“Clear Shining After Rain”

"Clear Shining After Rain"

(No. 2284)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JULY
20, 1890.

"As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after
rain." 2 Samuel 23:4.

WHAT a blessing it is to the country if, at certain seasons, we have a
time of clear shining after the rain! Under some circumstances, nothing
but sunshine will save the crops that are ready to be reaped, and there
will be great loss to the farming interest, and, indeed, to us all,
unless we have the sunshine when it is needed. We must never neglect to
pray to the Lord who alone can give, to the natural world, clear
shining after rain.

Our text, however, has a higher meaning than this. These words occur in
David's description of a fit, true and wise ruler. All rulers have not
been fit to rule. Indeed, in David's day, and in most Oriental
countries at the present time, the King, the Sultan, the Emperor, the
Shah, all rule for themselves. Their one great business is to extort
all the taxes they can from the people and to give them as little as
possible in return. To fleece the sheep is the great business of an
Oriental shepherd–to feed them does not seem to enter into his mind.
But David says that where rulers were wise, just, and upright, their
country flourished. A good ruler, especially in the East, where he had
everything in his own hands when he came to the throne, was like "a
morning without clouds," and the people round him grew like the grass
in times when, after heavy showers of rain, the sun looks forth with
cheerful rays and warms the earth into verdure. We may be thankful,
dear Friends, that we do not know what despotic rule means, for, good
as it may occasionally happen to be, it may also be intolerably bad.
Let other lands have what masters they will, but let us be free and our
own masters, as we still are, thanks to the gracious Providence of God
that has smiled upon us.

The beautiful simile by which David sets forth the rule of a good king,
I will first take out of its connection and look at it for other
purposes. And then I will put it back into its connection and use it as
David used it, only in a higher sense. The beautiful picture that he
draws is produced by a combination–first rain, and then, clear shining
after rain–and the most flourishing condition of spirituality is
produced by the same two causes! It comes as the result of a
combination of rain and sunshine. We shall never rise to the highest
spiritual state by having all rain and no sunshine. Although we may
prefer it, we shall never attain to the fullest fruit-bearing by having
all sunshine and no rain. God puts the one over against the other, the
dark day of cloud and tempest against the bright day of sunshine and
calm–and when the two influences work together in the soul, as they do
in the natural world, they produce the greatest degree of fertility and
the best condition of heart and life.

I intend to use the text in four ways. First, I shall show you how the
"clear shining after rain" is manifested in the heart of the convert.
In the second place, I shall point out to you how this "clear shining
after rain" often produces the best condition of things in the soul of
the Believer. Thirdly, I shall prove to you that our text makes a very
happy combination in the ministry of the Word. And, in closing, I shall
speak to you about the "clear shining after rain" in the ages to come.

I. I shall begin by showing you how the "clear shining after rain" is
manifested IN THE HEART OF THE CONVERT.

When a man is truly converted, do you know how it is manifested? All
conversions are not alike, there is a very great difference between
them. Some are very definite–you can tell to a minute when the man is
converted. Others are very indistinct–there is a long previous
preparatory process and you cannot say exactly when the man turned to
God. If you get up tomorrow morning and do not look at the Almanac, but
look toward the east and take a pencil and try to mark

down exactly when the sun rises, I think it is highly probable that you
will not manage the task correctly. On an extremely clear and bright
morning, you might tell, to a second, when the rim of the sun appeared
above the horizon, but we do not often have clear, bright mornings
nowadays. We have not seen the sun much, lately and, probably, you
would find that he was up before you had made the pencil mark–and most
likely you would learn that he was up before you had discovered when he
rose!

So it is often in the workings of Divine Grace. Some men have the Light
of God, but they cannot tell when the Light first came to them. Let
none of you imagine that you are not converted because you do not know
the hour when it occurred! Otherwise, you would be as foolish as I
should be if I said to some old lady, "How old are you?" "Well, I am
somewhere about eighty." "But when was your birthday? Do you not
remember your birthday?" "No, Sir, I do not." Suppose I were to tell
her she was not alive because she did not know her birthday? I would be
very foolish! And if you say to yourself, "Soul, you were never born
again because you do not know when the event happened," you will be
very foolish, too! If you can say, "One thing I know, whereas I was
blind, but now I see," be satisfied and grateful, even though you
cannot tell when the great miracle was worked. Conversions, then, are
not all alike.

Yet, as a usual rule, the work of Grace begins in the heart with a time
of gloom. Clouds gather–there is a general dampness round about–the
soul seems saturated with doubt, fear, dread. There is something
coming, but the soul knows not what. It feels that it is very sinful
and deserves whatever punishment God may send. Perhaps some of you are
passing through that stage of experience just now. You get sadder and
yet more sad every day and yet you do not quite know why. You used to
go to the theater and you enjoyed it, but you went the other night, and
it seemed very dreary to you, as indeed it is. You went off to some
joyful company, where you used to be very merry, but you seemed quite
out of spirits–you could not join in their merriment and you were glad
to get home. Something ails you! Something ails you. Yes, the clouds
are gathering over your head. That is how Grace usually begins to work
in the soul that God means to save and bless.

After the clouds, in the next place, the rain falls. The real work of
the Spirit of God often follows upon an inward depression of spirit.
Now you really begin to repent of sin! Now are you sorry for the past.
Now you begin to sigh and cry for Christ. You wish you knew Him–you
wish you loved Him. Tears begin to drop or, if they do not actually
fall from your eyes, yet there is inward weeping and your soul is
getting moist, now, with deep contrition, hatred of sin, dread of God's
anger, the fear of the wrath to come, and a wish to lay hold on eternal
life. Now the rains, the blessed rains, have come and softened your
heart! If we were to water all the fields in summer, when the sun is
shining with a scorching heat, it would be of very little use, indeed.
An Irish friend of mine once said that he had carefully noticed that it
did not rain when the sun was shining, but that, whenever it rained,
there were always some clouds to keep the sunshine off. There is a
great truth in what my friend said! Rain becomes doubly precious to the
earth when all the surroundings are suitable for its reception. All the
atmosphere becomes damp. Whereas, if rain could fall when all is dry
and warm, mischief might come of it. Well, now, God's Holy Spirit loves
to come and work a congenial atmosphere in man–a holy tenderness, a
devout heartbreaking–then, with the clouds, He brings a heavenly rain.

What comes after the rain? Then the sun shines–"clear shining after
rain." I am describing the conversion of a man to God, not in a
cast-iron style, for, as I have already told you, experiences differ.
But, as a rule, after the softening, saturating influences of the Holy
Spirit have come to the man, then the clouds go, the rain ceases and
there comes clear shining. The sun shines out. The man perceives that
he is a sinner, but that Christ has come to save him. He sees his own
blackness, but he believes that Christ can make him whiter than snow.
He mourns his own rebellions, but he rejoices that he is made a
reconciled child and admitted into the sacred family. Now look at him,
his face is full of brightness. He looks as if he would like to dance,
he feels so happy! His sins are washed away, he has believed in Jesus,
he has rested in Christ's finished work and now he is as merry as the
birds in May. His cheerful exclamation is, "I feel like singing all the
time," for he is enjoying the clear shining after the rain!

I should like to encourage any here, tonight, who are going through the
rain time. Believe me, it will not last forever. You shall yet say,
"Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone! The flowers appear
on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come." It will come
all the sooner to you if you at once come to Christ. Look to Him as
lifted up on the Cross for you and you are now saved! God grant that
you may do so at once!

Well, now, what happens after this? We have come as far as the clear
shining after rain–what follows this? Why, then everything grows! The
grass is sure to grow when we have mist and heat together–and when a
soul, having felt its need of Christ, at last beholds the light of His
Countenance–then it begins to grow. I love to see young converts with
all the freshness of their new-born faith. They have not borrowed their
language from other people. I like to see them with their zeal–they
are not quite so prudent as some of us older people are. You will find
that they are doing this, and doing that, and doing the other good
thing, and the prudent people tell them not to do too much! My dear
young Friend, do not listen to them! There is many an old saint who has
been spokesman for the devil when he has tried to hold a young
Christian back from doing more for Christ! I had a number of kind
friends when I began laboring for the Lord and especially when I began
to preach–and these kind friends provided me with an unlimited
quantity of blankets–and very wet blankets they were, too!

They were afraid that I should get too hot in my Master's service, so
they were always ready with wet blankets to dampen my ardor. I do think
that, sometimes, when Satan wants to repress the zeal of young
converts, he finds more efficient servants among good people than he
does among bad ones! Brothers and Sisters, let the young converts grow!
They will not grow too fast. Let them serve God zealously! They will
not do too much for Him. Let them burn with vehement zeal! There are
plenty in the world who will try to cool it down. God grant that our
young friends may be able to resist that chilling influence and may
still be full of earnest might and spiritual strength in the service of
their Savior!

That, then, is the usual method of the progress of a convert–clouds,
rain, clear shining and then growth. We pray that we may see this
process perfected in very many!

II. But now, secondly, I am going to use the text in another way. This
"clear shining after rain" often produces the very best condition of
things IN THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER.

You will see this state of things manifested in trial followed by
deliverance. Were you ever nearer to God, my dear tried Friend, than
after a very heavy affliction, when God appeared for you and brought
you out of it? I can only speak for myself, but I must say this–In
times of prosperity I have not always felt so much the nearness of God
as in moments of great sorrow and tribulation, when I have sobbed
myself to sleep upon the breast of my dear Lord. And when I have awaked
and have found that He has done for me what my helplessness could not
do and has set me free from my foes, and made me to rejoice in His
name, then have I seen Him. Then have I known Him, when He has
delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from
falling. See, then, dear Souls, you who love the Lord, you may expect
to have trials, and you may expect to have deliverances, too, for your
very best state of growth comes of the two together–rain and then the
clear shining after the rain–trial followed by deliverance.

Next, this experience is realized in humiliation of self followed by
joy in the Lord. It is a very healthy thing for a man to be made to
know himself. And if he is made to know himself, he will have no cause
for boasting. There is not a corner in our nature in which we may sit
down and say, "I have something which is good within me which I have
myself worked out." If there is anything good in us, it is the gift of
God! The Lord often takes us down into our own natural hearts and there
conducts us from chamber to chamber, that we may see our own filthiness
and vileness. I suppose that nobody here knows quite how bad he is by
nature. If we could fully know it, our reason might reel. We might
never be able to hope, again, if we fully knew all the depravity of our
hearts!

Now, for a man to have plenty of rain to make him realize how evil he
is, and, coupled with that, a full conviction of the greatness and
blessedness of Christ and of his own interest in Christ to see sin and
then to see the one great Sacrifice for sin–to see our death and then
to see Christ, our life–this is the very best condition for any of us
to be in! I would not have you glory in Christ, I do not think you can
rightly glory in Christ, unless you also sorrow because of your own
distance from Him and your own natural depravity. It is for our good to
have this twofold experience. We might get presumptuous if we were
allowed to always enjoy the clear shining! We might then think that
there was no reason to watch, no further cause to carry the shield of
faith, or to wield the sword of the Spirit! To preserve us from this
evil, we often get taken down a notch or two. We are made to see our
necessity, that we may value, all the more, the riches of God in Christ
Jesus. Put those two together–deep self-humiliation and highly prizing
our precious Christ–and you have a condition of things in which a
child of God can grow!

Next, I think there is another happy combination of rain and clear
shining, namely, tenderness mixed with assurance. I like to meet with
that man, whom Mr. Bunyan speaks of in his "Pilgrim's Progress," who
was, above many, tender of

sin. He was not afraid of lions, but he was dreadfully afraid of sins.
He was not afraid of Vanity Fair– it had no charms for him–but he had
some doubts about his interest in the Celestial City. I love to see a
child of God who, like Mr. Fearing, is very tender of sin. I know some
who hardly dare put one foot before the other, for fear they should do
wrong. I do not like this tenderness to become morbid, for then it
causes unnecessary grief, but yet holy tenderness is a very beautiful
characteristic of a child of God when it has mingled with it the clear
shining of a full assurance that enables the man to say, "I know whom I
have believed; I know I am God's child; I know that none shall pluck me
from His hand."–

"More blessed, but not more secure, Are the glorified spirits in
Heaven." These two things, tenderness and assurance, operating
together, will produce a high state of spiritual fertility. It is a
dreadful thing to see the full assurance of some men! I heard of one
man, in a public-house, saying, as he drank, I do not know how many
glasses of beer, "I may take what I like, for I am a child of God." O
wretched blasphemer! What worse blasphemy could there be than such talk
as yours? He who is a true child of God says to himself, "I do not ask
how far I may go without crossing the line of safety, but I do ask that
I may be kept from temptation and sin, and if there are some things
that I might do, if they expose me to temptation, or expose others to
it, I will have nothing to do with them." Give me, then, a man of
tender heart, who, at the same time, mixes full assurance with his
tenderness! He is the man who will bring forth fruit unto holiness–and
in the end–everlasting life!

Once again, our text suggests to us the blending of experience and
knowledge. Read the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith. By all
manner of means get a clear view of the Doctrines of Grace, so that you
can state them to others and know why you hold them firmly, yourself.
But, remember, if you do not experience them in your own heart–if you
do not know the power of them in your own life–you know nothing at all
about them! Dry doctrine, without the dampening of the Spirit of God,
may only make fuel for your eternal destruction! When a man
accommodates his religion up in the attic of his head and never takes
it down into the parlor of his heart, that man's religion is in vain!
We must experience the power of the Gospel in our own souls if it is to
be of real service to us–

"True religion's more than notion, Something must be known and felt."
It is very nice to talk about Christ, but do you trust Him as your
Savior? It may be very easy to speak about the new birth, but have you
felt it? When you get these two things together, first the rain of
gracious experience, and then the clear shining of intellectual
knowledge of Scripture–then will you bring forth fruit unto God!

I must not linger longer over this very interesting point of the clear
shining after rain as illustrated in the soul of the Believer.

III. But now, in the third place, I think, dear Friends, our text makes
a very happy combination IN THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD.

You know that, nowadays, people will listen to anybody, provided that
he is a clever preacher. I am often astonished at congregations that
had a grand old man for their preacher, who always preached them good
sound doctrine, and I thought their Church was a very tower of
orthodoxy–but when he dies, they pick somebody who preaches, no one
knows what–but, then, he does it cleverly, and so they have him, to
their eternal disgrace, and to the injury of the Church of God!

What is a good sermon? Well, I am very much of the opinion of old King
George the Third, in his latter days. The old man knew the Truth of God
and loved it. And when he used to hear his fine court chaplains, he
would often go out of the chapel and say, "It will not do–nothing to
feed a soul on." Old George had not too much brains, but all the things
he did know, he clung to. Another time, as he went out of the chapel,
he would say, "That will do. That will do–a soul can feed on that!"
That was his way of judging a sermon–"Can a soul feed on it?" And if a
soul could not feed on it, it did not suit George the Third! I hope
that it will not suit you, either, unless it stands this test–Can a
soul feed on it? You may have the best china service, the silver plate
and the damask tablecloth, but if, on the table, there is nothing but
dry bones, I would not recommend you go there for dinner! We want
something to eat both for our bodies and our souls if they are to be
kept healthy.

He who would have a fruitful ministry must have clear shining after the
rain, by which I mean, first, Law, and then Gospel. We must preach
plainly against sin. In our ministry there must be rain–we must have
the clouds and darkness, and Divine justice bearing heavily upon the
sinner's conscience. Then comes in Christ Crucified, full Atonement,
simple

faith, and clear shining of comfort to the believing sinner! But there
must first be the rain. He who preaches all sweetness and all love, and
has nothing to do with warning men of the consequences of sin, may be
thought to be very loving, but, in truth, he is altogether unfaithful
to the souls of men! I do not suppose that any of you women can sew
without needles. Yet your objective is not simply to get the needle
into the stuff, is it? No! You need to get in a bit of cotton, or
thread, or silk. Well, now, try whether you can sew with a piece of
silk alone! You cannot do it. You must put in the needle, first, must
you not? And he who would do any work for God must have a sharp needle
as he deals plainly with the sin of man–and he must then draw after it
the silken thread of the Gospel of Christ! There must be rain, first,
and clear shining afterwards.

But, dear Friends, when we come to deal with you, we have to tell you
that what we want to see in you is, first, repentance, and then
zeal–rain, and then clear shining! I am always sorry if my ministry
produces men and women who, all of a sudden, seem to become Christians
without any sense of sin, without any softening, without any fear of
Divine wrath. For I am afraid that those clear shinings without any
rain will parch the ground, and make it dry–but never cause it to
bring forth true fruit unto God. In our ministry, dear Friends, it must
not be so. And here I speak to my fellow-Christians as well as to
myself. Your ministry may be in the Sunday school, or in street
preaching, or visiting the sick, but all true ministry must have rain
about it as well as sunshine.

If your service is to be successful, bringing glory to God, there must
be in it, first, prayer, and then, blessing. You must go forth with
prayer. You must go forth weeping, bearing precious seed and,
afterwards, there will come the clear shining, when you return
rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you! God will bless and prosper
your work if you go to it in the spirit of your Savior. But there must
be deep anxiety in your soul and great longings and anguish before God
if you expect to have the Lord's blessing resting upon your efforts to
serve Him.

I think my text also means Grace softening and then shining. I wish
that the Lord would visit all His Church with a heavy shower of rain. I
mean, by way of softening the Church, making the Church loving in
spirit and anxious for souls. What would happen? The Lord would soon
visit it with clear shining and we would see conversions as numerous as
the blades of grass which spring up in the fields! Oh, come, come,
Divine Dew, and rest on this assembly, now, and on this Church all the
days of the week! Shine, O Sun of Righteousness, with glorious warmth
and power, and we shall soon see a plentiful harvest, to the praise and
glory of our God!

This is, I think, the meaning of the expression, "clear shining after
rain," as applied to the ministry of the Word. IV. I have done when I
have said just this much with regard to the clear shining after rain IN
THE AGES TO COME. I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet. Every now
and then I see the walls of our city placarded with an intimation that
something very wonderful is going to happen in such and such a year.
Now, believe me, Brothers and Sisters, it may be, but then it may not
be! Whenever I find a Brother quite sure about what will happen on
April the 1st, in such and such a year, I begin to wonder whether he
knows anything at all about the subject! I suspect that all those who
prophesy in these days, apart from the Sacred Word, are as much to be
respected as the Norwood gipsy and no more. And yet I am now going to
turn prophet, taking my prophecy out of the Word of God.

And, first, times of gloom are to be expected. There has been held, in
this city of London, a conference with regard to the establishment of
peace. I heartily sympathize with the grand objective of that
conference. Oh, that wars might cease unto the ends of the earth! War
is the sum of all villainies. There is nothing to be said for it. It is
a monstrous thing that men should murder one another wholesale. But
there will be no end of war from anything that you and I can do apart
from preaching the Gospel of Christ! When the King comes, when Jesus
comes, when the King shall reign in righteousness, there will be an end
to war–but till then there will be wars and rumors of wars. And when
you hear of them, do not be disturbed as though everything was falling
to pieces. There will be clear shinings after the rain! Yes, though it
is a reign of blood, afterwards He shall shine out who is our Peace,
and who will set up an unsuffering Kingdom which shall know no end.

In religious matters, do not expect that the world will go on getting
better and better. I think the belief that it is already much improved
has a very slight foundation of fact. We have learned the art of hiding
sin behind the vestments of hypocrisy, but we are not much better,
after all. We have changed the fashion of sin, but the sin is still
there. Now, do not expect to see the churches always sound, and
religion always spreading. You may see, somebody will see, a falling
away before the coming of Christ, and a departure from the faith. "The
love of many shall wax cold." It shall come to pass

that, if you ask for faith, you will scarcely find it, for, "When the
Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?" Scarcely. It will
be a very rare commodity. But be not distressed even though all men are
turned aside from the Christ of God, for there will be "clear shinings
after the rain."

Although times of gloom are to be expected, an age of light will
follow. There will come a day when Christ shall gloriously reign among
His ancients–when the ungodly shall hide themselves in obscure places,
the meek shall have dominion in the earth–and the sons of God in that
morning shall be acknowledged as the noblest of men. There is to come
yet "a thousand years" (whatever that period may mean) of a reign of
righteousness, wherein the whole of the earth shall be filed with the
Glory of God and become the vestibule of Heaven. Have comfort about
that glorious Truth of God!

Now, dear Friend, with regard to yourself, it may be that unless the
Lord shall soon come to His Temple, you will grow old and, as you grow
old, the clouds will return after the rain. You will get into times of
infirmity when there will be rain, and rain, and rain, and rain, and,
perhaps, little sunshine. Yet expect that, before you die, you will
come to the clear shining after the rain. There is a place called the
land of Beulah. It lies on the verge of the Jordan, but it also lies,
with that little stream before it, on the verge of the heavenly Canaan!
That land is full of light and flowers, and I have heard that, if the
wind blows in the right direction, you may hear the music of Heaven in
that land–and from a hill in that land you may see the Celestial City!

I have known some old men and women who have reached the land of
Beulah. It has been a great delight to me to sit and talk with them in
their last days. They have had clear shinings after the rain. They have
told me all about the rain, about the children dying, about the wife
who was buried long ago, about the poverty they passed through, about
the persecution they endured, and so on, and so on. All that is rain.
They have never been able to tell me all about the clear shining, but
they have said that they felt as happy as they could be out of Heaven,
and they had no particular wish about whether they should stay or
whether they should go.

I saw, the other day, an old man who had passed his 91st year, and
though he looked like little more than a skeleton, it was grand to hear
him speak of the faithfulness of God and the doctrines of the Gospel!
He was as clear on those points as ever he was and, perhaps, even
firmer! It was a great treat to listen to him. I pray that all of us
may, in due time, get to the land Beulah, where all is bright and
happy–and there may we dwell till the post comes from the King to say
that we must pass the stream to joyfully behold our Lord! And, oh, what
clear shining after rain will there be when we once get Home, when we
behold His face, and when we, like Himself, have risen from the dead
and stand perfect and complete in our flesh to behold our God! Oh, the
Glory and the bliss of being–

"Forever with the Lord,"

after the rain is over and gone! Go through it! Never be afraid of all
the drenching you may get on your way to Glory. Get Home as quickly as
you can along the good old road, for, after the rain comes the clear
shining. Be this the motto of each one of you from this sweet Sabbath
evening hour, "Clear shining after rain." God bless you all! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON PSALM32.

A Psalm of David. You can see David all through this Psalm. Here we
have David's sin, David's confession of sin, David's pardon. It is a
Psalm of David! Oh, that we might, each one, make it our own! It is
entitled–Maschil. This is an instructive Psalm. The experience of one
man is instructive to another. We learn the way in which we should walk
and sometimes the way in which we should not walk, by observing the
footsteps of the flock. The Psalm begins with a blessing.

Verse 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. I think I hear a sort of sigh of relief, as if the man had
been burdened with a load of guilt and now, at last, his sin is put
away. And his sigh has more solemn joy in it than if it had been a
song–"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered." Beloved, you must know the bitterness of sin before you can
know the blessedness of forgiveness! And you must have such a sight of
sin as shall break your heart before you can understand the blessedness
of the Divine covering, that sacred cover which hides sin effectually,
blots it out, and even makes it cease to be. "Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is cov-

ered." Would you not think so, dear burdened Heart, if it ever came to
your lot? I hope that it will be so tonight. Do not we think so, who
remember the day when Almighty Mercy forgave us our transgression and
covered our sin? Indeed we do. This is one of the greatest blessings
out of Heaven! Perhaps, for a sort of still soft melody with much of
the minor in it, this is the sweetest music in the whole Book, "Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Now David
must put the same Truth of God in another form. He loves to
reduplicate, to repeat again and again a Truth which is very precious
to him.

2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputes not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. Here are two reasons for the man's
blessedness–sin is not laid to his charge, and he is no longer
deceitful–he no longer tries to palliate and to excuse his sin. He
makes a clean breast of it and God, in a higher sense, gives him a
clean breast. He acknowledges the Justice of God and God displays His
Infinite Mercy to him. Now David tells us how he learned this sacred
blessedness. What were the ways by which he went, which ended at last
in this Divine sweetness.

3, 4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all
the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my
moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I understand this
to have been the feeling of David after his great sin–before he
confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been
thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very
insensible state. But he does not appear to have been so. All the time
until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because
there was Divine Grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with
comfort. As he would not acknowledge his sin before the bar of God,
pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it
preyed upon him so that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that,
not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were
affected–"My bones waxed old." Those solid pillars of the house of
manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You
cannot be a child of God and sin–and then be happy.

Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God's
own heart and you venture into unclean-ness, it will sting you as does
a viper–it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper. "When I
kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long."
David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the
moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near to
die. And this terrible pain was upon him always–"For day and night
Your hand was heavy upon me." God has a heavy hand for His sinful
children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence, but
the Lord will not spoil His children. If we sin, we shall feel the
weight of God's hand. We ought to thank Him for this, for though it
brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing
that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin and yet to be happy in
it.

One of the best things for an erring Believer is a taste of his
Father's rod. "Your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into
the drought of summer." All David's joy was squeezed out, pressed out,
by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was
withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop
of moisture. When David had gone so far and had played only on the bass
strings so long, he said, "Selah," that is, "Tighten up the harp
strings, let us put them in tune again! We are going up to something
better now."

5. I acknowledged my sin unto You, and my iniquity have I not hid. I
said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and You forgave
the iniquity of my sin. Selah. Oh, how swift is the Divine compassion!
Quick upon the heels of confession came that word from Nathan, "The
Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die." I can fancy David
standing there with the hot tears in his eyes, never so broken down as
when his sin was all forgiven! Before he knew that he was pardoned, he
stood tremblingly fearful, brokenhearted before God. But when Nathan
had said (I will repeat those gracious words), "The Lord also has put
away your sin; you shall not die," oh, what gratitude he felt, and what
tenderness, and what hatred of sin!

Dear Hearer, if you are burdened under a sense of sin, go and make
confession to God straight away. If you feel very heavy, tonight, at
the recollection of some great and grievous offense. If some scarlet
spot is on your hands and you cannot get rid of it, go and show it to
God! With penitential honesty confess the sin and it shall be forgiven
you. "Selah." Now David puts the harp strings right again. They still
seem to suffer from the previous strain and so he says, "Selah" once
more. "Sursum corda." Lift up the heart! Let the whole soul go up to
God.

6, 7. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto You in a time
when You may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall
not come near unto him. You are my hiding place. He had talked, in the
first verse, of his sin being cov-

ered. Now he not only hides his sin beneath the Divine covering, but he
hides himself beneath the Divine shelter–"You are my hiding place."
Thus does the Believer sing–

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee."

7. You shall preserve me from trouble. Lord, if You have taken away the
greatest of all troubles, that is, guilt on the conscience. If You have
really forgiven me, what trouble have I to be afraid of? "You shall
preserve me from trouble."

7. You shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. If You
have pardoned me, there is the making of all manner of music in the
fact of my pardon! He that is washed by the precious blood of Jesus is
the man to sing! Has not God made a chorister of him? John tells us, in
the Revelation, that one of the elders said to him, concerning the
white-robed throng, "These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God, and
serve Him day and night in His Temple." "Se-lah." David must tighten up
the strings of his harp, again, for now he wishes to exult in God and
to magnify His holy name, as he listens to his Lord's gracious words.

8. I will instruct you and teach you in the way, which you shall go: I
will guide you with My eyes. Here is another blessing. The God who has
forgiven the erring of the past will preserve us from erring again!
God's flowers always bloom double. He gives us Justification, but He
adds Sanctification. He pardons our sins, but He also makes disciples
and scholars of us, and teaches us the art of holiness, which is the
noblest art that man can learn! "I will instruct you and teach you in
the way, which you shall go: I will guide you with My eyes." When we
are willing to be guided, we hardly need a word from God–a look is
enough, just a glance of His eyes–"I will guide you with My eyes."

9. Be you not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no
understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest
they come near unto you. Do you need bits and bridles? If you need
them, you shall have them. If you will be a horse or a mule, you shall
be treated as horses and mules are! There are some Christians that need
to be driven with a very sharp bit and they need to have their mouth
made very tender, for now they are hard-mouthed and, sometimes, they
take the bit between their teeth and try to run away instead of doing
God's bidding! Usually, the rods with which God scourges us are made of
reeds grown in our own gardens. When God hides His face from His
people, it is almost always behind clouds of dust which they have made
themselves. You will have sorrow enough in the ordinary way to Heaven–
do not make an extra rod for your own back!

10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. This refers to you who are
outside the family of God, who do not come under His rod. You are not
in His love and favor, for you have no faith in His dear Son. Do not
think that you will escape punishment! If the Lord "scourges every son
whom He receives," what will He do to His enemies? "Many sorrows shall
be to the wicked."

10. But he that trusts in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. He
always needs mercy, for he is still a sinner. He shall always have
mercy–for his Savior still lives! "Mercy shall compass him about."

11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous: and shout for joy,
all you that are upright in heart. Be demonstrative! Let men see that
you are happy! "Shout for joy, all you that are upright in heart." The
Psalm is a joyful one, after all. David's experience has taken him
through a deep sense of his own sin, but it has brought him out into an
elevated sense of God's mercy! So he closes the Psalm with the jubilant
exhortation, "Shout for joy, all you that are upright in heart." So let
us do this night and forever! Amen.