When Should We Pray?
(No. 2519)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MAY 30, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
OCTTOBER 22, 1885.
"Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Luke 18:1.
MY mind alights with great joy upon the simple Truth of God which
gleams on the very surface of our text–then, man may pray! If men
ought to pray, they maypray. Whatever a man ought to do, it is clear
that he has the right and the privilege to do–and though this may seem
a very common-place truth to those of us whose hearts are at ease
through faith in Jesus and who enjoy daily communion with God in
prayer–yet there is an exquisite sweetness about this fact to a man
who fears that he may not pray. He has come into such a miserable state
of heart that he feels as if he could not pray and he fears that he may
not pray. Satan tells him that the door of mercy is shut against him,
that his day of Grace is over and that the time of hope for him is now
past and gone. But our text says, "Men ought always to pray." Then, men
may always pray
Your knees may be bent before the altar of God, though they are stained
through many a fall into sin. Though it is many years since you ever
thought of praying, yet you may pray! Though, perhaps, you have even
denied that there is a God, still you may pray! Though you have
ridiculed the very notion of prayer, you may pray–God does not refuse
to you the permission to come to His Mercy Seat. Though you have
committed every crime in the catalog of sin, you may pray. And though
you have gone on in those crimes and involved yourself yet more and
more deeply in iniquity, you may pray! Though you are within a few days
of death and of damnation unless the Grace of God shall visit you, yet
you may pray! It is clear that you may pray because men ought always to
pray, and what they oughtto do they maydo! Grasp that Truth of God, O
despairing one, and grip it fast, and say to your despair, "Get away
from me! It is not possible that I am denied the right of praying unto
the Lord while such a text as this still stands in Holy Writ, 'Men
ought always to pray.'"
Now, look at the text again, and lay stress upon the first word of
it–"Men ought always to pray." I feel so grateful to the Holy Spirit
that this text does not say, "Saints ought always to pray," because
then I might ask myself, "Am I a saint?" And, perhaps, I might have to
answer, "No, I am far from it." But the text does not say, "saints,"
and it does not even say, "Tender-hearted, penitent persons who are in
a very gracious state ought always to pray." No, there is no
description of character given in the text–for which I am deeply
grateful. Those exhortations that leave the character as wide as
possible are all the more full of Grace and condescending love!
Who ought always to pray, then? "Men." And the word, "men," is generic
and includes the race. "Men." That is, men and women and children–old
men and fathers, young men and maidens–all who belong to the race of
mankind ought always to pray! Perhaps you say, "So-and-So is not a good
man." No, but he zsa man, and men ought always to pray! "He is a long
way from being a commendable man, a man of mark, a man of note, a
nobleman in the truest sense of that term." Ah, but he is a man, and
men ought always to pray! Go down the back streets into the dark alleys
where there are men who scarcely seem to be men, and women who are
scarcely women, and tell even them that they are still included under
this head, "Men ought always to pray." Go upstairs and stand by the bed
where Death has his victim by the throat–the man yet living is still a
man–that poor creature lying there is not yet a corpse, but still a
man! Say to him, "Men ought always to pray." They who curse and swear
ought always to pray. They who live without any regard for God, or even
in disbelief of His existence, and detestation of His Gospel, yet they
ought always to pray! And, as I said at the beginning, the "ought"
implies a permission,for, what a man ought to do, he maydo and,
therefore, whoever you may be, if you are in the shape of a man, you
ought to pray!
If you have a head on your shoulders and lungs that heave, and a heart
that palpitates–if you are still in the land of the living and can be
numbered among the sons of men–to you this text rings out a grand and
glorious Gospel! Even though it seems to be put in the form of a Law of
God by the use of that stern word, "ought," yet it really is in the
form of the Gospel–you may pray if you are either man or woman, if you
are of the race of mankind, for, "men ought always to pray."
Oh, that some poor heart might catch at this sweet Word of God! That
woman talked of throwing herself over London Bridge–yet even she may
pray! That man thought of crossing the Atlantic and hiding himself from
his fellow men, leaving his kith and kin to get away from the place
where he has dishonored his name. Do not think of such a thing, my dear
Sir, but pray, for you may pray! There is not in Heaven or earth
anything that forbids you to pray! There is an act of amnesty and
oblivion passed in the court of God and you are not excepted from it.
There is no Book Inspired of Him that denies you a place at the Mercy
Seat! There is no messenger sent of God who will say to you, "Thus says
the Lord, You shall not pray," but, on the contrary, bringing before
you the living and Inspired Word of the living Christ of God, we say to
you, "Men ought always to pray!" Therefore you ought to pray and,
therefore, you maypray!
Now let us turn the text around a little and put the emphasis on
another word. "Men ought always to pray." Therefore, men may pray now.
If they ought alwaysto pray, they ought to pray now,and if they ought
to pray now, they may pray now! Is not that a precious, blessed Truth
of God? Here you sit, poor Sinner, and I am talking to you. Never mind
that very respectable person who is sitting next to you. I am not, just
now, thinking of her, I am not speaking to him–I mean you, poor, sad,
guilty one! Perhaps you say, "I do not feel in a state of mind in which
I can pray. I hardly know why I came in here. I am very sad, I am very
troubled, I am very sinful, I am very hard-hearted." But, my dear
Friend, you may pray! Let me stop a minute. In this solemn silence, you
may breathe your first prayer to God. May God help you, my poor
Brother, to say for the first time, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!"
May He help you, my dear Sister, who has lived so long without prayer,
to say now, "Lord, receive me, and forgive me, and let me be Your
daughter, Your child, henceforth and forever!"
Do you not see this? If men–and you are in that category–if human
beings ought always to pray, then they may always pray! And, "always,"
must include this present moment! So you may pray now! You oughtto pray
now, for you are in the list of men! Therefore, pray now, for, "now,"
must be included in the word, "always." "Well," someone says, "I will
hasten home and pray." Do not do that! Sit where you now are and let
your soul breathe itself out to God. "But I would like to get down on
my knees." Yes, I would like that you should if it were fit and proper,
but there is no need of it. Get on the knees of your soul! Many a time,
when the body is on its knees, the soul is not really praying–and
there is a way in which the soul can be prostrate before God even
though the body stands. Even now, into the very dust I throw my own
spirit before the thrice-holy God and, prostrate before Him, I pray,
"Lord, help some who are here to pray, now, to You! For the first time
in their lives, even now, while these words are escaping from my lips,
may their hearts confess their sin and cry unto You, great Father, for
the exercise of Your infinite mercy!" Why should it not be so? I
believe that the Spirit of God is at work here at this moment and is
leading some of you into this blessed act of prayer. It so, let His
name be praised for it!
There is one thing more to be noticed before I plunge into the text and
that is, "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Then it is clear
that prayer is always–if it is true prayer–an effectual and
profitable exercise to any man who prays, for, if men ought to pray, it
is plain that there is something in prayer that is helpful to the
spirit, for men ought not to do that which is a mere vain and empty
thing. God cannot require us to do that which will end in smoke, or
which will be a mere nothing! God does not ask any of us to go and talk
to the winds and whistle to the waves! There must be some realityin
prayer–it must be His intention to hear and to answer prayer or else
He would not put it thus–"Men ought always to pray."
Would He give us permission to do a thing that would have no value in
it, whatever? No. Would He exhortus to do it, would He commandus to do
it when He knew that, if we did it, it would just be a mere form? Does
God send us to act like the daughters of Danaus, to fill a bottomless
vessel with leaking buckets? Does He tell us, like Sisyphus, to spend
our lives rolling a huge stone up the hill which will only roll back,
again, upon us? Does He make fools of us? Has He spoken in secret and
said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek you My face in vain"? It cannot be! I
hold that if God does not hear and answer prayer, it is a piece of
foolery. And I cannot conceive that God would set any of us to do what
would be an insane, or at least an idiotic thing. No, if men ought
always to pray, there is something real in prayer and, when the Lord
says that we ought to pray, it is because He stands ready to grant the
desire of our hearts and to send us away with a blessing.
I. With this preface, dear Friends, we come to our text, and I notice
concerning it, first, here is A PERPETUAL DUTY, OR PRIVILEGE, OR BOTH.
"Men ought always to pray."
It means, of course, first, that men ought to pray habitually. There
should be–and where the Grace of God is there will be–the habit of
prayer. There will be the prayer at set times. It is necessary to mark
out the plots in the garden, to keep them from the path where you walk,
so that growing plants may not be trod down by the busy feet of toil.
We need some set times, some little enclosures, some hours and periods
marked off for prayer. These should be regularly attended to. Our
private prayers–it is a great loss to our souls if these are ever
neglected. Our family prayers–I am sure it is a grievous injury to a
Christian household if it is not gathered regularly for prayer. Our
prayers in the House of God among our Brothers and Sisters, too, must
not be forgotten. We love the assemblies for prayer–we have given heed
to the Apostolic injunction, "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together, as the manner of some is." All these things ought you to do,
yet there is a habit of prayer that is higher than all this! The Jews
prayed three times a day. There have been some holy men who have prayed
at least seven times a day, but I take it that the man who lives near
to God could not tell how many times a day he prays, for, whether he
has three or seven times of special and notable prayer in word, he will
have 70 times seven times in a day in which his heart speaks with God
about everything that occurs. I think that it is well before every
action to breathe a prayer, and during every action to breathe a
prayer, and after every action to breathe a prayer.
"Salt," says the Old Testament, "without prescribing how much." So is
it to be with prayer–prayer, without prescribing how much. You can
never overdo it. Possibly those matters which appear to require least
prayer are the very things which require most prayer. "Men ought always
to pray." You do not have to leave off your business to pray, or turn
aside from domestic labor or public service–all of which must be
attended to. You can do that and pray just the same–and this is the
way in which Christians always should pray.
But I do not think that this text so much intends to teach the
continuity of prayer as the pertinacity of prayer. I mean not so much
the always'praying as the keeping on praying for any particular thing
that you have asked for You are to continue to pray! Let me try and
open this up a little. "Men ought always to pray," that is, to pray
under all circumstances. Whatever the difficulty or the trouble is,
pray about it. It is a domestic trouble–pray about it. It is a
business trouble–pray about it. It is a Church difficulty–pray about
it. I wish to bear my personal witness upon this matter. I have had and
I still have, more burdens to bear, I think, than any other man who
lives–heavy burdens, not my own, but for others and for God's
Glory–that which daily comes upon me, the care not only of this huge
Church, but of so many other Churches as well. And I have found that I
never have a burden of any sort but it is my wisdom at once to–
"Take it to the Lord in prayer." I have had burdens that have so
troubled me that I have been quite baffled. I have thought my best and
I have done my best, but the trouble has remained and, at last, I have
taken it bodily and put it up on the shelf. And I have said to the
Lord, "I will never touch that trouble again, I will leave it in Your
hands, my blessed Master." I believe that, generally, it has been the
best mode of dealing with it, to put it entirely into His hands. There
are certain things for which, after having done all else that can be
done, the only remedy is prayer.
Let it be definitely accepted among us Christian people that whatever
the difficulty is, whatever shape it takes, secular or sacred, "Men
ought always to pray," that is, they ought to pray about everything.
This is the remedy that will cure all diseases. This is the sword that
shall cut the Gordian knot if it cannot be untied. This is the key that
fits the wards of every lock in the prison house of our sorrow. We
shall get clean out if we do but know how to use the key of prayer!
"Men ought always to pray." There may be a Brother who is likely to
make discord–shall I go and battle with him? No, I will tell the Lord
about him–He will deal with him better than I can. Oh, but that man
has begun to preach flat heresy! Shall I have a fight with him? Well, I
may controvert with him if I am driven to it, but I will firsttell the
Lord about him. The Lord can settle him far better than I can.
"Straight ahead makes the best runner." Instead of going round to the
servant and trying to curry favor with him, go straight to the Master!
Go at once to headquarters about everything. "Men ought always to
pray." Oh, to learn this lesson well!
And, dear Friends, we ought to pray under all oppositions to prayer.
Sometimes we say to ourselves, "Really, I could not pray about
thatmatter." Well, then, if you cannot pray about it, do not have
anything to do with it–it is a sure sign that there is a leprosy in
it, so touch it not! The cankerworm of Hell is in it if you cannot pray
about it. Flee from it as you would from Hell, itself. It must be a
foul and filthy thing if you cannot pray about it. No, Beloved, there
cannot be such a thing, but, whatever seems to be in the way of your
praying, believe that whenever it is hardest to pray, it is most
necessary to pray! Whenever it seems to you that you cannot pray, then
you must say, "Now I have seven times more need to pray about this
thing than I have about other matters in which prayer comes more easy
to me." It is a danger signal when you cannot pray. It is the rattle of
the rattlesnake when you cannot pray–there must be some deadly
mischief near at hand. Whatever the difficulty in prayer, you must, by
the help of the Divine Spirit, break through all barriers, for you must
pray.
"Men ought always to pray." Then they ought to pray even if there has
been a long delay in answers to their prayers. I object very greatly to
the practice of some of whom I have read, who have given God a certain
time limit during which they will pray. I have heard of a woman who
said that she would pray for her husband for 20 years and, according to
the story, at the end of 20 years he was converted, but if he had not
been converted just then, it would have been at her peril to leave off
prayer, even at the end of the 20 years! Our dear Brother, Mr. George
Muller, has on his "prayer book" the name of a Brother for whom he has
prayed, I think I heard him say, some 36 years. That was some years
ago, so it must be a longer time than that, now, unless, indeed, the
prayer has been answered. But he has the inward persuasion that this
person will yet be brought to the Savior's feet and, therefore, he
daily mentions the case before God in prayer. By the way, he tells us
of a very admirable plan of his for booking his requests in prayer and
marking them off as they are answered–and those that are not answered
he lets stand until, in process of time, he finds that some of them
were not proper requests and he puts that against them. But he finds
that God does hear prayer and he likes to keep a record of it. If we
did the same, we would have much more holy commonsense confidence in
God, and our praying would be a more business-like matter as, indeed,
it ought to be. But do not say to yourself, "I shall pray just so long
for this thing." If what you are asking for touches the Kingdom and the
Glory of Christ, persevere in the prayer with this text to encourage
you, "Men ought always to pray."
If it is something which concerns only your own personal comfort, then
God's Spirit may teach you to limit your prayers. "Concerning this
thing," said Paul, "I besought the Lord thrice." Yes, and then he had
not the answer that he desired, but he had one with which he was
perfectly satisfied! The Lord did not take away the thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet him, but He said, "My Grace is
sufficient for you." Paul still had to bear the trial, but he received
from the Lord the Grace to enable him to bear it! Ask with bated breath
when you are asking something temporal for yourself, for you are but as
a silly child in that which relates to yourself. A boy might fall in
love with his father's razors or wish to eat some delicacy that would
be most dangerous to his health–and you would not have your child
persisting in asking for that which would injure him! You are not angry
with him for asking, for he knows no better, so you say, "My child,
that would not be good for you!" If your son is a good child, he will
not ask again, or, asking, he will not be angry if he is refused.
And, often, you know not what is good for you. If God had really put it
within our reach to have whatever we chose to ask for, it would be a
very dangerous power, indeed! If the Lord should say to me, "You may
have whatever you wish for," I would straightway get to my chamber and
say, "O my Father, divest me of this dangerous privilege! I ask You, of
Your tender mercy, never to give me anything which Your great wisdom
does not see to be good for me. Do not trust me with so dangerous a
power as this! You are Omniscient and I am foolish. You are altogether
good and Your will for me is better than my will for myself can ever
be! Not, then, as I will, but as You will, let it be done to me." But
if it is anything concerning the Kingdom of Christ, anything for the
Glory of God, continue in prayer, even though it is for 50 years– and
let this little sentence cheer you–"Men ought always to pray."
Pray on, also, dear Friends, despite all temptations and all personal
difficulties. When you feel, "My prayer is dull and feeble," still
pray. When Satan says, "There is no use in praying about thatmatter,"
still pray. When others round about you say, "It is not a fit subject
for prayer," still pray. When at last it seems to be despairing work
and you have to cry, "Has God forgotten to be gracious.? Has He in
anger shut up the heart of His compassion?" still pray, for, "Men ought
always to pray."
II. Now I must say just a few words upon THE GROUND OF THIS OBLIGATION
"Men ought always to pray." Well, we ought always to pray because we
have always some sin to confess, we have always some good thing for
which to bless God and we have always some need that needs to be
supplied. I must admit that I have never yet been in a condition in
which I did not need to pray. He who is down in the valley needs prayer
that he may be able to climb the hill. He who is up the hill needs to
pray twice as much that his head may not grow dizzy–and that he may
not fall from his high position. He who has not should pray till he has
and he who has should pray that he may be blessed in the having. If
your cup is empty, pray the Lord to fill it. If your cup is full, pray
God to make your hand steady that you spill not its contents. If you
cannot see your way, pray God to guide you. If you can see your way,
pray God to help you to follow it. Are you young? Pray God to help you
against the sins of youth. Are you in the middle of life? Pray God to
help you in the middle passage, where trials are so numerous. Are you
almost into Heaven with age? Pray that you may enter Heaven with
prayer.
"Men ought always to pray." It is always an incumbent duty for one or
other of these reasons. Men ought always to pray because God commands
them to pray. "Pray without ceasing" is a clear, clean-cut command.
There is no getting over that passage, "Pray without ceasing." It lies
wrapped up within the heart of the First Commandment of the Law of God
-"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength."
"Men ought always to pray." It is always the wisest thing they can do.
' 'Men ought always to pray." It is sometimes the only thing that they
can do. "Men ought always to pray," or else they take the matter out of
God's hands. "Men ought always to pray," for they always need God's
help, whether they think they do or not.
III. I will not go into further reasons, though there are very many for
this obligation, but I shall close by noticing THE ALTERNATIVE–"Men
ought always to pray, and not to faint." If you do not pray, you will
faint.
There are some who faint fatally. They set out upon the Christian
profession. Perhaps there are some here who once did that. Years ago
you were a member of a church–where are you now? Years ago you used to
speak, sometimes, on the village green in the name of Christ–you do
not do that now. How have you come to be where you are–either not even
making a profession of religion, or certainly doing nothing in Christ's
service? I shall not make a guess, but I shall pronounce a
certainty–you went wrong and you began to faint in your spiritual
course because you restrained prayer. You fainted because you did not
pray! Ah, a religion that does not begin with secret prayer is not
worth the label you put on it! A religion that is not sustained by
secretprayer is a lie! A religion that does not grow through secret
prayer may be puffed up, but it is not truly built up by the hand of
God. No, no, young man, if you seek to join a Church, to be baptized,
to come to the Communion Table and, all the while, you do not pray,
your religion is but the baseless fabric of a vision and will
disappear! We have had a great many men whom I have seen and known at
different times who could speak very fluently and did labor in the
service of God for a while, but the great mischief with them was that
they did not live to God in private! If it is so with any of you, your
religion may be built up very loftily, like some high tower, but it
will come down very speedily because the foundations have been badly
laid. You must either pray or you will faint!
If you are a child of God, the same alternative lies before you. You
will either pray or faint–that is to say, sometimes you will get
bewildered. I do. I wish to do the right thing, but scarcely know which
is right out of 20 things. I would deal with this Brother kindly, but
with that other Brother firmly. How shall I mix firmness and kindness?
If you are pastor of a Church–and you may be, my dear Friend–you know
how many puzzles we have before us in dealing not only with our own
poor human nature, but with the human nature of God's people, for there
is a lot of human nature even where there is spiritual nature–and
there are very odd ways even in good men! What are you to do in such
cases? Well, if you cannot go back within the veil, and speak with the
Holy Oracle, you will faint.
I have told you before that when I was coming to London, there was a
strange old man in the Prayer Meeting who, when the people were praying
that I might have a blessing in going, asked the Lord that I might be
helped to "swallow bundles of brush crossways." That I have done many a
time. Another prayed that I might be "delivered from the bleating of
the sheep" and, for the life of me, I could not make out what he meant.
I am not sure that he understood it himself, but I quite understand it
now. There is no leader of the flock who will not occasionally wish to
be delivered from the bleating of the sheep, for they bleat such
different tunes sometimes. You may listen to the bleating of one sheep
and another– some, perhaps, that are not bleating in the right style,
but it is a great thing to feel, "Now, I am not going to be guided by
the way these sheep bleat. I am set to guide them, rather than to let
them guide me, but I am going to be guided by a higher voice than the
bleating of the sheep, namely, the voice of the Great Shepherd." I
believe that every man who seeks to win souls–and I am addressing many
who are in charge of Bible classes, or at the head of Missions, or in
some way serving the Lord–will faint, I am sure he will–in the
management of his work unless he gets right out of it sometimes into
prayer and lays it all before the Lord and waits upon Him. "Men ought
always to pray, and not to faint" in their ministry for God, in their
service on behalf of the souls of their brethren. They will faint from
very bewilderment if they do not pray.
And you will be sure to faint, at times, through weariness and
depression of spirit, through a sense of your own pow-erlessness. "Oh,"
you say, "would God I could give it all up! Oh, that I had the wings of
a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest!" It is a great mercy that
the wings do not grow when we ask for them, for they would be of no use
to us–what should we do, flying away like doves? If God had a message
for us to carry like a pigeon, He would give us the wings and then it
would be right for us to fly. But what we generally mean is that we
want to get away from hard work, we are looking for Saturday night. How
do you like the workman who says, on Tuesday morning, "O Sir, I wish it
were Saturday night!" And when it gets on towards Thursday, he meets
you and says, "Good morning, Sir, I wish it was Saturday night"? "Oh!"
I think you would say, "next Saturday night will be the last I shall
want to see you." You need a better workman than that–and if we get to
fainting in that style, we should say to ourselves, "Come, this will
not do! I must go and tell the Lord all about my difficulty and my
trouble." Wait upon Him for fresh strength and then you will come out
as though you had bathed your face in the dew of Heaven, the Light of
God had entered your eyes and you had come fresh from a vision of
angels to talk with men with new tongues as the Spirit gave you
utterance! "Wait, I say, on the Lord," for this it is that will keep
you from fainting and make you to renew your strength like the eagle's!
I have come to deal with God's people in the close of my subject, but I
almost wish I had not–that I could have kept on in the first strain
and talked with those who are beginning to pray. Dear Friends, do begin
tonight, I pray you, with your eye on my Lord on yonder Cross, all
stained with the streaks of crimson blood flowing down His precious
body. Look at Him! There is life in a look at Him. Look at Him as He
dies for you and you shall live! God help you to do so, for Christ's
sake! And when you have believed in Him, come and be baptized in His
name, as these dear friends are about to be. God bless you all! Amen.
HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK" –145 (PART 1), 978, 977.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM145.
I am going to preach about prayer, [the exposition was always at the
beginning of the service] so we will read "David's Psalm of Praise."
Thus we shall have two parts of true worship.
Verses 1, 2. I will extol You, my God, O king; and I will bless Your
name forever and ever Every day will I bless You; and I will praise
Your name forever and ever Notice how long David expected to praise
God. He was going to praise God forever–and then after that, "forever
and ever." "'Every day will I bless You'–that is, when I do not seem
to be partaking of any choice temporal blessing, I will still bless
You. When I sit like Job on the dunghill, 'every day will I bless You;
and I will praise Your name'–Your Character, all that has to do with
You, 'forever and ever.'" The first two verses are the preface of the
Psalm. Now the Psalmist begins his music.
3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He is great without
bounds. Let Him be praised without end. There is no end to His
greatness; let there be no end to our adoration.
3, 4. And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise
Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. The fathers
shall be the preachers to their sons and the sons shall be the
preachers to their sons. The flaming torch of Jehovah's praise shall be
passed from hand to hand all down the centuries. As long as men shall
live, God shall have the praise of the godly. "One generation shall
praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts."
5. I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty. This is a
beautiful expression–"I will speak of the glorious honor of Your
majesty." It is a heaped-up expression. David was in an ecstasy of
delight when he wrote it. He did not know how sufficiently to express
his adoration of God. Other men might praise God for themselves, but
that was not enough for David–he must take his own turn at the blessed
business! "I will speak of the glorious honor of Your majesty."
5, 6. And of Your wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of
Your terrible acts: and I will declare Your greatness. "And I will
declare." Yes, in comes David's personal note again! He cannot leave
the praises of God alone, He must take his full share in this heavenly
task. I wish that whenever there was work to do for God, or prayer to
be offered or praise to be given to the Lord, you and I would always
interject this personal pronoun, "and I." You know, perhaps, dear
Friends, that you never find Bartholomew's name by itself in any of the
Gospels–it is always somebody else "and Bartholomew." It is well to be
a good helper of other people. And when others are praising the Lord,
it is good to come in as David did with the personal resolve and
confession, "and I will declare Your greatness."
7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Your great goodness. Mark
every word in this choice expression– "They shall abundantly utter the
memory of Your great goodness." They shall see this goodness and they
shall appreciate it as greatgoodness! They shall remember it and so
have the memory of God's great goodness and then they shall speak of
it. "They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness" and when they
have done so, they shall do it again and again! "They shall abundantly
utter the memory of Your great goodness."
7. 8. And shall sing of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious, and
full of compassion. He has no passion, but He is full of compassion!
What a mercy that is for us! Sometimes we hear persons say that God
cannot do this or that– that He cannot feel and cannot suffer. That is
not true, for He can do anything that He likes. A god who has no
feeling is a poor god–of no service whatever to us–but "theLord's
gracious and full of compassion."
8. Slow to anger, and of great mercy. Oh, what a blessing it is for you
and for me that He is slow to anger!
9. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His
works. Whether you search for the far-distant with a telescope, or peer
into the minute with the microscope, the Lord's tender mercies are
found everywhere! Like the light, without which you see nothing, so is
the mercy of God–it enlightens everything! "His tender mercies are
over all His works."
10. All Your works shall praise You, O Lord; and Your saints shall
bless You. "Standing in the inner circle, 'Your saints' shall mingle
their love with their praise and so 'shall bless You.' Theirs shall be
a choicer, more tender worship than that of all 'Your works' besides."
The works of God are like a great organ, but it is man who puts his
fingers upon the keys and brings forth all the music. Man is the
interpreter of the universe–he praises God as the inanimate creation
can never do.
11. They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom, and talk of Your
power I wish we did speak more of such subjects and talk more upon
these sacred themes. I do not think there is ever any deficiency of
talk, but I am afraid there is a very great lack of such talk as
this–"They shall speak of the glory of Your Kingdom, and talk of Your
power."
12. To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious
majesty of His Kingdom. See how David keeps to the subject with which
he began the Psalm–"I will extol You, my God, my king." Yes, and he
sings about the King all through this Psalm. His great objective is to
make us see that there never was such a King as the infinitely-glorious
Jehovah, who surpasses all the kings of the earth!
13. Your Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. Other kingdoms come and go.
They last during their little day and then they vanish away. Look, for
instance, at the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who only reigned for
about 12 years and when he died left no successor. We talk of great
earthly monarchs–they are but monarchs of an hour compared with the
Kingdom of Jehovah. Well might David say to Him, "Your Kingdom is an
everlasting Kingdom."
13. And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. What kind of
a King is this whose Kingdom is everlasting and what are the acts that
make Him famous? Notice the first thing He is said to do.
14. The LORD upholds all that fall, and raises up all those that are
bowed down. This is His glory! This is the majesty of the King of
kings, that He takes notice of the poor and weak! The compassion of God
is, to a great extent, the glory of God. That He has such tender
mercies toward the unworthy is the subject of the loudest of our songs!
"Jehovah upholds all that fall," that is, such as wouldfall were it not
for His upholding! Jehovah lifts up all those who have fallen and
raises up those who are bowed down. Blessed be His holy name!
15. The eyes of all wait upon You. What a King is this who must feed
all His subjects and who must have all His subjects depend upon Him
alone! "The eyes of all wait upon You."
15. And You give them their meat in due season. It is an act of Grace,
not of debt–"You give them their meat." Did you ever think of the vast
variety of the separate sorts of food that the Lord provides for each
of His creatures He has formed? The meat that feeds an elephant would
not feed a lion. That which feeds a lion would not feed a sparrow. That
which feeds a sparrow would not satisfy the fish of the sea. To every
creature God gives its own food. "You give them their meat in due
season." The fruits of the earth do not ripen all at once, but the
various harvests succeed each other. Notice how each of the many
flowers is full of honey just at the time when the particular insect
which is to come down into the flower-bell is needing that nectar to
feed upon. It is marvelous to see how God has timed creation to the
ticking of a watch–and when the flower is ready, then comes the fly,
the bee, the butterfly, or the moth that shall be fed thereby. "You
give them their meat in due season."
16. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. As
men feed doves in their courtyard, carrying down to them their little
handful of food and opening the hand to pour it out, so does God feed
all living creatures readily and easily enough by the simple opening of
His hand. But He does it. He satisfies the desire of every living thing
and He will satisfy your desire, dear Soul, if you take it to Him. You
say, perhaps, that you are very poor. Well, then, cry to Him! He has
never failed His creatures, yet, and He will not fail you! He hears the
young ravens when they cry and He will hear you, a man created in the
image of God, when you cry to Him.
17. 18. The LORD is righteous in allHis ways, and holy in allHis work
The LORD is near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call
upon Him in truth. As the Omnipresent Deity, the Lord is not far from
any of us, but there is a peculiar nearness of God to His people–a
nearness of knowledge, a nearness of affection, a nearness of heart by
which He looks upon them as His own special portion, His own peculiar
heritage. "Jehovah is near unto all them that call upon Him." That is
the name of His people–they are a calling people, they are a praying
people–and they pray to Him "in truth." There are some who offer the
mockery of pretended prayer, but God is not near to them in the special
sense in which He "is near unto all them that call upon Him in truth."
19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him'' 'He will
fulfill"–He will fill full–"the desire of them that fear Him." If You
fear Him, you need not fear any need! You have nothing at all that you
need to fear.
19, 20. He also will hear their cry, and will save them. The LORD
preserves all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy.
These two things always go together–as surely as the Lord does the
one, He will do the other. While He preserves His saints, He will
certainly destroy the wicked.
21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. God move us, each one,
to do this! Then with the Psalmist we may fitly say–
21. And let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever.