Figs and Olives

Figs and Olives

(No. 3226)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1910.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 11, 1879.

"Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olives?" James 3:12.

THERE is only one answer to the question, of course, the fig tree can
do nothing of the kind. It would be quite contrary to its nature and,
therefore, the Apostle argues that Christians ought to act according to
their nature. If we are, indeed, the children of God, we should act as
His children and always act as His children. We are not consistent if
at one time we speak as heirs of Heaven should speak and at another
time speak as the heirs of wrath speak! James truly tells us that a
fountain cannot, at the same time pour forth sweet water and bitter,
salt water and fresh and he, therefore, rightly argues that from the
same mouth there must not proceed blessing and cursing–there must be
consistency of conduct in those who are the Lord's.

I am going, in the first place, to take the question of our text out of
its literal context. And in the second place to come closer to it. And,
perhaps, in the third place to come still closer!

I. So, first, "can the fig tree, my Brothers and Sisters, bear olives?"
No. And IT IS VERY UNDESIRABLE THAT IT SHOULD! There is no need for it
to do so, and there would be no gain if it should do so! I am, of
course, taking the question altogether apart from its context. A fig
tree is better employed in bearing figs than it would be in bearing
olives. The olive tree is meant to bear olives and the fig tree to bear
figs. And it would not be any advantage if it were to leave off bearing
figs and begin bearing olives, or if it alternately bore figs and
olives.

Now, beloved Friends, all of us that are as trees of the Lord's
right-hand planting are bringing forth fruit to His praise and glory.
If we are carrying out His great purpose concerning us, we are
producing the peaceable fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the
Spirit, fruit unto holiness–but this fruit does not always take the
same shape in every one of us. We cannot all do the same work! And even
when our work is similar, we have various ways of doing it. I cannot do
your work, my Brother or Sister, and you cannot do mine–and the two of
us together cannot do a third person's work! There is a certain tree
that produces a particular kind of fruit and a certain plant on which a
special sort of seed is found, but no tree produces all kinds of fruit
and no plant bears all sorts of seeds. So it is in the Church of
God–all true Believers are members of the mystical body of Christ, but
all the members have not the same office. It would be very foolish if
any one member of the body were to attempt to perform the work of all
the organs of the body or, indeed, of any beside its own. The best
thing is for the eye to see and let the ear do the hearing, for the ear
to hear and let the mouth do the speaking, for the feet to carry the
body wherever the brain directs, and for the hands to perform their own
special handicraft and not to usurp the office of the organs of
locomotion!

But why is it that the fig tree cannot bear olives and that one
Christian cannot do all kinds of work? I answer, first, because the
variety is, itself, charming. If anybody had the power to destroy all
the fruit trees in the world and then to make a tree that would bear
all the fruits at once–what a pity it would be! It is much better to
have three trees to bear figs, olives and grapes than to have one tree
bearing figs on one branch, olives on another and grapes on a third. It
might seem a fine thing to have Christians who could do everything–men
who could preach and pray and sing, who could be entrusted with great
wealth and great talents, who could lead the Church and who could, at
the same time, control the

world, but that is not God's plan for any of His children! There is a
beautiful variety in the Church of God–one exercises this gift and
another exercises that. One is entrusted with one form of Grace and
another is entrusted with equal Grace but in quite a different form. It
would be no improvement if all flowers were of one color, or if all
precious stones were of equal brilliance or if all stars gave exactly
the same amount of light. Variety is a great part of beauty and God
delights to have it so.

We have here, in the next place, a display of Divine Sovereignty . It
is God's will that makes yon bird that looks the sun in the face into
an eagle! And that other whom sits moodily on the ivy-mantled tower
into an owl! It is He who makes one of His creatures into an archangel
and another into an aphid crawling on a rose leaf. None may ask Him why
He acts thus, for He has the right to do as He pleases and, as Elihu
said to Job, "He gives no account of any of His matters." Or, as Paul
put it to the Romans, "Has not the potter power over the clay, of the
same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" It
is quite certain that there are great differences among men. In the
very size and shape of our bodies and in the natural conformation of
our minds, we are not all alike. Let us say what we may, there are
differences of capacity which are with us from our birth, even as God
intended that there should be. He is in this matter, as in everything
else, both Lord and King–so what folly and sin it is for us to quarrel
with Him about our condition, or to attempt to arraign Him before our
judgment seat! If God makes some other Brother to be like the fruitful
tree that bears olives, shall I be jealous of him if my fruit is of
another kind? Shall I not rather be thankful to resemble the tree that
bears figs? And if we two see another Brother whose fruit is like the
grapes of Eshcol, shall we envy him because we cannot bring forth such
welcome clusters? Oh no! But let us all three bless the Lord for the
sweetness of the figs, the fatness of the olives and the lusciousness
of the grapes that He enables us severally to produce to His praise and
glory!

Further, these diversities of gifts should excite in us humility. What
if the olive tree does bear its rich purple berries? It cannot bear
sweet figs–and sweet as the figs are, they cannot supply the oil which
gives a relish to the peasants' bread, feeds the lamp which lights his
cottage in the evening hours and furnishes the medicine which heals him
when he is sick or wounded. When the Lord entrusts you with talents, my
Brother, you are naturally inclined to be proud. But when you hear of
another whom the Lord has honored far more, do not quarrel either with
the Lord or with your Brother, but rejoice that there is someone whose
Master thinks he may be trusted to a very high degree! And remember
that the responsibilities of your own position are quite sufficient for
you. I am often amazed at the stupidity of certain Christians. They
will not do what they cando–and they want to do what they cannotdo!
They are not satisfied with walking, so they take up David's cry, "Oh
that I had wings like a dove!" The Lord knew that they would not make a
proper use of wings so He did not give them any! No doubt they think,
if they had wings, they would fly away and be at rest, but I question
whether they would be able to rest if they flew away from their right
place and the work God has committed to their charge! Many a man is a
first-rate Sunday school teacher, but that does not satisfy his
ambition–he must be a preacher! When he gets into the pulpit, the only
part of his discourse that is appreciated by his hearers is the end of
it– yet he says that he must preach! Many a good worker has been
spoiled through imbibing the notion that he must do something for which
God has not fitted him. There is a humbling truth that we cannot do
some things which others can do well, just as the fig tree cannot bear
olives though the olive tree growing close beside it is laden with the
precious oily berries!

This fact ought also to promote in us brotherly admiration. It is one
of the most beautiful exhibitions of a Christian spirit when a
Christian man admires the gifts and graces of others more than he
admires his own! When, instead of thinking of anything in which he
excels others, he delights in those things in which they excel him. We
ought to emulate the spirit of that noble Roman who, when he was beaten
at an election, said he was glad that his country had so many better
men than himself. It is not always easy to feel, "I am happy in knowing
of a Brother who is so much more brilliant than I am, for the world
sadly needs far more light than I can give." It is not always easy to
play the least important instrument in the band and to rejoice that
somebody else can beat the big drum, or blow the silver cornet, yet
that ought to be our feeling. You remember how prettily Bunyan speaks
of Christiana and Mercy admiring each other after they had been in the
bath–"They could not see that glory, each one on herself, which they
could see in each other. Now, therefore, they began to esteem each
other better than themselves. 'For you are fairer than I am, said one.
And you are more comely than I am,' said another." So should Christians
see and admire the work of the Spirit in other Christians and should
bless God

that there are such gracious men and women in the world! While those
who are thus admired should, in their turn, see greater excellence in
others than they see in themselves.

And once more, this variety of gifts and graces helps to foster
fellowship. I often feel, when I am conversing with some of the poorest
and feeblest members of this Church, that I am greatly profited by what
they say to me. They usually speak very kindly concerning the comfort
they receive from my preaching and the advice I am able to give them
when they come to see me. But I am certain that I derive benefit from
them! It is impossible for two Christian men or women who are in a
right state of heart, to converse with one another about the things of
God without both of them being thereby spiritually enriched! As
different countries have different products, and one nation sends its
produce to supply the needs of another nation and thus, by mutual
exchange, commerce is created and each nation's wealth is increased, so
is it in spiritual things. You with your olives and this Brother with
his figs, and that other Brother with his clusters of grapes will
interchange your various fruits and all of you will benefit by the
transaction! It is a great blessing for a bold and confident Believer
to have a talk with a trembling, desponding Christian–and the poor
timid soul will be strengthened by coming into contact with the more
fully established saint. The man who has a very sweet disposition is
apt to develop a sugariness which is most nauseating, so it will do him
good to meet with a Christian who is very straightforward and
outspoken–while that Brother–by associating with the more gentle
spirit, may be kept from becoming too rough and coarse. I need not
multiply instances of this helpful fellowship beyond just reminding you
of how often, in God's mercy, a Christian husband and wife are the
counterpart and complement of one another, so that what is lacking in
one of them is supplied by the other and vice versa–and thus they both
become the better, the holier, the happier and the more useful in the
service of their Lord!

II. Now, in the second place I am going to take the text more nearly in
the way in which it was used by the Apostle. "Can the fig tree, my
brethren, bear olives?" No. IT WOULD BE ALTOGETHER CONTRARY TO ITS
NATURE.

It would be a monstrosity, a thing to be wondered at and stared at as
unnatural and absurd if a fig tree started bearing olives! And it is
just as unnatural for a Christian to live in sin. Can he so live as to
bear the fruits of iniquity instead of the fruits of righteousness? God
forbid that it should be so! If the fig tree should ever bring forth
olives, we might have good reason to question whether it was a fig
tree, for a tree is known by its fruits. So, when one who professes to
be a Christian lives as worldings live, there is grave reason to fear
that he is a worldling, notwithstanding his profession! If we are to
know him by his fruits, which is our Lord's Infallible test, how can we
imagine that he is a partaker of the Divine Life when he acts as he
does? Inconsistency of life casts a very serious doubt upon many who
call themselves the children of God. No wonder they are, themselves,
often the subjects of doubts and fears–as they ought to be–for if
they judge themselves by their fruits, they may well question whether
they have ever been born-again! Those who are new creatures in Christ
Jesus seek to live as He lived as far as it is possible for them to do
so.

Besides, if a man for a while brings forth the fruits of righteousness
and then bears the fruits of iniquity, he casts a slur upon all his
former goodness. Suppose I saw a fig tree bearing olives and its owner
assured me that it bore figs last year? I would say, "Well, I should
not think the figs were worth much to judge from the look of those
olives." So, when a man is in a passion and makes use of very strong
language, perhaps even cursing and swearing as Peter did, one naturally
asks, "Can that man ever have been a Christian?" "Well," says someone
who knows him, "he used to speak very kindly and lovingly, and seemed
to be a sincere Christian." That may have been the case with him, but
it is a poor sort of Christianity that can even occasionally produce
such iniquity! May God save all of us from bearing two kinds of fruit
in this unnatural and dishonoring fashion! Suppose the whole Church of
God should act thus and at one time be eminent for holiness and at
another time be notorious for sin–what would be the consequence?
Suppose, for instance, that certain people were very particular about
their attendance at public worship and yet were known to frequent the
theater? Would it not be a strange state of things? Should we judge
them to be Christians or worldlings? If a man is sometimes a sinner and
sometimes a saint, we would need to have an almanac to tell us which he
was likely to be, or a tide-table to let us know whether, like the
tides of the sea, he was ebbing or flowing! Think, too, what the
consequences would be to such a man if he were to die–or if the Lord
were to come just when he was bearing the fruits of unrighteousness!

I am only imagining a monstrous case–such a case as must not be ours.
O my dear Friends, let it never be so with you! If God is God, serve
Him and follow Him! Or if the devil is God, serve him–but to try to
serve God and the devil at the same time is to attempt a compromise
that God abhors and which even Satan is not mean enough to approve!
Even his disciples laugh to scorn those inconsistent professors who
seek to serve God and mammon and to walk, at the same time, in the
narrow way that leads unto life and in the broad road that leads to
destruction! The other day I saw a man trying to walk on both sides of
the street at once. Of course, he was drunk and whenever I see a man
trying, spiritually, to do the same sort of thing–attempting to serve
God and to serve the devil, too–I know that he is intoxicated, or
infatuated under a fatal delusion, or he would never imagine that such
a combination could be possible! Oil and water will not mix, nor light
and darkness, nor saintliness and worldliness–you must have one or the
other, you cannot have both at once, so "choose this day whom you will
serve," Christ or Belial–you cannot serve both, for "no servant can
serve two masters." The true Church of Christ is "fair as the moon,
clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners." But an
inconsistent church, a double-dealing church, a worldly church, (what
an anomaly)–a church that holds with the hare and runs with the
hounds, a church that makes a great profession but has little or
nothing worth having in possession–such a church is the scorn of the
world, a mere blown-up football for men and devils to kick wherever
they will!

An unholy man or woman who pretends to be a Christian is a stench in
the nostrils of the thrice-holy God and a byword and reproach among
those who make no pretense of being the Lord's. How can you rebuke sin
in others while you are living in it, yourself? How can you preach the
Christ whom you dishonor in your daily life? How can you reprove
worldliness when you are, yourself, worldly? We speak with contempt of
Satan rebuking sin and of the pot calling the kettle black, so if in
any degree any of us have been guilty of this great crime against God,
may we now sincerely repent of our sin and may the sanctifying Grace of
the Holy Spirit preserve us from such evil walking for all time to
come!

III. Now, thirdly–and this is the point upon which I want most
strongly to insist–IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A FIG TREE TO BEAR OLIVES–and
it is impossible for an unconverted man to produce the fruits of
righteousness! That is a task which is altogether beyond his power. The
real text of this last division of my sermon is this–

"YOU MUST BE BORN-AGAIN." Unless you are regenerated, born from above
by a new and heavenly birth, you are not Christians, whatever you may
be called, and you cannot produce the fruit which is acceptable to God
any more than a fig tree can produce olives.

Let us suppose that we are in the South of France and that we are
standing by a fine fig tree. We want to make it bring forth olives and
we will, for the sake of my argument, imagine that it is quite willing
to do so–how shall we go to work?

Well, first, let us label the fig tree, "OLIVE TREE." Get a label,
write the word, "olive tree," on it and hang it on the fig tree. We
have done that, entered its name on the list of olive trees, and when
the next olive season comes round, we will bring our basket and gather
the olives. At the appointed time, we do come, but what do we find? I
cannot see an olive on the tree! There are fig leaves and figs, but
nothing else. Ah, but we called it an olive tree! Yes, but calling it
an olive tree did not change its nature, for it is still a fig tree!
And calling a person a child of God will never make that person really
be a child of God! I remember reading of someone being taught to speak
of "my Baptism wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God
and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven." And if I recollect,
rightly, that expression is often used by those who do not show any
sign of having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and adopted into the
family of God! It is just a case of hanging a label on them–their
nature remains the same as it was when they were born and, by nature
they are children of wrath! Persons are said to be Christians because
"they were born in a Christian country." I have often heard and read
that England is a Christian country, but I have never seen any evidence
of the truth of that title! Though there are some Christians in
England, as there are some in India, China, Africa and other countries
which no one regards as Christian! Yet according to some people, all
Englishman are Christians, though some of them never enter a place of
worship and others are drunk every night in the week–and many do not
even believe in the existence of God! To call a horse an angel will not
make him an angel. And to call a man a Christian will not make him a
Christian. You may label, enroll, number the unsaved as much as you
like, but you will not make even one of them a Christian by that
process any more than putting the name, "olive tree," on a fig tree
will change its nature and make it produce olives!

As re-naming the fig tree is no use, let us try to trim it to the shape
of an olive tree. That will not be an easy task, for the two trees bear
very slight resemblance to one another. Still, we will see what we can
do with axe, knife and shears, to make the fig tree look like an olive
tree. When we come again, at the proper season, to gather the olives,
how many shall we find? Not one, though we search diligently from the
trunk to the topmost branch. If we have not ruined the tree by

our cutting and shaping, we may find figs on it, but we shall gather no
olives! So we may be very careful in trying to shape our children's
lives and characters. We may teach them to be truthful, honest,
upright, amiable, heroic and so on–and we may succeed so far that some
of them may even look like young Christians! But if the Grace of God
has not made them to be new creatures in Christ Jesus, all our
training, trimming, shaping and directing will leave them unsaved and
we shall then search in vain to find in them, "the fruit of the
Spirit." There is far more needed than anything we can do! There must
be a deeper, more enduring work than making them look and act like
Christians–there must be a Divine work in the heart, a complete change
of nature which can only be worked by the effectual working of the Holy
Spirit!

In our next attempt to get olives from the fig tree, we will treat the
fig tree as if it were an olive tree. When at Men-tone, I have often
noticed the men in the olive gardens digging a trench all round the
trees and filling it with old rags and, somehow, the trees seem to draw
suitable nutriment out of that strange sort of manure. Very well then,
let us treat our fig tree in the same fashion and dig about it and
fertilize it with all the old rags we can find. We do so and wait
patiently for the result–and then we discover that we have wasted all
those precious bales of rags which might have made the olive trees
bring forth an abundant crop, for there is not an olive on the fig tree
and probably even fewer figs than it would have produced if we had
given it the nourishment suited to its nature! So you may take your
young people and treat them as if they were Christians and do all that
you can to nourish the Divine Life that has not yet entered their
souls–but all your efforts will be in vain, for you cannot give them
new natures–you cannot make the children of Adam into the children of
God! You will do far more lasting good by entreating the Lord to
accomplish the great work of Grace which is altogether beyond your
power–and by teaching each unsaved one, old or young, to pray David's
prayer–"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me."

Here is our fig tree without a single olive on it! Now let us surround
it with olive treesand see what a change that will make in it. The tree
is very lonely where it is, so we will see what helpful associations
will do for it. It will be another difficult task for us, but we will
not shirk it, for we are determined to transplant it right into the
middle of an olive gar-den–and we will tie it up to a fruitful olive
tree and then, when it has no other trees near it, surely it must bear
olives! But will it? Oh no–when the time of figs arrives, it will bear
figs unless we have destroyed its fruit-bearing power by disturbing
it–but there will be no olives on it except those that fall among its
branches when the tree by its side is beaten to yield up its thousands
of purple, oily berries. So here is an unconverted man right in the
midst of Christian people! He is not very comfortable, for he feels
that he is out of his element. He would be much more at home in a
public house or at a music hall, or at home reading a novel or the
newspaper–yet here he is surrounded by Christians. Possibly, like the
fig tree tied to an olive tree, the man is united to a godly wife, yet
it is not enough to make him a Christian. He has a gracious, loving
daughter–she has persuaded him to come with her tonight in the hope
that he may get a blessing here, as I most sincerely hope he may. But,
my dear Friend, let me tell you that it is not sufficient for you to
have a Christian wife, or Christian children, or Christian parents
unless there is a work of Gracewithin your own heart–unless your very
nature is changed by the Holy Spirit so that you are made a new
creature in Christ Jesus! All these hallowed relationships and
associations will only increase your condemnation! I must repeat to you
Paul's message to the Philippian jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved." And very likely it will then be
possible to add in your case as in his, "and your house." God grant
that it may be so!

Now suppose we take that fig tree to the top of a hill, like the Mount
of Olives, and plant it there?It is still a fig tree and it brings
forth nothing but figs! Yes, and if the Lord were to take an
unconverted man up to Heaven, just as he is, he would remain
unconverted even there. Unless and until he was born-again, the mere
change of place, even from earth to Heaven, would not make him
acceptable to God! He would be like that man without the wedding
garment–and the King would say to his servants, "Bind him, hand and
foot, and take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Perhaps someone asks, "But, Sir, what is it to be born-again?" Well, it
is nota mere outward change of life. It is not simply a giving up of
certain sins and a desire to possess certain virtues. It is as great a
work as if you were to be annihilated–to pass absolutely out of
existence–and God were to make a new man in your place! Everyone who
is in Christ Jesus is a new creation–old things have passed away and
all things have become new.

"But can such a change as that be worked?" asks an anxious enquirer.
"It would be a glorious thing for me if it could be worked in me." Yes,
my Friend, it can be done by the Almighty Spirit and if you are ever to
be found in the Presence of God in Glory, this change must be worked in
you! I am speaking to some of you who have been very moral and
admirable from your youth up, yet you have never experienced a saving
change of heart, so to you I must repeat those solemn words of the Lord
Jesus, "Except you are converted and become as little children, you
shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."

"Well," says some self-satisfied person, "I feel quite good enough
already." Ah, that is the very strongest possible proof that you are
not good enough. Do you remember the people, in our Lord's lifetime on
earth, who thought they were good enough, and do you recollect what
Jesus said concerning their righteousness? "I say unto you, That except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven." And
that is what He says to you who think you are good enough. The man who
has been born-again confesses with sorrow and shame that he has no
goodness of his own–and he ascribes all that is good in him to the
Almighty Grace of God, alone. With Toplady, he sings–

"Because Your Sovereign Love

Was bent the worst to save–

Jesus who reigns enthroned above,

The free salvation gave."

"Ah," says another friend, "but if that is true, it makes my case so
hopeless." That is just what I want you to feel, so that you may look
right away from yourself and look alone unto Jesus! You cannot
regenerate yourself any more than that which is not in existence can
create itself! It must be a work that is accomplished by Omnipotence
and, therefore, no power less than that which is Divine can accomplish
it. So you are obliged to acknowledge your absolute dependence upon the
Grace of God. If He leaves you to yourself, you will be most certainly
lost–and He is not bound by anything but the love of His own heart to
interpose to rescue you. Therefore if, in His Infinite Sovereignty, as
King of Mercy and of Grace, He deigns to smile upon you and to create
you anew in Christ Jesus, you will have reason to praise and bless Him
forever and ever, will you not? That is the point to which I want to
bring you so that you will admit that if you are ever saved, it will be
all of God's Grace and all God's work from first to last!

"Oh, that I had this new birth!" cries one. That very wish, if it is
the sincere desire and prayer of your heart, may be the first evidence
that you have already been born-again, even as the Lord's testimony
concerning Saul of Tarsus, "Behold, he prays," proved that he had
already uttered the first cry of a newborn child of God! Remember that
text which the Lord blessed to my conversion so many years ago, "Look
unto Me, and be you saved all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and
there is none else"–and do as I did, then–look and live! Look this
very instant, by faith, to Jesus hanging on the Cross of Calvary, for–

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One! There is life at this
moment for thee– Then look, Sinner–look unto Him and be saved– Unto
Him who was nailed to the tree."

If you will do this, that faith-look of yours will be the evidence that
this new life is already pulsating within you! And as this life is
everlasting life, you have received that life which neither devils nor
men can ever take away from you. "He that believes on the Son has
everlasting life," and no man ever truly believed on Jesus and yet
remained unregenerate! Faith in Christ is one of the first signs and
tokens of the new life within the soul. If I find on you even one
olive, I know that it has the oil of Grace within it and that is proof
positive that you are one of the good olive trees in the garden of the
Lord! If I found figs on you, I would know that you were a fig tree.
But if I find only one little olive, I know that the hidden life that
can produce one olive can produce bushels of the same sort and even
larger and richer ones, to the praise and glory of the great Owner of
the olive garden in which you have been planted by His own right hand!
The little feeble faith that You have already exercised is the gift of
God–and under the gracious nurture of His Ever-Blessed Spirit, it will
grow until you are, like Abraham, "strong in faith, giving glory to
God."

May the Lord enable you to have done with yourself and to have begun
with Him! The end of the creature is the beginning of the Creator. When
you acknowledge that you cannot save yourself and trust Him to save
you, He will do it! Cast yourself upon Him this very moment and then,
by an act of Almighty Grace, the fig tree shall be changed into a
fruitful olive tree and your fruit shall be unto holiness–and the end
everlasting life!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 56; 57.

Psalm 56:1. Be merciful unto me, O God, for man would swallow me up.
Fighting all day he oppresses me. "Man has no mercy upon me, but, O
God, be You merciful to me! If Your Justice does for a while let my
enemies loose upon me, let Your mercy diminish their power over me, for
they are very cruel. They would make a complete end of me if they
could, utterly devouring me."

2-4. My enemies would daily swallow me up: for they are many that fight
against me, O most High What time I am afraid, I will trust in You. In
God I will praise His Word. David means, "Through His Grace, I will
praise His Word," for we cannot rightly praise God unless He gives us
the Grace to do it. To receive from God is most easy for us, but to
return gratitude to God is impossible except as His Grace enables us to
do it. "In God I will praise His Word."

4, 5. In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do to
me. Every day they twist my words. This is a common calamity of God's
servants and a common crime of the oppressors of God's people in all
ages–"They twist my words."

5, 6. All their thoughts are against me for evil They gather themselves
together, theyhide themselves, theymarkmy steps when they wait for my
soul."They watch to see if they can find some matter of accusation
against me, or some opportunity for tempting me to turn aside from my
God. 'They mark my steps,' as the huntsman follows the trail of the
lion he seeks to kill, so they follow my tracks to see if by any means
they may slay me."

7, 8. Shall they escape by iniquity? In Your anger cast down the
people, O God. You number my wanderings. David's was a life of
wandering, from the sheep-folds to his father's house, then to the
palace of Saul, then to the camp of Israel, then to the palace, again,
then to the cave Adullam, then among the Philistines–I scarcely
remember all the places where he went, but there were at least 12 great
changes in David's life. And God had them all written down and so He
has all yours, you who believe in Jesus–all your wanderings are
recorded because God sets a high value upon everything that happens to
you! Not a sparrow falls to the ground without being noticed by Him,
and not a single step is taken by you without being noted by Him.

8. Put You my tears into Your bottle.This is thought by some to have
been an allusion to an old Roman custom of catching the tears of the
friends of the dying in a lachrymatory, or small bottle, and then
burying them in their tomb. I see no reason to believe that David meant
anything so absurd! There is probably a very much better meaning than
that to be attached to these words. Bottles, large capacious bottles,
were used to catch the copious drops which streamed forth from the
wine-press and David felt that his tears would be, in God's sight, as
precious and as plentiful as the grape drops, and that a great bottle
would be needed to hold them–such a bottle as the Jews used for
holding milk or wine. Though his soul suffered much sorrow, he believed
God would treasure it all up–"Put You my tears into Your bottle."

8. Are they not in Your Book?"Are they not all duly recorded there?"

9. When I cry unto You, then shall my enemies turn back. "When I cry,
they shall fly, so swift is prayer to reach the ear and heart of God!
And so kind is God to me."

9-12. This Iknow; for God is for me. In God will Ipraise His Word: in
the LORD willIpraise His Word. In God have I put my trust I will not be
afraid what man can do unto me. Your vows are upon me, O God. "I am
bound to praise You, I am bound to love You and I will, come what may."

12, 13. I will render praises unto You. For You have delivered my soul
from death: will You not deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk
before God in the light of the living?

Psalm 57:1. Be merciful unto me, O God. He begins with the same note as
in the last Psalm. It is a note that cannot be too often on the
Believer's tongue–"Be merciful unto me, O God."

1. Be merciful unto me. As an old writer says, "The tongue of the bell
strikes on both sides, and the note is the same in each case, 'Be
merciful unto me, be merciful unto me.'" You cannot have that petition
offered too often! David feels his deep need of mercy and the great
value of mercy and, therefore, he prays again and again, "Be merciful
unto me, be merciful unto me."

1, 2. For my soul trusts in You: yes, in the shadow of Your wings will
I make my refuge, until these calamities have passed over me. I will
cry unto God Most High; unto God that performs all things for me. "That
perfects all things for

me," so it may be read. "That perfects all His mercies, all His
promises–and who will perfect all that concerns me whatever it may
be–unto this God will I cry."

3-5. He shall send from Heaven, and save me from the reproach of him
that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy andHis
truth. My soulis among lions: andllie even among them that are set on
fire, even the sons ofmen whose teeth are spears andarrows, and their
tongue a sharp sword. Be You exalted, O God, above the heavens; let
Your Glory be above all the earth. "Exalt Yourself by overcoming all
Your enemies. If they are very great, be You greater still. If they are
mighty, be You the more mighty in my defense and so glorify Your holy
name."

6-11. They have prepared a net for my steps, my soul is bowed down:
they have dug a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen
themselves. Selah. My heart is fixed. God, my heart is fixed: I
willsing and give praise. Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery andharp: I
myself will awake early. I willpraise You, OLord, among thepeople: I
willsing unto You among the nations. For Your mercy is great unto the
heavens and Your truth unto the clouds. Be You exalted, O God, above
the heavens; let Your Glory be above all the earth.