A Hasty Expression Penitently Retracted

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes: nevertheless
You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto You." Psalm
31:22.

THAT is a bit of genuine experience, honestly told, in the most natural
manner. How glad we ought to be that David never fell into the hands of
an ordinary biographer, for such a piece of weakness as this text
records would have been carefully repressed lest the good man's
reputation should suffer. It was only a hasty expression and every
friendly biographer would have felt that it ought to be taken as
unspoken. Here, however, stands this piece of human weakness upon
David's life and we are right glad of it–it is a comfort to us little
folks to perceive the champions were men of like passions with
ourselves! As a bee sucks honey out of nettles, so does faith find
comfort even in the failings of David. But we must mind that we do not
turn his errors into excuses, for that were to extract poison instead
of wholesome juices.

The experience of a good man, of a great man, of a tried man like
David, is exceedingly instructive and impressive. The children of God
delight in doctrinal preaching and in practical preaching–but I
believe that nothing is so sweet to them as experimental preaching by
which we are not only taught the Truth of God in the head and in the
hand, but something is said of Truth in the heart! This it is which
endears the Book of Psalms to the whole Church and makes the
explanation of that volume so important. Nothing more sweetly cheers
the straggler after better things than to hear of the life-struggles of
godly men.

Behold, then, a written confession, dictated by the penitent heart of
David who withdraws the curtain from his own innermost life! I should
not wonder if his experience should turn out to be very like your own
for, as in water, face answers to face, so does the heart of man to man
and this is the reason why the experience of one man is his best means
of interpreting the feelings of another. Take heed, however, when you
are reading the histories of the saints, that you use them with
prudence, for it is not all the experience of a Christian that is
Christian experience! A Believer may experience much which he does not
experience as a Believer, but because his believing is failing him!
Sometimes we are rather to regard the experience of good men as beacons
to warn us from rocks than as lighthouses to show us where the harbor
may

be.

Rheumatism is certainly a human disease, but I would, by no means
recommend a person to seek after it in order to prove his manhood! We
can well do without some things which were characteristic of certain
eminent men, since they did not adorn or strengthen them, but rather
disfigured and weakened them. In David's case, it is well to follow
David–but it is better to follow David's son–for David, sometimes,
went astray like a lost sheep–but David's son was that great Shepherd
of the sheep whose every step it is safe for the flock to follow! Do
not let us imitate David in his speaking in haste, or in his saying, "I
am cut off from before Your eyes." But, at the same time, let us take
care that we closely copy him in confessing conscious fault, as he does
here, in crying to God in the hour of trouble as he tells us he
did–and also in bearing witness to the exceeding goodness of God,
notwithstanding our faults–as he here bears witness when he says,
"Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto
You."

For our edification we will consider the text thus–here is, first, an
utterance of unbelief–"I am cut off from before Your eyes." Secondly,
here is incidentally mentioned an effort of struggling faith–David
says, "You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto You."
And, thirdly, here is a testimony of gratitude, for David joyfully
declares that notwithstanding his unbelief, the Lord heard and answered
his cries. O for the touch of the Holy Spirit to make this outline into
a living sermon! Here are the altar and the wood–O Holy Spirit, You be
the fire!

I. Let us begin by listening to AN UTTERANCE OF UNBELIEF–"I said in my
haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes." Note here, first, that
unbelief is generally talkative–"I said." It had been better for him
not to have thought it, even, but when he did think thus wrongly, it
was most unwise to speak the thought. I have heard it said, "If it is
in the

mind it may as well come out," but this is not true. If I had a
rattlesnake in a box on this platform, I think you would, none of you,
vote for the creature's being let loose! Poison in a vial is deadly,
but it will hurt no one until the cork is drawn and then we cannot tell
how far the mischief may go. Lions and tigers and vipers are best shut
up–the wider range you give them, the more you empower them to do
mischief. If you have an ill thought, repent of it, but do not repeat
it–it may harm you–but it will not harm others if you let it die
within doors.

Do as David did in another case, when he had a very ugly thought. He
said, "If I shall speak thus I shall offend against the generation of
Your people," and he would not, therefore, put his thought into words
lest he should offend the godly. If you have a harsh thought of God,
utter it not in the presence of His own children. Would you grieve your
Brethren? Utter it not in the presence of His enemies. Would you open
their mouths to speak against Him? Where will you utter it? Speak it
not upon earth, for it is His footstool. Say it not in prayer, for you
are bowing at His Throne. Say it nowhere, for God will hear it if no
one else should. Bury in silence that offspring of your soul of which
it has good cause to be ashamed. Let it be cast over the wall as the
untimely figs and consumed upon the rubbish heap of forgotten things.

Alas, unbelief does not understand holding its tongue! We read that the
children of Israel murmured in their tents. They could not be quiet at
home. They complained of God in their families and very soon the
murmuring in the tents became a murmuring throughout all the camp till
they gathered together in crowds against God and His servant Moses!
Yes, unbelief will prattle. I have known believing men slow of speech,
but when a man has anything to complain of, he is fluent even to
overflowing! He will go from one neighbor to another and lament the
badness of trade; how the crops are failing; how ill he is; what a
sickly family he has and a legion of other grief! The gazette of sorrow
has long columns and is generally crowded with items! It is published
every hour of the day and you can get a new edition at almost any
house, for unbelief must publish its inventions. The strife of the many
tongues of unbelief causes much mischief in the world. Its quiver is
full and its arrows are death. It would have been wiser for David to
have bit his tongue than to have said what he ought not to have said.
However, this much is clear–unbelief is generally talkative.

Our next observation shall be that the utterances of unbelief are
generally hasty–"I said in my haste." There was no reason for saying
such a thing at all and certainly not for being in a hurry to say it,
for he said to God, "I am cut off from before Your eyes." Look at this
statement! It is a very solemn thing to make such a declaration. See if
it is founded on fact. Do you think it is true? Search a little more.
Set your supposed condition in another light and see whether, after
all, you may not have made a mistake. But no. Unbelief blunders it out,
right or wrong–"I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Your
eyes." I suppose the reason for the hot haste was this–when a man's
mind is much distracted and driven to and fro, he needs to come to some
sort of conclusion and, though that conclusion may be totally false and
may be as far from right as possible, still, his troubled thoughts
require some sort of a conclusion.

John Bunyan says of the pilgrim that he was much tumbled up and down in
his thoughts. It is a forcible Saxon expression and most of you know
what it means. You do not know whether you are on your head or your
heels, as the old saying is–you are in a horrible confusion and
countless difficulties surround you–and so it is that you blunder at a
conclusion and say in your haste what should not be said. But why in
such haste to write bitter things against yourself? Why in such haste
to write your own condemnation? Why in such haste to misjudge your God?
Stop a bit, Brothers and Sisters. Stop a bit! There is time enough for
this when the worst has come to the worst. Wait awhile, for when the
brain is heated, waiting will cool the brow and prepare a place for
wisdom. Why are you so desperately eager to play the fool?

Don't you know that the utterances of unbelief are hasty and hasty
things are raw and sour and cannot display the maturity of prudence?
What a man says in his haste he generally has to repent in his leisure.
If it is a good thing, say it at once! But if it is a doubtful thing,
stop! Then stop again. Then stop again and if the stopping should end
in your not speaking, there will be a little more of golden silence in
the world! I have heard say that one of the greatest points in good
speaking is to know when to pause. I do not know about that, but I am
sure that one of the wisest things in good living is to know when to
pause, to stop, to question and to deliberate! To go blindly on as
though it were neck or nothing with you is to make sure shipwreck some
day or other. Do nothing till you are sure that it is right to do it
and say nothing till you know that what you say is true.

Hasty deeds and hasty words make up the most horrible parts of human
history–the warnings of the past forbid all recklessness.
Nevertheless, when once we grow despondent, this is our temptation and
it will be well to bit and bridle both mind and tongue lest we fall
into the evil. Frequently when a man speaks in haste, his expressions
are the result of

his temper. "We are quick-tempered," some will say. If you are
quick-tempered, it is very likely that you are also quick tongued and
this is a great pity. You speak in a moment what you cannot unsay in a
century! Now, it is very evil when we are in a temper with God. Is that
always the case? Oh yes. I fear that professing Christians are often
out of temper with God. A good woman was wearing deep mourning years
after the loss of him whom she mourned and a Quaker said to her,
"Friend, I perceive you have not yet forgiven God."

There he hit the nail on the head! Many have not yet forgiven God–they
have taken umbrage against Him either because of bereavement, or loss
of property, or sickness, or disappointment, or trial and they keep on
sulking because they cannot have their own way. Surely they have never
heard the question, "Should it be according to your mind? "Will you sit
on the throne and judge your God? Will you–

"Snatch from His hands the balance and the rod, Re-judge His judgment,
be the God of God"? This is blasphemy! And yet too often such blasphemy
enters into the human heart. Who is to be master? Are we to be lords
over all? Who is to order Providence? In whose hands should be the
issues of death? Is God to wait on us and ask our will and do our
bidding? That is, indeed, the turning of things upside down and it
cannot, must not be! It is because we get into wayward, foolish,
rebellious tempers with God that we speak in our haste what we ought
not even to think! Thus David penitently confesses, "I said in my
haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes."

Again, it is very clear from the text that the utterances of unbelief
are frequently exaggerated. "I am cut off from before Your eyes." No,
David. No, no! It is not so–you are cut off from the esteem of men
through slander and you are cut off from the friendship of those who
once professed to love you–whose minds have been soured by an evil
report–but you are not cut off from God! It is true you are cut off
from the public services of God's House and obliged to hide away in the
rocks and caves of the earth. That is true, but you are not cut off
from before God's eyes! You know you are not, so why do you say you
are?

Oh, but some people always talk big about everything! It is a great
pity because it is so near to lying that I do not know whether it is
not the same thing! There must be a very narrow line, fine as a razor's
edge, between a lie and the unguarded expressions of exaggeration. Some
people talk about their trials on a scale which allows a mile for every
inch! Their afflictions are awful. They are dreadful. They are without
parallel. There were never any like them and there never will be again!
They endure the most extraordinary pains and the most amazing
afflictions and they are altogether quite equal to Job and Jeremiah
rolled into one. Never did any persons undergo sufferings comparable to
theirs. You cannot sit down by their side to comfort them but they will
tell you at once that you do not know anything about the great deeps
where they are doing business! You are only knee-deep in the waters of
trouble, while all God's waves and billows have gone over them.

I meet with some who are almost impossibly afflicted–their
tribulations exceed that which is common to man and that which is
uncommon, too! But this may be accounted for by the large organ of
imagination with which they are endowed. By using this imagination to
paint their spectacles, they are soon able to see all manner of
dreadful visions and they talk accordingly. That is the way of our
unbelief–it will talk at random about trials and troubles. This is not
pretty. God does not love His children to talk in that fashion. The
lips that speak truth are His delight and if our unbelief will not
speak truth, (and it very seldom does)–perhaps never does–then it is
a great pity that it cannot hold its tongue. May I ask if any friend
here has been exaggerating his trouble? Is there any sister here who is
fretting out of all reason–making a great deal out of what may be
much, but is not everything? Then stand rebuked at this hour! Your cup
is not all gall. Your bread is not all turned to ashes. All your
comforts have not fled–many a mercy is left you. Come, come, Friend,
we are not quite cut off from before the Lord! Let us leave off
exaggeration lest we be guilty of falsehood.

Once more, the utterances of unbelief dishonor God. "I am cut off,"
says David, "from before Your eyes." He does, as it were, blame the
Lord! Before Your very eyes I have suffered this! You have so forsaken
me and given me over to the enemy that I am cut off from before Your
eyes. Why do You not deliver me? He spoke in his haste as if God, at
the very least, had been forgetful, even if He had not been untender
and unfaithful! "I am cut off from before Your eyes." It would greatly
dishonor God if He did suffer one that could say, "In You, O Lord, have
I put my trust," to be cut off from before His eyes. It would be
contrary to His promise, for He has said that He will not suffer the
righteous to perish. "The eyes of

the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are open to their
cry"–there never was a godly man cut off from God, yet, and there
never will be till time shall be no more!

All the attributes of God forbid the destruction of a soul that is
resting on the Almighty arm! And yet the unbelieving heart declares
that such a destruction has taken place in its own case. Oh, wondrous
unbelief, to think the Lord to be so unrighteous as to forget our work
of faith and labor of love–to forget His children, to cast away His
own, His covenanted one–with whom He has entered into solemn league by
oath, saying, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." He puts His
promise very strongly in that passage, using many negatives in the
original tongue. "I will not, not, not– never, never leave you. I will
not, not forsake you"–many times over negating the idea that He could
possibly forsake one of His own.

Brothers and Sisters, let us consider whether you and I may not have
given utterance to words of unbelief. If we have, let us cut up those
words tonight–let us call them back and drown them in our tears! Those
cruel charges were, none of them, true! They were spoken in haste. They
were the offspring of petulance and folly. Lord, have mercy upon Your
servants and cast these grievous words of ours behind Your back! Let
them be as though they were never spoken, for we never had any reason
to speak so and what we have said, we do thoroughly repent of and pray
that You would blot it out forever!

II. So much, then, upon the first head–an utterance of unbelief. We
are now ready to look within the sorrowing heart and mark the signs
that Grace is still living there. We have not far to search, for,
secondly, in the text there is mentioned AN EFFORT OF STRUGGLING FAITH.
Though David said, "I am cut off from before Your eyes," yet he prayed
and prayed directly to God. He says, "You heard the voice of my
supplications when I cried unto You." O child of God, cry to a smiting
God! Cry to God even when He seems to cast you off, for where else can
you go? What remains for you but to cry to Him, even if He shuts His
ears to your plea? What if He frowns upon you? Still cling to Him!
Where else can you get a glimpse of hope?

To whom, or where could you go if you should turn from God? What if His
Providences seems harsh? What if He uses the rod upon you till your
whole head is sick and your whole heart faint? What if He even appears
to put His hand to His scabbard to draw out the sword to slay you? Even
then there remains no resort for you so hopeful as believing prayer!
Say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Cling to
Him still! Sink or swim, live or die, do not doubt your God–but pray!
What did Jonah do when the weeds were wrapped about His head and He
went down to the bottoms of the mountains? He still made supplication
to the Lord God of salvation and trusted his spirit in the Divine
hands. He tells us, "Out of the belly of Hell I cried."

Wherever you may be drifted and however desperate your case, yet still
pray–still pray! If you can do nothing else–if your hands are bound
as to any form of effort, still pray. Never cease from crying, though
you cannot rise a note above the most pitiful wailing. When Bunyan's
pilgrim went through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he found that
he had no weapon with which he could smite the fiends that surrounded
him except the weapon of all-prayer. The adversaries were too
impalpable for sword or spear, too mysterious for battle-axe or
bow–but PRAYER could find them out and smite them to the heart!

Believer, this is the most convenient and useful of all the weapons in
our heavenly panoply. All-prayer will help you against man or devil! It
will help you to bear up under trials that come from God and
tribulations that mysteriously approach you from earth or Hell. As long
as you live, you should pray, for while you can pray you cannot perish.
You must, under no pressure, cease from prayer, my Brothers and
Sisters. It is your last resort. "Men ought always to pray, and not to
faint." Please notice that David prayed in downright earnest, for he
says, "You heard the voice of my supplications," so that he offered
many prayers–prayers with voices to them–and he describes them under
the term, "I cried." His was a crying prayer! Those are the very best
prayers.

Our eyes, sometimes, light upon, "prayers to be said or sung"–we have
no wish to depreciate such compositions for others, but they are of no
possible use to us who delight to tell our desires to our heavenly
Father in our own broken speech. That is the prayer which is neither
said nor sung, but CRIED–it drops from the eyes in tears, it breaks
forth from the lips in moans–and from the breast in groans that cannot
be uttered! Those prayers of ours which we could not endure for any
human ear to hear are among the best of prayers. A little child may
begin to speak and call to its mother in words and, perhaps, Mother
will not come to it. But let it give up words and try crying and you
will see if Mother does

not come! Let it cry again and again, and Mother's ears will be caught
by the child's cry. There is no prayer to God like the crying of a
childlike spirit.

A cry is not a very pleasant sound. No–but it is a very prevalent
sound! A cry is not even articulate. No–but it's expressive! Crying is
the language of pain. It is the eloquence of grief. It is the utterance
of intense longing. When you use crying prayer–when you must have the
blessing and, therefore, cry for it–you shall have it! We do not
always give our children what they cry for, but this is the rule of our
heavenly Father, "The righteous cry and the Lord hears." Well did
Isaiah say, "He will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your
cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer you." The rule is invariable
and many are the cases which go to prove it. We know who said, "This
poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his
troubles." Even in his despair, I say, David prayed–and that praying
took the form of an earnest and passionate cry.

Note well that God heard his prayer! We sometimes fancy that God will
not hear us if any measure of unbelief is mixed with our prayers. If
that were the case, I am afraid that the Lord would not often hear us,
for there is a measure of unbelief even in our strongest faith! It is a
great mercy that even when we are lamenting, "I am cut off from before
Your eyes," yet, if at the same time we can pray, our petition is
accepted of the Lord. The Scripture says, "According to your faith be
it unto you." Suppose that text had run like this, "According to your
unbelief be it unto you." Ah, me, where would you and I have been? Our
unbelief would have involved us in the curse and condemnation which
rest upon all who believe not in the Lord Jesus! Unbelief would sour
and spoil all.

God did not deal with David according to his unbelief, but He dealt
with him according to his faith. We are a sorrowful mixture of natures
and if we were reckoned with according to our evil side, who among us
could stand? David's faith was small, but still it was true. It was an
infant faith that could cry–a struggling faith that could plead. It
was a patient faith that could wait and so it was an accepted faith
which obtained favor of the Lord! It was a faith which, if it had not
an arm to fight with, had a voice to cry with and, therefore, it
prevailed with God. My Friend, you who are in trouble, whoever you may
be, let me urge, persuade, entreat you not to listen to the voice of
Satan who tempts you to cease from prayer! Do not say, "God will not
hear me because I am in this wretched condition." Remember the words,
"Out of the depths have I cried unto you, O Lord." Cry to Him wherever
you may be, or whoever you may be!

However desperate your plight, you shall survive it if you pray!
However dire your danger, a way of escape shall be made for you if you
cry unto the Lord! Cannons have been styled, "the last arguments of
kings"–but I may better call PRAYERS the last arguments of needy
sinners! Cling to the Mercy Seat when you can cling nowhere else! Cling
to the Mercy Seat when Justice lifts her sword to slay you! Increase
your earnestness in proportion as you are tempted to cease from prayer
and may God the Holy Spirit, who is the God of Grace and of
supplications, intensify your desires, help your infirmities and teach
you how to pray and what to pray for as you ought.

III. Our text next supplies us with A TESTIMONY OF GRATITUDE. The
Psalmist says, "Nevertheless You heard

the voice of my supplications." Notice that God acted in directly the
opposite manner from that in which the Psalmist's unbelief acted, for,
first, his unbelief spoke and said this and that, but God did not
speak. He was a listener–"You heard." Not a word came from God–there
had been too many words in the business already. When we begin to
grumble with anybody it takes two to make a quarrel and if number two
answers to our murmuring, we soon stir up a fierce quarrel.

If God were as man is, if His thoughts were as our thoughts, He would
say, "Murmur, do you, when I am dealing with you so kindly? Then you
shall have cause for complaining. Is My little finger heavy? You shall
feel My hand! Is My hand heavy? You shall know the weight of My loins."
Well might God say to us, "What? Do you find fault while you are
surrounded with so many blessings? Tell Me I have forsaken you? Say to
Me that you are cut off from before My eyes when I am dealing
graciously with you all day long? Do you dare talk to Me so? Then I
will do as you have said. I will take you at your word and make your
complaints true."

But oh, the marvelous patience of God! He says nothing. There was the
strength of Christ–as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opens
not His mouth in the midst of His accusers–and here is a part of the
marvelous power of God–the Omnipotence which restrains Omnipotence so
that He is not provoked, or, being provoked, speaks not in anger and
deals not with His servants in wrath–otherwise we had long ago been
consumed. Oh, how sweet to look back and think He did not answer me
according to my folly, or walk stubbornly with me because I walked
stubbornly with

Him! His Word says, "With the froward You will show Yourself forward,"
but He did not fulfill that threat to me, nor walk contrary to me
though I walked contrary to Him! In gentleness and patience He regarded
not my evil words and answered me not according to my folly! You see,
then, the difference between the quiet of God and the clamor of our
unbelief. David bears cheerful testimony to the fact that he was in
error when He spoke so hastily and that God was exceedingly gracious in
taking so little notice of His foolish complaint.

The next contrast is seen in the fact that though David spoke in a
hurry, there was no haste in God. "I said in my haste." Yes, but God
did not reply in haste. Notice the glorious leisure of infinite love,
for it is written, "You heard the voice of my supplications." God was
quietly hearing while His petulant servant was fiercely complaining. We
had a meeting of ministers a short time ago at which it was agreed that
for five minutes each one should relate an experience with our
congregations. One of the Brothers gave us this thought which I shall
not soon forget. He said, "It is a great thing for a minister who
visits his people to be a good listener. The afflicted value this
faculty above gold. Perhaps the pastor calls upon a poor woman who is
in great trouble and he sits down and she tells him her mournful tale.
Bless her heart! He has heard that tale a dozen times before, but he
sits quite still and takes it all in, listening most earnestly. He has
not, perhaps, the power to help her at all, but she feels very thankful
to him because he has heard her case and it has comforted her to tell
it."

It is a great thing to be willing to sit and listen and hear a story
which, perhaps, is very badly told and is not at all pleasant to
hear–which even creates sorrow in your own mind as you listen to it.
Such hearing displays tender sympathy. Hence the Scriptures say of God,
"O You that hears prayer." Mark, it is not "answers," but "hears."
Those Brothers who need to be exceedingly correct tell us, "God is the
hearer and answerer of prayer." Yes, that is very proper. But the
Scripture is content to write, "O You that hears prayer." It is a
wonderful thing that God should sit down, as it were, and listen to the
prayers of His people and put up with their nonsense–their complaining
and their crying. David does not cease to wonder that in his unhappy
condition he had yet been regarded of the Lord–"You heard the voice of
my supplication."

How beautiful that is! "I spoke in haste." All the Lord did was He
heard it all, took it all in, considered the case David's fevered brain
meant and how far that out of it and, therefore, forgave the sad
unbelief which spoke out so audaciously in words of repining. Oh, it is
beautiful, that gentleness of God which led Him to give no answer to
the hurried, passionate speech of David, but just to hear it and no
more! Well did David say in another place, "Your gentleness has made me
great." It is delightful to see how the Lord always notes the good and
ignores the evil when dealing with His saints. In David's case He would
not hear the foolish and false charges of his unbelief, but He heard
the cries of his struggling faith! Remember the instance of Sarah? She
doubted as to her bringing forth a child when she was old and asked,
"How shall it be, my Lord being old, also?" The Holy Spirit says
nothing in the New Testament about Sarah's unbelieving speech except
that He commends that one good word in it and notes that she, "obeyed
her husband, calling him, Lord." If the Lord can spy a beauty in His
people, He fixes His eyes on it–and as for all their defilements, He
washes them away, saying, "They shall not be remembered against them
any more forever."

Let us go a little farther in our contrast between David and his Lord.
There was no exaggeration with God. Unbelief exaggerates–He diminishes
the evil of His servants till it comes to nothing, putting it all away.
He heard the feeble cry of faith in David's heart and did not allow the
voice of his unbelief to drown it. He did not look upon His servant's
fault till it hid His Grace–but He smiled upon the work of Grace,
little as it was. And though, as we have said, unbelief dishonored God,
yet God did not dishonor His servant's prayer for all that! No. He
might have said to David's prayer, "Go your way, I will not hear you.
Does the same fountain send forth sweet water and bitter? I heard David
say, just now, 'I am cut off from before Your eyes.' Am I going to hear
out of the same mouth, a charge against My faithfulness and a cry for
help? If He thinks I have forsaken Him, let it be so."

But not so our God! He will not dishonor prayer, even though prayer is
very feeble and though there is an unbelief in it which is grievous in
His sight. It never shall be said that faith and prayer came back from
the Throne of God with blushing faces! He will maintain His memorial
untouched and the motto of that memorial is–"The God that hears
prayer." "You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto
You." We dare not make much out of our English version by way of
dogmatic teaching and yet, somehow, I feel inclined to pull each little
word of the text in pieces just for a minute. Look at it. "Nevertheless
You heard the voice." "Never-the-less," as much as to say, Though I had
spoken as I

ought not to do, yet You did not lessen Your attention to me, but You
did just as much hear my prayer as if I had never sinned with my
tongue. Not one jot the less was Your pity or Your bounty–Your ears
did not, in any measure, lose their readiness to hear my prayer, nor
Your heart its willingness to feel for me. Not one particle the less
for all my transgressing, "You heard the voice of my supplications."

gracious God, never-the-less do you deal out Your mercies though it
seems as if ever-the-more we sin! Nevertheless do You love though ever
the more do we err. Oh grant that ever the more we may be grateful to
You and never, oh never, may we again grieve You by our unbelief!

The time has come for me to wind up with SUNDRY LESSONS IN A FEW WORDS.
The first is, let us repent heartily of every harsh thought we have
ever had of our God and Father. I am forced to look back upon some such
sins of thought with much distress of mind. They have come from me in
serious pain and depression of spirit and now I pray the Lord, in His
great mercy, to look at them as though I had never thought them, for I
do heartily abhor them and I loathe myself in His sight that I should
ever have questioned His tender love and gracious care. If you have
similarly transgressed, dear Friends, in your dark nights of trouble,
come, now, and bow your heads and pray the Lord to forgive His servants
concerning this thing, for He is so good, so gracious, that it is a
wanton cruelty to think of Him as otherwise than overflowing with love.

There is none like unto Him among the sons of men! The kindest of
mortals have not His heart of compassion! There is none like unto You,
Jehovah, even among the gods–no fabled deity, however painted in
glowing colors can be compared to You! Let us take back our words if at
any time we have said anything against Him and make the utmost amends
by magnifying His holy name! In the next place, let us earnestly pray
that if ever we shall be tempted again to harsh, mistrusting thoughts,
we may be able to put a check upon our language and to keep our mouth
as with a bridle. Oh that our tongue, which is given us to praise our
God, may never be perverted into an instrument of complaint against our
greatest Benefactor! O you vile tongue, how could you ever, in your
hottest haste, let slip an angry word against the Lord? Better far to
be dumb than to dishonor a name so dear!

The next lesson is this–let us always continue to pray, come what may.
Brothers and Sisters, never cease praying! What I have said before, I
say again–continue in prayer. Call upon your God! Cry to Him! Cry to
Him! While breath lasts and life gives power to feel a desire, never
cease to supplicate the Lord. Last of all, let us always speak well of
His mercy. If we have bitterly complained, let us, with equal vigor,
declare His goodness! I wish that you who are given to grumble would
make up your minds that the time past will suffice you to have grumbled
and now you are going to growl backwards–to recall all your harsh
speeches–and to praise God as much as you have formerly complained
against Him. I should like farmers to break into a wonderful excitement
of gratitude so that all the nation would ring with it and all men
would confess–"Whenever you meet a farmer, you meet with a man who is
always praising God for the weather." It will be a wonderful change if
that should ever come to be the general remark!

1 wish you tradesmen would suddenly put a new leaf into your books and
become the most thankful set of men alive so that it would be
universally said, "Whenever we meet a tradesman, we always find him
praising God for His goodness to him in his business." For many years
most traders have done the other thing and it is time they should pitch
a new tune and sing another song! There have been "very bad
times–dreadfully bad times," quite long enough! Are there no better
times coming? Bad as times are, these grumblers live and live in
comfort, too! Do they live on their losses? They cannot well do that
and so we may suppose that they are living on the savings of former
years–so it is clear that they must have had some wonderfully good
times, once, when we did not hear much about them!

They ought to praise God, now, for those wonderful seasons four, five,
or six years ago when things were so marvel-ously good that they were
able to lay up stores for the years of famine! It will be a blessed
thing for us when all times are good because our minds are good and our
hearts are content. May we grow like the shepherd who was asked, "Will
there be good weather today?" And he answered that there would be good
weather. "Don't you think it will rain?" "Very likely, or perhaps it
will snow." "But you said that it would be good weather." "Yes," he
answered, "if God sends it, it cannot be anything else but good." "But
I mean, do you think there will be such weather as pleases you." "Yes,
that there will," he said —

"for whatever pleases God pleases me."

May God give us a happy, childlike, rejoicing spirit! We have done
enough murmuring to last a lifetime! Let us change the tune. Suppose
that you were to say, "I will make up my mind that just as much as I
have ever disbelieved, mistrusted, murmured, so much will I do in the
way of trusting and praising the Lord"? But suppose you were actually
to do as much–that would be a poor life of which you could merely say,
"There was as much praise of God in that man's life as there was of
murmuring." Shall we be content with such a summary? No, no, no! We
must rise to something better than that! We must praise God a thousand
times to every complaint! No–we must even get above that–we must have
done with all complaining! God deliver us from it and lift us right out
of unbelief–and when we do speak in our haste, again, may it only be
to exclaim, "Bless the Lord, hallelujah!"

If somebody sincerely remarks, "That was a bit of bold sincere remarks.
That was a bit of enthusiasm," you may reply, "Oh yes, but as I am a
hasty man and rather quick-tempered, that is the way in which I show my
hastiness–I bless the Lord while my heart is hot and then keep on
doing so till I have cooled down." Lift up a hallelujah when nobody is
prepared for such a word of praise! Startle your friends by crying,
"Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me bless His holy
name!" The Lord lift you all up to this and keep you there, for
Christ's sake. Amen.
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The Barrier