The Known and the Unknown
(No. 2462)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, APRIL 26, 1896.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL
8, 1886.
"For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his
vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will
happen after him under the sun?" Ecclesiastes 6:12.
MAN at his very best is only a man and well might David ask, "What is
man?" In part, he is but red earth, as Adam was when he came fresh from
his Maker's hands. Solomon tells us, in the 10th verse of this chapter,
"That which has been is named already, and it is known that it is man."
Whoever has lived and however wise and good and great he may have been,
he has only been a man. Sum him up, add all together–the beauties of
his body, the skill of his mind, even the virtues of his spirit–and
what is he, even then, but a man? And man is but vapor which appears
for a little while and then vanishes away! He is as thin and airy and
unsubstantial as his own breath! He comes and he goes–he is here such
a little while that he can scarcely be said to be, for he does but
begin to be before he closes his being so far as this world is
concerned.
As man is as light as vanity, itself, Solomon urges that it is idle and
vain for him to attempt to contend with God. He puts it thus in the
10th verse, "Neither may he contend with Him who is mightier than he."
It is always unwise to contend with one who is mightier than yourself,
but when the disparity is so great as between man and God–the creature
of an hour and the self-existent Creator, the poor feeble worm called
man and the almighty invincible God–you see at once what folly it is,
even, to think of battling with Him. He is, indeed, foolish who would
contend with his Maker! Shall the potsherd strive to break the rod of
iron? Or shall the wax war against the fire? There is no hope for us in
such contention, yet how frequently do we–even we who are His
children–begin to contend with our God! If He chastens us, if He takes
away our comforts, if He permits us to be disappointed in our
aspirations, straightway we begin to enquire, "Why is this?" And I have
known times when that question has been carried very, very far–when
some whom we have esteemed have seemed to pick a quarrel with God and
they would not forgive Him. Their dear one was taken away and they
called God cruel. If they did not say as much, they thought it. And
they have kept the anniversary of that bereavement, year after year,
still unforgiving towards their God. That kind of rebellious spirit
creates 10 times more pain than the affliction, itself, did! Then the
rod falls more heavily than it otherwise would have done and the soul,
dashing itself against the pricks, wounds itself against the goad far
more than it was originally intended to be wounded!
No, Beloved, we cannot contend with our Maker. Are we wiser than He? Do
we understand Providence better than He does? Can we sit in judgment
upon Him? Do we dare to think of arraigning the great Judge of All at
our bar? Let us only think of Him aright and we shall say, "I was dumb,
I opened not my mouth, because You did it." And, by the Grace of God,
we shall get even further than that and be able to say with the
Patriarch Job, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be
the name of the Lord…Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and
shall we not receive evil?" What we often lack is the spirit of
complete submission. If our childhood–I mean the childhood that comes
of our regeneration and adoption into God's family–if that childhood
does not teach us this submission, our commonsense ought to teach us.
We ought to feel how absurd it is that we, who are but as a fly, should
fight with the flame, for we can but burn ourselves by such folly! We
cannot possibly carry on successful contention against One so great, so
good, so wise as the infinitely glorious God!
I am going to speak to any who are in that contending state of mind and
also to others who, perhaps, may get into such a state unless they are
warned of the danger to which they may be exposed. The ship that is on
the stocks and that has never been out to sea is astonished when it is
told that such-and-such a vessel leaks in the day of storm! But when
that ship is, itself, launched and gets out in the rough waters, it may
come to wonder how the timbers resist the billows and how it is that
anything keeps afloat at all. You who are young and inexperienced in
the Christian life, and have never done business on great waters, may
think yourselves competent to judge and to condemn the older ones for
all their deficiencies and failures, but, perhaps, when you get into
the same seas, yourselves, you may behave no better than they have
done. Therefore, take warning beforehand and learn from Solomon's words
a lesson concerning yourselves, that you may never set yourselves in
opposition to the Lord God, or compare yourselves with Him.
I. The first subject of consideration in our text is OUR LIFE WHICH WE
KNOW–"Who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his
vain life which he passes like a shadow?"
We know something about our present life and what we know about it
should humble us in the Presence of God, for, first, it is very short.
Observe that Solomon, here, says nothing about the "years" of our
life–he only counts it by "days." He looks at our earthly existence as
of so short a duration that if he were to reckon it by years, he could
scarcely mention it! But if he only counts it by days, he may use the
word, "all"–"all the days of his vain life." And, my Brothers and
Sisters, we only live by the day and scarcely as much as that! We are
at least taught by our great Master to pray for daily bread, as if the
nourishment was for a daily life which is always to be reckoned by the
day. Yet is a day more than you and I can be sure of, for who knows
what even a day may bring forth?–
"The rising morning can't assure
That we shall end the day,
For death stands ready at the door
To take our lives away."
At the very best, we can only count our lives by days. I know that we
are often tempted to reckon that we shall live to a ripe old age, but,
suppose we should he spared 70 or 80 years–what a short time the
longest life is! Suppose we could live even as long as Methuselah
did–which we cannot–yet how soon it would be all over and when we
came to the end of it, we should say, with old Jacob, "Few and evil
have the days of the years of my life been." The fact is, the older a
man grows, the shorter his life seems to be. And it was because Jacob
was so old and had seen so many days, that he called them few and evil.
Children and youths appear to have lived a long while–men seem to have
lived only a short time, older men an even shorter period–but the
oldest man reckons his days the shortest of all! The calculations about
time are very singular, for length seems to turn to shortness! Well,
then, since I am such an ephemeral creature, the insect of an hour, an
aphid creeping on the bay leaf of existence, how dare I think of
contending with You, my God, who Was long before the mountains were
brought out and who will Be when mountains are gone forever?
Our life, besides being very short, is singularly uncertain–"All the
days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow." We do not know
that we shall even have another day of this life. While we are sitting
in the pew, our life may end. We cannot tell that we shall see next
Sabbath–another Thursday night may never return to us. Do not let us
forget this fact, for if the thought is unpleasant to us, it is because
there is something wrong within. The child of God, when he is right
with his Father, forgets the uncertainty and remembers that all things
are certain in the eternal purpose and decree of God–and that all
changes are wisely ordained and, therefore, the uncertainty causes him
no distress. Yet should this Truth of God make us live with much
caution, care, tenderness, and watchfulness. If I may have to appear
before my Maker before the clock strikes the hour of midnight, let me
set my house in order. Since I may soon die, and not live. Since I may
be even now trembling on the verge of the unseen world, let me be
prepared for everything by making my calling and election sure through
faith in Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior!
Yet again, my Brothers and Sisters, our life is not only short and
uncertain, but, while we have it, it is singularly unsubstantial. Many
things which we gain for ourselves with much care are very
unsatisfying. Have you ever heard the rich man confess that it is so? I
have heard it often and have marked it well. I have looked over his
spacious estate. I have sat in his sumptuous mansion. I have heard from
him all about his success in business, yet he has added, and added
solemnly (the old man spoke not mere words, but spoke it from his heart
as he said it), "But what is it all? It yields me no satisfaction now
that I am about to leave it." Have you ever heard the scholar, who has
won many degrees and stood at the head of his profession, declare that
the more he knew, the less he felt that he knew? In his acquirement of
knowledge there was much vexation of spirit and he could sympathize
with Solomon when he said, "much study is a weariness of the flesh."
There is nothing truly substantial apart from God, the Everlasting One,
who lives and abides forever! Depend upon it,
we shall, in a short time, prove the insubstantiality of our own lives!
Worms will be scrambling for our flesh and if we have not Christ as our
Savior, devils will be fighting for our soul–and we, unable to help
ourselves–shall have passed away from all that we once thought real
with a groan because it was so false and so deceptive. "Verily, every
man at his best state is altogether vanity."
Now, look, my Brothers and Sisters, it ill becomes us, whose lives are
so uncertain and whose lives at the best are so unsubstantial, to begin
to contend with Him in whose hand our breath is and whose are all our
ways! It were far better for us to submit ourselves to Him at once and
to learn that in Him we live, move and have our being–and that if we
live and move at all–it is all derived life and motion! It were well
for us to also give the Lord all this poor life, be it what it may, to
be used in His service and to be spent for His Glory. It will give us
something comforting and cheering to look back upon, if we have
submitted to Him and laid hold upon His way of salvation in Christ
Jesus. And if, by His Grace, we have lived in Him, with Him, through
Him and to Him, it will be real life–life that is substantial–"the
life that is life, indeed." The shadow, as it really is, will be a
substance veiled in a shadowy form. It will have been worthwhile to
have lived, for I reckon that angels envy men, after all. They have not
our battlefields–they cannot have our victories. It is true that they
have not our sins, but they can never know "Free Grace and dying love"
as we have known them! It is true that they have not to deplore
wanderings such as ours, but neither have they been brought back upon
the great Shepherd's shoulders. Nor has there been music made for them
as for sons that were dead but are alive again!
If we play our part as Christians, well, they will think of us as
Englishmen of old thought of their fellow-countrymen on a hard fought
battlefield–they envied those who were privileged to fight battles
that should bring to them such honor–and unfallen spirits might almost
envy martyrs who can suffer for Christ, even to death, and men and
women who, in their particular way, can contend against iniquity and
bear their witness for the Truth and holiness of God and for the
precious blood of the Only-Begotten in this sin-stricken world! May God
help us to lay our poor life, such as it is, at His dear feet! It is
only a flower, but if the flower is once put into His hand, it will not
fade. It is a frail vase that is apt enough to break of its own weight,
but if it is once presented to Him, He will preserve it and give it a
place of honor in His palace above! If our poor life is given up to
Christ, He will keep it for His own Kingdom and Glory. He will link it
with His own immortality and give to us eternal life like to His own.
Can we ever think of contending with Him? No, that can never be! Rather
let us come and creep beneath the shadow of His wings. Let us be as
little chicks that hide beneath the hen and He shall cover us with His
feathers–and under His wings shall we trust. His Truth shall be our
shield and buckler! We shall lose our nothingness in His eternal All
and we shall become great, blessed, happy, everlasting in our God,
through Christ Jesus, His dear Son!
II. Now I lead you on, in the second place, to another consideration,
which is in the text–WHAT IS BEST FOR US IS NOT KNOWN TO US. It is ill
for us to quarrel with God about His Providence, for Solomon wisely
asks, "Who knows what is good for man in this life?" We certainly do
not know, as to temporals, what is best for us in this life– neither
do we know even in higher matters, in spiritual experience, "what is
good for man in this life."
Suppose we ask the question, "Which is the better for a man in this
life–wealth or poverty?"–what will be the answer? Wealth–the eye is
dazzled with it! It brings many comforts and luxuries, yet there is a
passage of Scripture as true, now, as when the Master first uttered it,
"How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom
of God." Paul wrote to his son, Timothy, "They that will be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition." Scripture all through
represents the acquisition of wealth as involving very solemn
responsibilities and loading the soul with burdens. I do not doubt that
there are some men who could never have sinned as they have done if
they had not been successful in acquiring wealth. They could never have
plunged into a damnation so deep as that which is theirs if they had
not been able to indulge their lusts without stint. It must be a
dreadful thing for a man with an evil heart to feel that he can get
anything that his evil heart desires. Who knows, then, that wealth is a
good thing? Do any choose poverty? There have been some men who have
willingly chosen extreme poverty as a help to Divine Grace, but I
gravely question whether it has been a wise choice. There is as much to
be said concerning the evils and the disadvantages of poverty as there
is to be said on the other side. He that lacks bread, he that has
children about him crying with hunger, he that shivers in the cold
blast is often tempted to envy–and to many other sins which he might
not have committed if he had not been in that state.
It is not for you or for me to be able to balance the answer to this
question, "Who knows what is good for man in this life–wealth or
poverty?" There was a wise man who said, "Give me neither poverty nor
riches," and he seemed to have hit the golden answer. Yet I believe
that there is many a man who has been helped to Heaven by his poverty.
At any rate, he has been incapable of committing some sins into which
he might have fallen if the means had been in his hand. He could not
destroy himself so effectually in certain ways for lack of the power to
do it. Brothers and Sisters, it may be that some of you will get to
Heaven with many talents or pounds entrusted to you. There are others
of you who would not get to Heaven at all that way, so you have not the
talents or pounds committed to your charge. "Who knows what is good for
man in this life–wealth or poverty?" We do not know, so we must leave
the question unanswered.
Now take another question–that of health or sickness–"What is good
for man in this life?" It seems, at first, that it must be good for a
man to enjoy the best of health and the most sprightly vigor, does it
not? We all wish for it and we are allowed to do so. Nobody thinks that
sickness and disease can really be, in themselves, a blessing. Yet have
I seen some gentle, holy, devout, matured spirits that could not have
come from any garden but that which was walled around with disease,
grief and woe! I could quote many examples and I have seen full many of
them. The engraver's best art has been spent upon them–the engraving
tool has been very sharp and the hammer has smitten them very terribly.
They had never been such marvels of the Master's Grace if it had not
been for their sorrows! As for myself, personally, I confess that I owe
more to the hammer, the anvil, the fire and the forge, than I do to
anything else. I have learned to bless the hand that has smitten me! I
dare not invite its blows, but it has never come to me without being
full of benedictions. I have seen more stars by night than by day, and
I have realized more of my Master's love and Grace in sorrow than I
have ever done in joy. Yet I doubt not that there are other spirits who
have been brought nearer to God in their gladsomeness, saints who, for
very gratitude to God for their overflowing delights, the mercies of
this life and the health of their bodies, have been drawn and bound
more closely to their God. I am not going to decide the
question–Solomon could not–so I will leave it unanswered. "Who knows
what is good for man in this life–health or sickness?"
So is it with regard to publicity or obscurity. There are some persons
whose Graces are best seen in public and they minister for the good of
others. They have to be thankful that God has placed them in a position
where they are seen, for it has led them to watchfulness and
carefulness. The vows of God have been upon them and they have been
helped in their way to Heaven by the very responsibilities of their
public position. But, sometimes, I have wished that I might be a violet
that I might shed my perfume in some lowly spot hidden by leaves. I
would have liked, sometimes, to take my place in one of those pews and
listen to someone else proclaiming the story of redeeming love. There
must be a great privilege about going in and out of your humble home
unseen and unknown–one would escape the public criticism and the
unkind envy of many–and the weights of responsibility that are enough
to crush us. Yet I do not doubt that obscurity has its ills as well and
that many a man would gladly escape from it. "Who knows what is good
for man in this life?"
I used to be constantly told by people that they prayed for me that I
might be kept humble. Oftentimes I have thought to myself, "Dear Souls,
if you would but pray that I might be kept alive at all, and preserved
from despair, I would be much more thankful," for if God sets a man up
as high as the cross of St. Paul's, he would be safer, there, than if
the devil set him in an easy chair. If God takes His Son and sets Him
on a pinnacle of the Temple, He is safe there. And if He were to come
down and hide Himself, He would not be any safer. No, He would be in
greater danger than He would be where His Father placed Him! All
depends upon your being where God puts you. Any man is safe if he is
where God would have him to be and if he trembles for his own safety
and clings to the Strong for strength! But those who think that their
position gives them immunity from danger are already in peril from
their fancied security! "Who knows what is good for a man in this
life–publicity or obscurity?"
So I might go on with many other matters and say that it is very
difficult, indeed, impossible, to judge which is better. What, then? I
think that we had better be content to remain just as we are and be
satisfied and thankful to be where God has placed us in His Providence.
Who knows what is good for us? God does and that is better than for us
to know!
Then let us enjoy what God has given us. Make the best of your position
by enjoying every mercy that God has bestowed upon you–not fretting
because He has not given you certain other things, but rejoicing that
He has given you what He has bestowed. And use whatever you have to His
Glory. Instead of repining that you have not three, four, five, or 10
talents, use the one that you have and put it out to interest for your
Lord. Do not sigh for another place, as so many do–they are hoping,
wishing and longing to rise in the world–and if they do not get what
they hope for, they will be very grieved and greatly depressed. Rise,
if you can, but if, with all your efforts, you do not rise, thank God
all the same! You do not know what is best for you–that higher place
might have been a snare to you, so be thankful to be where you are and
sigh not for that position which God has denied you.
Neither dote on the things that you have, for they will all soon pass
away. We are travelers and the world is but like an inn–if our room is
uncomfortable, we shall be up and away in the morning! We are soldiers
on the battlefield–if the field is rough and stony, let us fight the
battle and win the victory–then we shall not mind what the soil is on
which we stand! Remember that whatever you set your heart upon is
probably a bad thing for you–if you make up your mind that you must
have a certain thing, you have already made an idol of it–and if the
idol should really become yours, it would bring a curse with it!
Whatever we sin to gain, whatever we sin to keep must be bad for us.
But whatever our heavenly Father sends to us must be right for us to
have and we may well be content to let His unerring wisdom supply what
is lacking through our ignorance.
I believe that the same question might be asked concerning Christian
experience–"Who knows what is good for man in this life?" It must be
good to be full of high joys–to rise to the loftiest heights of
holiness and blessedness–must it not? Yes, yes, but it may be good to
go down into the very deeps, to know the plague of your own heart and
to feel the scourging of your Father's rod. "Who knows what is good for
man in this life?" A mixed experience may be better than one uniform
level either of height or depth. I have sometimes half envied those
Brethren who are evenly the same in temperament, never going up and
never going down, but I am not sure whether it is not better to go both
up and down. I have had a taste of both experiences and if I could
change to the uniform even tenor of my way, I would not dare to make
the change! I feel about this matter very much as the old woman did
when she had been long sick and one asked her, "Don't you wish to die?"
She answered, "I wish the Lord to do with me as He wills." "But," said
the friend, "suppose the Lord put it to you whether you would live or
whether you would die?" "Then," she replied, "I would give it back to
Him and ask Him to choose for me, for I would not want to have the
responsibility of the choice." Let us try to put ourselves wholly into
God's hands–spirit, soul and body–and to beg Him to do just what He
wills with us since we are quite clear that we do not know how to take
care of ourselves!
III. Lastly, the text mentions another form of our ignorance and it is
this–WHAT SHALL BE AFTER US IS NOT KNOWN TO US. "Who can tell a man
what will happen after him under the sun?"
The question may mean, "Who can tell a man what he will yet go through
in this life?" He is now well-to-do. He is prosperous, he is healthy.
But who can tell him what is yet to come to him? No one! Therefore let
not the rich man glory in the wealth which may take to itself wings and
fly away. Let not the man who is honored by his fellows reckon that the
applause of men is any more substantial than a vapor. Let not any man
glory in what he now possesses, for who can tell what may yet come to
him–or be taken from him?
But I think that the text has its main bearing on what will happen
after death. We must leave that with the Lord–it is not for us to know
what will be done when we are called away from the earth. Many are
plotting and planning to settle what shall come to pass after they are
gone, yet much of their scheming is in vain. Somebody else will take
that house which you have had such trouble to build. Strangers will
tramp along those passages and laugh in those rooms–and know nothing
about you. Your sons, whom you have brought up with the idea that they
shall succeed you, may die before you do. You may have your estates
entailed, as men try to do, and the chains of the law may seem to be
riveted fast– but accident and the corrosion of time may bring them
all to nothing.
"Who can tell a man what shall be after him?" I cannot tell what shall
happen when my work is done–what shall happen here, who shall come
here, where these people will go, what shall happen to the College,
what shall become of the Orphanage–all these questions are proposed to
me full often and friends ask, "What is to be done when you are gone?"
Well, dear Friends, if you could tell me what will be done, I wish you
would not, for I do not want to know! What has that to do with us? Are
we not to leave the future as we leave the present–in the hands of
God? And will not all be well? The Lord did very well without us before
we were born and He will do very well without us after we are dead! I
will not say that He will not notice our departure, for He notices
everything, but it will be an almost inconsiderable item in the
innumerable details of His universal government!
So, with regard to our present service, let us just feel this–"It is
not for me to be worried because of what happens to me, or to quarrel
with God about it." God sees the end from the beginning. He takes in
the whole run of things and it may be for His Glory that some of us
should work on throughout our whole life with very little success
because He intends that the "work" should appear to us, but the "glory"
to our children. He may mean this age to be a time of sowing and the
next age to be a time of reaping! He may mean that this century may be
spent in compassing the walls of the Jericho of sin and that, all of a
sudden, there will come a day which He has ordained for the tumbling
down of every castle and every portion of that vast wall! It is for you
and me to know that God sees further than we do and not to begin to
measure His work with our ruler! Just leave it all with Him, you who
are troubled either about the present or the future.
As for you who have no God with whom you can leave either the present
or the future, you have cause to worry and you may well do so, for you
have no Helper. You have no God to live with and no God to die with! No
God for the Day of Judgment, no God to help you when you are driven
from His Presence and from the Glory of His power. You have turned your
back on Him–one day He will turn His back on you! You may well be
afraid! You may well let care gnaw at your very hearts, for again I
remind you that you have no Helper! Oh, that you were wise, that you
would seek God in Christ Jesus and be reconciled to Him! May His
infinite Grace bring you to this blessed condition!
But it is mainly to His children that I have been speaking. And to you
who believe, I hope I need no longer say, "Let us joy in our Father's
love and care, and not want to know what is before us, but be content
to believe! Let us not want to judge, but be satisfied to leave all
with Him." Thus, while we live, we shall praise His name, and when we
die, we shall still go on praising His name forever and ever! I feel as
if I could not help ending my discourse with that verse which I have
often quoted before–
"All that remains for me
Is but to love and sing,
And wait until the angels come
To bear me to the King."
God bless you, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–757, 39, 626.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. PSALM147.
Verse 1. Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises to our
God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely. "It is good," that is to
say, it is a thing that ought to be done, it is a right thing "to sing
praises to our God." "It is good," that is to say, it is profitable, it
is beneficial to our own hearts. Prayer is refreshing, but praise is
even more so, for there may be and there often is, in prayer, the
element of selfishness–but praise rises to a yet higher level. Prayer
and praise, together, make up spiritual respiration–we breathe in the
air of Heaven when we pray–and we breathe it out again when we praise.
"It is good to sing praises to our God." What a mercy it is that it is
pleasant, too! There are many things that are good that are not
pleasant, and many more things that are pleasant that are not good. But
here is a holy duty which is also a heavenly pleasure! It is the bliss
of Heaven to praise God. Let us anticipate that bliss by praising Him
now, "for it is pleasant." And then there is a third commendation–"and
praise is comely." That is to say, it is beautiful, it is a good thing
in its right place, it is according to the natural and spiritual
fitness of things that God should be praised. In God's sight, one of
the most beautiful things in the world is a grateful heart–"it is
pleasant; and praise is comely."
2. The LORD does build up Jerusalem. There is something for which to
praise Him. When the Jews came back from captivity and found their
beautiful city all in ruins, God helped them to build it up, again, so
they sang, "The Lord does build up Jerusalem." We may sing the same
sacred song, for the Psalmist does not say, "The Lord has built," but,
"The Lord does build up Jerusalem." He is going on to build it–the
Divine Architect's plan of salvation is still being carried out! The
great Master Builder is still placing stone upon stone in the wondrous
courses of His election of Grace–"The Lord does build up Jerusalem." O
Lord, build up this part of the wall!
2. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. Those that were far
away, captives in Babylon, He brought back. God has a long arm which He
is casting round His outcast chosen ones, for He means to gather them
all to Himself. He has an elect redeemed people and they are scattered
throughout the whole world–but even Caiaphas knew enough of the Truth
of God to declare that Christ, "should gather together in one the
children of God that were scattered abroad."
3. He heals the broken in heart. He does it still, mark you, for the
verb is in the present tense–"He heals the broken in heart." These are
two of God's great occupations–to gather outcasts and to heal broken
hearts."
3. And binds up their wounds. Oh, what a blessed God He is, thus to
interest Himself in the sorrows of mankind, to give His infinite mind
and heart to this wondrous work of healing the wounds of our lost
humanity! You see, it is thus that the Lord builds up Jerusalem. The
two verses are the complement of each other. "The Lord does build up
Jerusa-lem"–with what? Outcasts, broken hearts and wounded spirits!
Many of the stones that God puts into His great Temple are such as men
would exclude. Broken hearts and bruised spirits that look as if they
never could have any strength in them, God uses in building up His
Church. What a wonderful leap it is from this third verse to the next!
4. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.
There is as much grandeur and glory in His compassion as in His
Omniscience! To bind up wounds is as God-like a work as to count the
stars. God does both, taking, perhaps, a greater delight in the first
than in the second. There is not a star in the Church's firmament to
which God has not given the light! He knows the number of His shining
ones and He keeps their light burning–their names are all in the
Lamb's Book of Life.
5. 6. Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is
infinite. The LORD lifts up the meek. That is the Lord's usual
way–those that are down, He raises. But–
6. He casts the wicked down to the ground. This is what God is always
doing–lifting up and overturning–putting people and things in their
right places.
7. Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp to our
God. False gods have been served with discordant yells and cries of
agony, but our God is to be worshipped with songs of thanksgiving.
Think not that He desires you to come before Him with groans and
moans–He will hear them if they are sincere–but He would have you
raise your hearts to something higher and better.
8. Who covers the Heaven with clouds. Little children do not think that
is a matter for gratitude. They are sorry to see the clouds and the
rain, but wise men know how filled with blessing are the clouds God
sends. It is even so in Providence and Grace.
8. Who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the
mountains. For every blade of grass, we ought to thank and praise the
Lord! If He is a benefactor who makes two blades of grass grow where
only one grew before, what a Benefactor must He be who makes all the
blades of grass grow, without whom there would be none at all! Even on
the mountains, where it may be that we have no cattle, yet there are
wild creatures that must be fed, so the Lord makes the grass grow
there, too! We are often selfish and we talk of things being useless if
they are of no use to us. Are there no other living things, then, but
men? And is God only to care for those animals which most of all rebel
against Him? Let us think differently of this matter and bless the Lord
for even the grass that grows on the waste places, where only the
chamois or the wild gazelle will feed, for they, too, have their
purpose to fulfill in God's sight.
9. He gives the beast his food, and the young ravens which cry. Unclean
creatures though they are, God feeds them. We have known people have
only one bird in a cage and yet forget to feed it. But God has myriads
of birds, millions of beasts and innumerable fishes, yet they are not
starved. The commissary of God never fails! My Soul, will He not feed
you? If He hears ravens, will He not hear your cry?
10. He delights not in the strength of the horse. He takes not pleasure
in the legs of a man. Man boasts of his strength and he looks at his
fine horse and glories in its strength. But God has something higher
and better than sinew and muscle to boast about.
11. The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear Him. That is His joy. As
a man is proud of his horse, or of the muscles which enable him to run
swiftly, so God takes delight in those that fear Him–
11. In those that hope in His mercy. These are His jewels. These are
His Glory.
12-14. Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For He
has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children
within you. He makes peace in your borders. What a blessing this is,
not only in a nation, but in a church! If you were ever members of a
church where they seemed to quarrel punctually once every month, you
would soon be sorry to be a professor of religion at all–but to live
in a Church where brotherly love rules–this is a thing for which to
praise the name of the Lord. "He makes peace in your borders"–
14. And fills you with the finest of the wheat. There is generally
peace where there is plenty. Dogs fight when there are few bones. And
when God's people are well fed, they do not so often quarrel with one
another. If they are fed with the finest of the wheat, there will be
peace in their borders.
15. 16. He sends forth His commandment upon earth: His Word runs very
swiftly. He gives snow like wool. Light and fleecy, it covers the
plants and protects them from the cold. The snow is a kind of garment
to protect them from the frost.
16. He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes. You must often have been
reminded of white ashes as you looked at the hoarfrost in the early
morning.
17. He casts forth His ice like morsels. Hailstones, like little pieces
of bread, broken off and scattered abroad,
17. Who can stand before His cold? In all this, the Lord is really
fattening the soil and preparing food for man and beast in the coming
spring and summer!
18. He sends out His word, and melts them. He has only to speak a word
and the ice, the snow, the hoarfrost and every sign of winter will
disappear–and we shall begin to swelter in the heat of summer!
18. He causes His wind to blow That is all–
18. And the waters flow. Ice saws and axes could not set free the
frozen rivers but His wind, the very breath from the mouth of God, does
it at once!
19. He shows His Word to Jacob, His statues and His judgments to
Israel. And we have come into the place of Jacob and Israel, even we
who have believed, for Abraham is the father of Believers and we are
his spiritual seed according to the promise. So we have to bless God
that He has showed to us His Word, His statutes and His judgments.
20. He has not dealt so with any nation. There are no other people who
know the Lord as God's people do–and remember, they constitute one
nation. We are Englishmen, perhaps, or Americans. That is a skin-deep
distinction. But if we are in Christ, we are one family, we are of that
one peculiar nation which, all over the world, is distinct from every
other nation!
20. And as for His judgments, they have not known them. If they have
been left in the dark, let us do all we can to carry or send the light
of the Gospel to them! And as we think of the great things God has done
for us, let us join in a joyful Hallelujah, as the Psalm ends–
20. Praise you the LORD.