A Page From a Royal Diary

A Page From a Royal Diary

(No. 2372)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, AUGUST 5, 1894.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 17,
1888.

"Look You upon me and be merciful to me, as You used to do to those who
love Your name." Psalm 119:132.

["We believe that David wrote this Psalm. It is Davidic in tone and
expression and it tallies with David's experience in many interesting
points. In our youth, our teachers called it, 'David's pocketbook,' and
we incline to the opinion often expressed that here we have the royal
diary written at various times throughout a long life."–C. H.
SPURGEON'S Note in The Treasury of David as to the author of Psalm
119.]

PERHAPS YOU noticed, while I was reading, that during the writing of
several of the verses, David occupied himself with the praises of God's
Word. He kept to that point, extolling with all his might those
Scriptures in which God had spoken to his heart, but he could not go on
long without prayer. If these meditations were written in his
pocket-book, day by day, it is noteworthy that although he fervently
praises the Word of God, yet he also frequently breaks out into prayer.
However the child of God may occupy his mind–and he very properly
employs it in many holy occupations–yet he often turns to prayer, for
he cannot live without it. Well does Montgomery say–

"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air."

We must pray. Brothers and Sisters, we are bound to praise God for all
His goodness. We cannot help bearing testimony to His faithfulness and
His Truth. We are delighted to engage in all acts of holy service, but,
in addition to all that, we must pray. Prayer is a sine qua non with
us–we continually come back to that sacred exercise, for, without it,
we are nothing and can do nothing. Therefore, again I say, we must
pray.

Notice, also, how brief David's prayer is, and yet how full of matter!
I believe that very often, the longer the prayer is, the less there is
in it, and that the best prayers that were ever prayed have usually
been the shortest. An arrow may easily be too long and prayers should
be like arrows shot from the bow of faith. If they are short, it does
not matter, as long as they are sharp and went on their way with a good
pull of the bowstring. The first petition, here, is very short, but
very full–"Look You upon me." The words are few, but the sense is
deep, as I shall have to show you. Oh, that we all spoke with greater
freshness and naturalness in prayer–that we had no thought about
keeping on with fine language, but great anxiety as to holding on with
a firm grip of wrestling, pleading prayer!

The whole of our text is but short, yet it contains much more meaning
than I can bring out to you in this one discourse. I want to call your
attention to four things in it. First, David's brief petition–"Look
You upon me." Secondly, his humble confession (it is not given in so
many words, but it lies hidden away like the perfumed violet beneath
the green leaves)–"Be merciful unto me," which is a virtual confession
of sin. Thirdly, his tacit profession, for he says, "as You used to do
unto those that love Your name," which is tacitly saying that he loves
God's name, or else he could not pray the Lord to deal with him as He
used to do with such people. And, fourthly–and here I shall enlarge
somewhat–his gracious aspiration. The highest, loftiest wish that
David had was that God would deal with him as He was accustomed to do
unto those that love His name. He did not want to fare either better or
worse than the rest of the Lord's family, so he boldly prayed, "Look
You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those that
love Your name."

I. To begin with, here is, in our text, DAVID'S BRIEF PETITION–"Look
You upon me."

I think that these words came to David's mouth from his heart and that
he prayed, "Look You upon me," because his own eyes had failed him.
Turn to the 123rd verse. If you look at it, you will see that one thing
in a saint may suggest another. In that verse he wrote, "My eyes fail,"
and in our text he says, "Look You upon me. Lord, when I feel as if I
could not look at You, do You look at me! My eyes fail me. I have
washed them out with rivers of water, I have flooded them with
fountains of grief. Unbelief has come in. I cannot see as I would–the
dust of the world and the smoke of care have dimmed my eyes–I seem to
grow blind, my Lord, and though I would always look at You and never
take my eyes off You, yet my eyes fail me!" In such a case as that, it
is so sweet to pray to God, "Look You upon me."

Brothers and Sisters, there is great virtue in our looking to
Christ–it is the way of salvation! What virtue, then, must there be in
Christ's love-gaze upon us! A faith-look at the blood of Jesus gives us
peace, but, as I always remind you, it is God's sight of the blood that
brings us salvation. Did He not say to Moses and Aaron, "When I see the
blood, I will pass over you"?–

"When your eyes of faith are dim Still trust in Jesus, sink or swim."
When you cannot see your God, still say with poor Hagar, "You God see
me." Jehovah is the all-seeing One–remember that and be comforted. If
your eyes are put out, His eyes can never be blinded–still does He
look upon you with compassion and see you with His eyes of Grace. Again
I say, Lord, if ever I should forget to look to You, or if ever I
should be in such a state of despondency that I cannot look up to You,
look You upon me!

Next, notice that man's eyes had misjudged David. I think the
Psalmist's prayer is to be read in this light, that he had been
condemned and persecuted by the ungodly and he was evidently under the
oppression of man as we noticed in reading the 134th verse–"Deliver me
from the oppression of man." Men had misconstrued his words and
misrepresented him, so now he says, "Lord, look You upon me! Whenever
evil men look at me, they look with disapproval–they do not see what
should be seen, but they see a great deal that is not really there.
Lord, I know what they say of me, but You look upon me!" It has fallen
to the lot of many of us to pass under the censure of men and the cure
for that censure is to cry, "Lord, look You upon me." Mr. Blind-Man,
the foreman of the Vanity Fair jury that condemned Christian's brother,
Faithful, said, "I see clearly that this man is a heretic." And the
blinder bad men are, the more fault they can see in God's people, even
when there is nothing of evil to be seen! They will make it up if they
cannot find it and they will swear to it even if they know that it is
not so. It is not for a child of God to battle with them about the
matter, but to turn his eyes to the Lord who is our only Judge and,
with David, to pray, "Look You upon me."

Again, do you not think it was this that made the Psalmist pray in this
way? He knew that God's eyes perceive what His servant needs. David
opened his mouth and panted–he knew he needed something, but he hardly
knew what it was! At times we do not know how to word our prayers
because our sense of need is so very great. It seems idle to ask for
one thing when we need everything! When we are quite emptied out, we
scarcely know where to begin, and when our case is very puzzling and
perplexing, we cannot tell what to ask for when we come to the Throne
of Grace. That is a sweet thought, "You, my heavenly Father, know what
things I have need of before I ask for them!" Prayer is not for God's
information, but for our instruction! We need to be made to learn what
our needs are, but God always knows them. It is a very blessed thing,
when we cannot tell what our needs are, to utter such a prayer as this,
"Look You upon me, O Lord! You will see what I need. You will see
wherein I fail. You will see how I struggle. You will see what I
suffer. Lord, look You upon me!"

This is also, to my mind, such a lovely and God-honoring prayer because
it leaves all with God. David does not say what he thinks the Lord
should do. When prayer dictates to God, it has gone beyond its lawful
bounds and it is not, then, proper prayer. But the Psalmist prays,
"Lord, look You upon me." When he was very sick, he did not say, "Lord,
heal me," but he prayed, "Lord, look You upon me." An ordinary
physician's look, alone, is not worth much, but one glance of the Great
Physician's eyes is sufficient to cure all the maladies of the heart!
We need the earthly physician's hand and his medicine and, possibly,
the surgeon's knife. Ah, but we get everything in a look from our Lord!

When Jesus turned and looked upon Peter, did He preach a sermon? He did
a great deal more than that! Did He rebuke the liar? He did a great
deal more than that! Did He draw the wanderer back to Himself? He did a
great deal more than that! Oh, nobody knows how much lies in one look
of the eyes of God! Let us, each one, present this prayer
to-night–"Lord, here is my case. I do not understand it–I know what I
would like–but I am not sure whether it would

be right for me to ask for it. I put myself before You–look You upon
me. I sit, like the blind man by the wayside, and all I ask is that You
will but turn Your face this way and see me where I am, and see what I
am. And if You will but do that, do what else You please. I will not
dictate to You as to what You should do. I will leave myself and my
affairs entirely in Your hands–only look You upon me."

I think David also meant this petition, "Look You upon me," in the
sense in which we sang just now–

"Look upon me, Lord, I pray You, Let Your Spirit dwell in mine!"

In this sense, God's look will be a sign of Divine favor. Frequently,
in Scripture, God is represented as turning His face away in anger. But
when He looks towards His chosen ones, it is in love. Brothers and
Sisters, is there anything under Heaven more delightful than to be
loved by God and to know it? The love of God, in itself, is
inexpressibly sweet, but if you do not apprehend it, it is a sea of
sweetness of which you do not taste, or like a mountain of honey to
which you cannot gain access! But oh, to be loved of God and to know it
would make a man dance if he were in chains! It would turn a dungeon
into a palace if the poor prisoner were sure that God loved him! And
that is precisely what David means when He prays, "Look You upon me.."
"…Make Your face shine upon Your servant." Do you see men scowling,
and do you hear them howling? What does it all matter? God is smiling
and that is an end to all the oppression of man! One sun soon puts an
end to all the darkness. One glimpse of God's smiling, reconciled,
eternally-loving face, drives away all sorrow from the Believer's
heart! The Psalmist's prayer, "Look You upon me," means just that.

I think, too, that David meant one thing more, that is, that God's look
could prepare him for future obedience. When David said to the Lord,
"Look You upon me," he meant, "Look at me and see that I am armed for
the fight against evil. O Lord, look me up and down, search me all over
and see that I do not lack any necessary thing! Look at me inside and
outside. Look at my brain, look at my heart, look You upon me to see
that there is nothing omitted that will be necessary for my future
conduct in the world, in the Church, in the household, or alone with
You!"

Does not the Psalmist mean all that I have said? And did I not speak
truly when I told you that this little prayer, "Look You upon me," has
much more in it than I can draw out of it in a single discourse? I
advise you to pray it as it is, with all the meanings packed away in
it–"Look You upon me." God help you to do so!

II. Our next division is DAVID'S HUMBLE CONFESSION. It is not actually
expressed in words, but it is hidden away in his next utterance–"Be
merciful unto me."

The Psalmist's confession is the link between his first prayer and this
second supplication. His prayer grew out of this confession. He prayed
to the Lord, "Look You upon me," because he could not, himself, look to
God. And then he added this petition because he realized his need of
Divine mercy. "Be merciful unto me." Do you remember the Savior's
parable, or the fact the Savior described when He said, "Two men went
up into the Temple to pray. One of them, the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon
his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner'"? Surely David,
long before that story was told, was acting it out! He dared not look
up to God. He could not look up, or he would not have prayed, "Look You
upon me."

Then he cried, "Be merciful unto me." By this petition he evidently
sought forgiveness. Mercy is only for guilty people. Favor may be for
the miserable, but mercy is for the guilty. One said, the other day,
"Oh, I am such a great sinner!" And a wise person, who stood by, said,
"I am glad to hear you admit it." "Oh," answered the other, "but I am
lost." "It is so," responded the friend, "and I am pleased to hear you
confess it." "And why are you so pleased? It sounds rather cruel to be
glad because I am a sinner, and pleased because I am lost." "Ah," said
the wise Christian instructor, "but Jesus Christ came into the world to
save sinners. He, Himself, said, 'the Son of Man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost.'" There would be nobody to receive mercy if
nobody were guilty! Oh, that you might all feel, whether you are saints
or sinners, that the language of the text suits you! "Be merciful unto
me." "Oh," said one, "I do not think I have been as guilty as some."
Nevertheless, there is no way to Heaven but one–and that way is open
for the vilest as well as the most moral. "Be merciful unto me," is the
prayer you must learn to pray if you hope to enter the Kingdom of God!

It is evident, also, that upon this ground, alone, the Psalmist sought
for the blessing he desired–"Look You upon me, and be merciful unto
me." Do you see what he means? "Lord, I do not expect a look from You
except as a proof of Your mercy. If You only give me a glance of Your
eyes, it will be a token of mercy." If we get a crumb from God's table,
it is a mercy. If we get a promise out of His Word, it is a mercy–if
we get anything from the Lord it is a mercy–but if we re-

ceive forgiveness of sin, what a mercy that is! Did you ever try to
fathom the depth of mercy that lies in the forgiveness of a single sin?
There are some sins in our lives which will always be remembered by us.
That night when you gave way to that one particular fit of temper which
led to that one dreadful act of sin, has God forgiven that? Ah, yes,
for "all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men." When
you cannot forgive yourself, yet you may know that God has, for
Christ's sake, forgiven you. You may have all the more pleasure in
knowing that He has forgiven you because you cannot forgive yourself.
That sin which overwhelms you and lays you in the very abyss as you
remember it–that is the sin God delights to pardon! What a blessing it
is that it is so, that we are able to assure you that, "He delights in
mercy," and especially in this particular form of mercy, the blotting
out of sin! After David had sinned with Uriah's wife, or after other
great transgressions, this prayer was especially suitable, "Be merciful
unto me."

There I will leave this part of my subject, but I pray God the Holy
Spirit not to leave it, but to lay it home to some hearts here. People
are getting ready for Whitsuntide–some will be going into the country,
and others are obliged to keep their shops open late before the
holidays–therefore we are fewer in number, here, than usual, but I
have been wondering whether God does not intend to save somebody who
has come in here, tonight, because it is the holiday season? The Lord
grant that it may be so! What can be more appropriate to you who are
conscious of guilt and groaning under the heavy burden of sin, than
that you should pray these two petitions of David's supplication–"Look
You upon me, and be merciful unto me"?

III. The third point, upon which I will not detain you long, is DAVID'S
TACIT PROFESSION. There is, again, hidden away, here, not uttered in
words, but secretly implied, a profession of love for the Lord–"Look
You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those that
love Your name"

If the Psalmist does not actually declare that he loves God's name, he
does at least say, "Lord, put me down among them that love Your name.
Count me with them. I want to love Your name, O Lord; therefore, treat
me as You treat

them!"–

"With them numbered may I be, Now, and through eternity!"

David hardly dares to say that He loves God's name, but he does
practically say it by praying that God will treat him as He treats
those who do love His name. Some of those who love God best are not the
loudest in proclaiming their love. I believe there are some, here, who
would die for Christ if it were necessary, yet they have not had the
courage to come out and confess Him. I heard of a good woman who was
afraid to testify before the Church, of her faith in Christ. As she was
going away, she turned round and said to the minister, "I cannot speak
about my faith, Sir, but I would die for Christ." "Come back," he said,
"come back! That confession is better than any other sort of speaking."

There have been some, in the time of the martyrs, who have been very
loud in their professions, but they have recanted at the last–while
others, who have been very timid have been the bravest of all when the
burning day came. I remember that one martyr, when chained to the stake
with two others, slipped down from under the chain and was hidden by
the firewood some two or three minutes. All thought he had recanted,
but he came back and placed himself in the chains, again, and stood up
boldly to be burned to death. He said to a Brother at his side, "I lost
sight of my Lord's face, and I could not stand there to burn until I
had found Him, again. He has come to me so sweetly and now, by His
Grace, I shall die like a man."

If we have Christ with us, how strong we are! But if He is not with us,
we are weakness itself! I cannot, therefore, condemn those who are
afraid to say very boldly that they love the Lord's name. I hope,
however, that they will have the courage, at any rate, to slip in
edgeways and sandwich themselves between some other Believers, and say
in the words of the text, "Be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto
those that love Your name."

But the true child of God does love his Lord's name. What does that
mean? He loves God's name, that is, he loves the Person of God. He
loves God! His heart goes out towards the infinitely glorious Jehovah.
He loves the Character of God. There are a great many, nowadays, who
want Jehovah to be improved upon. When they read of the God of Holy
Scripture, they do not like Him–they say they want a kinder and more
tender God. These are the men who worship the gods of modern
thought–gods newly come up which are more like the devil than the true
God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ! But the true child of God loves God as he finds Him
and as he

finds Him in Holy Scripture–the one living and true God who made all
things, and by whom all things consist. This is the God we love, adore
and worship!

The genuine child of God also loves God's Revelation. That is often
what is meant by the expression, "His name." He who is right with God
loves every Doctrine of the Scriptures and every part of that Doctrine.
He does not try to alter and improve the Scriptures, nor to prepare an
addendum to the Word of God–he loves the Revelation given to us in the
name of God and loves every point of it. By the, "name," is sometimes
meant the Glory of God. I trust that the very feeblest of us can say
that we love the Glory of God. When we hear Him praised, our hearts are
all aglow. When we hear anything that is said against Him, our
indignation burns vehemently, for we love His name. Oh, that God would
grant us Grace to love Him far more than we do!

I must not say more on this point, for I have only a little time left,
and I need that for the last division of my discourse.

IV. Fourthly, we are to consider DAVID'S GRACIOUS ASPIRATION. What he
asks is that God would be merciful to him as He is accustomed to be to
those who love His name. That is our aspiration, too–I trust we want
God to deal with us as He deals with the rest of His people.

Notice, here, that David would be dealt with as saints have always been
dealt with. If God treats us as He treats His children, I think we may
be perfectly satisfied. There was a time when, if anybody had said to
me, "The Lord will put you among His children and treat you as one of
them," I would have been ready to dance for joy! And I do not run back,
today, from the solemn conviction that if He will only treat me as He
treats the rest of His family, I shall be perfectly satisfied. How is
that? How does the Lord deal with His children?

Well, you know what He used to do to those who loved His name. He used
to come and visit them. For instance, there were Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. These all had visits from the Lord, as did Moses, when God was
in the burning bush. In olden days, God could be found in the desert or
in a bush. He came to His people by the brook side, by the river, in
the fiery furnace and in the lions' den. And it is still the use and
habit of God to visit His people! Did He ever visit you? Pray that He
may visit you as He used to do to those who loved His name. Lord, come
and visit me under a tree, as You met Abraham! Come and meet me beneath
the city wall as You met Joshua of old! Come to the river's brink, as
You came to Ezekiel by the river of Chebar! Come to the lonely island,
as you did to John in Patmos!

God not only used to visit those who loved His name, but He used to
instruct them. What teachings they had from Him! What revelations and
manifestations of Himself! Lord, teach me as You used to teach those
who loved Your name!

How patient, also, He was with them! They had many faults and
failings–and they grieved His Holy Spirit–but He forgave them and
went on teaching them! And when they fell and wandered from Him, He
restored them and brought them back.

Then you know, dear Brothers and Sisters, the Lord was always faithful
to those who loved His name. When He made them a promise, He always
kept it. He said He would meet them, and He did. He said that He would
help them, and He did. He said that He would strengthen them, and He
did. He said that He would give them victory, and He did. He never was
a liar to them–He never left them in need. By the mouth of His
servant, Jeremiah, He asked, "Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?" He
never broke a single condition of His Covenant, so I think we can, each
one, pray, "Lord, look You upon me, and be merciful unto me, as You
used to do unto those that love Your name!"

But notice this, also, the Lord used to whip them when they needed it!
Those who loved His name were chastened. Asaph said, "All the day long
have I been plagued and chastened every morning." Well, suppose you
should have the same treatment? You can thank God that He is doing to
you as He used to do to those who loved His name! If He had a child of
His who was strong, He used to try and test him. If he was brave, He
made him fight. If he was vigorous, He made him bear burdens. You will
always find that, in proportion to the strength the Lord gives, so He
sets the trial. That is how He used to do to those who loved His name.

You cannot tell how it has comforted me, sometimes, when it has been
said to me, "You are reproached." "Very well," I say to myself, "that
is how the Lord used to allow it to be done to those who loved His
name." "But you have lost your reputation through standing up for the
Truth of God." "Yes," I answer, "that is how it used to be done to
those who loved God's name. That is the way His servants have always
gone to Glory." You can go to Hell with a whole skin if you wish to do
so, but you must go to Heaven with many a bruise and gash. If you would
be faithful to the Lord,

you must expect to be despised–but take it all as part of the lot that
belongs to you and do not quarrel with it. Do you expect to be carried
to the skies on flowery beds of ease? I should be sorry to see you
trying such a plan of going to Heaven, for that is not how the Lord
used to do to those who loved His name! Do you expect to go all the way
to Heaven, clapped and applauded by an eager throng, crying, "Well
done"? Is that how He used to do unto those who loved His name? Far
from it! Therefore, be satisfied if God deals with you as He used to do
with those who loved His name.

I think, also, that when using these words, David meant that He was
quite willing that God should deal with him in His usual way, in His
regular order. He did not want to have some special railway thrown up
for him in which he could ride first-class to Heaven, but he was
willing to go the old way, the way the holy Prophets went, and the
saints, and martyrs, and confessors of God! That is to say, he did not
want salvation without holiness. He did not want justification without
sanctification. He did not want pardon without regeneration. He asked
God to do with him as He used to do with those who loved His name and,
with them, you know, the water and the blood always went together–they
had the new heart as well as the new robe. Acceptance in the Beloved
did not come without there also being an acceptableness of holy
character given by the Spirit of God.

Next, David did not want profit without exertion. He was not one of
those who said, "I want to be happy, but never to do anything. I want
to take the promises, but to have no part in Christian service. I want
to understand without reading the Scriptures. I want to be taught and
comforted without coming to hear sermons–I want to lie down and sleep
myself into Glory." No, He was willing that God should do with him as
He used to do unto those who loved Him.

David did not expect to have answers without prayer. The Lord Jesus
said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you." We should be willing to have it as it
was done to those who loved the Lord's name. David said, "Look You upon
me and be merciful unto me, as You used to do unto those that love Your
name." Some of our Churches expect prosperity without Prayer Meetings
and hope to get many converts without unitedly asking for them. Perhaps
half-a-dozen Christians meet for prayer on Monday evenings, or perhaps
a few gather on Wednesdays when there is half a lecture and half a
Prayer Meeting, so that they can say that they do have a Prayer Meeting
when, in reality, they do not have one at all! But David said, "Make me
pray, Lord. Do not give me anything unless I pray for it! Compel me to
plead with You and then give me Your blessing!"

Then, again, David did not expect to pass through life without
experiencing difficulties. He had to fight Goliath and he had to go
into the cave of Adullam. He expected to have troubles and he certainly
was not disappointed. Nor will you be. Do not reckon that God will give
you a life without difficulty! Tell me, if you can, of any child of His
who ever had such a portion? He had one Son without sin, but no son
without sorrow. No, that Son who had no sin was the Man of Sorrows and
acquainted with grief–so you must expect the Lord to deal with you as
He does with the rest of His household.

Lastly, you cannot expect that you shall have continual enjoyments of
the light of Christ's Countenance and a blessed experience of the
sweets of His love, without having struggle of soul and conflict of
spirit which come from the fact that the devil is not dead, that the
world is not changed, that sin still dwells within you and still causes
you grief. "Deal with me, O Lord, as You used to do with Your children!
I do not want to be picked out from the rest and treated as a
favorite." David once had a favorite child, Absalom, and a dreadful
fellow he turned out to be! God does not fill us with sweetmeats–it is
not His custom to take away all trouble and give us nothing but joy.
Sweetmeats at night mean medicine in the morning! God grant us Grace to
be willing to take the bitter with the sweet, to be baptized with
Christ's Baptism and to drink of Christ's cup–and to always be
satisfied as long as we may follow where the bleeding Savior leads the
way!

Now, dear Friends, I have done. I hope there has been a word for
everybody. And if there has been a word from me to you, let there be a
word from you to God–and let this be the prayer that you utter before
leaving this house, "Look You upon me and be merciful unto me, as You
used to do unto those that love Your name."

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM 119:129-144

Verse 129. Your testimonies are wonderful: therefore does my soul keep
them. Every true Believer admires God's Word and, more than that, it
amazes him–"Your testimonies are wonderful." View them from any point
you may select, they are wonderful–wonderful in themselves, wonderful
in their operation, wonderful in the way in which they endure all kinds
of testing and yet remain the same–"Your testimonies are wonderful."
This wonder, however, in the true Believer, leads to godly practice, to
holy living–"Therefore does my soul keep them." Our soul must be like
a golden case in which we store the priceless jewels of the Word of the
Lord. You cannot rightly keep God's Word anywhere but in your soul. To
keep it merely in the memory, or in the intellect, is of no avail.

130. The entrance of Your Words give light. The very first
principles–the elements of God's Word–are full of light and no sooner
does it come into the heart than there is light, directly. How much
more light does it give when it penetrates into the secret chambers of
our being and we begin to understand its deeper mysteries!

130. It gives understanding unto the simple. God's Word gives
understanding to those who feel that they have very little mental
ability–"the simple." They are only plain people who must have the
Truth of God put very simply before them or else they cannot comprehend
it, but as soon as ever God's Word enters their heart, even such people
get understanding. It is not the Word outside the heart that gives the
blessing–it is the entrance of the Word that gives true life to the
soul!

131. I opened my mouth and panted. That was an admirable way of
praying–no words were used by the Psalmist, but his soul expressed
itself by panting, "As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants
my soul after You, O God."

131. For I longed for Your commandments. The very best kind of prayer
is that inarticulate panting in which there is a longing, a sighing,
that cannot be expressed in words.

132. 133. Look You upon me and be merciful unto me, as You used to do
unto those that love Your name. Order my step in Your Word. "Lord, I
have found the way into Your Word. That is the road I intend to travel.
Now I pray You to guide my every step." They say that, "Order is
Heaven's first law," and certainly a Christian should lead an orderly
life. He should be a "Methodist"–he should have a method in all that
he does–and he should pray for God to order his steps according to His
Word.

133. And let not any iniquity have dominion over me. A hypocrite says
to himself, "I do not swear, I do not steal and I do not lie, yet I
allow other sins to have dominion over me." But a true man of God will
not have any master but the Lord Jesus Christ. He will not put his neck
under the foot of even the most attractive sin. "Let not any iniquity
have dominion over me." That is the Psalmist's prayer. Here is the
Apostle's answer to it–"Sin shall not have dominion over you."

134. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep Your
precepts. He does not mean that he will not keep God's precepts if he
is not delivered from man's oppression, but there are persons in such
circumstances–Christian wives with wicked husbands, godly servants
with ungodly masters, Believers who are greatly oppressed by evil
men–and they desire to be delivered from the oppression of man that
they may be the better able to keep God's commandments.

135. Make Your face to shine upon Your servant. What a blessed prayer
that is! Let each one, here, pray it tonight– "Make Your face to shine
upon Your servant." The Lord is our Sun! He is the very Sun of
Heaven–they need no sun, there, because they see His face!

135. And teach me Your statutes. The Lord's servant ought to know the
Law of his Lord's house. How can he be an obedient servant if he does
not know his Master's will? So the Psalmist prays, "Lord, I will take
it as a favor if You will teach me Your statutes, that I may not only
know, but also do them!"

136. Rivers of waters run down my eyes because they keep not Your Law.
Some think that the Psalmist meant that his eyes wept because they,
that is, his eyes did not keep God's Law. You know how easily sin comes
in through the eyes and goes out through the eyes, too. Well may those
eyes weep in sorrow that have lusted towards sin. But I think the
Psalmist alludes, here, to the ungodly. The sins of sinners are the
sorrows of saints. "Rivers of waters run down my eyes because they keep
not Your Law." Perhaps David referred to his own children, or he may
have meant his soldiers–those rough, rugged warriors who were led by
Joab. He met with many in his own country who turned aside from God and
he wept over them. It is a blessed sign of Grace when you can weep over
other men's sins. Do not say, "So-and-So has gone wrong," and treat the
matter with indifference. If you can do so, you may question whether
you have Grace in your own heart, for a true Christian ought to be
tender and compassionate at the thought of the sinful things around
him. There

are some who can look upon the error and false doctrine which abound
everywhere and say, "Oh, let it alone! Do not trouble yourself about
that." But he who walks with God is not of their mind–it is a constant
grief and agony of spirit to him that men keep not God's Law.

137. Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgements. It is
always well to set God in contrast with wicked men. If others are
unjust, He is not. If they forsake the Truth of God, He does not.

138. Your testimonies that You have commanded are righteous and very
faithful. True to the letter, true always, true to the core.

139. Your zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten Your
Words. Yes, God's faithful servants become the more zealous when others
grow cold. When they see that God's Words are forgotten by others, they
remember them all the more and they grow exceedingly zealous for the
Law of the Lord.

140. Your Word is very pure: therefore Your servant loves it. It is
pure in the sense of being unadulterated and it is pure in the sense of
being holy. There is nothing in the Scripture that would lead us to
sin, nor excuse it–it is a wonderful condemner of sin. "Your Word is
very pure." Notice the Psalmist's use of the word, "very." In the 138th
verse, he says, "Your testimonies are very faithful." And now, in the
140th, "Your Word is very pure." "Therefore Your servant loves it."
When purity draws out our love, it proves that our heart, itself, loves
that which is pure–and the heart that loves purity is a pure heart.

141. I am small and despised: yet I do not forget Your precepts. He was
poor but pious, little but loving, despised but devoted. It was the man
who had but one talent who went and dug in the earth and hid his Lord's
money. David was not of that kind. He was small, but he knew he was not
too small to sin. He was despised, but he did not, on that account,
think that he might turn aside from the right path.

142. Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. God's Word
does not change, it is everlasting, and the righteousness which it
reveals and which it proclaims to us is everlasting.

142. And Your Law is the Truth. God's Word is not only true, but it is
"the Truth." The Truth is God's Law and God's Law is the Truth.

143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me. Just now he said that
he was despised and now he says he is unhappy. Trouble without and
anguish within seemed to grip him as in a vice.

143. Yet Your commandments are my delights. A man of the world cannot
understand how a Christian can be in trouble and yet be full of
delight, but it is true. We can be cast down, but not destroyed. We can
be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. We can be poor, yet make many rich.
Here you have another holy paradox–"Trouble and anguish have taken
hold on me, yet Your commandments are my delights"–not only his
delight, but his delights! As if he had a whole host of them–a great
company of joys, and a chorus of holy mirth!

144. The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting: give me
understanding. That is a great prayer, not only, "give me to
understand," but, "give me understanding." It is one thing to tell a
man the Truth of God, but quite another thing to make him understand
it. And if you make him understand a particular Truth, he may not
understand another, but David asks for understanding with which he
might be able to comprehend all the Truths of God–"Give me
understanding"–

144. And I shall live. God grant that this prayer may be offered by
each one of us and heard by the Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.