Strong Faith in a Faithful God

Strong Faith in a Faithful God

(No. 3445)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1915.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I will cry unto God Most High; unto God that performs all things
form." Psalm 57:2.

DAVID was in the Cave Adullam. He had fled from Saul, his remorseless
foe, and had found shelter in the clefts of the rock. In the beginning
of this Psalm he rings the alarm bell–and very loud is the sound of
it. "Be merciful unto me," and then the clapper hits the other side of
the bell. "Be merciful unto me." He utters his Miserere again and
again. "My soul trusts in You; yes, in the shadow of Your wings will I
make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by." Thus he solaces
himself by faith in his God. Faith is always an active Grace. Its
activity, however, is first of all manifested in prayer. This precedes
any action. "I will cry," he says, "unto God Most High." You know how
graciously he was preserved in the cave, even when Saul was close at
his heels. Among the winding intricacies of those caverns he was
enabled to conceal himself, though his enemy, with armed men, was close
at hand. The Targum has a note upon this which may or may not be true.
It states that a spider spun its web over the door of that part of the
cave where David was concealed. The legend is not unlike one told of
another king at a later time. It may have been true of David, and it is
quite as likely to be true of the other. If so, David would, in such a
passage as this, have directed his thoughts to the little acts God had
performed for him which had become great in their results. If God makes
a spider spin a web to save His servant's life, David traces his
deliverance not to the spider, but to the wonder-working Jehovah! And
he says, "I will cry unto God Most High, unto God that performs all
things for me." It is delightful to see these exquisite prayers come
from holy men in times of extreme distress. As the sick oyster makes
the pearl, and not the healthy one, so does it seem as if the child of
God brings forth gems of prayer in affliction more pure, brilliant and
sparkling than any that he produces in times ofjoy and exultation.

Our text is capable of three meanings. To these three meanings we shall
call your attention briefly. "Unto God who performs all things for me."
First, there is Infinite Providence. As it stands, the words, "all
things," you perceive, have been added by the translators. Not that
they were mistaken in so doing, for the unlimited expression, "God that
performs for me," allows them to supply the omission without any
violation of the sense. Secondly, there is inviolable faithfulness, as
we know that David here referred to God's working out the fulfillment
of the promises He had made. We sang just now of the sweet promise of
His Grace as the performing God. I think Dr. Watts borrowed that
expression from this verse. Thirdly, there is a certainty of ultimate
completeness. The original has for its root the word, "finishing," and
now working it out, it means a God that performs or, as it were,
perfects and accomplishes all things concerning me. Whatever there is
in His promise or Covenant that I may need, He will perfect for me. To
begin with–

I. THE MARVELOUS PROVIDENCE.

The text, as it stands, speaks of a service–"I will cry unto God Most
High; unto God that performs all things for me." "All things," that is
to say, in everything that I have to do, I am but an instrument in His
hands–it is God who does it for me. The Christian has no right to have
anything to do for which he cannot ask God's help. No, he should have
no business which he could not leave with his God. It is his to work
and to exercise prudence, but it is his to call in the aid of God to
his work and to leave the care of it with the God who cares for him.
Any work in which he cannot ask Divine co-operation, the care of which
he cannot cast upon God is unfit for him to be engaged in. Depend upon
it, if I cannot say of the whole of my life, "God performs all things
for me," there is sin somewhere and evil lurks in the disposition
thereof. If I am living in such a state that I cannot ask God to carry
out for me the enterprises I have embarked in, and entirely rely on His
Providence for the issues, then what I cannot ask Him to do for me,
neither have I any right to do for myself!

Let us think, therefore, of the whole of our ordinary life and apply
the text to it. Should we not, each morning, cry unto God to give us
help through the day? Though we are not going out to preach. Though we
are not going up to the assembly for worship. Though it is only our
ordinary business, that ordinary business ought to be a consecrated
thing! Opportunities for God's service should be sought in our common
avocations–we may glorify God very much therein. On the other hand,
our souls may suffer serious damage, we may do much mischief to the
cause of Christ in the ordinary walk of any one day. It is for us,
then, to begin the day with prayer–to continue all through the day in
the same spirit and to close the day by commending whatever we have
done to that same Lord. Any success attending that day, if it is real
success, is of God who gives it to us! "Except the Lord build the
house, they labor in vain that build it," is a statement applicable to
the whole of Christian life! It is vain to rise early and sit up late,
and eat the bread of carefulness, for so He gives His Beloved sleep. If
there is any true blessing, such blessing, as Jabez craved, when he
said, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed," it must come from the God
of Heaven–it can come from nowhere else. Cry then, Christian,
concerning your common life to God! Say continually, "I will cry unto
God Most High; unto God that performs all things for me."

Perhaps at this hour you are troubled about some petty little thing, or
you have been through the day exercised about some trivial matter. Do
you not think we often suffer more from our little troubles than from
our great ones? A thorn in the foot will irritate our temper, while the
dislocation of a joint would reveal our fortitude. Often the man who
would bear the loss of a fortune with the equanimity of Job will wince
and fume under a paltry annoyance that might rather excite a smile than
a groan. We are apt to be disquieted in vain. Does not this very much
arise from our forgetting that God performs all things for us? Do we
not ignore the fact that our success in little things, our rightness in
the minutiae in life, our comfort in these inconsiderable trifles
depends upon His blessing? Know you not that God can make the gnat and
the fly to be a greater trouble to Egypt than the diseases of cattle,
the thunder, or the storm? Little trials, if unblessed–if unattended
with the Divine Favor, may scourge you fearfully and betray you into
much sin. Commend them to God, then! And little blessings, as you
think, if taken away from you, would soon involve very serious
consequences. Thank God, then, for the little. Put the little into His
hands–it is nothing to Jehovah to work in the little, for the great is
little to Him! There is not much difference, after all, in our littles
and our greats to the Infinite Mind of our glorious God. Cast all on
Him who numbers the hairs of your head, and allows not a sparrow to
fall to the ground without His decree! Unto God cry about the little
things, for He performs all things for us. Do I speak to some who are
contemplating a great change in life? Take not that step, my Brother,
my Sister, without much careful waiting upon God. But if you be
persuaded that the change is one that has the Master's approval, fear
not, for He performs all things for you. At this moment you have many
perplexities. You may vex yourself with anxiety, and make yourself
foolish with shilly-shallying if you sport with fancy, vexing up bright
dreams, and yielding to dark forebodings. There is many a knot we seek
to untie which were better cut with the sword of faith! We should end
our difficulties by leaving them with Him who knows the end from the
beginning!

Up to this moment you have been rightly led–you have the same Guide.
To this hour, He who sent the cloudy pillar has led you rightly through
the devious ways of the wilderness–follow, still, with a sure
confidence that all is well. If you keep close to Him, He performs all
things for you. Take your guidance from His Word and, waiting upon Him
in prayer, you need not fear. Just now, perhaps, in addition to some
exciting dilemma, you are surrounded with real trouble and distress.
Will it not be well to cry unto God Most High, who now, in the time of
your strait and difficulty, will show Himself, again, to you a God
all-sufficient to His people in their times of need? He is always near!
I do not know that He has said, "When you walk through the green
pastures, I will be with you, and when your way lies hard by the river
of the Water of Life, where lilies bloom, I will strengthen you." I
believe He will do so, but I do not remember such a promise. But, "When
you go through the rivers, I will be with you," is a well-known promise
of His. If ever He is present, it shall be in trial–if He can be
absent, it will certainly not be when His servants most need His aid!
Rest in Him, then. But you say, "I can do so little in this time of
difficulty." Do what you can, and leave the rest to Him! If you see no
way of escape, does it follow that there is none? If you see no help,
is it, therefore, to be inferred that help cannot come? Your Lord and
Savior found no friend among the whole family of man, "Yet," said He,
"could I not presently pray to My Father, and He would send me twelve
legions of angels?" Were it necessary for your help, the squadrons of
Heaven would leave the Glory Land to come to your rescue–the least and
poorest of the children of God as you may be! He will perform for

you–be you, therefore, obedient, trustful, patient. 'Tis yours to
obey, 'tis His to command, 'tis yours to perceive, 'tis His to perform.
He will perform all things for you!

Very likely among this audience, some are foolish enough to perplex
themselves as to their future life, and forestall the time when they
shall grow old and their vigor shall be abated. It is always unwise to
anticipate our troubles. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."
Of all self-torture, that of importing in sure trouble into present
account is, perhaps, the most insane! Do you tell me you cannot help
looking into the future. Well, then, look and peer into the distance as
far as your weak vision can reach, but do not breathe upon the
telescope with your anxious breath and fancy you see clouds! On the
contrary, just wipe your eyes with the soft kerchief of some gracious
Word of promise and hold your breath while you gaze through that
transparent medium. Use the eye-salve of faith! Then, whatever you
discern of the future, you will also descry. He rules and He overrules!
He will make all things work together for good! He will surely bring
you through! Goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your
life, and you shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever! He it is
who will perform all things for you. Oh, strange infatuation! You see
your weakness, you see the temptations that will assail you and the
troubles that threaten you, and you are afraid. Look away from them
all! This is no business of yours. Leave it in His hands, who will
manage well, who will be sure to do the kindest and the best thing for
you. Be of good confidence and rest in peace!

So shall it be even at life's close. He performs all things for me. I
have the boundary of life in the prospective, the almost certainty that
I must die. Unless the Lord comes before my term expires, I must close
these eyes, gather up these feet in the bed, breathe a last gasp and
yield my soul to Him who gave it. Well, fear not! He helped me to
live–He will help me to die! He has made me perform up to this moment
my allotted task, yes, He has performed it for me–giving me His Grace
and working His Providence with me. Shall I fear that He will desert me
at the last? He performs not some things, but all things, and He cannot
omit this most important thing which often makes me tremble. No, that
must be included, for all things are mine–death as well as life! I
leave my dying hour, then, with Him, and never boding ill of it, I cry
unto God Most High, unto God that performs all things for me! I want,
dear Brothers and Sisters, to leave this impression in your minds, that
in the great business of life, whatever it is, while we do not sit
still and fold our hands for lack of work, yet God works in us to will
and to do of His own good pleasure. This we recognize distinctly–if
anything is done right, or successfully, it is God that performs it,
and we give Him the Glory! I want you to feel that, as the task is
performed by Him in all its details, so to the very close of your life,
all shall be performed of His Grace through you by Himself, to His own
honor and praise, world without end! The second run of thought which
the text suggests is that of–

II. INVIOLABLE FAITHFULNESS.

"Unto God that performs all things for me." The God who made the
promises has not left them as pictures, but has made them to fulfill
them. It is God who is the actual Worker of all that He declared in the
Covenant of Grace should be worked in and for His people!

Let us think of this as it pertains to our Redeemer's merits. "Unto God
that performs all things for me." Meritoriously our Savior-God has
performed all things for us. Our sin has been all put away–He bore it
all–every particle of it. The righteousness that wraps us is
complete–He has woven it all from the top throughout. All that God's
infinite, unflinching Justice can ask of us has been performed for us
by our Surety and our Covenant Head. I need not say I have to fight–my
warfare is accomplished. I need not think I have to wash away my
sins–as a Believer, my sin is pardoned. All things are performed for
me! Don't forget amidst your service for Christ what service Christ has
rendered to you! Do all things for Christ, but let the stimulating
motive be that Christ has done all things for you! There is not even a
little thing that is for you to do to complete the work of Christ. The
Temple He has built needs not that you should find a single stone to
make it perfect. The ransom He has paid does not wait until you add the
last mite. It is all done! O Soul, if Christ has completely redeemed
you and saved you, rest on Him and cry to Him! And if sin rebels within
you at this present moment, fly–though your spirit is shut up as in
the Cave Adullam–fly to Him by faith–to Him who has done all things
for you as your Representative and Substitute! After the same manner,
all things in us that have ever been worked there have been performed
by God for us. The Holy Spirit has worked every fraction of good that
is within our souls. No one flower that God loves grows in the garden
of our souls in the natural soil, self-sown. The first trembling desire
after God came from His Spirit. The blade, though very tender would
never have sprung up if Jesus had not sown the seed. Though the first
rays of dawn were scarcely light, but only rendered the darkness
visible, yet from the Sun of Righteousness they come–no light sprang
from the natural darkness of our spirit! It could not be that life
could be begotten of death, or that light could be the child of
darkness. He began the work. He led us when we went tremblingly to the
foot of the Cross. He helped us when we followed Him with staggering
steps. The eyes with which we looked to Jesus and believed, were opened
by Him! Christ was revealed to us not by our own discovery, nor by our
own tuition, but the Spirit of God revealed the Son of God in our
spirit! We looked and we were lightened. The vision and the
enlightening were alike from Him–He performed all for us.

As I look back upon my own spiritual career, when I was seeking the
Savior, I am wonderfully struck with the way in which God performed
everything for me. For if He had not, I do remember well when I should
have rendered it impossible for me to have been here to tell of the
wonders of His Grace! Hard pressed by Satan and by sin, my soul chose
strangling rather than life. Had I known more of my own guiltiness, my
heart would utterly have broken and my life have failed. But wisdom and
prudence were mingled with the teachings of God's Law. He did not allow
the schoolmaster to be too severe, but stayed the soul beneath the dire
remorse which conviction caused. I had never believed on Him if He had
not taught me to believe! To give up hope in self was desperate work,
and then to find hope in Christ seemed more desperate, still. It
appeared to me easy enough to believe in Jesus while one was really
believing in one's self, but when "despair" was written upon self, then
one was too apt to transfer the despair even to the Cross, itself, and
it appeared impossible to believe! But the Spirit worked faith in me,
and I believed. That is not my testimony, only, but the testimony of
all my Brothers and Sisters–in that hour of sore trouble it was God
who performed all things for us! Since then and up to this moment, my
Brothers and Sisters, if there has been any virtue, if there has been
in you anything lovely and of good repute, to whom do you or can you
attribute it? Must you not say, "Of Him all my fruit was found"? You
could not have done without Him! If you have made any progress, if you
have made any advance, or even if you thinkyou have, believe me, your
growth, advance, progress, have all been a mistake unless they have
come entirely from Him! There is no wealth for us but that which is dug
in this mine. There is no strength for us but that which comes from the
Omnipotent One Himself. "You who perform all things for me," must be
our cry up to this hour!

What a consolation it is that our God never changes! What He was
yesterday, He is today. What we find Him today, we shall find Him
forever! Are you struggling against sin? Don't struggle in your own
strength–it is God who performs all things for you! Victories over sin
are only sham victories unless we overcome through the blood of the
Lamb, and through the power of Divine Grace. I am afraid of
backsliding, but I think I am more afraid of growing in sanctification
apparently in my own strength. It is a dreadful thing for the gray
hairs to appear here and there–but it is worse, still, for the hair to
appear to be of raven hue when the man is weak. Only the indication is
changed, but not the state itself. May we have really what we think we
have–no surface work, but deep, inner, spiritual life, worked in us
from God– yes, every good spiritual thing from Him who performs all
things for us and, I say, whatever struggles may come, whatever
vehement temptations assail, or whatever thunderclouds may burst over
your heads, you shall not be deserted, much less destroyed! In
spiritual things it is God who performs all things for you. Rest in
Him, then. It is no work of yours to save your own soul–Christ is the
Savior. If He cannot save you, you certainly cannot save yourself. Why
rest you your hopes where hopes never ought to be rested? Or let me
change the question. Why do you fear where you never ought to have
hoped? Instead of fearing that you cannot hold on, despair of holding
on yourself and never look in that direction again! But if the
preservation is of God, where is the cause for anxiety with you? In Him
let your entire reliance be fixed. Cast the burden of your care on Him
who performs all things for you! Lastly, this text in its moral,
literal acceptation refers to–

III. THE FINISHING STROKE OF A GRAND DESIGN.

It really means, "I will cry unto God Most High–unto God who perfects
all things concerning me." David's career was charged with a great
work. It was portentous with a high destiny. He had been anointed when
a lad by Samuel. The Lord had said, "I have provided Me a king among
the sons of Jesse." And Samuel had taken "the horn of oil and anointed
him in the midst of his brothers." He was thus clearly ordained to be
king over Israel. His way to the throne was by Adullam. Strange route!
To be king over Israel and Judah, he must first become a rebel, a
wandering vagabond, known as a chieftain of bandits, hunted about by
Saul, the reigning monarch. He must seek refuge in the courts of his
country's enemies, the Philistines, being without an earthly refuge, or
place to lay his head. Strange way to a throne! Yet the Son of David
had to go that way, and all the sons of God. The younger brethren of
the Crown Prince will have to

find their way to their crown by much the same route. But is not this a
brave thing? Though Adullam does not look like the way to Zion, where
he shall be crowned, David is so confident that what God has said will
come to pass, so sure that Samuel's anointing was no farce, but that he
must be king, that he praises and blesses God that while He is making
of him a houseless wanderer, He is perfecting that which concerns him
and leading him by a sure path to the throne. Now, can I believe that
He who promises that I shall be with Him where He is, that I may behold
His Glory–He who gives the certainty to every Believer that he shall
enter into everlasting happiness–can I believe tonight that He is
perfecting that for me–that the way by which He is taking me tonight,
so dark, so gloomy, so full of dangers, is, nevertheless, the shortest
way to Heaven? That He is, tonight using the quickest method to perfect
that which concerns my soul? O Faith! Here is something for you to do
and if you can perform it, you shall bring glory to God! The pith of it
is this–that if God has the keeping of us, He will perfect the keeping
in the day of Christ! All His people are in the hands of Jesus, and in
those hands they shall be forever and ever! "None shall pluck them out
of My hands," He says. Their preservation shall be perfected. So, too,
their sanctification. Every child of God is set apart by Christ and in
Christ–and the work of the Spirit has commenced which shall subdue sin
and abolish the very roots of corruption–and this work shall be
perfected! No, is being perfected at this very moment! The dragon is
being trodden down under foot. The Seed of the woman within us is
beginning to bruise the serpent's head and shall clearly bruise it and
crush it, even to the death within our soul.

He is perfecting us in all things for Himself! He has promised to bring
us to Glory. We have the earnest of that great Glory in us now. The new
life is there–all the elements of Heaven are within us. Now He will
perfect all these. He will not allow one good thing that He has planted
within us to die. It is a living and incorruptible seed which lives and
abides forever. He will perfect all things for us. There is nothing
that makes the saints complete but what God will give to us. There
shall be lacking in us no one trait of loveliness that is necessary for
the courtiers of the skies–no one virtue that is necessary to mark us
as of the Divine Race, but shall be given, no, perfected in us! What a
marvelous thing is a Christian! How mean; how noble! How abject; how
august! How near to Hell; how close to Heaven! How fallen, yet lifted
up! Able to do nothing; yet doing all things! Doing nothing; yet
accomplishing all things because herein it is that, in the man, and
with the man, there is God–and He performs all things for us! God,
give us Grace to look away entirely, evermore, from ourselves and to
depend entirely upon Him!

Now is there a soul here that desires salvation? My text gives you the
clue of comfort. Try–the thing is simple–try. Look to Him. He
performs all things for you! Everything that is needed to save your
soul, your Heavenly Father will give you. Jesus, the Savior, has worked
out all the sinner's needs. You have but to come and take what is
already accomplished and rest in it. "I cannot save myself," you say.
You need not–there is One who performs all things for you. "I am
bruised and mangled by the Fall," says one, "as though every bone were
broken." "I am incapable of a good thought. There is nothing good in
me, or that can come from me." Soul! It is not what you can do, but
what God can do–what Christ hasdone–that must be the ground of your
hope! Give yourself up unto God, Most High–unto God, who performs all
things for you, and you shall be blessed, indeed! God send you away
with His own blessing, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM34:1-20.

Verse 1. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall
continually be in my mouth "Others may do what they please, and murmur,
and complain, and be filled with dread and apprehension of the future,
but I will bless the Lord at all times. I can always see something for
which I ought to bless Him. I can always see some good which will come
out of blessing Him. Therefore will I bless Him at all times. And
this." says the Psalmist, "I will not only do in my heart, but I will
do with my tongue." His praise shall continually be in my mouth, that
others may hear it, that others may begin to praise Him, too, for
murmuring is contagious, and so, thank God, is praise! And one man may
learn from another–take the catchword and the keyword out of another
man's mouth–and then begin to praise God with him. "His praise shall
continually be in my mouth." What a blessed mouthful! If some people
had God's praises in their mouths, they would not so often find fault
with their fellow men. "If half the breath thus vainly spent" in
finding fault with our fellow Christians

were spent in prayer and praise, how much happier, how much richer we
would be spiritually! "His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

2. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear,
thereof, and be glad. Boasting is generally annoying. Even those who
boast cannot endure that other people should boast! But there is one
kind of boasting that even the humble can bear to hear–no, they are
glad to hear it! "The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad." That
must be boasting in God–a holy glorying and extolling the Most High
with words sought out with care that might magnify His blessed name!
You will never exaggerate when you speak good things of God. It is not
possible to do so. Try, dear Brothers and Sisters, and even boast in
the Lord. There are many poor, trembling, doubting, humble souls that
can hardly tell whether they are the Lord's people or not–and are half
afraid whether they shall be delivered in the hour of trouble– who
will become comforted when they hear you boasting. "The humble shall
hear, thereof, and be glad." "Why," says the humble soul, "God that
helped that man can help me! He that brought him up through the deep
waters and landed him safely, can also take me through the river and
through the sea, and give me final deliverance. My soul shall make her
boast in the Lord!" "The humble shall hear, thereof, and be glad."

3. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together He
cannot do enough of it himself. He wants others to come in and help
him! First, he charges his own heart with the weighty and blessed
business of praising God, and then he invites all around to unite with
him in the sacred effort. "Magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His
name together."

4. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my
fears. That was David's testimony. That is mine. Brother, that is
yours, is it not? Sister, is not that yours, too? Well, if you have
such a blessed testimony, be sure to proclaim it! Often do you whisper
it in the mourner's ear, "I sought the Lord and He heard me." Tell it
in the scoffer's ear. When he says, "There is no God," and that prayer
is useless, say to him, "I sought the Lord and He heard me, and
delivered me from all my fears." It is a pity that such a sweet
encouraging profitable testimony should be kept back. Be sure at all
proper times to make it known! But it is not merely ourselves. There
are others who can speak well of God.

5. They looked unto Him and were lightened: and their faces were not
ashamed. And who were they? Why, all the people of God–the whole
company of the saints in Heaven and the saints on earth! It can be said
of them all, "They looked to Him and were lightened." As there is life
in a look, so is there light in a look! Oh, you that looked to Christ
and lived at first, look to Him again if it is dark with you
tonight–and speedily it shall be light round about you! "They looked
unto Him and were lightened."

6. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of
all his troubles. Who was he? He was a poor man–anypoor man–nothing
very particular about him, but he was poor–a poor man. What did he do?
He cried. That was the style of praying he adopted–as a child
cries–the natural expression of pain. Poor man, he did not know how to
pray a fine prayer and he could not have preached you a sermon if you
had given him a bishop's salary for it! But he cried. He could do that.
You do not need to go to the Board School to learn how to cry. Any
living child can cry. This poor man cried. What came of it? "The Lord
heard him." I do not suppose anybody else did, or if they did, they
laughed at it. But it did not matter to him. The Lord heard him. And
what came of that? He "saved him out of all his troubles." Oh, is there
a poor man here tonight in trouble? Had he not better copy the example
of this other poor man? Let him cry to the Lord about it! Let him come
and bring his burdens before the Great One who hears poor men's
prayers! And, no doubt, that poor man lived to tell the same tale as he
who wrote this verse. "This poor man cried and the Lord heard and saved
him out of all his troubles."

7. The angel of the LORD encamps round about them that fear Him and
delivers them. It is no wonder, then, that they are delivered, for the
angels are always handy. They are waiting round about God's people. Lo,
they are not at a distance to fly swiftly and come for our rescue, but
God has set a camp of angels round about all His people! Are we not
royally attended? What a portion is ours! Many are they that are
against us, but glorious are they that are for us, both in their number
and their strength. But the text does not intend so much the angels, as
one blessed, glorious, Covenant Angel–the Angel of the Lord, the
Messenger of God. He it is that holds His camp hard by His people and
sends His messengers for their rescue in all times of difficulty.

8. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that
trusts in Him. That is the language of experience. Some of us have
lived by trusting God for many years and, instead of growing weary of
it, we would invite others to do

the same! Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! You cannot know His
goodness without tasting it. But there was never a soul yet that did
taste of the goodness of the Lord but what could bear cheerful
testimony that it was even so. "Oh, taste and see." Partake of it!
Become practically acquainted with it! Trust God, yourselves, and none
of you shall ever have to complain of God. To your last hour you will
have to find fault with yourselves, but never once will you have to
accuse Him of changeableness, or of unfaithfulness, or even of
forgetfulness! "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, for blessed is
the man that trusts in Him."

9, 10. O fear the LORD, you His saints: for there is no want to them
that fear Him. The young lions lack andsufer hunger: but they that seek
the LORD shall not want any good thing. They are very strong, those
young lions. They are fierce. They are rapacious. They are cunning. And
yet they lack and suffer hunger. And there are many men in this world
who are very clever, strong in body and active in mind. They say that
they can take care of themselves and, perhaps, they do appear to
prosper, but we know that often you who are the most prosperous
apparently are the most miserable of men! They are young lions, but
they lack and suffer hunger. But when a man's soul lives upon God, he
may have very little of this world, but he will be perfectly content.
He has learned the secret of true happiness. He does not need any good
thing, for the things that he does not have, he does not wish to have.
He brings his mind down to his estate, if he cannot bring his estate to
his mind. He is thankful to have a little spending money on the road,
for his treasure is above. He likes to have his best things last, and
so he is well content if he has food and raiment, to urge on his way to
the rest which remains for the people of God! "The young lions lack and
suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good
thing."

11. Come, you children.You that are beginning life–you that want to
know where true happiness is found.

11. Hearken unto me: I wiil teach you the fear of the LORD. It is that
which you need to know, beyond everything

else!

12, 13. What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that he
may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking
guile. He that can rule his tongue can rule his whole body. Alas, that
unruly member destroys peace and happiness in thousands of cases! The
tongue can no man tame, but the Grace of God can tame it! And that man
begins life with a prospect of happiness whose tongue has been tamed by
Divine Grace.

14. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it. True
happiness is found in true holiness. "Depart from evil." That is, do
not go after it. But it is much more than that. Get away from it. Give
it a wide berth. "Depart from evil." But be not satisfied with the
negatives. It is not enough to say, "I do not do any evil," but do
good! The only way to keep out the evil is to fill the soul full of
good. We must be active in the cause of God, or Satan will soon lead us
into sin. "Depart from evil and do good."

"Seek peace." Be of a quiet turn of mind. Be always ready to forgive.
"Seek peace and pursue it." That is, when it runs away, run after it!
Make up your mind that you will have it. There are some that seek
quarrels. There are some that seek revenge. As for you, seek peace and
pursue it.

15. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open
unto their cry. God is all eyes and all ears, and all His eyes and all
His ears are for His people. Are you distressed in heart? God sees your
distress. Are you crying in secret in the bitterness of your soul? God
hears your cry. You are not alone. O lonely spirit, broken spirit, be
not dis-mayed–be not given to despair–God is with you! If He sees
nothing else, He will see you. "The eyes of the Lord are upon the
righteous." And if He hears no one else in the world, He will hear
you–"His ears are open to their cry."

16. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth. You know what we sometimes say–"I
set my face against such a thing as that." Now God sets His face
against them that do evil. You will come to an end, my Friend. Your
happiness, like a bubble painted with rainbow colors, may be the object
of foolish desires, but in a little while it will burst and be gone, as
the bubble is, and there will be nothing left of you! Even your
remembrance will be wiped out from the face of the earth! What numbers
of books have been written against God of which you could not get a
copy, now, except you went to a museum? What numbers of men have lived
that have been scoffers–and they who had great names among the circles
of unbelievers? They are quite forgotten, now! But the Christian Church
treasures up names of poor, simple-hearted Christian men and
women–treasures them up like jewels, and their fame is fresh after
hundreds of years!

17. The righteous cry and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all
their troubles. That is how we live, if you want to know. God makes us
righteous and then we cry. We often praise Him. We desire to have our
mouth full of praise for Him. But we cry as well, and whenever we cry,
God hears, and our troubles are removed.

18. The LORD is near unto them who are of a broken heart; and saves
such as are of a contrite spirit Are you here, tonight, poor weeping
Mary? Are you here, brokenhearted, troubled Sinner? Are you here? Are
you seeking the Lord? Do not seek Him any longer! You have got Him!
Read the text, "The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart."
He is with you now! Speak to Him! Cry to Him! Trust Him. You shall find
deliverance this night!

19. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. You should hear some of
them talk, and you would soon know that, for I know some of the
righteous that seldom talk of anything else! "Oh, the badness of
trade!" They have been losing money–oh, ever since I knew them! They
had not any when they started, but they have gone on losing money every
year–and I believe they always will! And they always have pains of
body. The weather is so bad. And they always have ungrateful friends.
And the church they belong to is not up to the mark. Indeed, there is
nothing around them that is right. "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous." Well now, dear Brothers and Sisters, as that is recorded in
God's Word, and most of us have a pretty good acquaintance with that
subject, I do not think that it is necessary for all of us to insist
upon it every day! Should not we go on to the next part of the verse?
"Many are the afflictions of the righteous," but–but–

19. But the LORD delivers him out of them all. Not out of some of them,
but out of all of them, however numerous they may be!

20. He keeps all his bones: not one of them is broken. He sustains no
real injury. He gets flesh-wounds and bruises, but his bones are not
broken. That is to say, the substantial part of his nature is well kept
and preserved.