of my enemies. This is a prayer which
all Christians have good need to pray, for there are so many enemies
who will, if they can, cause us to stumble. So many who watch for our
halting that we need to pray, "Lead me in a plain path, because of my
enemies." Yet let me also say to you that it matters not how carefully
and warily you may walk, nor how holy you may be–you will be sure to
be slandered–yes, and sometimes by Christian people, too! There are
always some to tell the lie, and others to repeat it, and some to
believe in it, and even to rejoice in it. It would be a mercy if some
people had no tongues, for, if they had none, they would commit far
less sin than they now do!
12. Deliver me not over unto the will of my enemies: for false
witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
David found enemies, as will you–and the holier you are, the more
shall you have of them. Birds pick the ripest fruit. The highest towers
cast the longest shadows and so is it that the highest holiness is
generally the object of the most cruel attacks. Well, what are they to
do who are passing through this trial? Do? Why go to their God about it
as well as about everything else!
13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the
LORD in the land of the living. With troubles without, and fears
within, and slanderers and enemies of all sorts around him, the
Christian had almost fainted; but faith puts the Divine smelling salts
to his nose and as soon as ever the nostrils perceive the sweet perfume
of God's faithfulness, the man is revived! "I had fainted, unless I had
believed." So you see that you must do either the one or the other–you
must either believe or faint, for, by unbelief and sin, a spiritual
fainting fit will soon come on.
14. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your
heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Wait on no one else! Wait only on Him
and then you shall not be discouraged or faint-hearted. Therefore,
"wait, I say, on the
Lord."
–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.