A Singular Title and a Special Favor

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 12, 1874,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"The God of my mercy shall prevent me." Psalm 59:10.

A LIFE without trouble would be very uninteresting. Our opportunities
for greatness would be narrowed down if trials were gone. I watched a
glorious sunset, marveling at the beauty of the evening skies all
ablaze and adoring Him who gave them their matchless coloring. On the
next evening I resorted to the same spot, hoping to be, again,
enraptured with the gorgeous pomp of the ending day, but there were no
clouds and, therefore, no glories. True, the canopy of sapphire was
there, but no magnificent array of clouds to form golden masses with
edges of burning crimson, or islands of loveliest hue set in a sea of
emerald. There were no great conflagrations of splendor or flaming
peaks of mountains of fire. The sun was as bright as before, but for
lack of dark clouds on which to pour out his luster, his magnificence
was unrevealed.

A man who should live and die without trials would be like a setting
sun without clouds–he would have scant opportunity for the display of
those virtues with which the Divine Grace of God had endowed him. In
the case of David we have much cause for thankfulness that he did not
lead a life of unbroken tranquility. It is well for us that his was not
a flowery path of continuous prosperity. Over him the waves and billows
dashed full often–both within and without he was assailed daily, so
that he became the epitome of all the temptations and the aspirations,
the Graces and the weaknesses, the joys and the sorrows of our
humanity–and therefore his life was so wondrously instructive. David
owed much to the Philistines, to the tracks of the wild goats, to the
cave of Dallam and to persecuting Saul!

His tried life and a thousand trying circumstances trained him for a
grand life and made him, for us, a mirror in which we see ourselves
reflected in all our varying moods and passions. None of us can know
what we are till we are tried, nor will the good within us increase to
any degree of bitterness unless it is exercised. The arm unused loses
muscular force–put it to stern labor and it gathers strength. Soldiers
are made by war and mariners by storms. The scholar may think it
difficult to be severely examined, but he becomes the wiser by the
searching test. Our trials and troubles, while they test and develop
us, also, by Divine Grace, strengthen and improve us–and we always
have great cause to bless God for them when Grace sanctifies them to
our highest good.

Had not David been a man of many afflictions he would never have penned
such a verse as our text, a confident utterance of unstaggering faith,
full of meaning, rich with consolation–the very cream of assured hope
in God. There are three things in the text–the first is David's
looking to his God, for God is the theme of the verse. Secondly,
David's appropriating Divine mercy–"the God of my mercy." And then,
thirdly, David's confidence in merciful help from God– "The God of my
mercy will prevent me."

I. First, then, let us think for awhile of David's LOOKING TO HIS GOD.
"The God of my mercy," he says. Note that this Psalm was composed by
him upon the occasion of his being shut up in the house of Michal,
Saul's daughter, and surrounded by his adversaries. The messengers of
the bloodthirsty king watched the house all night long, to kill him,
and when they had not effected their purpose, Saul demanded that he
should be brought, on his bed, into his presence, that he might slay
him. It was not easy for a man, when his enemies were watching the
house, to escape out of their hands. David, however, does not appear to
have been at all disturbed, but with perfect confidence in God, he
expected that a way of escape would be made for him.

He could not hope that Saul would relent, nor could he expect his
friends to come to the rescue. Neither did he rely upon his own cunning
for the means of escape, but calmly prayed, "Deliver me from my
enemies, O my God; defend me from those that rise up against me." He
rested quietly, feeling sure that God had his enemies in derision, and
could as readily break the line of watchers as a man can drive off a
pack of prowling dogs, to whom, indeed, he compares his foes.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, this looking above, this having our eyes
upon the Lord, is a practice which should be habitual with all
Believers, and needs to be learned by us all. David looked to God on
this occasion because he had, before this, habitually waited upon Him.
His faith had realized the existence of God and his soul had felt the
power of that realized truth.

This is a thing unknown to the unconverted–and unfelt to any high
degree by large numbers of those who profess to know the Lord. That
there is a God is a doctrine which we all receive, but that God really
exists is not grasped by us as it should be. Other existences are more
real to us, whereas God's being should be the most real of all. We look
upon His existence as a mystery, a light and airy thing, proper to be
believed, but not a matter of everyday fact which can influence our
lives to any great extent. This unreal view of God arises from a secret
deep-seated unbelief. We dare not say that God is a fiction, but we act
as if He were. The faith which David had, and which I trust we have, in
our measure, makes God a fact to the mind and heart–intensely and
superlatively real! An eye anointed with faith looks upon men and women
as if they were shadows, for they are soon to dissolve and cease to be.
But it views the Lord as the only real substantial existence–and all
that concerns Him as being alone, sure, and vitally important.

God is unseen, but none the less present and energetic in our lives. He
is unheard by the ear but none the less perceived by the heart. He is
certainly at work accomplishing His purposes, although our coarse and
earth-bound senses cannot discover Him. Faith has a far greater
perceptive power than the senses, it is "the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen." While carnal men say, "seeing is
believing," we assure them that to us, "believing is seeing." We turn
their saying upside down–our faith is eye and ear–and taste and touch
to us! It is so mighty in us that we do not only know that there is a
God, but we regard Him as the great motive force of the universe and
daily calculate upon His mighty aid.

Therefore it is the Christian's habit to fall back upon God in all time
of faintness, to cry to God in all time of danger–he does not pray
because he thinks it a pious, though useless, exercise, but because he
believes it to be an effectual transaction–the potent pleading of a
child with its Parent, rewarded with loving grants of blessing. The
Believer does not look up to Heaven because it is a natural instinct to
hope for better days and to cheer one's self with a pious fiction about
Providence! He looks up to Heaven because God is actually there, truly
observant, tenderly sympathetic and ready with a mighty arm to come to
the rescue of His people! So, then, because it is our desire to wait
upon the Lord, we go to Him in troublous days as a matter of course.

We do not make him an occasional resort to be used only when we cannot
help it, but we dwell in Him and, morning by morning pour out our
hearts before Him. And so, when adversity comes, we fly to God as
naturally as the dove to its dovecote, or the coney to the rock, or the
weary child to its mother's bosom. The nautilus, when disturbed, folds
up its sails and sinks into the depths. And even so, in every hour of
storm we descend into the depths of Divine Love. Blessed is that man
whose spirit looks to God, alone, at all times! Let us, each one, ask
his own heart–is this my case? And if we can answer aright, let us
sing with Madame Guyon–

"Ah then! To His embrace repair, My Soul, you are no stranger there!
There Lo ve Divine shall be your guard, And peace and safety your
reward."

On this special occasion David was driven more closely to his God by
the peculiar trouble with which surrounded him. To no other helper
could he look, he was shut up to his God. Michel, Saul's daughter,
proved faithful to him, but he could not have been sure that she would
dare to incur her father's displeasure for his sake. Outside the house
there might be friendly hearts, but they were far away–and the
watchful followers of the tyrant shut up every avenue. But lo, there
was a broad highway upwards to the Throne of the Most High! And the
believing prayers of David traversed the shining road and brought him
assurances of deliverance. To whom could he look but unto God? Every
other door was closed, save that door which is opened in Heaven. See,
then, how the bow of trouble shot him like an arrow towards God! It is
a blessed thing when the waves of affliction wash us upon the rock of
confidence in God, alone–when darkness below gives us an eye to the
light above.

The Psalmist says in the verse preceding the text, "Because of his
strength"–that is, the strength of the foe–"will I wait upon You, for
God is my defense." Because the enemy is too strong for me, therefore
will I turn to my God and invoke His Omnipotence as my defense. Are any
of you, this morning, in trouble so deep that you know you must sink in

it, so far as material help is concerned? That is a glorious position
to be in if your faith proves equal to the occasion and leads you to
cast yourself upon God and swim to shore! It is nothing for a man to
walk down here upon the ground, but to walk aloft upon yonder slender
thread, which the eye can scarcely see, is a feat of skill at which men
gaze with admiration–and to walk on what the eye cannot see at all, or
the foot feel, needs a yet higher art–such is the walk of

faith!

To lean upon God's invisible arm, which the carnal mind knows not, and
accounts as little worth, is grand work! If you can walk where there is
no visible pathway, you belong to the race of the immortals, a
God-given faith proves your lineage to be Divine! Perhaps you have a
task set before you which is much too heavy for you. Well, Brother,
Sister, you have the honor of being placed where you can, to the
fullest, display your trust in God! What you can do you must do, but
what you cannot do and yet must do, you may confidently expect the Lord
to enable you to perform! He will elevate your weakness into a platform
for His power. To come to the end of yourself is to get to the
beginning of your God. Blessed is that extremity which is God's
opportunity! Such was David's case.

As soon as David had looked, alone, to his God, his trials grew small.
In his own esteem they grew to be nothing, for he says, "You, O Lord,
shall laugh at them, You shall have all the heathen in derision." And I
think something of the laughter of God penetrated David's spirit–and
in that house where he was enclosed as a prisoner–he smiled, in his
heart, at the disappointment which awaited his foes. You may look at
your troubles till your spirits sink within you. You may watch the
adversaries of God till your soul within you is heavy, even, to
despair. But if you then lift up your eye to Him who works all things
according to the counsel of His will–across whose brow no cloud can
ever pass, who speaks and it is done, who commands and it stands fast,
who bears up the unpillared arch of Heaven and, unaided, wheels the
ponderous orbs along their trackless courses–then difficulties vanish,
impossibilities end and perils and dangers cease to

be!

To get away from man and nestle beneath the wings of God is to exchange
doubt for certainty, and fear for confidence. Faith laughs at that
which fear weeps over! It leaps over mountains at whose feet mere
mortal strength lies down to die. Reliance upon God, dear Friends, is a
virtue to which I would urge every Believer–may the Holy Spirit work
it in you. We have fallen upon evil times–this is the age of little
men and cowards–but where does our littleness lie? From where comes
our cowardice? I believe that both are caused by our faith. If the Son
of Man should come at this hour, would He find faith on the earth? If
anyone could find it, He could, for He is the Author of it, and
wherever there is any faith His eyes quickly discern it. But yet, if He
were to come, would He find it?

Alas, it is sadly rare! Yet, my Brethren, faith is the bread on which
heroes feed–the air which gives breath to great souls. Believe in God
and all things are possible for you. Whenever there has been a revival
of faith in the saints of God, they have been potent against all
adverse forces. Why, even a wrong faith is mighty when thoroughly
received. Have you not been astonished to hear of late that
Mohammedanism has made great headway in the world, that in India,
especially, Mahometan proselytes have been vastly more numerous than
Christian converts? What has been the reason? Why, because you never
saw or heard of a Mahometan teacher who did not believe every word of
the Koran! The teachers of the book believe in the book and believe in
their prophet, hence their success, false, though their faith is!

On the other hand, nowadays it is easy to find a Christian teacher who
believes next to nothing of the very things that he is set to
teach–and who, in his secret heart, does not reverence the doctrine
which he officially declares! The worm of unbelief, the cursed dry rot
of infidelity and skepticism among professional teachers is eating out
the heart and force of Christianity! He can never be strong for God who
does not believe, yes, and believe with all his heart, soul and
strength–in the very marrow of his being. Christianity can never be
strong till her disciples have strong convictions, till those who
believe in the revealed Truth of God believe in it as assuredly as they
believe in their own existence! As it is on the large scale, so it is
with each one of us–we can bear any burden when we believe in God–but
we are crushed like moths when unbelief betrays us.

We can attempt any labor and make any sacrifice when we have confidence
in the Lord. But if we doubt whether we are His children and whether
His Gospel is, indeed, the victorious Gospel of the olden times, our
strength evaporates and we are like Samson when his hair was lost. We
must possess strong faith in God, or we shall be unstable as water. O
Brothers and Sisters, we need in this Church men and women who
habitually live as seeing Him who is invisible. We need

those who will never rely upon mere opinion–either their own or that
of others! We need Brothers and Sisters who ascribe to the Word of God
sovereign authority and accept it as infallibly true, knowing it to be
Divine!

If we have among us men of principle because men of experience, men of
forceful lives because those lives have struck their roots into eternal
verities–if we have men and women who take trials, difficulties,
everything, in fact, to the one only God and trust only upon Him–we
shall have heroes among us again! They will be pillars in the Church
which cannot be moved! They will be bulwarks for our Israel against
which the assaults of the enemy shall never avail! God make each one of
us such! I long, in my own soul, to get right away from everything but
the Lord, and to do His will and preach His Truth as in His sight only.
Policy? Let it be abhorred! The pleasing of men? Let it be scouted! The
attempt to gratify the tendencies of the age? Let it be loathed! All
aiming at our own personal interests, may God deliver us from it!

But for the Truth as it is in Jesus may we live, and if need be, die!
For God's honor may we feel that we could sacrifice everything! And in
His strength may we be sure that the battle is not doubtful, but the
triumph must come to God and to the right. "My soul, wait you upon
God." That is our first point–would God we had learned its lesson!

II. The second part of the text is to notice DAVID'S APPROPRIATION OF
THE DIVINE MERCY. "The God of my mercy." This is quite a unique
expression–it occurs only in this Psalm. God is the God of mercy and
is frequently called so. He is also styled, "The God of all Grace," but
you will find none but David calling Him, "The God of my mercy." Notice
that the pith of the title lies in the appropriating word, "my." Luther
used to say that the very soul of divinity lay in the possessive
pronouns. Another Divine said that all the stir there ever has been in
the world has been caused by meum and tuum, mine and yours. "It is
mine," says one man. "It is mine," cries another man, and then comes a
conflict. "It is mine," says one king. "No," says another, "it is not
yours," and then fierce war begins. Nothing influences a man so much as
that which he calls his own. "The God of my mercy."

Now it is clear that David appropriated to himself a portion of Divine
mercy as being peculiarly his and we shall never advance in the Divine
life unless we do the same, for the mercy which is common to all men,
of what use is it to any man? But the mercy which any one man by faith
grasps for himself, this is the mercy which will bless him and which he
will prize above all things. When Gideon's men went out to fight they
had not a whole row of pitchers between them, but every man held a
pitcher in his own hand, and a trumpet, too, and so the Midianites were
routed. Solomon represents his armed men as having, each man, his sword
upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. A thousand swords hung up
in the armory of David had been of little value–they only availed when
each man had his own sword ready to his hand.

In heavenly things it is always so–we may pray in the plural–but we
must believe in the singular. Notice how the Lord's prayer runs–"Our
Father which are in Heaven," but if we would repeat the Apostles'
Creed, we must not say "we believe in God the Father," but, "/
believe." Believing must be in the first person singular! Praying
should have a width and compass about it to embrace all the saints, but
believing must be by each one for himself–"The God of my mercy." What
do you know about this, my dear Hearers? Is a portion of the Divine
mercy really yours, so that another cannot seize it? Is there a lot in
which you must stand in the end of the days, even as by faith you stand
in it now, and call it all your own?

Happy David, to be able to make this appropriation! Happy Christian, if
God's Grace has taught you to do the same! I think he meant, too, that
there was a portion of mercy which he had already received, which was,
therefore, altogether his own. The "God of my mercy"–he meant the God
of the mercy he had already experienced. Look at this for a minute.
Well may it bring the tears into your eyes to think of it. The mercy
which nursed you in your infancy, when you were upon the knee of
kindness. The mercy which watched over you in your youth and kept you
when you were apt to stray. The mercy which restrained you from many a
deadly sin. The mercy which guided you into that road where happy and
holy teachings were waiting for you. The mercy which influenced you for
the right. The mercy, above all, which decided you for Christ and
cleansed you in His blood! The mercy which has followed you to this day
and still follows you. Oh, bless the Lord that it has all come from
Himself and think of Him as the God ofyour mercy!

Too little do we prize our mercies till they are removed from us. I
have heard of a person who at 50 years of age was murmuring that he had
suffered two long years of sickness. But someone reminded him that he
had enjoyed 48 years of perfect health in which he had never spent a
single hour in bed through illness. Then he said to himself, "I will
bless God, who might have given me 48 years of sickness and only two of
health–that He has been pleased to reverse that allotment. My mercies
have been very great–far larger is the number of His favors than the
time of my sufferings."

Bless, then, the Lord this moment, Beloved, and take Him to yourselves
under that sweet name, "The God of my mercy." And, remember, that all
the mercy you have had is little compared with the mercy you have yet
to receive. There is a portion of mercy laid up and labeled for you.

As the rich father thinks, "This will I give to my eldest son, and that
to the second, and that to the third," and so he puts by a portion for
each of his children, so has God mapped out and allotted for each one
of us some choice and special mercy fitted for our peculiar case–which
no one can receive but ourselves–but which we must and shall obtain.
Is not our hymn delightfully suggestive where it sings–

"And a new song is in my mouth,

To long-loved music set

Glory to You for all the Grace

I have not tasted yet.

I have a heritage of joy

That yet I must not see–

The hand that bled to make it mine,

Is keeping it for me."

Blessed be God for His reserves of mercy, for the blessing yet to be
revealed–which is as sure as if we had it–is kept in a better hand
than ours! It is preserved by Him who bought it, till the time
appointed shall arrive. "The God of my mercy," that is, of the mercy I
have had, and also of that which is treasured up for me in the Covenant
purpose and decree, among the sure mercies of David.

But I think David made a larger grasp than this, for when he said, "The
God of my mercy," he felt as if all the mercy in the heart of God
belonged to him! Let me utter a great saying, worth your treasuring
up–if any one saint should have all the needs of all the saints in the
world put upon him. And if his necessities should be so great that
nothing would supply them but the whole of the infinite mercy which
fills the heart of God, that child of God should have all the mercy
which the Lord Himself can dispense. Great as your necessities may be,
my dear Brethren, all the mercy that is in God belongs to you and is
engaged to meet your case! Let me put it in another light. If there
were no other person in the world but you, and God loved you infinitely
and alone, would He not be able to do as much for you as if all His
Omnipotence was devoted to your good, and if all the thoughts of His
Divine Grace centered upon you and you were the focus of all His wise
and loving purposes?

"Oh, yes," you say, "I should be favored, indeed." You are just as
favored as that! For the multiplicity of the objects of Divine Love
necessitates no diminution to anyone. God can love a million and love
each one as intensely as if there were but one to be favored! Our
little minds are distracted with many objects. We cannot concentrate
upon many–we are, therefore, straitened. But the full concentrated
love of the eternal God is set upon each one of His dear children. God
is entirely yours–not half of God! The Savior is yours–not a part of
the Savior! God is All and that All belongs to you in Jesus Christ! Is
there not comfort here? "The God of my mercy."

One other word about it, and it is this–when God is called "the God of
my mercy," we may understand it as being the Guarantor of mercy to me.
If we say such a person is the guardian of a child, that child is then
particularly under his care. If God is the God of my mercy, then He
stands in a particular relationship to my mercy and binds Himself to
secure it to me. The constable of the Tower of London stands in
relationship to it and is concerned for its preservation. Now the Lord
is not only the Keeper and Guarantor of my mercy, but the God of it,
and therefore He is peculiarly interested in my mercy and will see that
it comes to me–and is by no means allowed to fail. He is more than the
Trustee of it, the Security for it, the Guarantee of it, the Giver of
it, the Source of it, the Security of it–He is the God of my mercy!

What condescension is this! He is the God of Heaven! Is not that His
grand title? Yes, but He is, "the God of my mercy," as surely as He is
the God of Heaven and earth. He is the Most High God, possessor of
Heaven and earth, the God of angels and, "God over all, blessed
forever." He is all this, but He is also, with equal truth, "the God of
my mercy." There is a command which says, "You shall not take the name
of the Lord your God in vain," and if He would not have us take it in
vain, we may rest assured He will not make it vain, Himself! And if He
calls Himself, as He does here, "the God of my mercy," He cannot allow
it to be an empty title–He will surely make it good. What is an
offense in the creature will not be performed by the Creator. He will
not make vain any one of those august titles which He has been pleased
to take to Himself. Your mercy is sure, O Christian, for God is the God
of your mercy.

Now I want you all to pause a moment and ask whether you really have
appropriated, by faith, the mercy of God and the God of mercy. Why did
not that unhappy artiste fly the other day? Why did he fall to the
ground a mangled mass? Because his wings were not his own or a part of
himself! The smallest bat which ventures out in the evening twilight
can fly because it has its own wings. The tiniest hummingbird which
dives into a flower bell can fly because its wings belong to it. But
this man had only a borrowed contrivance, a mechanical invention which
he could not appropriate to his own being! Another might use it as well
as he, if, indeed, it could be used at all! If you wish to fly, you
must have wings of your own.

Many religious professors have a mechanical religion. They have the
baptism of babyhood and the priestly efficacy of sacraments–a mere
flying machine! It will not serve their turn–they must have faith and
Grace of their own. They must have a personal faith in a personal God.
Those who have such appropriating faith shall mount up with wings as
eagles, but no others can. Wings which are not your own wings will be
of no use to you, but ensure your destruction. If you are the most
humble, weak and obscure of all God's children, if you have a real
faith of your own, so that you can say, "My God, my Savior!" and can
cry, "Abba, Father!" you shall mount aloft to His abode and make your
nest forever by the Throne of Love! God grant us power to appropriate
His precious things and call Him–"the God of my mercy."

III. The last and practical point is, we see in the text, thirdly,
David CONFIDING IN GOD. "The God of my mercy shall prevent me." Prevent
is an old English word and it has shifted from its original meaning, so
that the uninstructed reader is apt to be misled by it. Its old meaning
is "to go before," and that is, indeed, the root meaning of the word.
Here it means to anticipate, to be before, to go before as a guide, to
make an easy way, to be beforehand. "The God of my mercy will prevent
me," or anticipate me by His mercy. Now, it so happens that the Hebrew
word may be read in all three tenses. And some have said it should be
understood, "The God of my mercy has prevented me." Others "does
prevent me." And a third party, like our translators, read it, "shall
prevent me." Whichever tense you choose is true, and the whole three
put together may be viewed as the full meaning of the passage. "The
Lord has prevented me."

Brethren, this is one of the grand doctrines of the Gospel, the
doctrine of eternal love, spontaneous, self-generated, having no cause
but itself. God loved us before we loved Him–He went before us with
love. Before His people were born, God had elected and redeemed them,
and prepared the Gospel by which, in due time, they are called. He is
before us in all good things. Loving before our first parent had broken
the Covenant of Works, the Covenant of Grace had been "ordered in all
things and sure." In the eternal purpose the Lamb was slain from before
the foundations of the world– the provision for Atonement was made
before sin actually existed! Before there was any defilement, there was
an arrangement for cleansing us from all iniquity!

In the volume of the Book it had been written that Christ would come
and do the Father's will, by which will we are sanctified. Sin is a
thing of time, but mercy is from everlasting! Transgression is but of
yesterday, but mercy was ever of old. Before you and I sought the Lord,
the Lord sought us. The first thought of reconciliation was not with
man, but with his God. Some theologians dream that the sinner takes the
first step, but I never met with a child of God who would say that he,
himself, did so. They all, speaking from experience, declare, "we loved
Him because He first loved us." The Grace of God is preventing
Grace–unsought, undesired, unmerited–preceding all good impressions
and emotions, and coming to us when we are yet ungodly and dead in
trespasses and in sins.

Before we thirsted the Living Water gushed from the smitten Rock!
Before we were hungry, the oxen and the fatlings were killed. Before we
were wounded, the oil and wine were ready to be poured into the gashes.
Our Father knew that we should have need of these things and He
prevented us with the blessings of goodness by laying them up in store
for us from of old. O Lord, You have the first hand with Your people!
They seek You early, but You are up before them! You have distanced
them in the race of affection! You are Alpha, indeed! The Lord has
prevented us, but the meaning of the passage is that He does still
prevent us. Is He not daily doing so? You have many needs, but they are
anticipated. Before you can feel the pinch of need, the mercy is given!
God goes before you, day by day, and His paths drop fatness.

You have often been fretting about what is to happen in a month's time
when you expect to be in distress. When the month has come there has
been no distress because the supply has been provided. You have gone to
the sepulcher, saying, "Who will roll away the stone for us?" But when
you have come to the spot, the stone has already been removed. Your
troubles have been ended before they began! So, also, has the Lord
prevented your sins. How often, when you have sinned, has the pardon
for the sin and the deliverance from its consequences come upon you
then and there, and restored

you at once? While even yet more frequently the blessed God of your
mercy has forestalled the temptation and prevented the sin altogether!

Look at David with his angry heart and his naked sword in his hand,
attended by his furious followers–"I will go," he says, "and slay this
fellow, Nabal, and leave not a man of his house by the morning light.
How dare he say there are many servants that run away from their
masters nowadays? I will let him know that if a man cannot be generous
to David he shall at least be civil, or his head shall answer for it!"
David marches in hot passion, but at the moment when David puts his
foot outside his tent God leads forth from Nabal's house a wise and
gentle woman to be an angel of mercy to him. Abigail meets him half-way
and turns him back from his design by telling him that if he would
restrain his wrath, in later days it would be no grief to him that he
had not avenged himself.

Truly, David might say, "The God of my mercy has prevented me. Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel which sent you this day to meet me." Even in
the common acceptation of the word, "prevent," God has often so gone
before us that He has prevented us from the commission of many sins
into which, otherwise, we should have fallen to our sorrow and damage.
Again, how often has He gone before our prayers? Before we have asked
we have had! While we were yet calling, we have received! I have asked
the Lord, sometimes, for blessings which have been on the road while I
was asking–and I did not know it–but they have come almost before the
words escaped my lips! Have you not known it so? "Before they call I
will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." The desire
of the righteous is granted, oftentimes, as soon as it takes shape and
before it is expressed. Brethren, it will always be so. God will
prevent us.

A good captain, when he is marching an army through a country, takes
care to make provision for every emergency. It is time for the soldiers
to camp and they need tents. Bring up the baggage wagons! Here are the
tents which you ask for! The men must have their rations. Here they
are! Serve them! The meat needs cooking. See, there are the portable
kitchens and the fuel! The army comes to a river, by-and-by, how will
they pass it? Why, the engineers are ready and are very soon thrown
across. It is wonderful how the well-skilled commander foresees every
possible emergency and has everything ready just in the nick of time.

Much more is it so with our God. If any child of God is placed in a
position where never a child of God was before, he shall get new light
upon another part of God's Character and the world and the Church shall
be the wiser because of the man's peculiar difficulties. "The God of my
mercy shall prevent me." March on, child of God, for God goes before
you. Be assured of this, His angels fly around you and you may hear the
rustling of their wings if you have but faith enough! Since the eternal
God, Himself, leads the van, march where He clears the course and your
path shall be one of happiness and peace. The Lord will prevent us if
we seek more Grace and higher attainments. Let us go from strength to
strength, for at each halting place our table shall be spread. Let us
climb the hill, for Grace, sufficient for the day, awaits us at each
stage of progress.

Let us rise into spiritual manhood, for the blessings peculiar to that
state are waiting for us! Let us endeavor to do more for Jesus than we
have ever done! Let us put forth greater effort, for God's Spirit will
go before us to prepare the way! There is a sound of a going in the
tops of the mulberry trees at the very time when we begin to bestir
ourselves. When we preach, Jesus is with us, according to His promise.
If we lift our hands in holy service, a hand unseen but Omnipotent is
lifted at the same instant! Strike, then, feeble ones, for God strikes,
too! Advance, for God is with you, and will give you the victory! We
shall arrive at old age before long and, perhaps, with old age will
come decrepitude or sickness–but the God of mercy will go before us to
prepare the land Beulah in which we shall rest till He shall call us
across the stream.

As to death, when that shall come, I know, Beloved, that the Lord will
prevent you, for Jesus has gone before for the very purpose of
preparing a place for you. When we expect friends, we set open the
gate, that when they come they may know that they are welcome. Christ
has set Heaven's gate open for us and none can shut it. He awaits the
coming of His people and when they enter Heaven they shall not be
unexpected guests, but shall find, each one, his mansion furnished and
ready for him. Our Forerunner is where we soon shall be! We shall cause
no bustle of preparation when we arrive, but we shall be welcomed home
as our children are when, on a set day, they return to us. The God of
my mercy will, through the trackless ether, precede me, and into the
Glory He will beckon me! And up to His Throne He will conduct me.

So let us close with these three practical reflections. If He prevents
us with mercy, let us not hesitate to come to Him. Loiter not, O Soul,
if you would have the mercy of God! Is God so quick? Will you be slow?
Does He go first and will you not follow? If any man or woman, or child
in this place, this morning, desires salvation and eternal life, let
him not hesitate to believe in Jesus, for the God of mercy has gone
before him. Come, and welcome! All things are ready, come to the Gospel
supper! The next reflection is, is God so quick in mercy? Let us, who
are His people, be very quick in service. Do not let us wait to have
suggested to us by others what we should do. That is true love to
Christ which does not need reminding, forcing, or editing.

When a man says to himself, "God has given me these unasked mercies,
what shall I render to Him? I will not turn to the Law and say, 'This
is what I ought to do,' neither will I require some good and earnest
Brother to stir me up to an unwilling duty, but I am eager to serve
God–what can I do? What will He permit me to bring?" Some saints have
thought of one offering, and some of another–and the Lord has been
pleased with each one. Imitate the readiness of love which shone in the
woman who had but one costly possession in the world, an alabaster box
of very precious ointment. Nobody expected or advised her to take it
and pour its contents upon the head of Jesus. Indeed, there were those
who reckoned such a gift an idle waste!

But her own love bade her do it and so she consulted not with flesh and
blood–she brought it out and broke it– and filled the house with
perfume, while she poured the sacred nard upon the head of Him she
loved so well. Does no special act of consecration occur to you? Have
you not some sacrifice to present? Can you not think of some design
which shall be a memorial of your gratitude? Say in your heart, "My
God, since You do prevent me, I cannot hope to keep pace with Your
mercy, but at any rate I will not lag further behind You than I must.
When I have done all I can for You, how little it is, but that little
shall be done."

George Herbert once described a good man as resolved, "to build a
hospital, or mend common ways," and in his day these were acts of
charity which piety delighted in. Other good deeds are more fitting for
these days. Houses for worship are needed in many a populous district.
Orphan children need to be fed. He who can buy no sweet cane with
money, can bring time and zeal and effort–and these are precious. What
then, my Brothers and Sisters, will you do?

And now finally, Believer, cast yourself into your Lord's arms! Have
done with fretting! Have done with anxiety and doubt! If you came in
here this morning burdened, go out happy as the birds of the air! Mount
like the lark to your God and sing as you mount! Shower down your song
among the groveling sons of men while your eyes are upon your Father's
home and your wings of faith bear you heavenward! God bless you for
Jesus' sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Psalm 62. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–63, 690, 46.
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