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8.3 KiB
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5 lines
8.3 KiB
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<p>We have here,</p>
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<p class="tab-1">I. The foolish wish of worldly people: <i>There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Who will make us to see good</i>? What good they meant is intimated, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.7" href="/passage/?search=Ps.4.7">Ps. 4:7</a>. It was the increase of their corn and wine; all they desired was plenty of the wealth of this world, that they might enjoy abundance of the delights of sense. Thus far they are right, that they are desirous of good and solicitous about it; but there are these things amiss in this wish:—1. They enquire, in general, “Who will make us happy?” but do not apply themselves to God who alone can; and so they expose themselves to be ill-advised, and show they would rather be beholden to any than to God, for they would willingly live without him. 2. They enquire for good that may be seen, seeming good, sensible good; and they show no concern for the good things that are out of sight and are the objects of faith only. The source of idolatry was a desire of gods that they might see, therefore they worshipped the sun; but, as we must be taught to worship an unseen God, so to seek an unseen good, <a class="bibleref" title="2Cor.4.18" href="/passage/?search=2Cor.4.18">2 Cor. 4:18</a>. We look with an eye of faith further than we can see with an eye of sense. 3. They enquire for <i>any</i> good, not for the chief good; all they want is outward good, present good, partial good, good meat, good drink, a good trade, and a good estate; and what are all these worth without a good God and a good heart? Any good will serve the turn of most men, but a gracious soul will not be put off so. This way, this wish, of carnal worldlings is their folly, yet <i>many there be</i> that join in it; and their doom will be accordingly. “<i>Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things</i>, the penny thou didst agree for.”</p>
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<p class="tab-1">II. The wise choice which godly people make. David, and the pious few that adhered to him, dissented from that wish, and joined in this prayer, <i>Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us</i>. 1. He disagrees from the vote of the many. God had set him apart for himself by distinguishing favours, and therefore he sets himself apart by a distinguishing character. “They are for any good, for worldly good, but so am not I; I will not say as they say; any good will not serve my turn; the wealth of the world will never make a portion for my soul, and therefore I cannot take up with it.” 2. He and his friends agree in their choice of God’s favour as their felicity; it is this which in their account is better than life and all the comforts of life. (1.) This is what they most earnestly desire and seek after; this is the breathing of their souls, “<i>Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us</i>. Most are for other things, but we are for this.” Good people, as they are distinguished by their practices, so they are by their prayers, not the length and language of them, but the faith and fervency of them; those whom God has set apart have a prayer by themselves, which, though others may speak the words of it, they only offer up in sincerity; and this is a prayer which they all say <i>Amen</i> to; “Lord, let us have thy favour, and let us know that we have it, and we desire no more; that is enough to make us happy. Lord, be at peace with us, accept of us, manifest thyself to us, let us be satisfied <i>of</i> thy loving-kindness and we will be satisfied <i>with</i> it.” Observe, Though David speaks of himself only in the <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.7,Ps.4.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.4.7,Ps.4.8"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.7">Ps. 4:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.8">8</span></a>, he speaks, in this prayer, for others also,—“<i>upon us</i>,” as Christ taught us to pray, <i>“Our Father</i>.” All the saints come to the throne of grace on the same errand, and in this they are one, they all desire God’s favour as their chief good. We should beg it for others as well as for ourselves, for in God’s favour there is enough for us all and we shall have never the less for others sharing in what we have. (2.) This is what, above any thing, they rejoice in (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.7" href="/passage/?search=Ps.4.7">Ps. 4:7</a>): “<i>Thou hast</i> hereby often <i>put gladness into my heart</i>; not only supported and refreshed me, but filled me with joy unspeakable; and therefore this is what I will still pursue, what I will seek after all the days of my life.” When God puts grace in the heart he <i>puts gladness in the heart</i>; nor is any joy comparable to that which gracious souls have in the communications of the divine favour, no, not the joy of harvest, of a plentiful harvest, when the corn and wine increase. This is gladness in the heart, inward, solid, substantial joy. The mirth of worldly people is but a flash, a shadow; <i>even in laughter their heart is sorrowful</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Prov.14.13" href="/passage/?search=Prov.14.13">Prov. 14:13</a>. “Thou hast <i>given</i> gladness in my heart;” so the word is. True joy is God’s gift, <i>not as the world giveth</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="John.14.27" href="/passage/?search=John.14.27">John 14:27</a>. The saints have no reason to envy carnal worldlings their mirth and joy, but should pity them rather, for they may know better and will not. (3.) This is what they entirely confide in, and in this confidence they are always easy, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.4.8">Ps. 4:8</a>. He had laid himself down and slept (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.3.5" href="/passage/?search=Ps.3.5">Ps. 3:5</a>), and so he will still: “<i>I will lay myself down</i> (having the assurance of thy favour) <i>in peace</i>, and with as much pleasure as those whose corn and wine increase, and who lie down as Boaz did in his threshing-floor, at the end of the he
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<p class="tab-1">In singing <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.4.6-Ps.4.8" href="/passage/?search=Ps.4.6-Ps.4.8">Ps. 4:6-8</a>, and praying over them, let us, with a holy contempt of the wealth and pleasure of this world, as insufficient to make us happy, earnestly seek the favour of God and pleasingly solace ourselves in that favour; and, with a holy indifferency about the issue of all our worldly concerns, let us commit ourselves and all our affairs to the guidance and custody of the divine Providence, and be satisfied that all shall be made to work for good to us if we keep ourselves in the love of God.</p>
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