Angelic Protection in Appointed Ways

Angelic Protection in Appointed Ways

(No. 2969)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1906.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 22, 1875.

"For He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your
ways." Psalm 91:11.

OUR subject this morning was the sprinkling of the blood of the paschal
lamb upon the lintel and the two doorposts of the houses of the
children of Israel and Egypt. As soon as that was done and the lamb had
been eaten, they had to start upon their journey to Canaan. They knew
that they had to go and they were prepared to go. They had their loins
girt and each man had his staff in his hand and his sandals on his
feet. After being prisoners so long, they were set free in order that
they might become pilgrims to the land which the Lord their God had
given to their fathers.

We who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, are in a similar
condition to theirs, for the Lord has redeemed us and we can sing the
new song, "He has brought us up out of the house of bondage and with a
high hand and an outstretched arm He has made us free." And now we are
pilgrims and strangers in this world, for we are on our way to a better
land than the earthly Canaan ever was–a land that flows with something
richer than milk and honey and where there is an eternal and abounding
portion appointed for each one of the redeemed! We are pressing on,
through this great wilderness, towards the land into which the Lord
will surely bring us in His own good time. Our text is a promise to
pilgrims. It most appropriately follows the text of this morning–"The
blood shall be to you for a token." You have set out upon the road to
Heaven. You have entered the narrow way by Christ, who is the Gate at
the head of the way, and now you are wondering how you will get on
while you are on the road, and whether you will be proved in the right
way so as to endure unto the end. This promise comes to you with much
of real heart-cheer–"He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep
you in all your ways."

I. My first remark is rather by way of implication from the text than
in direct exposition of it. It is this–THERE

ARE SOME WAYS WHICH ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS PROMISE because they are
not our ways and they are

not God's ways. They are ways into which we may be tempted by
Satan–and which we are to jealously avoid.

You know how, when the devil professed to quote this text to our Lord,
he left out the latter part of it, "to keep you in all your ways,"
because it would not have suited his purpose to mention that proviso.
We, however, will begin with the words which the devil omitted since
the very fact of his omission of them seems to show how essential they
are to a right understanding of the meaning of the text! O Christian,
if you keep to the King's Highway, you will be safe! But there are
byways and, alas, crooked lanes which you must not go down. If you do
go there, you will go at your own risk. He who travels on the King's
Highway is under the King's protection–but he who takes to byroads
must protect himself–and the probability is that he will meet with
robbers who will make him rue the day that he ever turned to the right
hand or to the left!

So first we must take care that we never go in the ways of presumption.
This is what Satan would have had Christ do. "Cast Yourself down," he
said, "for it is written, He shall give His angels charge over You, to
keep You." This temptation to presumption is by no means an uncommon
one. I have heard of it from the lips of men who were evidently not the
children of God, or they would have resisted the temptation and not
have yielded to it as they did. They have said, "Well, we are God's
children, so we may do as we like. We are saved, therefore we may live
as we please"–a dreadful inference from what, to other men, might be a
precious Truth of God. O dear Friends, beware of tempting the devil to
tempt you! Beware, too, of tempting the Lord, your God, as some do who
venture a long way into evil company, or into doubtful paths under the
mistaken notion that they are so prudent that they will not be
overtaken as others might

be–that they are so sage and withal so experienced that they may go
where young people must not venture, and may do a great many things
which less-instructed Christians had better not do. Where you think you
are perfectly safe, there you are often most in danger! Horses
frequently fall just at the bottom of the hill, when the driver thinks
that it is unnecessary to rein them up any longer. When you are so
foolish as to say, "Now I am out of the reach of temptation," you are
in the very midst of temptation! And when you think you are not being
tempted at all, you are being tempted the most by the very fancy that
you are not being tempted!

O beloved Friends, beware of presuming! Some have been so favored in
the dispensations of Providence, so prosperous in everything they have
undertaken, that they have thought they might speculate as far as ever
they pleased and, at last–well, they've had very shady characters at
the end of their lives. They have done once what they never ought to
have done and, because it succeeded, they have been tempted to do it
again and yet again. But, I pray you, Sirs, never gather from the
success of a wrong action, that God is willing for you to repeat it!
Rather say, "God was very gracious to me in not punishing me that time,
but I will never run such a risk as that again." I do not believe that
Jonah, after having been once thrown into the sea and been cast forth
upon the shore by the whale, ever wanted to be flung into the sea
again. He might not have felt certain about another whale coming along
to carry him to land! If you have been miraculously delivered once from
the great deep, do not put yourself into such a position again. If you
do, you may find that the next great fish is a shark–not a whale–and,
instead of being brought to land, you may be destroyed. In brief,
beware of all presumptuous ways, for God has not promised to keep you
there.

And, Brothers and Sisters, you scarcely need to be told that you cannot
expect to be preserved if you go into sinful ways. I trust that you
watch against the more coarse and vulgar sins to which others are prone
and that you will not be allowed to fall into them, but there is such a
thing as falling little by little. Mind, I pray you, the little evils.
A man never falls into the great, unclean sins of lust all at once–it
is usually by a long series of little familiarities that he reaches
that terrible end. He is indecorous first, indecent next and then, at
last, criminal! Oh, keep back, keep back from the beginnings of evil!
If you keep back at the very first, you will go no further. But if you
slide just a little, you will find that this world is such a slippery
place that you will surely fall, and fall frightfully, too. I trust
that no Christian would practice dishonesty in his business, yet you
know that it is very easy for one to do a wrong thing because it is
"the custom of the trade." "They label this 100 yards, though it is
only 90–but if I label it so, I will not sell it and in the next shop
it will probably be marked 110–so I must label mine a little more than
it is."

Well, if you do, remember that you are a thief! Though it is the custom
of the trade, you are a liar if you conform to it and you cannot expect
God's blessing upon you in doing it! Do you think that in the Day of
Judgment, God will say to men, "You are not guilty, for that deception
was the custom of the trade"? By no means! What does the Lord care
about the customs of your trade? Do right, at all costs. If you do
wrong, you do it at your peril, for you have no promise from God that
He will keep you in such a way as that. I need not enlarge upon this
point because you know as much about such things as I do and,
therefore, you can make the application to your own particular case.
But, O Christian, do keep altogether clear of every evil way! May God's
Grace preserve you from straying into Bypath Meadow!

The man who professes to be a Christian must not expect God's angels to
keep him if he goes in the way of worldliness. There are hundreds, and
I fear thousands, of church members who say that they are the people of
God, yet they appear to live entirely to this world. The great aim is
moneymaking and personal aggrandizement–just as much as it is the aim
of altogether ungodly men. The Kingdom of Christ, the needs of His
Church, the needs of perishing souls, have a very slender place in
their hearts–they live wholly for themselves–only they try to conceal
it under the plea of providing for their families. "Seek you first the
Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you," is a text from which we need to preach to professing
Christians throughout London, and throughout the whole world.

There is also the way of pride which many tread. They must be
"respectable." They must move in "Society"–with a big "S"–and
everything is ordered with a view to display. To be great, to be
famous, to be esteemed, to keep up a high repute–it is for this that
they live! And some grow very strong, in a Christian sort of way, in
that line. They profess to have attained to a "higher life" than
ordinary Christians ever reach. I am not at all anxious to get up
there, for I do not believe there is any higher life in this world than
the life of God which is given to everyone who believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ! The highest life I aspire to is to live as Jesus Christ
lived and to walk as He walked–and that is the lowest kind of

life with which any Christian ought to be contented! When we get such
fine feathers as these, they do not make us fine birds.

There is also the way of willfulness which I have known some follow.
Very grievous is it to see some whom we really think to be good men,
shift their quarters apparently without any reason. They were doing
very well, yet away they rush, for they cannot let well enough alone.
Some Brothers seem to be afflicted with a kind of perpetual
fidgetiness. They are rolling stones and gather no moss. They move from
one position to another, not because there is any need for them to
move, but just because they cannot stay still! They go away from their
nest and away from their home–and very often act in direct opposition
to the order of God's Providence! Oh, beware of that spirit of
willfulness! We may get to be so very strong-headed that we may have to
suffer there! It is often wise, as the old saying puts it, to take
advice of our pillow. He who does not sleep upon a thing may have to
weep upon it. Better look before you leap. Always follow the cloud of
God's Providence–don't run before it, for if you run before it, you
may find it hard work to get back again. Many have acted thus to their
cost and, of course, have had no blessing resting upon them in doing
so.

One other way in which a Christian ought not to go is the way of
erroneous doctrine. I know some professors who, as soon as a new heresy
comes up, want to have taste of it. I confess that I never felt much
temptation in that direction. I do not suppose if you went into a
chemist's shop, you would say to him, "I have heard of somebody being
killed at Norwood by taking such-and-such a poison–I would like a
taste of it." You would not ask him to take down his big bottles and to
give you a taste of all the deadly poisons he had in stock. "Oh, no!"
You say, "we are in our right senses. We would not do such a foolish
thing as that." Yet I know people who as soon as ever there is any
teaching spoken of as being erroneous, say, "We must have a look at
that. We must have a taste of that"–never satisfied except when they
are tasting poison! There is a period in life when a Christian man
should obey Paul's injunction to the Thessalonians, "Prove all
things"–but let him get that done as quickly as he can and then let
him get to the second part of the injunction– "Hold fast that which is
good." Never hold anything fast till you have proved it to be good–but
do not be everlastingly proving it! Some things do not need
anyproving–they bear upon their forefront their character. But others
need to be proved, so, having proved the right things to be right, and
the true things to be true, hold them fast and turn not aside from
them!

About every six weeks there is a new doctrine promulgated. Sometimes
there is a new sect started. It is simply because there is somebody
away up there in his study who is sorely troubled with bile or
dyspepsia. He never went out to try to win a soul. He never did any
practical work for Christ. But he edits a newspaper, or he writes for a
magazine–and out of that wonderful brain of his, which is full of
cobwebs, he excogitates a new doctrine! And as there are certain people
who are always waiting for such novelties, straightway they run off
with it and spread it wherever they can. These false-doctrine makers
and their disciples are the curse of the age in which we live! I
implore you, my Friend, to abide in the good old paths! What you know
to be true, that hold fast! Forsake not your father's God and your
mother's God. As for the Truths of God which God has taught you by His
own Spirit, grapple them to you as with hooks of steel, for, if you go
in the way of error, you cannot expect Divine protection!

II. Now, secondly, THERE ARE WAYS IN WHICH SAFETY IS GUARANTEED. I
shall only have time to mention them very briefly.

There is, first, the way of humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know that way, Brothers and Sisters, so walk in it. Oh, to be nothing
and to let Christ be everything–to confess our own guilt and to be
clothed in His righteousness! Keep to that safe road, for it is the
King's Highway of which it may be said, "No lion shall be there, nor
any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there;
but the redeemed shall walk there."

There is, next, the way of obedience to Divine precepts. Do what God
tells you, as God tells you and because God tells you, and no hurt can
come to you. The Lord told Moses to take by the tail the serpent from
which he fled. He did so and he was not bitten, but the serpent
stiffened into a wonder-working rod! Obey the Lord in all things. Mind
the jots and the tittles, for whoever will break one of the least of
Christ's commandments "and shall teach men so, shall be called the
least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them,
the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." Oh, to follow
in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, step by step, and to keep
closely to His footprints! It is in such ways that angelic protection
will be afforded to us.

There is, also, the way of childlike trust in Providential guidance.
Happy is that man who always waits upon God to know what he shall
do–who asks the Lord to always guide him and who dares not lean upon
his own understanding. Watch the Lord's Providential leadings. Wait for
Divine guidance. It is far better to stand still than to run in the
wrong road. Pause a while and pray for direction–and do not move until
you hear the voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk you in
it." In such a road as that, angels will certainly guard you!

There is, too, the way of strict principle and stern integrity.
Travelling along that road will often involve a good many losses and
crosses, much reproach and, sometimes it will even appear to destroy
your usefulness. But I charge you–young men especially–never violate
any principle which you profess to hold! I believe that it has been a
lasting blessing to some whom I know, that they have scorned to trim
their sails, even in the smallest degree, to please any living soul. Do
the same. "Be just and fear not." Keep to a cause that is despised if
you believe it is a right one and love it all the more because it is
despised! Ask not what it will pay. Care not for the flatterer's smile.
Pursue Truth even though she may go along very rough roads–she will
always repay you in the long run. Cling to her and win her smile–then
the frowns of the whole world need not cause you a moment's thought!
The way of principle is the way of safety. God's angels will keep you
if you keep to that road.

And, dear Brothers and Sisters, I am quite sure that the way of
consecrated service for God's Glory is another of these safe ways. It
is well when a man says, "I choose my path by this rule–how can I best
serve my God? Having judged whether them is any principle involved and
having a fair choice between this and that, I say to myself, 'In which
way can I hope to be the more useful? In what course of life can I best
glorify God?'" That is your way to Heaven, Christian–the way in which
your Master can get the most glory out of you! And if you walk in that
way, you may depend upon it that you will be protected by His Sovereign
Power!

And once again, there is the way of separation from the world and close
walking with God. No man ever suffered any real injury through keeping
himself aloof from the ways of ungodly men and, on the other hand, no
man ever failed to be a gainer by close and intimate fellowship with
God. "Enoch walked with God" and he gained not only escape from the
pangs of death, but also the testimony that "he pleased God." O
Christian, could not more of us choose this blessed path and walk in it
continually? If we did so, we "would have the fulfillment, in its
deepest meaning, of the promise of our text, "He shall give His angels
charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."

III. But I must pass on to note briefly, in the third place, that THESE
RIGHT WAYS WILL LEAD US INTO DIFFERING CIRCUMSTANCES.

Sometimes the right way wiil lead us into very stony places, positions
of great difficulty–yet here is the promise to meet that emergency,
"They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against
a stone." A way is none the less right because it is rough. Indeed,
often it is all the more sure to be the right way because it is so
displeasing to flesh and blood.

Sometimes, also, the right way may be very terrible with temptation. If
your path is so beset, do not, therefore, imagine that it is a wrong
way, because the Psalmist goes on to say, "You shall tread upon the
lion and adder." Lions and adders will come to you–temptations will
threaten to devour you even while you are in the right road–but then,
you are promised that as long as it is the right road that you are in,
you shall get the victory over the lion and the adder. The temptation
may be of so mysterious a character that you cannot understand it. It
may be like a dragon, but, if so, here is your comfort, "the young lion
and the dragon shall you trample underfoot."

And remember, beloved Friends, that even if the road is not stony and
if no lion attacks you, you will be kept from the perils of the smooth
and easy roads. You will always need Divine and angelic keeping, for
God would not have charged His angels to keep His people in all their
ways if they did not need protection in all their ways! Some of you are
just now prospering in business, but your way is not any safer than the
way of the man who is losing his all. Indeed, yours may not be as safe
as his! To you who are in robust health, I venture to say that your
path is more perilous than the path of the man who is always ailing.
And to all of you I say, pray for angelic keeping. Ask the Lord to
guard you with His celestial hosts, or else, in any of your ways, be
they rough or smooth, you will fall to your serious hurt.

IV. Now we come to the fourth point which is this–WHILE WALKING IN ALL
RIGHT WAYS, BELIEVERS

ARE SECURE. "He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in
all your ways."

O Christian, if you have not violated your conscience. If you have not
forsaken the path of communion with your God, think what high
privileges are yours! First, God Himself concerns Himself about you. He
charges His angels to take care of you. David, when his soldiers went
to battle against his rebellious son, Absalom, specially charged their
leaders to deal gently with the young man, Absalom, for his sake. But
he charged them in vain. In a far higher sense God charges His angels
to guard His saints–but He does not charge them in vain! This is not a
mere general command. It is a sort of imperative personal charge that
God lays upon His angels–"Take care of My children. They are on My
road–the King's high road of rectitude. Watch over them and do not
allow them to be hurt." So you have God personally charging His angels
to take care of you!

Next, you have mysterious agencies to protect you. "He shall give His
angels charge over you." We speak of dragons, but we do not know much
about them. And we do not know much about angels, but we feel sure that
angels can overcome dragons, for they are more than a match for devils!
And if mysterious temptations come to you, there shall also be
mysterious defenders to thrust them back. You have more friends, poor
Christian, than you know of. When you are fighting the battles of God,
you may hear a rush of angels' wings at your side if you only have your
ears Divinely opened. If all men forsake you, God can send His angels,
though you see them not, to strengthen you in some secret manner that I
cannot fully explain. "Behold, the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha," the Prophet who dared to be true
to his God and to serve Him faithfully. God would sooner empty Heaven
of all the angelic host, cherubim and seraphim included, than allow any
oneof His people who has walked in His ways, to suffer defeat. He
charges all His angels to take care of His saints and to keep them in
all right ways.

And as angels are on our side, so are all things, visible and
invisible. Why Believers, the very stones of the field are in league
with you and the beasts of the field are at peace with you! Wherever
you go, you have friends ready to help you. It is true that you have
enemies among the wicked, but their weapons shall not prevail against
you. And wherever there is a messenger of God–be it wind, or storm, or
lightning, or hail–it is your friend! The very stars in their courses
fight for you! The forces, terrific and tremendous, which at times
shake the world, are only your Father's flaming swords unsheathed to
protect you! If we are walking in the ways of God, we can truthfully
sing–

"The God that rules on high, And thunders when He pleases, That rides
upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas– This awful God is ours, Our
Father and our love! He shall send down His heavenly powers To carry us
above."

Sing then, you saints of the Lord, for everything is on your side! "You
shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and
the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees
of the field shall clap their hands."

What a very sweet thought is suggested by the word, "you," in our text!
It teaches us that each one of the saints is personally protected. "He
shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
God takes a personal interest in every traveler along the right road
and charges His angels to keep them. Perhaps you say, "I do not read
the text, Sir, as referring to me." Well, I think you should. When you
read the precept, "You shall not steal," do you suppose that it refers
to you? "Oh, yes!" you say, "I would not like to suggest that it did
not mean me. I would not plead exemption from the precept." Well, then,
my dear Brother, do not seek to be exempted from the promise! Just as
you feel sure that the precept applies to you, so, as a child of God,
feel sure that the promise applies to you–"He shall give His angels
charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."

This protection is perpetual as well as personal. God's angels are "to
keep you in all your ways"–in your ups and your downs, in your
advancement and your retiring–to keep you when you are asleep and when
you are awake–to keep you when you are alone and when you are in
company–to keep you if you have to preach and to keep you if you have
to hear–to keep you if you have to serve and to keep you if you have
to suffer. You always need keeping and you shall always have it, for
the angels are charged "to keep you in all your ways"!

And how beautiful it is to remember that all this keeping brings honor
with it "He shall give His angels charge over you." Notice that–"He
shall give His angels"–the very angels that wait upon God and see His
face! The very angels that are the bodyguard of the Eternal! "He shall
give His angels charge over you," "Mark you," says the Lord to Gabriel,
or Michael, or whatever the angel's name may be, "I charge you to take
special care of that poor girl, for she is a daughter of Mine. Take
care of that poor man whom so many despise, for he is a prince of the
blood imperial. He belongs to Me–he is an heir of God and joint-heir
with Jesus Christ." Oh, what amazing dignity this promise puts upon the
very least and lowliest of the followers of the Lamb!

Note just one more point, that all these privileges come to us by Jesus
Christ, for Christ is that mystic Ladder which Jacob saw, up-and-down
whose wondrous rungs the angels came and went! The commerce between the
saints and Heaven is kept up by way of the Person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, what joy is this! If Christ is yours, angels are yours, and
all the principalities and powers in the heavenly places will delight
to take care of you!

Now, if anyone here is going home to a lonely room, I should like you
to feel that you are not going there alone. Father and mother are away
in the country, perhaps, and some of you young people feel quite alone
in London. But, if you are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are
not alone, for the Lord of all the holy angels is with you and an
innumerable company of blessed spirits is round about you. Take comfort
from this glorious Truth of God! God's mysterious angelic agency, which
you see not and hear not, but which is most true and real, will form a
cordon round you to protect you in the midst of the temptations of this
great city! And if you are but faithful to Him and keep in His ways,
nothing shall hurt you between here and Heaven! There may be many darts
hurled at you, but the great shield of faith shall turn them all aside
or quench them forever. You will have to encounter many temptations and
trials, but you will be preserved amid them all. I heard a Primitive
Methodist minister speaking last Friday night, make use of a very
strong expression while describing what a man could do by faith. He
said, "He can not only overcome a legion of devils, but he could kick
his way through a lane of devils if he did but rest in God." I have had
that idea in my mind ever since I heard him use that expression–and I
am sure that it is true, for some of us have already had to do it.
Those devils are great cowards. So when God once takes entire
possession of a man, he need not fear even though all Hell were let
loose upon him! One butcher is not afraid of a thousand sheep! And one
man whom God makes strong, can put to route all the hosts of Hell–and
he need not fear all the trials of life whatever they may be! "If God
is for us, who can be against us?"

In closing, there are two or three thoughts which I think are worth
remembering. The first is this. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we see, from
this text, that the lowest employment is consistent with the highest
enjoyment. The angels are our nurses–"they shall bear you up in their
hands," just as nurses hold up little children who are not able to
stand by themselves. Those angels continually behold God's face and
live in the perfect bliss of Heaven, yet they condescend to do such
humble deeds as these. Dear Brother, be like the angels in this
respect–teach an infant class in the Sunday school, yet keep your face
bright with the Light of God's Countenance. Give away tracts, go and
visit among the poor, look after fallen women, or do any other work for
the Lord that needs to be done. Never mind what it is, but remember
that the employment is all the more honorable because it appears to be
so commonplace. Never was Christ grander, I think, than when He washed
His disciples' feet. Certainly, never are we more like He than when we,
also, are willing to wash their feet, or render any lowly service that
they may need.

The next thought is as angels watch over us, how cheerfully ought we to
watch over one another! How gladly you who are older in the Divine
life, ought to watch over the younger ones of the Lord's family! If God
enables you to have any of the joy of angels over repenting sinners,
mind that you take some of the care which angels exercise over those
who walk in God's ways. What can I, the pastor of this huge church, and
my brother and all the elders, do by way of watching over 5,000 of you?
You must pastor yourselves to a large extent! Watch over one another.
"Bear you one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Visit each other in their sickness. Seek to bring back to Christ and
the church all the backsliders whom you can find. Labor for the good of
one another, for, in only this way can our task be done– and you shall
be like the angels if you bear up the feeble ones in your hands lest
they trip up and fall to their grievous hurt.

Then next, how safe and happy we ought to feel when we know that God
has charged the angels to take care of us! Do not be nervous, my dear
Sister, the next time there is a little storm, or even a great storm.
Do not be afraid, my dear Friend, when sickness comes into your house.
Do not be alarmed, as perhaps you are, when you hear that there is
fever

next door to you. Remember the promise that precedes our text–"Because
you have made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, your
habitation; there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague
come near your dwelling." But suppose it should seem right to the Lord
to let the plague come to you? And suppose you shall die of it? Well,
you will the sooner be in Heaven! Therefore comfort one another with
the reflection that all is well with you as long as you keep in the way
of duty.

And, lastly, how holy we ought to be with such holy beings watching
over us If the angels are always hovering round you, mind what you are
doing! Would you, my dear Friend, have spoken as you did when you were
coming in at that door, yonder, if you had seen an angel standing by
your side, listening to what you were saying? Oh, no, you are
wonderfully decorous when there is somebody near whom you respect! How
often your glib tongue is checked when there is some Christian man or
woman whom you highly esteem within hearing! How many a thing is done
that would not be done under the eyes of one whom you love! It is not
only true that "a bird of the air shall carry the voice and that which
has wings shall tell the matter," but it is also true that there are
angels always watching over us. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that a
woman in the public assembly ought to have her head covered because of
the angels–a certain decorum was due because of the angels who were
there. And I am sure that I may use the same argument concerning all
our actions. Whether we are alone or in company, let us not sin because
angels are always watching us. And, remember, the angels' Lord is also
watching us!

May He graciously keep us in His holy way. And if we are so kept, we
shall be preserved from all evil while we are here and, at last, we
shall see His face with joy and live with Him forever! I would to God
that all who are now present were in that holy way. I remind you once
more that the entrance to it is by a door that has the blood-mark upon
the lintel and the two doorposts–"The blood shall be to you for a
token." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM119:25-32.

Verse 25. My soul cleaves unto the dust "It sticks to it as though it
were glued to it. My soul cannot be lifted up, at least by myself, out
of its sadness and its earthiness." The Psalmist was not one who could
boast of perfection. He had to lament that the earth which was in him
by nature made even his soul cleave to Mother Earth. He did not like
it. He was not content that it should be so and, therefore, he breathed
this prayer–

25. Quicken You me according to Your word. "Lord, there is nothing but
life that can bring me up out of the dust, for death lurks in the dust
and the dust tends to death. Put life into me, Lord–Your life, the
Divine life. You have promised to do this, therefore, do it, Lord,
'according to Your word.'" That is a prayer which is always sure to
succeed, for it is based upon the promise of God. Has the Lord promised
anything? Then He will surely perform it! And you cannot use a better
argument in prayer than to say to Him, "Do as You have said." Or, as
the Psalmist puts it, "Quicken You me according to Your word."

26. I have declared my ways, and You heard me. "I have made a full
confession to You, my God. I have acknowledged my fault wherein I was
wrong and I have thanked You for your Grace given to me in anything
wherein I was right."

26. Teach me Your statutes. "O Lord, let me not have such a sorry tale
to tell again. If my copy of Your handwriting has been badly written,
set it afresh for me, I pray You. 'Teach me Your statutes.'"

27. Make me to understand the way of Your precepts. "Let me know, O
Lord, what the way of Your precepts are. Get me into that way and then,
oh help me to keep in it all my life!"

27. So shall I talk of Your wondrous works. A man never talks rightly
of God's works till he knows God's ways. And it is idle to talk of them
if there is no doingat the back of the talking. So the Psalmist prays,
"Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of
Your wondrous works." To preach and not practice is very bad preaching!
But first to understand the way of the Lord, then to run in it–and
then to speak of it–this is well!

28. My soul melts for heaviness. The Hebrew word is, "drops." The
Psalmist's soul was like water dripping from the eaves of a house in
time of rain. There are two sorts of sorrow–the sorrow that rushes
like a mighty torrent and the sorrow which is, perhaps, the worse of
the two, which goes drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip–like the
constant dripping which wears away stones–and which makes even the
boldest heart to feel the attrition. "My soul melts, dissolves, drops,
drips for heaviness."

28. Strengthen You me. The Psalmist does not ask to have the trouble
removed. He prays, "Help me to bear it." Whenever there is a thing that
is hard, the right way to cut through it is to get something that is
still harder. If God will give us an adequate supply of His Grace, hard
times will not wear us away! So the Psalmist prays, "Strengthen You
me,"

28. According unto Your word. See how he clings to that expression,
"according unto Your word"? He knows the power of that argument and,
therefore, he uses it again and again!

29. Remove from me the way of lying. "Do not let me fall into any
untrue habits. Do not let me profess to have had an experience which I
have never felt, or talk about holy things of which I know nothing
experimentally. Keep me from everything that has any trace of falsehood
in it."

29. And grant me Your Law graciously. "For Your Law is truth, and when
Your Grace brings Your Law home to my heart, all that is false will be
banished from me."

30. I have chosen the way of truth. Your judgments have Ilaid before
me. "I have laid them before me as a man puts his model in front of him
that he may work to it." It is well for us to have God's way and God's
judgments always before our eyes, that we may be duly impressed and
rightly guided by them.

31. I have stuck unto Your testimonies. Just now the Psalmist said that
his soul stuck to the earth, yet at the same time he was sticking to
God's testimonies, for every good man is two men. There is a new-birth
man who sticks to God's testimonies, and there is that old carnal
nature in us which cleaves to the dust.

31, 32. O Lord, put me not to shame. I willrun the way of Your
commandments, when You shall enlarge my heart. That is, "When You shall
give me liberty of heart, then I will run in the way of Your
commandments. When the impediments are removed–when the sin which does
so easily entangle me, is taken away, then will I run with delight in
the way of Your commandments!