Trembling at the Word of the Lord

Trembling at the Word of the Lord

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1889.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MAY
1,1884.

"To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit and trembles at My Word." Isaiah 66:2.

PORTRAIT painting is a great art. Many pretend to it but the masters of
the art are few. In the Word of God we have a gallery of portraits so
accurate, so striking, that only the hand of the Lord could have drawn
them. Most of us have been startled to see our own portrait there. The
best of all is that at the bottom of each likeness we have the Lord's
judgment upon the character so that we are able to form an estimate of
what our true condition is before the Lord. Here you have a man
drawn–he is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at the Word of
the Lord. Here, also, you have the Lord's estimate of him–"To this man
will I look."

I hope to dwell chiefly upon the character described in the closing
words, "And trembles at My Word." Support the text by the fifth verse,
"Hear the Word of the Lord, you that tremble at His Word." This
trembling is, in God's esteem, an admirable trait in their character.
The glorious Jehovah from His Throne in Heaven speaks of those contrite
ones who tremble at His Word–and then the Prophet takes up the strain
and cries, "Hear the Word of the Lord, you that tremble at His Word."
It is a very great mercy that there are descriptions of saints given in
the Word of God which go very low and reach the feeblest degrees of
Divine Grace and the saddest frames of mind.

We find the children of God sometimes upon very high places–their
spiritual life is vigorous and their inward joy is abounding. When we
give you descriptions of saints in that condition, many of the
Little-Faiths at once cry out, "Alas, I know nothing of this! Would God
it were so with me! But, indeed, it is not." They are greatly
discouraged by those very things which should raise their spirits and
stimulate their desires–for surely if one Believer is able to climb
the Delectable Mountains, there is all the more hope that another may
do so.

Yet, we have to thank God that in His priceless Scripture, He has
painted for us portraits of the Believer in his low estate. In the
picture gallery of those saved by faith we find Rahab as well as Sarah
and erring Samson as well as holy Samuel. In the Family Register of the
Lord we have the names of Believers who were weak and sad and faulty.
We have instances in the Sacred Record of undoubtedly gracious men who
were in very uncomfortable and undesirable conditions. Men are spoken
of as the Lord's people when their souls are sick, when Divine Grace is
at a very low ebb and when joy is eclipsed.

God's people are in Scripture owned as such when it is winter with
their spirits lie dormant like sap stagnant in the tree. The Lord
acknowledges spiritual life in His own when there is small evidence of
it, and when that evidence is confused. The mention in the Scriptures
of small but sure evidences is cheering to many. I know many of God's
people that have been greatly comforted by the text, "We know that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the Brethren." "Oh,"
they have said, "we do feel a love to all God's people, whoever they
may be. And if that is evidence of Divine Grace, we have that
evidence."

Apostles could say, "We know and we are quite sure about it, that we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the Brethren."
Therefore we also may be encouraged by our sense of love to the saints
to enjoy the same assured confidence that we also have passed from
death unto life. You may, some of you, think this an insecure ground of
consolation. But I can bear witness that it is, like the conies' hole
among the rocks, a very useful shelter from the enemy.

That is a very choice evidence, too, where God speaks of those that
think upon His name–"A book of remembrance was written before Him for
them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name." If our
thoughts dwell lovingly

upon the name of the Lord, this is a saving sign. And yet how small a
thing it seems! Thoughts are like straws but they show which way the
wind blows. Surely the Lord's net of comfort has meshes small enough to
hold the smallest fish.

That, again, is very comforting where the Lord says, "Your heart shall
live that seek Him." Even seekers shall live. Though as yet they are
rather seekers than possessors, they have the Lord's promise of eternal
life. Though they are only pursuing and have become faint in the
pursuit, yet the love which set them pursuing will keep them following
on. That is a blessed Word, indeed–"Whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved." "I do call upon His name," says one, "I
know I do. I am crying to Him in prayer. I do wish to have His name
named upon me. I choose Him to be my God and I dedicate myself to Him.
And if that is calling upon God's name, then, truly, I am a child of
God."

This precious passage has been a special stay to my own heart in time
of great heaviness of spirit. I know I call upon the name of the Lord
and I shall be saved. How often also have I said to myself, "One thing
I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see!" To see even a ray of
light is conclusive evidence that I am no longer blind. The eye that
can see a solitary ray of light has clearer evidence of being restored,
if possible, than if it lived in the flood of sunlight. For if it can
see a single ray, then is sight not only there, but it is there in no
small degree. The man who can trust Jesus when he is at his lowest in
his own soul, is by no means a man of little faith, but rather is he a
man of strong confidence.

Dear Friends, rejoice that the Lord, in infinite mercy, has deigned to
utter the words of my text, since they serve as a most comfortable
evidence to God's people. There is a song the Jubilee singers used to
sing which begins, "Swing low, sweet chariot." I am sure I do not know
what the singers mean by the expression. And so I give it a meaning of
my own and say that I am right glad when a promise swings so low that I
can get into it. Surely a promise from God is a chariot lined with
love, drawn upward by winged steeds which bear our hearts aloft. And it
is a mercy when it swings as low as this text–"To this man will I
look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembles at
My Word."

"Trembles at My Word." This is the description to which I call your
attention. Here are the elect men upon whom the Lord looks and with
whom He dwells. They are not the chivalry of earth but the chosen of
Heaven. They are not dancing but trembling. And yet they have more
reason to be happy than those have who laugh away their days. Let us
enquire concerning these chosen ones. First–who are these people that
tremble at the Lord's Word? Secondly, let us enquire, why do they
tremble? From where comes their lowly spirit? Their humiliation before
the Lord? Then, next, we will give a glance at a comparison here used
and answer the question–what does God compare them to? What does God
say that He will do for them?

Let me read you the passage, "Thus says the Lord, The Heaven is My
throne and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that you build
unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things has My
hand made and all those things have been, says the Lord: but to this
man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and
trembles at My Word." There you see that God prefers the Trembler to
the Temple and makes to the contrite heart a larger promise than even
to the consecrated shrine of His glory. May the Holy Spirit bless these
meditations!

I. Aid me with your prayers while I try to answer the question–WHO ARE
THESE PEOPLE THAT TREMBLE

AT GOD'S WORD? I think I hear your hearts crying, "Oh, that we may be
numbered among them!" Let me begin to answer the question by telling
you who they are not. They are not a proud people–they do not cry,
"Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" They are humbly
hearing. Hearing the Word of God and inwardly reverencing the heavenly
monitor. They are no longer careless and reckless, for the voice of the
Lord has brought them to their bearings. They have bowed their heads
before Jehovah and they listen with rapt attention to everything that
He may speak. They are like the child Samuel when he said, "Speak,
Lord. For Your servant hears." They are teachable and lowly, and by no
means belong to the school who correct the Infallible and judge the
unerring.

They are not a profane people, that is clear–they neither mock sin nor
God's Word. It is a terrible sign of hardness of heart when a man can
find no comic book so ready to his hand as Holy Scripture. Surely if
men must play with words,

1 know not that they are always to be blamed. But they should find the
word of man sufficient for their amusement and not take Jehovah's Word
to be their racket ball. Oh, it is ill with a man's soul, be sure of
that, when he can treat the Word of the Lord with lightness and regard
it as no more than the word of Shakespeare or Spenser. Such are not the
men that tremble at God's Word but very far from it.

They would not themselves care to be so described. In fact, they would
scorn the idea of being afraid of the Book they despise. Some there are
that are downright scoffers. They twist texts of Scripture. They
pervert them to make mischief of

them. They will hold up even the blessed Christ of God to ridicule. And
the Holy Spirit, although to speak ill of Him is a fearful thing, yet
even He has not been free from their profane utterances. No, the proud
man and the profane man are as far asunder as the poles from the man
that trembles at God's Word.

I must put down the careless in the same list and say of the Lord's
tremblers they are not indifferent people. We have among us a class who
cause us great sorrow of heart. They are not likely to jest at God's
Word, but yet it has no power over them. They do not scoff at it but
they do not feed on it. They have too much thought and sense to become
infidels. But yet they overlook the importance of the Truth which they
accept. God's Book lies in their houses honored but unread. They do not
much trouble to go and hear about its meaning. Or if through custom
they become attendants at the House of God, they hear the Gospel but it
goes in one ear and out the other.

Like the French king who was brought to London in great state and yet
was only a prisoner to the Black Prince, so is the Bible bound in
morocco and adorned with gilt but is kept in bonds. There is no
practical regard to it, no weighing it, no considering it, no
meditating upon it, no applying it to the conscience and the daily
life. Those cannot be said to tremble at God's Word who neglect the
great salvation. They put far from them a consideration of the Law of
the Most High and live as if they had license given them to act as they
please. O Friends, careless souls cannot be numbered with those that
tremble at God's Word!

These were not a critical, skeptical people. They trembled at the Word
and did not sit down on the throne of usurped infallibility and call
the Scriptures to their bar. There are men abroad nowadays–I grieve to
say some of them in the ministry–who take the Bible, not that it may
judge them but that they may judge it. Their judgment weighs in its
balances the wisdom of God Himself. They talk exceeding proudly and
their arrogance exalts itself. O Friends, I know not how you feel about
the prevailing skepticism of the age but I am heart-sick of it! I shun
the place where I am likely to hear the utterances of men who do not
tremble at God's Word. I turn away from the multitude of books which
advocate doubt and error.

The evil is too painful for me. If I could be content to be an
Ishmaelite and have my hand against every man, I might seek this
company, for here I find every faculty of my being called to warfare.
But as I love peace, it sickens and saddens me to meet with the enemies
of my soul. If I knew that my mother's name would be defamed in certain
company, I would keep out of it. If I knew that my father's character
would be trailed in the mire, I would travel far not to hear a sound so
offensive. I could wish to be deaf and blind rather than hear or read
the modern falsehoods which, at this time, so often wound my spirit.

I feel more and more a tenderness for the Truth of God of the same sort
as I would feel for the good name of my wife or my mother. I wish the
modern revilers would have some compassion upon us old Believers to
whom their talk is such torture. They might keep their doubts for home
consumption. When a man was going to swear, a wise person bade him wait
till he was further away from the town so that nobody might hear
him–it might cause grief to a Christian ear. When a man has anything
to say against the eternal Truth of God, let him speak it to those who
love to hear it–to his mates and admirers. But as for us, we are
determined we will not be tortured by this kind of thing–we cannot
endure it. And we will not remain among those who bespatter us with it.

"Oh but surely you are open to conviction?" they say. We are open to no
conviction that shall be contrary to the Truth of God that has saved us
from going down to the pit. We are open to no conviction that shall rob
us of our eternal hope and of our glorying in the Cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We do not deliberate, for we have decided. To be forever
holding the Truth of God as though it might yet turn out to be a lie
were to lose all the comfort of it. To be forever prepared to desert
our Lord and Master to follow some brand new philosopher would be
perpetual disloyalty. No, we have not come thus far at a guess. We have
known our Lord and His Truth for these forty years and it is not maybe,
or maybe not, with us now. We neither speculate nor hesitate. But we
know whom we have believed and by His Grace we will cleave to Him in
life and in death.

Those who tremble at God's Word are not presumptuous people who derive
fictitious comfort from it. We meet at times with a vainly confident
man who puts behind his back every warning and threat and only
appropriates to himself every promise, though the promise is not made
to him. Such a man steals the children's bread and without question
dares to put into his felon mouth what God has reserved for His own.
This thief knows nothing of trembling at God's Word– he takes much too
much freedom with what the godly hardly dare to look upon. I will not
say a word in favor of unbe-

lief–it is a dreadful sin. But I would say very much in honor of that
holy caution, that sacred bashfulness, that godly reverence which
treats holy things with deep humility and careful jealousy.

Some of God's dearest children are so afraid of presumption that they
go too far the other way and hardly dare to be as confident as they
might. Some of the holiest people that I know are afraid to say what
they might say. For they scarcely dare to call themselves the children
of God. On the other hand, I have heard others say what I fear they
never ought to have said for they have boasted that they never had a
doubt. I heard one minister of great experience, who believes in the
doctrine of perfection, assert very plainly that he had lived in the
midst of the Church of God for many years and that he had seen many
persons who claimed to be perfect but he did not think that anyone
agreed with them.

And, on the other hand, he had known intimately certain other persons
whom he thought to be as nearly perfect as men could be but in every
case they had been the first to disown all notion of personal
perfection and mourned their own conscious imperfection. That is my
observation, also. I distrust the men who publish their own
perfection–I do not believe one of them but think less of them than I
care to say. Deformity talks of its beauty, while true beauty mourns
its deformity. I gaze with loving sympathy upon those known to me whom
I liken to dew-laden lilies–they are so heavy with the dew of Heaven
that they bow low till they almost touch the ground. It may need a
trained eye to see the beauty of lowliness but assuredly for a chaste
loveliness nothing can exceed it.

The lily of the valley has a charm about it that is not to be found in
flowers which lift their glorious colors aloft. Give me such lilies,
for I believe that among them Jesus lives and that He loves right well
the men that are of a broken and a contrite spirit, that tremble at His
Word. There is too much brass and too little gold about the perfection
of the present day. It has a brazen forehead and has a way of sitting
by the roadside–a way which in old times belonged not to true purity.
I had rather tremble at God's Word than testify to my own excellence.
We have had enough of witnesses to them-selves–let us now have some
witnesses for God.

I have largely told you what these tremblers are not. And I must now
tell you a little of what these people are. They are people who do
believe that there is a Word of God. There are plenty of persons who
profess and call themselves Christians and yet do not believe that this
sacred Book is the very Word of God. Say that it is inspired and they
answer, "So is the Koran and so are the Vedas." They talk after this
fashion–"This is the religious book of the ancient Hebrew nation. A
very respectable book it is, but infallible, certainly not–the very
Word of God, certainly not."

Well, then, we distinctly part company with such talkers. We can have
no sort of fellowship with them in any measure or degree with regard to
the things of God. They are to us as heathen men and publicans. If we
are to come under the head of those that tremble at God's Word, we must
believe that there is a Word of the Lord to tremble at, as we do most
assuredly believe, let others talk as they may.

They are a people who are acquainted with God's Word. You cannot
tremble, in the sense here meant, at a voice you have never heard or at
a book you have never opened. There is nothing sacred in so much paper,
ink and binding– nothing in the fashion of a volume to make you
tremble–you must hear the Lord speak and know what He says to you.
When, like the ancient king, you have found the Word of God and read
its holy laws, then you will tremble. When you are astonished to find
how much you have broken the Law and how short you have fallen even of
the full enjoyment of the Gospel–then you tremble. An intelligent
appreciation of the Word of God can alone make a man tremble at it. And
the more he understands it, the more cause for trembling will he see in
it.

Yes, and the more he enjoys it, the more will he tremble. The highest
joy which it yields to mortal men is attended with a reverent awe and a
holy trembling before God. If the Believer went beyond the enjoyment of
the literal Word and saw the Incarnate Word Himself in all the splendor
of His Person, he would tremble still more. For what did John say–
"When I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead." A sight of the Incarnate
Word would create even a greater trembling than the full understanding
of the Word as it is written and revealed. Yet such trembling is a sign
of Divine Grace and by no means to be censured.

But what does this trembling mean? Believe me, it does not mean a
slavish fear. They that tremble at God's Word at the first may do so,
because the Word threatens them with death. But afterwards, as they
advance and grow in Divine Grace and become familiar with the God of
Love and enter into the secret of His Covenant, they tremble for a very
different reason. They tremble because they have a holy reverence of
God and consequently of that Word in which resides so much of the power
and majesty of the Most High. These are the men of whom we are going to
speak at this time–these

are they that reverence the Word, who would not have a syllable of it
touched, who regard it as being Divine after its measure and therefore
sacred as the skirts of Deity.

What God has spoken bears a portion of His majesty about it and we
acknowledge that majesty. I say that these choice spirits are a people
that all their lives long continue to tremble at the Word of the Lord.
George Fox, the famous founder of the Society of Friends, was called a
"Quaker" for no other reason than this–that often, when the Spirit of
God was upon him and he spoke the Word with power, he would quake from
head to foot beneath the burden of the message. It is an honorable
title. No man need be ashamed to quake when Moses said, "I exceedingly
fear and quake."

In the Presence of God a man may well tremble. Surely he is worse than
the devil if he does not. For the devils believe and tremble. Demons go
the length of that. And he that knows God and has any sense of His
infinite power and inconceivable purity and justice must tremble before
Him. I believe George Fox not only quaked, himself, but he made others
quake. And if we tremble at God's Word we shall make others tremble.
True power, when it rests upon us, will discover our own weakness but
it will not itself be hindered.

II. I have described these tremblers so far as my scant knowledge and
brief time will allow–the time has now come to enquire, WHY DO THEY
TREMBLE? I have been trenching upon this field of enquiry already. They
do not tremble because they are going to be lost. Those who are going
to be lost are pretty generally free from trembling–"there are no
bands in their death. But their strength is firm." I would, my hardened
Hearer, that you did tremble. And because you do not tremble for
yourself I tremble for you. Oh, that you judged yourself, that you
might not be judged! I would that you condemned yourself, that God
might acquit you. I would that you were horribly afraid. For then the
great cause for fear would be over. See how the text blesses all the
contrite and the trembling. And, when you have seen it, seek to be
among them.

God's people tremble, first, because of His exceeding majesty. Note
what became of Ezekiel, of Daniel, of Habakkuk, of John the beloved,
when they had visions of God. No man could see God's face and live.
There must always be some sort of cloud between. Through the veil of
Christ's manhood we see God and live. But God absolutely is beyond all
creature understanding–the sight is far too much for us. Even a
glimpse of His garments is something overwhelming! They that have seen
God at any time have trembled at Him and at His Word. For the Word of
the Lord is full of majesty.

There is a Divine royalty about every sentence of Scripture which the
true Believer feels and recognizes, and therefore trembles before it.
They tremble at the searching power of God's Word. Do you ever come
into this place and sit down in the pew and say, "Lord, grant that Your
Word may search me and try me, that I may not be deceived"? Certain
people must always have sweets and comforts. But God's wise children do
not wish for these in undue measure. Daily bread we ask for, not daily
sugar. Wise Believers pray that the Word of the Lord may prove to be
quick and powerful and a dis-cerner of the thoughts and intents of
their hearts. That it may do with them what the butcher does with the
animal when he cuts it down the middle and lays the very entrails open
to inspection–yes, cleaves the mid-bone and lets the very marrow be
seen.

That is what God's Word has done for you and me, I am sure. And when it
has done so, we have trembled. I can personally bear witness to the way
in which the solemn Word of the Lord makes my whole soul to tremble to
its center. The Word of the Lord has cut very close, sometimes, with
many of you and made you cry, "Am I saved or not?" The man that did
never tremble before the Lord does not know Him. It is very easy to
take the matter of your soul's salvation for granted and yet to be
mistaken. It is infinitely better to ask your way twenty times than
miss your road home. And I do not blame the man, who with holy anxiety
says, "Is it so, or is it not so? for I want to know and to be sure." O
Beloved, I am not sorry that you tremble before the refining fire of
sacred Truth. I should be much distressed if you did not.

God's searching Word makes man tremble–so does the Word when it is in
the form of a threat. Believe me, dear Friends, the Word of God about
the doom of sinners is very dreadful. Hence, there are some that try to
pare them down and cut the solemn meaning out of them. And then they
say, "I could not rest comfortably if I believed the orthodox doctrine
about the ruin of man." Most true, but what right have we to rest
comfortably? What grounds or reason can there be why we ever should
have a comfortable thought with regard to the doom of those who refuse
the Savior? If with that dreadful doom before us which Holy Scripture
threatens to ungodly men we do grow far too indifferent, to what will
the Church of God come when it has torn out the doctrine from the Bible
and given it up?

Why, sinners will be more hardened and professors more trifling. He who
seeks comfort at the expense of Truth will be a fool for his pains.
Blessed in the end will that man be who can endure the Word of the
Lord, when it is all thunder and flaming fire–and does not rebel
against it, but bows before it. If it makes you tremble, it was meant
to make you tremble. One said, after he had heard Massillon, "What an
eloquent sermon. How gloriously he preached!" Massillon replied, "Then
he did not understand me. Another sermon has been thrown away." If a
sermon concerning the future punishment of sin does not make the hearer
tremble, it is clear that it is not of God. For Hell is not a thing to
talk about without trembling. My inmost desire is to feel more and more
the overwhelming power of Jehovah's judgment against sin so that I may
preach with all the deeper solemnity the danger of the impenitent and
with tears and trembling may beseech them to be reconciled.

He that knows the Lord aright also trembles with fear lest he should
break God's Law. He sees what a perfect Law it is, and how spiritual it
is–how it overlaps the whole of human life–and the man cries, "It is
high. I cannot attain unto it. O my God, help me, I pray You." He views
the Law with reverence. He admires with a sacred fear. He trembles at
God's Word, not because he dislikes it but because he cannot bear to be
so far off from compliance with its righteous demands. He sees the Law
fulfilled in Christ, and there is his peace. But yet the peace is
mingled with deepest awe.

"Oh," says one, "if he trembles like that, it shows he does not know
the love of God." It shows that he does know it. Have you heard of the
boy whose father was exceedingly fond of him? He was asked by some
other boys to go and rob an orchard with them but he said, "No, I will
not go." They replied, "Your father won't scold you, nor beat you. You
may safely come." To this he answered, "What? Do you think because my
father loves me, that therefore I will grieve him? No, I love him and I
love to do what he wishes me to do. Because he loves me I fear to vex
him." That is like the child of God. The more he knows of God's love,
the more he trembles at the thought of offending the Most High.

We, also, tremble lest we should miss the promises when they are spread
out before us, sparkling like priceless gems. We hear of some who
"could not enter in because of unbelief." And we are taken with
trembling lest we should be like they. We tremble lest there should be
any passage of Scripture or doctrine of Revelation that we are not able
to believe– we pray for Divine Grace that we may never stagger at
anything in the Word. We tremble lest we should misbelieve. And tremble
more–if you are as I am–lest we should mistake and misinterpret the
Word.

I believe Martin Luther would have faced the infernal Fiend, himself,
without a fear. And yet we have his own confession that his knees often
knocked together when he stood up to preach. He trembled lest he should
not be faithful to God's Word. Angels have a holy fear of God and well
may you and I tremble when engaged in His service. To preach the whole
Truth is an awful charge. It was as much as even the Son of man could
do to fully discharge His mission here below. You and I, who are
ambassadors for God, must not trifle–we must tremble at God's Word.

III. Now we have got through the description of these trembling ones
and we have shown why they so exceedingly

fear and quake. Our third question was to be, WHAT DOES GOD COMPARE
THEM TO? Hearken, for here is a thing

to be noted and thought upon.

The Lord compares the tremblers at His Word to a temple. "Where is the
house that you build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? To
this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit
and trembles at My Word." They are His temple. And to the Jews the
temple was something very wonderful. There stood the holy and beautiful
house, the joy of the whole earth. Lined with strong wood and overlaid
with pure gold and its hewn stones put together without hammer or axe.
To the Israelite's mind there never was such a building as this. Yet
the glorious Jehovah speaks lightly of the temple and says, "Where is
the house that you build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest? To
this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit
and trembles at My Word."

So then, a man that trembles at God's Word is God's temple. And he is
emphatically so. He is so beyond the sense in which the house of
Solomon was thus honored. His heart is full of worship. His trembling
is, in itself, worship. As the angels veil their faces in the presence
of the Lord, so do good and true men veil theirs, trembling all the
while, as they worship Him that lives forever. As the temple, even to
the posts of the doors, moved at the presence of the God of the whole
earth, so does every part of our manhood become awe-stricken when He
that dwells between the cherubim shines forth within our spirit. Well
may we tremble to whom the Infinite draws near! The ungodly in their
brutishness may be free from the fear of God, but the man worships with
fear and trembling to whom Divine Grace has given a holy sensitiveness.

Note that the Lord does not merely compare us with the temple but He
prefers us to the temple. And further, He prefers us even to the great
temple of the universe not made with human hands, which He Himself sets
so much above the house that Solomon built. The Lord says, "The Heaven
is My Throne and the earth is My footstool." And yet He seems to say,
"All this is not My rest, nor the place of My abode. But with this man
will I dwell, even with him that trembles at My Word." The Lord prefers
the trembling spirit not only to the golden house below but to the
heavenly house above!

The Lord speaks of Heaven as His Throne. And what is the trembler at
God's Word but God's Throne? God is evidently enthroned within Him.
Under a sense of the Divine Presence, the stupendous weight of Deity
has crushed the man and made him tremble in every part of his nature.
It is the glory of the Revelation which causes the sinking of heart,
the shrinking of the soul. As for the earth, it is Jehovah's footstool.
But so is this lowly, trembling man. He is willing to be God's
footstool, willing to be as the dust beneath God's feet. Who is there
among you, my Beloved in the Lord, that would not feel highly honored
if he might be permitted to be as the footstool of the Infinite
Majesty?

It is too high a place for us! To lie as a doormat at His temple gate
for the poorest of His saints to wipe his shoes upon, is an honor
greater than we deserve–we feel it to be so. At any rate, I speak for
myself. When God is near me I feel as if it were an honor to be the
servant of the least of His poor people. "I would rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of
wickedness." Yet, look! The Lord makes His Throne and footstool out of
the heart and conscience of the man that trembles at His Word. It is a
sublime comparison–you are the temples of God and something more. The
more you study these verses the more you will be astonished.

And what does God say He will do? He says, "To this man will I
look"–look first with approval. The Lord seems to say, "I will not
look on proud Pharisees. I will not look on the presumptuous. But I
will look at the lowly trembling penitent. I will fix My eye upon him.
He shall be countenanced by Me. I will lift up the light of My
countenance upon him. He is right with Me and I will show Myself
gracious to him." It is right that the creature should tremble at the
Creator–right that the sinner should tremble before his Judge. It is
right that a child should give due honor to his august
Father–therefore will the Lord look upon such a one with approval.
Sweetly does Miss Steele pray in her song–

"Low at Your feet my soul would lie, Here safety dwells and peace
Divine; Still let me live beneath Your eye, For life, eternal life is
Yours."

The text means, next, that He will look upon him with care. You know
how we use the expression, "I will look to Him"? Thus will God look to
the man that trembles at His Word. You that can stand alone may look to
yourselves. But he that trembles shall have God to look to him. When
you are afraid, cry, "Hold You me up and I shall be safe," and your
tottering footsteps shall be firmer than a giant's tread. When you grow
so sell-satisfied that as the young man you can run without weariness,
you shall both be weary and fall. Oh, trust not in yourselves but
tremble before the Lord and He will look to you and see that no evil
shall come near unto you!–

"With sacred a we pronounce His name, Whom words nor thoughts can
reach, A contrite heart shall please Him more Than noblest forms of
speech."

The look of the Lord shall mean a third thing, namely, delight. We had
a part of that in the term approbation–it is marvelous that God should
take delight in the man that trembles at His Word. The Lord has no such
pleasure in the careless and carnally secure. He that goes tramping
through his Christian career as if he were somebody and all were safe
is no favorite of Heaven. The man who takes things easily and
self-confidently, with a kind of happy-go-lucky feeling that all must
end well with him–he has no consideration from God. Have you seen the
fine professor who has despised the tender in heart? Mark that man, for
the end of that man will be a crash–"great shall be the fall thereof."

Have you heard the boastful preacher, self-sufficient as to his own
knowledge and eloquence? Mark that man also– for his end is confusion.
But watch that trembling one, whose only hope is in Christ, whose only
strength is in the Lord–he shall be sustained. Watch the one who never
pounces upon a privilege as if it were his by right of merit, but
humbly accepts it as a gift to the unworthy–he is the man that shall
stand in the evil day. He that goes through life fearing is the man who
has nothing to fear. "Happy is the man that fears always," says the
Word of the Lord. He that is

afraid of falling under trial and cries, "Lead me not into temptation
but deliver me from evil"–he shall be kept from sin.

But he who rashly rushes into temptation shall fall by it. He who
watches by day as well as by night, puts on his armor when there seems
no war, and carries his sword always drawn–even when there is no enemy
visible–oh, that is the man who shall cope with the deadly enemy of
souls! The Holy Spirit is in him and the Lord has regard unto him. He
shall not fall by the hand of the enemy. Though oftentimes he trembles,
he shall be safe at last. Glory shall thus be given to God that helped
him. The self-confident would not have glorified God if he had
succeeded, for he would have thrown up his cap inside the gates of
Heaven, and magnified his own name.

As for this man, he doffs his crown. "Non nobis, Domine," he cries,
when he enters Heaven. "Not unto us, not unto us," is still his cry.
Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood. Unto
Him that kept us from falling and preserved us to His kingdom and
glory, unto Him shall be all honor. Every man who this day trembles at
God's Word says "Amen" to this. God bless you, my Beloved. The Lord
Himself look to you and dwell with you! Amen.