Solitude, Silence, Submission
(No. 2468)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JUNE 7, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
13, 1886.
"He sits alone and keeps silent, because He has borne it upon him. He
puts his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope." Lamentations
3:28,29.
THUS the Prophet describes the conduct of a person in deep anguish of
heart. When he does not know what to do, his soul, as if by instinct,
humbles itself. He gets into some secret place, he utters no speech, he
gives himself over to moaning and to tears, and then he bows himself
lower and yet lower before the Divine Majesty, as if he felt that the
only hope for him in the extremity of his sorrow was to make complete
submission to God and to lie in the very dust before
Him.
It seems to me that such conduct as this, which is characteristic of
every truly gracious man in his hour of trouble, should also be the
mark of all who are seeking God's Grace–those who are not yet saved,
but who are conscious of their need of salvation. I must, surely, be
speaking right into the heart of some who are feeling the crushing
weight and heavy burden of their guilt. If you cannot do anything else,
dear Friends, do what these two verses say, in order that, afterwards,
you may be able to take that grand Gospel step of faith in Jesus Christ
which will certainly bring you into peace andjoy!
Those of you who have the Revised Version will notice a correction
which has been made long ago by all competent scholars–"Let him sit
alone and keep silent, because He has laid it upon him. Let him put his
mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope." It does not matter
which way you read the passage, because the conduct of one gracious man
is virtually a precept to another, yet it is satisfactory to find that
if we are under the burden of sin, we are here commanded to do as the
Prophet did in his time of need.
My objective, just now, is to explain this line of conduct, in the hope
that some who are in trouble will at once heartily follow it.
I. First, then, observe that in the time of great trouble, HOLY
SOLITUDE is commended to us–"Let him sit alone."
I earnestly advise you who are under concern of soul to seek to get
alone and to be quiet and thoughtful in your solitude–not merely to be
alone, but to sit by yourself like a person in the posture of thought.
When a soul is under a deep sense of sin, the more it can be alone, the
better. That sense of sin will be increased by the loneliness and when
it becomes intolerable, it is highly probable that in that loneliness
the way of its removal will be discovered. In this age we all live too
much in company–and in a great city like this, we are busy from
morning to night, and we do not get the opportunities for quiet
reflection which our forefathers were known to take. I am afraid,
therefore, that our religion is likely to become very superficial and
flimsy for the lack of solitary, earnest thought. Men, nowadays,
usually go in flocks– someone leads the way and the rest follow him
like sheep that rush through a gap in the hedge! It would be better for
us if we deliberated more, if we used our own judgment, if we drew near
to God in our own personality and were resolved that whatever others
might do, we would seek to be personally guided by the Lord Himself.
I commend solitude to any of you who are seeking salvation, first, that
you may well study your case as in the sight of God. Few men truly know
themselves as they really are. Most people have seen themselves in a
mirror, but there is another mirror which gives true reflections, into
which few men look. To study one's own self in the light of God's Word
and carefully to go over one's condition, examining both the inward and
the outward sins–and using all the tests which are given us in the
Scriptures–would be a very healthy exercise. But how very few care to
go through it! Yet, beloved Friends, if it is a wise thing to look well
to your business, how much more ought you to look to the business which
concerns your immortal souls!
If a true shepherd will not neglect his flocks and his herds, should
not a wise man care about his thoughts, his feelings and his actions?
Must it not be a wretched condition not to know whether one is saved or
not? I sometimes hear people express surprise if they are asked whether
they are saved–yet in what ignorance of your own soul's state must you
be if you have never put that question to yourself, or if, when it is
put, you feel inclined to give no answer to it! I press this matter
home upon you and if you would be saved, you must first know that you
are lost! If you would seek to be healed, you must first learn that you
are sick! It is not possible that you will repent unless you are aware
of your sin. It is not likely that you will look to Christ unless you
first know what it is for which you are to look to Him!
Therefore, I pray you, set apart some time every day, or at least some
time as often as you can get it, in which the business of your mind
shall be to take your longitude and latitude, that you may know exactly
where you are. You may be drifting towards the rocks and you may be
wrecked before you know your danger. I implore you, do not let your
ship go at full steam through a fog, but slacken speed a bit and heave
the lead to see whether you are in deep waters or shallow. I am not
asking you to do more than any kind and wise man would advise you to
do. Do I even ask you more than your own conscience tells you is right?
Sit alone a while, that you may carefully consider your case.
Get alone, again, dear Friend–especially dear young Friend–that you
may diligently search the Scriptures. I am often astounded at the
ignorance there still is of what is written in God's Word! Many persons
who have even been in Sunday schools for years seem to be totally
unaware of the most plain Truths of the Gospel of God's Grace! How can
we know what is revealed unless we read and study it for ourselves?
Alas, the dust upon many men's Bibles will condemn them! God has been
pleased, in this Book, to give us the revelation of the way of
salvation and we ought to rush to the Book with eager anxiety to know
what God has said in it! But instead of doing so, though we can get a
Bible for sixpence and, perhaps, have a copy in every room in our
house, how little do we read it! If you truly desire to be saved, get
alone for the earnest and hearty study of the Word of God!
How often you may meet with persons who profess to be infidels, yet if
you press them closely enough, you will find that they have never even
read the New Testament through! There are many more who are in doubt
and anxiety, yet they have never gone to see what are the promises of
God and what the Lord is ready to do for them that seek Him. I beseech
you, as sensible and reasonable beings, do not let God speak to you and
refuse to hear! You need to be saved from sin! In this Book God has
revealed the way of salvation, therefore do not shut up the Book,
fasten the clasps and leave it neglected. Oh, Book of books, the map of
the way to Glory! That man invokes a terrible curse upon his own head
who refuses to study you! He does, in effect, shut the gate of Heaven
against himself and bar the road to everlasting bliss! If you would be
saved, dear Friend, sit alone, consider your case and then study God's
thoughts concerning it.
Get alone, further, that you may commune with your God. After we have
once learned the way, we can commune with God anywhere–amidst the roar
and turmoil of the crowded city, or on the top of the mast of a
ship–but, to begin with, it is best to be alone with the Lord. My dear
Hearer, have you ever spoken to God in all your life? Have you ever
realized that there is such a King in the room with you? There is such
a King! It is He who made you and who has preserved you up to this good
hour! You are, surely, not prepared to deny His existence? And if you
are not, I beseech you, do not ignore that existence and live as if
there were no God! Oh, speak with Him at once! Perhaps five minutes'
earnest speech with Him may be the turning point of your life. "I will
arise and go to my father," was the turning point with the
prodigal–and it may be the same with you.
"Oh, but I feel so guilty!" Then get alone and say that to the Lord!
"But I do not feel as I ought." Then get alone and tell that to God.
"Oh, but I–I am such an unbelieving being!" Get alone and tell out all
the truth to the Lord–do not entertain a thought or a feeling which
you dare not tell Him. Do not imagine that you can hide anything from
Him, for He reads your inmost heart. Then take that heart and lay it
bare before Him and say with the Psalmist, "Search me, O God, and know
my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there is any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." As one of God's
creatures, I could not bear to think that I had seen the glory of the
midnight stars, or warmed myself in the brightness of the noonday sun
and yet had never spoken to Him who made them all and myself as well!
One of our sweetest joys on earth is to speak with Him in prayer and
praise, to call Him, Friend, and to be on terms of sweet familiarity
with the Most High. I do pray you, then, get alone for these three
purposes, first, to consider your case. Next, to study the Scriptures
concerning your case And then that you may speak with God in prayer.
Get alone, also, for one more reason, and that is that you may avoid
distraction. I think that, on the Lord's Day, when people go home,
after service, they sometimes make a mistake in talking with those who
do not feel as they feel. If the arrows of God have entered your heart,
go home alone. If there has been anything in the sermon which has been
for your comfort as a Christian, go home alone. If there was anything
in the sermon which has been for your warning as a sinner, go home
alone. How often may even godly and gracious people talk upon some
theme that may rob their fellow-Believers of all the good they have
received in God's House and, as for unconverted persons, I am sure that
if they ever feel impressed under the Word, it will be their utmost
wisdom to take care of that first impression–and not let it be driven
away by foolish or frivolous conversation.
Some of us are old enough to remember the day before there were matches
of the kind we now use. And early on a frosty morning some of us have
tried to strike a light with flint and steel, and the old-fashioned
tinderbox. How long we struck, and struck, and watched, and waited and,
at last, there was a little spark in the tinder! And then we would hold
the box up and blow on it very softly, that we might keep that little
spark alight till we had kindled the fire that we needed. That
tenderness over the first spark is what I invite everyone to practice
in spiritual matters! If you would be saved–if there is anything like
feeling in your heart, if there is any good desire in your soul, do not
begin to talk as soon as you get out of the Tabernacle–that would be
like placing the lid on the tinder and putting the spark out! But get
alone, blow on that spark, for perhaps it may come to a flame and you
may find salvation! I advise all persons under sorrow of soul, somehow
or other to break right away from their companions! When the day's work
is done, let them, each one, say to themselves, "I am not going out
with that frivolous person, nor shall I sit in the house with those who
will be talking of trifling matters. I have a soul that needs salvation
and I must have my soul saved now. I cannot afford to be in this giddy
company."
"Let him sit alone." That is good advice which the Prophet gives in the
text–and I desire to press it upon every awakened person who desires
to find the Savior!
II. The text goes on to say, in the next place, that we should practice
SUBMISSIVE SILENCE–"Let him sit alone and keep silent."
In what respects should seeking souls keep silent? I answer, first, if
the burden of sin is pressing upon you, be sure to abstain from all
idle talk, for if the idle talk of others, as I have reminded you, can
distract your thoughts, how much more would your own! It ill becomes a
man, who is on the brink of Hell, to be laughing and jesting! When God
is angry with you, can you make mirth? I can understand how you can be
merry when once you have come back to the great Father's House and the
fatted calf is killed and your Father rejoices over you. But while you
are still covered with your sins and are not yet sure of God's
forgiveness, sit silent! It is the best thing you can do–quietness
becomes you. Lay your finger on your lips till you have something
better to speak of than you have as yet. Keep silent, then, from all
idle talk.
Keep silent, also, in another respect. Do not attempt to make any
excuse for your sin. Oh, how ready sinners are with their excuses! A
man says, "But, Sir, I have a besetting sin." Do you not think that a
great many people make a mistake about besetting sins? There was a man
who used to get drunk and he said that it was his besetting sin. But
his brother said, "No, Sam, it is your upsetting sin!" And so it was.
If I were to go, tonight, across Clapham Common and half-a-dozen men
were to surround me and rob me of my wallet, then I should be beset.
But if I were to know that there were thieves there, and yet I walked
across the common on purpose to meet with them, you could not say that
they had beset me–you would say that I was a fool to walk into their
hands! The besetting sin is that which a man fights against and wars
against with all his soul, yet is overcome by it. Do not lay any stress
upon that, as though your being beset by sin was any excuse to you,
especially if you go into the ways of sin.
You go and sit with those who drink and then wonder that you get drunk?
You go and associate with those who swear or sing lewd songs and then
you wonder that, the next time you try to pray, a nasty verse of a bad
song comes up? It is your own fault if you go and willfully mingle with
sinners! How can you be a child of God? No, when you know that anything
is a sin, stay away from the temptation! He that does not want to get
wet should not go out into the rain. Instead of your excuse making your
case any better, it makes it worse! Therefore, keep silent before your
God.
And next, keep silent from all complaining of God. No man is truly
saved while he sets himself up as the judge of God, yet this is the
practice of many men. If you give them the Word of God, they begin to
pull it to pieces! They ask, "Is God so severe that He will mark our
faults? Does He take notice, even, of our evil thoughts? Can it really
be true that for every idle word that a man shall speak, he will have
to give an account in the Day of Judgment?" And then, after judging God
to be too strict and harsh in His dealings with poor fallible flesh and
blood, they go on to snatch from His hand the balance and the rod and
sit upon their little throne–and dare to question the decrees of the
great Judge of All! "It would be wrong," they say, "to cast men into
Hell and to punish with eternal wrath the sins of a short life!" And
then they begin to traverse all the teaching of Scripture and to
quibble with this and object to that! O Sirs, if you would be saved,
you must give up this wickedness! This kind of conduct will damn you as
surely as you live!
When prisoners are tried by an earthly judge and are condemned to die,
if they are permitted to speak, they can have no hope of obtaining
mercy by criticizing the judge and questioning the law! Of course they
are not guilty, poor innocents! "It is the harsh law," they say, "that
is to blame." But the law must maintain its majesty against such
quibblers and it cannot stoop to mercy, or sheath its sword while a man
is in that humor! So, Sinner, sit alone and keep silent. Presume not to
judge your God! Behold, He comes with clouds! The trumpet will soon
proclaim His appearing and they who were so free to judge their Maker
will cry in another tone when that great day has, at last, come! With
the earth reeling beneath their feet and the heavens, themselves, on
fire, they will beg the rocks to fall on them and the hills to hide
them from the face of Him that sits upon the Throne–and from the wrath
of the Lamb! Go, you guilty one! Sit still and hold your tongue–and
bring your rebellious heart to submission! Shall the flax contend with
the fire, or the stubble fight with the flame? What can you do in
warring with your Maker?
Sit alone and keep silent, next, from all claims of merit. I know that
the tendency of the human heart is to say, "I am no worse than other
people. I am a good Chapel-going, Church-going, Psalm-singing person! I
give to the poor, I say my prayers and attend to all that sort of
thing." You will never obtain mercy while you have a word of that kind
to plead! Until you are like a vessel turned upside down and drained of
every drop of human merit, there is no hope of salvation for you! You
must sit alone and keep silent about those good works of yours, for
they are all a lie and you know it. You have never done a good work in
your life–you have either spoiled it by your selfish motives before
it, or by some carelessness in it, or by some vainglorious pride after
it. At the best, you are nothing but a boasting Pharisee, and though
you may wash the outside of your cup and platter, yet your heart is
full of wickedness and your soul is steeped in sin. O man, talk no more
so exceeding proudly, but sit still and hold your tongue about merit
and what you think you deserve before the holy God! There is no way of
mercy for any of us until we shut our mouths and utter not a single
boastful word, but stand guiltily silent before the Lord.
I think it is well, too, when a poor sin-burdened soul is silent before
God and unable to make any bold speeches. I recollect that when I was
first seeking the Lord, I heard some good people talking about their
confidence in God. I had to hold my tongue, for I could not say a word
about that matter. I heard a young friend say that he had found Christ,
but I had to hold my tongue, for I knew that I had not found Him. And
even after I had found Him, there were times when I dared not say so. I
felt in my spirit the question, "Am I self-deceived, or am I not? And
if I have spoken pretty boldly since that time, even now, occasionally,
I feel that same silence creeping over me. It would have been well if
Peter had been silent when he said to his Lord, "Although all shall be
offended, yet will not I." I like a man who knows not only how to
speak, but how to sit still–but that sitting still part is hard work
to many.
There came a young man to Demosthenes to learn oratory. He talked away
at a great rate and Demosthenes said, "I must charge you double fees."
"Why?" he asked. "Why," said the master, "I have first to teach you to
hold your tongue and afterwards to instruct you how to speak." The Lord
teaches true penitents how to hold their tongues. They open not their
mouth when He has laid trouble upon them. And even in the company of
good people they are sometimes dumb with silence and hold their tongue
even from good. It is not an ill thing that they should act thus, for
often the will of the Lord is not done with words and, sometimes, that
silence which is frost of the mouth is thaw of the soul. And the heart
flows best before God when even praise sits silent on our tongues. O
Beloved, in your hour of darkness because of your sin, sit still and
hold your tongue, for it is oftentimes the way of peace to the soul!
III. Now I shall ask your special and patient attention for just a few
minutes to the third point, which is, PROFOUND HUMILIATION–"Let him
put his mouth in the dust; if so there may be hope." Upon this matter I
would earnestly address those who are not yet saved, but who desire to
be.
Dear Friends, it often happens that men do not obtain peace with God
because they have not come low enough. The gate of Heaven, though it is
so wide that the greatest sinner may enter, is, nevertheless, so low
that pride can never pass through it. You must stoop if you would enter
Heaven! "Let him put his mouth in the dust." I believe that this
precept is needed by very many and that, when they obey it, they will
get peace, but never till then. "Let him put his mouth in the dust."
Oriental monarchs require very lowly reverence from their subjects–it
is not in keeping with our manners and customs–but the similitude
holds good in our relation to the Lord God. When we come before Him, we
must prostrate ourselves till we bow our mouths in the dust. What can
this expression mean? "Let him put his mouth in the dust; if so there
may be hope."
It means, first, that there must be true, humble, lowly confession of
sin. You say that you have been praying, yet you have not found peace?
Have you confessed your sins? This is absolutely necessary! Confess
your sins to me, you ask? No, thank you. I do not want to hear your
confession. It would do me much harm and it could do you no good to
tell them to me. It is to God alone that this confession should be
made. Some men have never really made a confession of their sin to God
at all–they have done it in such general and insincere terms that it
did not amount to a confession. Go enter your chamber, shut the door
and get alone. And there, with words or without words, as you find it
best, acknowledge before God your omissions and commissions–what you
have done and what you have not done. Pour out the whole story before
God and cry with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Do not
cloak or dissemble before the Almighty! Let all your sins appear. Take
a lowly place–not simply be a sinner in name–but confess that you are
a sinner in fact and deed. I believe that some of you are in darkness
much longer than you need to be because you do not stoop to a humble
confession of your sin. Let the lances into this ugly gathering of
yours that brings you so much inflammation of mind and pain of spirit!
Let your confession flow like water before God! Pour out your heart
before Him! Acknowledge your sins, take the place of a sinner, for this
is a great way towards finding salvation–"If so there may be hope."
Further than that, dear Friends, when it is said that we are to put our
mouths in the dust, it means that we are to give up the habit ofputting
ourselves above other people and finding fault with others. How often
is the value of our penitence destroyed because we have looked at
Mistress Somebody and said, "Well, I am guilty, but still–well, I am
not such a hypocrite as Mrs. So-and-So." What have you to do with her?
"Oh," says another, "I know I have been a bad man, but then I–I–I
have never been as bad as old So-and-So." What have you to do with him?
Here you are, pretending to be humble, yet you are as proud as Lucifer!
I know you–you are like that man who went up to the Temple and
pretended that he was going to pray. And then he said, "God, I thank
You that I am not as other men are" and so forth–"nor even as this
publican"–turning his eyes in disdain towards the true penitent!
There is many a man who says, "I am a sinner, but then I am a total
abstainer and wear the blue ribbon–that is a good thing, is it not?"
Yes, it is, but not if you trust in it for salvation! "Oh, but," says
another, "I know that I have not lived as I ought, but I have always
paid 20s. in the pound." So ought every honest man, but what is there
to be proud about in that? Are you going to get to Heaven by paying
20s. in the pound to a man and not a penny in the pound to God? Yet
that is often the way of men! Or else, perhaps, we are accusing others
while we pretend that we are, ourselves, humble. We must get rid of all
such bad habits if we want the Lord to have mercy upon us! I believe a
sincere penitent thinks himself to be the worst man there is and never
judges other people, for he says in his heart, "That man may be more
openly guilty than I am, but very likely he does not know as much as I
do, or the circumstances of his case are an excuse for him." A woman,
convinced of sin, says, "It is true, that woman has fallen and her life
is full of foulness, but, perhaps, if I had been tempted as she was and
had been deceived as she was, I would have been even worse than she
is." Oh, that we might all give up that habit of judging other people
and put our mouths in the dust in self-abasement before God!
I think that putting our mouths in the dust also means that we realize
our own nothingness in the Presence of God. We have nothing to say,
nothing to claim, nothing to boast of–if the Lord should never look
upon us in mercy, yet we could not complain. If He were to banish us
from His Presence forever, yet we could not open our mouths to accuse
Him, but must say, "You are just when You judge. You are clear when You
condemn." That, dear Friends, is putting your mouth in the
dust–feeling that, in God's sight, you are only like the dust. If you
have sought the Lord and have not found him, I exhort you to sink
yourself lower! Believe that you have no strength, that you have no
righteousness, that you are truly lost and ruined and undone, that you
are nothing but a mass of loathsomeness before the thrice-holy God and
bow before Him with this conviction in your heart, "if so there may be
hope."
I am not going to preach upon the last part of the text because the
time has almost gone and, also, for another reason–I have not to say
to you, "If so there may be hope." There is hope for any man, or woman,
or child here–I like to say, "child," as well as, "man, or woman,"
because I believe that children are often the best part of my
congregation! Last Monday week, we had five children before the Church,
one after the other, whose testimony for Christ was quite as clear as
that of any of the elders among us! What an important part of the
congregation the boys and girls make up! I believe that there are
almost as many saved among the little ones, now, in this congregation
as there are of grown-up people, perhaps even more. Well now, if any of
you who are guilty–whether old or young–come before the Lord, confess
your sin and trust in Christ for mercy–you shall have mercy! I do not
know who you are and I do not care who you are–but whoever shall come
and confess his sin in all lowliness of heart, and in faith, believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ– he shall have mercy!
Christ sits on His Throne of Grace and stretches out the silver
scepter. Bow before Him and He will forgive your sin! The fountain is
opened for sin and for uncleanness–if you are sinful and unclean, come
to the fountain that Christ has opened and which the devil cannot
close–and wash and be clean this very hour! God in infinite mercy is
ready to forgive! His heart yearns over the wanderers. He stretches out
His hands and entreats you to come back and He is grieved until you
return! If there is in your heart any sorrow for having sinned against
your God–if there is any anxiety to come back to Him, come back! If
you do but turn your face towards Him, while you are yet a great way
off, He sees! He will have compassion on you! He will run to you! He
will embrace you! Fall into His arms right now! Believe in His Son!
Trust yourself with Jesus, for He has never yet failed any who trusted
Him. Make Him the Trustee of your soul, for He is a Trustee who can be
trusted! Deposit in His hands your spirit, for He is able to keep that
which you commit to Him against that day.
We are getting into summer and I feel very anxious that none of my
hearers should have to say, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended
and we are not saved." Then, before the harvest comes, now that the
summer is just beginning, may the Lord incline your hearts to come and
put your trust in Jesus! Many of you are from the country. You have
come to see London. Of all the sights possible to you, the best will
be, first, to see yourselves, and then to see your Savior! There is no
exhibition like the exhibition of the love of God in Jesus Christ to
guilty sinners! May this be the best day you have ever lived because it
shall be the first day you have ever truly lived with the life of God
in your soul! I pray the Lord to bless my words to each of you without
exception! Surely, there is not anybody here who would wish to be left
out! God bless you all, for Christ's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LAMENTATIONS 3:1-33;55-58.
We are about to read a chapter which is full of sorrow. While you are
listening to it, some of you may be saying, "We are not in that
condition." Well then, be thankful that you are not! And while you hear
of the sorrows of others, bless God for the joys you, yourself,
experience. At the same time, remember that there is a way of sorrow
which leads, at last, to rest and piece. There is truth in the words of
the poet Cowper–
"The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where
sorrow is unknown." If you have never known the sorrows of the weeping
Prophet, or anything like them, I am not sure that you should
congratulate yourselves, for there is a brokenness of heart that is
worth more than the whole world! There is a crushed and bruised spirit
in which the Lord delights and which is a token for good to the one who
possesses it.
Verses 1, 2. I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of His
wrath. He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
Some of us recollect when we used to go into our room, shut the door
and read such a chapter as this and say, "Here is a description of my
true condition." We were once broken in pieces, torn asunder through a
terrible sense of sin. Our thoughts were like a case of knives
perpetually pricking us and, at such a time, these were our words as
well as the words of Jeremiah, "He has led me, and brought me into
darkness, but not into light."
3, 4. Surely against me is He turned; He turns His hand against me all
the day. My flesh and my skin has He made old; He has broken my bones.
Conviction of sin seems to dry up the very sap of our life till we
become withered with age. Worse than the agony of a broken bone is the
pain of a broken heart. When the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, believe
me, it is no child's play. In the case of some of us, it was sore
wounding.
5. He has built against me–"As if He deliberately built walls to stop
up my way and erected castles from which to attack my soul, 'He has
built against me.'"–
5. And compassed me with gall and travail. "He has shut me up in a
circle of bitterness."
6, 7. He has set me in dark places, as they that are dead of old. He
has hedged me about, that I cannot get out: He has made my chain heavy.
Like a prisoner in his dungeon who has to wear manacles and fetters.
8. Also when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. That is the worst
trial of all, for there is comfort in prayer. But when even that seems
denied you, into what a terrible state of sorrow is your heart brought!
9-11. He has enclosed my ways with hewn stone, He has made my paths
crooked. He was to me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret
places. He has turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces: He has
made me desolate. You who remember that experience, bless God that you
have passed through it, that you have gone over that rough road into
the place of peace and rest in Christ! You who have never known this
path, it will be well for you when you do, difficult as you may find
it.
12. He has bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. "Every
sermon I hear seems a shot at me, every text of Scripture seems an
arrow aimed at me."
13. He has caused the arrow of His quiver to enter into my loins. "They
are not merely shot at me, but they have actually hit me; they have
wounded me; they have pierced me in vital parts."
14-17. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day.
He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood.
He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones, He has covered me with
ashes. And You have removed my soul far offfrom peace: I forgot
prosperity. "It seems so long ago since I was prosperous that I forget
what it was like! I have been so troubled that I do not remember what
it was to be at ease."
18-21. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD:
remembering my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My
soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall
to my mind, therefore have I hope. Notice that in all his sorrow, this
man still had hope! His soul was humbled and, therefore, he had hope. I
think that in the New Zealand language, the word for hope is, "swimming
thought"–the thought that swims when everything else is drowned! Oh,
what a mercy it is that hope can live on when all things else appear to
die!
22. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. Hear that, troubled heart! You are not yet
destroyed, you are still in the land of the living–as we say–"on
praying ground and pleading terms with God." "It is of Jehovah's
mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not."
23, 24. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. The
LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. "With
all my troubles, losses and griefs, I still have a God! Therefore will
I hope in Him."
25. The LORD is good to them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks
Him. Even though it is out of the depths of the utmost distress that
you seek God, you shall find Him to be good to you. He is hard to none,
unkind to none. Only go and test Him and try Him–and you shall find
that it is even as I say.
26, 27. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bears the yoke in
his youth. And it is not bad for him if he keeps on bearing it in his
old age! Our shoulders always need the yoke. We are such uncertain
creatures that we cannot bear too much freedom, even from sorrow!
28-31. He sits alone and keeps silent, because He has borne it upon
him. He puts his mouth in the dust; if so there may be hope. He gives
his cheek to him that smites him: he is filled full with reproach. For
the Lord will not cast offforever. What music there is in that line! He
may put you away for a while and seem to leave you, but, "the Lord will
not cast off forever." God may seem to put us away from Him, but it is
written, "He hates putting away "There is no divorce between Christ and
the soul that is once espoused to Him! Their separation shall not be
perpetual, for nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
32, 33. But though He causes grief, yet will He have compassion
according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict
willingly nor grieve the children of men. Now notice, in the 55th
verse, what came to the Prophet after all this sorrow–
55, 56. I called upon Your name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. You
have heard my voice: hide not Your ear at my breathing, at my cry.
Sometimes our prayers get to be so very weak that they are only a
breathing. Yet we must never forget that "Prayer is the breath of God
in men, returning from where it came." And "Praying breath is never
spent in vain."
57, 58. You drew near in the day that I called upon You: You said, Fear
not. O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul. What a comfort it
is that Christ in Heaven is our great Advocate and that He has pleaded
the causes of our soul before the Throne of God!
58. You have redeemed my life. He who is our Advocate is also our
Redeemer and, therefore, we are doubly safe! Glory be to His name!