mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 73.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxxiv" n="lxxiv" next="Ps.lxxv" prev="Ps.lxxiii" progress="46.66%" title="Chapter LXXIII">
<h2 id="Ps.lxxiv-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxxiv-p0.2">PSALM LXXIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxxiv-p1">This psalm, and the ten that next follow it, carry
the name of Asaph in the titles of them. If he was the penman of
them (as many think), we rightly call them psalms of Asaph. If he
was only the chief musician, to whom they were delivered, our
marginal reading is right, which calls them psalms for Asaph. It is
probable that he penned them; for we read of the words of David and
of Asaph the seer, which were used in praising God in Hezekiah's
time, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.30" parsed="|2Chr|29|30|0|0" passage="2Ch 29:30">2 Chron. xxix. 30</scripRef>.
Though the Spirit of prophecy by sacred songs descended chiefly on
David, who is therefore styled "the sweet psalmist of Israel," yet
God put some of that Spirit upon those about him. This is a psalm
of great use; it gives us an account of the conflict which the
psalmist had with a strong temptation to envy the prosperity of
wicked people. He begins his account with a sacred principle, which
he held fast, and by the help of which he kept his ground and
carried his point, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.1" parsed="|Ps|73|1|0|0" passage="Ps 73:1">ver. 1</scripRef>.
He then tells us, I. How he got into the temptation, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.2-Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|2|73|14" passage="Ps 73:2-14">ver. 2-14</scripRef>. II. How he got out of
the temptation and gained a victory over it, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.15-Ps.73.20" parsed="|Ps|73|15|73|20" passage="Ps 73:15-20">ver. 15-20</scripRef>. III. How he got by the
temptation and was the better for it, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.21-Ps.73.23" parsed="|Ps|73|21|73|23" passage="Ps 73:21-23">ver. 21-23</scripRef>. If, in singing this psalm, we
fortify ourselves against the life temptation, we do not use it in
vain. The experiences of others should be our instructions.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73" parsed="|Ps|73|0|0|0" passage="Ps 73" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.1-Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|1|73|14" passage="Ps 73:1-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.73.1-Ps.73.14">
<h4 id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.8">God's Goodness to His People; Unsanctified
Prosperity.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxxiv-p1.9">
<p id="Ps.lxxiv-p2">A psalm of Asaph.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxxiv-p3">1 Truly God <i>is</i> good to Israel,
<i>even</i> to such as are of a clean heart.   2 But as for
me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
  3 For I was envious at the foolish, <i>when</i> I saw the
prosperity of the wicked.   4 For <i>there are</i> no bands in
their death: but their strength <i>is</i> firm.   5 They
<i>are</i> not in trouble <i>as other</i> men; neither are they
plagued like <i>other</i> men.   6 Therefore pride compasseth
them about as a chain; violence covereth them <i>as</i> a garment.
  7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than
heart could wish.   8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly
<i>concerning</i> oppression: they speak loftily.   9 They set
their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through
the earth.   10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters
of a full <i>cup</i> are wrung out to them.   11 And they say,
How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?  
12 Behold, these <i>are</i> the ungodly, who prosper in the world;
they increase <i>in</i> riches.   13 Verily I have cleansed my
heart <i>in</i> vain, and washed my hands in innocency.   14
For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every
morning.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p4">This psalm begins somewhat abruptly: <i>Yet
God is good to Israel</i> (so the margin reads it); he had been
thinking of the prosperity of the wicked; while he was thus musing
the fire burned, and at last he spoke by way of check to himself
for what he had been thinking of. "However it be, yet God is good."
Though wicked people receive many of the gifts of his providential
bounty, yet we must own that he is, in a peculiar manner, good to
Israel; they have favours from him which others have not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p5">The psalmist designs an account of a
temptation he was strongly assaulted with—to envy the prosperity
of the wicked, a common temptation, which has tried the graces of
many of the saints. Now in this account,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p6">I. He lays down, in the first place, that
great principle which he is resolved to abide by and not to quit
while he was parleying with this temptation, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.1" parsed="|Ps|73|1|0|0" passage="Ps 73:1">v. 1</scripRef>. Job, when he was entering into such a
temptation, fixed for his principle the omniscience of God:
<i>Times are not hidden from the Almighty,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.1" parsed="|Job|24|1|0|0" passage="Job 24:1">Job xxiv. 1</scripRef>. Jeremiah's principle is the
justice of God: <i>Righteous art thou, O God! when I plead with
thee,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.1" parsed="|Jer|12|1|0|0" passage="Jer 12:1">Jer. xii. 1</scripRef>.
Habakkuk's principle is the holiness of God: <i>Thou art of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.13" parsed="|Hab|1|13|0|0" passage="Hab 1:13">Hab.
i. 13</scripRef>. The psalmist's, here, is the goodness of God.
These are truths which cannot be shaken and which we must resolve
to live and die by. Though we may not be able to reconcile all the
disposals of Providence with them, we must believe they are
reconcilable. Note, Good thoughts of God will fortify us against
many of Satan's temptations. <i>Truly God is good;</i> he had had
many thoughts in his mind concerning the providences of God, but
this word, at last, settled him: "For all this, God is good,
<i>good to Israel, even to those that are of a clean heart.</i>"
Note, 1. Those are the Israel of God that are of a clean heart,
purified by the blood of Christ, cleansed from the pollutions of
sin, and entirely devoted to the glory of God. An upright heart is
a clean heart; cleanness is truth in the inward part. 2. God, who
is good to all, is in a special manner good to his church and
people, as he was to Israel of old. God was good to Israel in
redeeming them out of Egypt, taking them into covenant with
himself, giving them his laws and ordinances, and in the various
providences that related to them; he is, in like manner, good to
all those that are of a clean heart, and, whatever happens, we must
not think otherwise.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p7">II. He comes now to relate the shock that
was given to his faith in God's distinguishing goodness to Israel
by a strong temptation to envy the prosperity of the wicked, and
therefore to think that the Israel of God are no happier than other
people and that God is no kinder to them than to others.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p8">1. He speaks of it as a very narrow escape
that he had not been quite foiled and overthrown by this temptation
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.2" parsed="|Ps|73|2|0|0" passage="Ps 73:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): "<i>But as
for me,</i> though I was so well satisfied in the goodness of God
to Israel, yet <i>my feet were almost gone</i> (the tempter had
almost tripped up my heels), <i>my steps had well-nigh slipped</i>
(I had like to have quitted my religion, and given up all my
expectations of benefit by it); <i>for I was envious at the
foolish.</i>" Note, 1. The faith even of strong believers may
sometimes be sorely shaken and ready to fail them. There are storms
that will try the firmest anchors. 2. Those that shall never be
quite undone are sometimes very near it, and, in their own
apprehension, as good as gone. Many a precious soul, that shall
live for ever, had once a very narrow turn for its life; almost and
well-nigh ruined, but a step between it and fatal apostasy, and yet
snatched as a brand out of the burning, which will for ever magnify
the riches of divine grace in the nations of those that are saved.
Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p9">2. Let us take notice of the process of the
psalmist's temptation, what he was tempted with and tempted to.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p10">(1.) He observed that foolish wicked people
have sometimes a very great share of outward prosperity. He
<i>saw,</i> with grief, <i>the prosperity of the wicked,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.3" parsed="|Ps|73|3|0|0" passage="Ps 73:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Wicked people
are really foolish people, and act against reason and their true
interest, and yet every stander-by sees their prosperity. [1.] They
seem to have the least share of the troubles and calamities of this
life (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.5" parsed="|Ps|73|5|0|0" passage="Ps 73:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>They
are not in the troubles of other men,</i> even of wise and good
men, <i>neither are they plagued like other men,</i> but seem as if
by some special privilege they were exempted from the common lot of
sorrows. If they meet with some little trouble, it is nothing to
what others endure that are less sinners and yet greater sufferers.
[2.] They seem to have the greatest share of the comforts of this
life. They live at ease, and bathe themselves in pleasures, so that
<i>their eyes stand out with fatness,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.7" parsed="|Ps|73|7|0|0" passage="Ps 73:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. See what the excess of pleasure
is; the moderate use of it enlightens the eyes, but those that
indulge themselves inordinately in the delights of sense have their
eyes ready to start out of their heads. Epicures are really their
own tormentors, by putting a force upon nature, while they pretend
to gratify it. And well may those feed themselves to the full who
have <i>more than heart could wish,</i> more than they themselves
ever thought of or expected to be masters of. They have, at least,
more than a humble, quiet, contented heart could wish, yet not so
much as they themselves wish for. There are many who have a great
deal of this life in their hands, but nothing of the other life in
their hearts. They are ungodly, live without the fear and worship
of God, and yet they prosper and get on in the world, and not only
are rich, but <i>increase in riches,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.12" parsed="|Ps|73|12|0|0" passage="Ps 73:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They are looked upon as
thriving men; while others have much ado to keep what they have,
they are still adding more, more honour, power, pleasure, by
increasing in riches. <i>They are the prosperous of the age,</i> so
some read it. [3.] Their end seems to be peace. This is mentioned
first, as the most strange of all, for peace in death was every
thought to be the peculiar privilege of the godly (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.37" parsed="|Ps|37|37|0|0" passage="Ps 37:37">Ps. xxxvii. 37</scripRef>), yet, to outward
appearance, it is often the lot of the ungodly (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.4" parsed="|Ps|73|4|0|0" passage="Ps 73:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>There are no bands in their
death.</i> They are not taken off by a violent death; they are
foolish, and yet die not as fools die; for <i>their hands are not
bound nor their feet put into fetters,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.3.33-2Sam.3.34" parsed="|2Sam|3|33|3|34" passage="2Sa 3:33,34">2 Sam. iii. 33, 34</scripRef>. They are not taken off
by an untimely death, like the fruit forced from the tree before it
is ripe, but are left to hang on, till, through old age, they
gently drop of themselves. They do not die of sore and painful
diseases: <i>There are no pangs,</i> no agonies, <i>in their death,
but their strength is firm</i> to the last, so that they scarcely
feel themselves die. They are of those who <i>die in their full
strength, being wholly at ease and quiet,</i> not of those that
<i>die in the bitterness of their souls and never eat with
pleasure,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.23 Bible:Job.21.25" parsed="|Job|21|23|0|0;|Job|21|25|0|0" passage="Job 21:23,25">Job xxi. 23,
25</scripRef>. Nay, they are not bound by the terrors of conscience
in their dying moments; they are not frightened either with the
remembrance of their sins or the prospect of their misery, but die
securely. We cannot judge of men's state on the other side death
either by the manner of their death or the frame of their spirits
in dying. Men may die like lambs, and yet have their place with the
goats.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p11">(2.) He observed that they made a very bad
use of their outward prosperity and were hardened by it in their
wickedness, which very much strengthened the temptation he was in
to fret at it. If it had done them any good, if it had made them
less provoking to God or less oppressive to man, it would never
have vexed him; but it had quite a contrary effect upon them. [1.]
It made them very proud and haughty. Because they live at ease,
<i>pride compasses them as a chain,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.6" parsed="|Ps|73|6|0|0" passage="Ps 73:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. They show themselves (to all that
see them) to be puffed up with their prosperity, as men show their
ornaments. <i>The pride of Israel testifies to his face,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.5.5 Bible:Isa.3.9" parsed="|Hos|5|5|0|0;|Isa|3|9|0|0" passage="Ho 5:5,Isa 3:9">Hos. v. 5; Isa. iii.
9</scripRef>. <i>Pride ties on their chain,</i> or necklace; so Dr.
Hammond reads it. It is no harm to wear a chain or necklace; but
when pride ties it on, when it is worn to gratify a vain mind, it
ceases to be an ornament. It is not so much what the dress or
apparel is (though we have rules for that, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.9" parsed="|1Tim|2|9|0|0" passage="1Ti 2:9">1 Tim. ii. 9</scripRef>) as what principle ties it on and
with what spirit it is worn. And, as the pride of sinners appears
in their dress, so it does in their talk: <i>They speak loftily</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.8" parsed="|Ps|73|8|0|0" passage="Ps 73:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); they affect
<i>great swelling words of vanity</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.18" parsed="|2Pet|2|18|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:18">2 Pet. ii. 18</scripRef>), bragging of themselves and
disdaining all about them. Out of the abundance of the pride that
is in their heart they speak big. [1.] It made them oppressive to
their poor neighbours (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.6" parsed="|Ps|73|6|0|0" passage="Ps 73:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>): <i>Violence covers them as a garment.</i> What they
have got by fraud and oppression they keep and increase by the same
wicked methods, and care not what injury they do to others, nor
what violence they use, so they may but enrich and aggrandize
themselves. <i>They are corrupt,</i> like the giants, the sinners
of the old world, when <i>the earth was filled with violence,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.11 Bible:Gen.6.13" parsed="|Gen|6|11|0|0;|Gen|6|13|0|0" passage="Ge 6:11,13">Gen. vi. 11, 13</scripRef>. They
care not what mischief they do, either for mischief-sake or for
their own advantage-sake. <i>They speak wickedly concerning
oppression;</i> they oppress, and justify themselves in it. Those
that speak well of sin speak wickedly of it. <i>They are
corrupt,</i> that is, dissolved in pleasures and every thing that
is luxurious (so some), and then they deride and speak maliciously;
they care not whom they wound with the poisoned darts of calumny;
from on high they speak oppression. [3.] It made them very insolent
in their demeanour towards both God and man (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.9" parsed="|Ps|73|9|0|0" passage="Ps 73:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>They set their mouth against
the heavens,</i> putting contempt upon God himself and his honour,
bidding defiance to him and his power and justice. They cannot
reach the heavens with their hands, to shake God's throne, else
they would; but they show their ill-will by setting their mouth
against the heavens. <i>Their tongue</i> also <i>walks through the
earth,</i> and they take liberty to abuse all that come in their
way. No man's greatness or goodness can secure him from the scourge
of the virulent tongue. They take a pride and pleasure in bantering
all mankind; they are pests of the country, for they neither fear
God nor regard man. [4.] In all this they were very atheistical and
profane. They could not have been thus wicked if they had not
learned to say (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.11" parsed="|Ps|73|11|0|0" passage="Ps 73:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>), <i>How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the
Most High?</i> So far were they from desiring the knowledge of God,
who gave them all the good things they had and would have taught
them to use them well, that they were not willing to believe God
had any knowledge of them, that he took any notice of their
wickedness or would ever call them to an account. As if, because he
is <i>Most High,</i> he could not or would not see them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.12-Job.22.13" parsed="|Job|22|12|22|13" passage="Job 22:12,13">Job xxii. 12, 13</scripRef>. Whereas because
he is <i>Most High</i> therefore he can, and will, take cognizance
of all the children of men and of all they do, or say, or think.
What an affront is it to the God of infinite knowledge, from whom
all knowledge is, to ask, <i>Is there knowledge in him?</i> Well
may he say (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p11.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.12" parsed="|Ps|73|12|0|0" passage="Ps 73:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>),
<i>Behold, these are the ungodly.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p12">(3.) He observed that while wicked men thus
prospered in their impiety, and were made more impious by their
prosperity, good people were in great affliction, and he himself in
particular, which very much strengthened the temptation he was in
to quarrel with Providence. [1.] He looked abroad and saw many of
God's people greatly at a loss (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.10" parsed="|Ps|73|10|0|0" passage="Ps 73:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "Because the wicked are so
very daring <i>therefore his people return hither;</i> they are at
the same pause, the same plunge, that I am at; they know not what
to say to it any more than I do, and the rather because <i>waters
of a full cup are wrung out to them;</i> they are not only made to
drink, and to drink deeply, of the bitter cup of affliction, but to
drink all. Care is taken that they lose not a drop of that
unpleasant potion; the waters are wrung out unto them, that they
may have the dregs of the cup. They pour out abundance of tears
when they hear wicked people blaspheme God and speak profanely," as
David did, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.136" parsed="|Ps|119|136|0|0" passage="Ps 119:136">Ps. cxix. 136</scripRef>.
These are the waters wrung out to them. [2.] He looked at home, and
felt himself under the continual frowns of Providence, while the
wicked were sunning themselves in its smiles (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|14|0|0" passage="Ps 73:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "For my part," says he,
"<i>all the day long have I been plagued</i> with one affliction or
another, <i>and chastened every morning,</i> as duly as the morning
comes." His afflictions were great—he was chastened and plagued;
the returns of them were constant, <i>every morning</i> with the
morning, and they continued, without intermission, <i>all the day
long.</i> This he thought was very hard, that, when those who
blasphemed God were in prosperity, he that worshipped God was under
such great affliction. He spoke feelingly when he spoke of his own
troubles; there is no disputing against sense, except by faith.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p13">(4.) From all this arose a very strong
temptation to cast off his religion. [1.] Some that observed the
prosperity of the wicked, especially comparing it with the
afflictions of the righteous, were tempted to deny a providence and
to think that God had forsaken the earth. In this sense some take
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.11" parsed="|Ps|73|11|0|0" passage="Ps 73:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. There are
those, even among God's professing people, that say, "<i>How does
God know?</i> Surely all things are left to blind fortune, and not
disposed of by an all-seeing God." Some of the heathen, upon such a
remark as this, have asked, <i>Quis putet esse deos?—Who will
believe that there are gods?</i> [2.] Though the psalmist's feet
were not so far gone as to question God's omniscience, yet he was
tempted to question the benefit of religion, and to say (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.13" parsed="|Ps|73|13|0|0" passage="Ps 73:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), <i>Verily, I have
cleansed my heart in vain,</i> and have, to no purpose, <i>washed
my hands in innocency.</i> See here what it is to be religious; it
is to cleanse our hearts, in the first place, by repentance and
regeneration, and then to wash our hands in innocency by a
universal reformation of our lives. It is not in vain to do this,
not in vain to serve God and keep his ordinances; but good men have
been sometimes tempted to say, "It is in vain," and "Religion is a
thing that there is nothing to be got by," because they see wicked
people in prosperity. But, however the thing may appear now, when
the pure in heart, those blessed ones, shall see God (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.8" parsed="|Matt|5|8|0|0" passage="Mt 5:8">Matt. v. 8</scripRef>), they will not say that
they cleansed their hearts in vain.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxxiv-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.15-Ps.73.20" parsed="|Ps|73|15|73|20" passage="Ps 73:15-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.73.15-Ps.73.20">
<h4 id="Ps.lxxiv-p13.5">The End of the Wicked.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxxiv-p14">15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should
offend <i>against</i> the generation of thy children.   16
When I thought to know this, it <i>was</i> too painful for me;
  17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; <i>then</i>
understood I their end.   18 Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.  
19 How are they <i>brought</i> into desolation, as in a moment!
they are utterly consumed with terrors.   20 As a dream when
<i>one</i> awaketh; <i>so,</i> O Lord, when thou awakest, thou
shalt despise their image.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p15">We have seen what a strong temptation the
psalmist was in to envy prospering profaneness; now here we are
told how he kept his footing and got the victory.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p16">I. He kept up a respect for God's people,
and with that he restrained himself from speaking what he had
thought amiss, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.15" parsed="|Ps|73|15|0|0" passage="Ps 73:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. He got the victory by degrees, and this was the
first point he gained; he was ready to say, <i>Verily, I have
cleansed my heart in vain,</i> and thought he had reason to say it,
but he kept his mouth with this consideration, "<i>If I say, I will
speak thus, behold, I should</i> myself revolt and apostatize from,
and so give the greatest offence imaginable to, <i>the generation
of thy children.</i>" Observe here, 1. Though he thought amiss, he
took care not to utter that evil thought which he had conceived.
Note, It is bad to think ill, but it is worse to speak it, for that
is giving the evil thought an <i>imprimatur—a sanction;</i> it is
allowing it, giving consent to it, and publishing it for the
infection of others. But it is a good sign that we repent of the
evil imagination of the heart if we suppress it, and the error
remains with ourselves. If therefore thou hast been so foolish as
to think evil, be so wise as to <i>lay thy hand upon thy mouth,</i>
and let it go no further, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.32" parsed="|Prov|30|32|0|0" passage="Pr 30:32">Prov. xxx.
32</scripRef>. <i>If I say, I will speak thus.</i> Observe, Though
his corrupt heart made this inference from the prosperity of the
wicked, yet he did not mention it to those whether it were fit to
be mentioned or no. Note, We must think twice before we speak once,
both because some things may be thought which yet may not be spoken
and because the second thoughts may correct the mistakes of the
first. 2. The reason why he would not speak it was for fear of
giving offence to those whom God owned for his children. Note, (1.)
There are a people in the world that are the generation of God's
children, a set of men that hear and love God as their Father. (2.)
We must be very careful not to say or do any thing which may justly
offend <i>any of these little ones</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.6" parsed="|Matt|18|6|0|0" passage="Mt 18:6">Matt. xviii. 6</scripRef>), especially which may offend
<i>the generation of them,</i> may sadden their hearts, or weaken
their hands, or shake their interest. (3.) There is nothing that
can give more general offence to the generation of God's children
than to say that <i>we have cleansed our heart in vain</i> or that
it is vain to serve God; for there is nothing more contrary to
their universal sentiment and experience nor any thing that grieves
them more than to hear God thus reflected on. (4.) Those that wish
themselves in the condition of the wicked do in effect quit the
tents of God's children.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p17">II. He foresaw the ruin of wicked people.
By this he baffled the temptation, as by the former he gave some
check to it. Because he durst not speak what he had thought, for
fear of giving offence, he began to consider whether he had any
good reason for that thought (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.16" parsed="|Ps|73|16|0|0" passage="Ps 73:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "I endeavoured to understand
the meaning of this unaccountable dispensation of Providence; but
<i>it was too painful for me.</i> I could not conquer it by the
strength of my own reasoning." It is a problem, not to be solved by
the mere light of nature, for, if there were not another life after
this, we could not fully reconcile the prosperity of the wicked
with the justice of God. But (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.17" parsed="|Ps|73|17|0|0" passage="Ps 73:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>) <i>he went into the sanctuary
of God;</i> he applied to his devotions, meditated upon the
attributes of God, and the <i>things revealed, which belong to us
and to our children;</i> he consulted the scriptures, and the lips
of the priests who attended the sanctuary; he prayed to God to make
this matter plain to him and to help him over this difficulty; and,
at length, he understood the wretched end of wicked people, which
he plainly foresaw to be such that even in the height of their
prosperity they were rather to be pitied than envied, for they were
but ripening for ruin. Note, There are many great things, and
things needful to be known, which will not be known otherwise than
by going into the sanctuary of God, by the word and prayer. The
sanctuary must therefore be the resort of a tempted soul. Note,
further, We must judge of persons and things as they appear by the
light of divine revelation, and then we shall judge righteous
judgment; particularly we must judge by the end. All is well that
ends well, everlastingly well; but nothing well that ends ill,
everlastingly ill. The righteous man's afflictions end in peace,
and therefore he is happy; the wicked man's enjoyments end in
destruction, and therefore he is miserable.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p18">1. The prosperity of the wicked is short
and uncertain. The high places in which Providence sets them are
<i>slippery places</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.18" parsed="|Ps|73|18|0|0" passage="Ps 73:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>), where they cannot long keep footing; but, when they
offer to climb higher, that very attempt will be the occasion of
their sliding and falling. Their prosperity has no firm ground; it
is not built upon God's favour or his promise; and they have not
the satisfaction of feeling that it rests on firm ground.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p19">2. Their destruction is sure, and sudden,
and very great. This cannot be meant of any temporal destruction;
for they were supposed to <i>spend all their days in wealth</i> and
their death itself had no bands in it: <i>In a moment they go down
to the grace,</i> so that even that could scarcely be called
<i>their destruction;</i> it must therefore be meant of eternal
destruction on the other side death—hell and destruction. They
flourish for a time, but are undone for ever. (1.) Their ruin is
sure and inevitable. He speaks of it as a thing done—<i>They are
cast down;</i> for their destruction is as certain as if it were
already accomplished. He speaks of it as God's doing, and therefore
it cannot be resisted: <i>Thou castest them down.</i> It is
<i>destruction from the Almighty</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.15" parsed="|Joel|1|15|0|0" passage="Joe 1:15">Joel i. 15</scripRef>), from <i>the glory of his
power,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.9" parsed="|2Thess|1|9|0|0" passage="2Th 1:9">2 Thess. i. 9</scripRef>.
Who can support those whom God will cast down, on whom God will lay
burdens? (2.) It is swift and sudden; their damnation slumbers not;
for <i>how are they brought into desolation as in a moment!</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.19" parsed="|Ps|73|19|0|0" passage="Ps 73:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. It is easily
effected, and will be a great surprise to themselves and all about
them. (3.) It is severe and very dreadful. It is a total and final
ruin: <i>They are utterly consumed with terrors,</i> It is the
misery of the damned that the terrors of the Almighty, whom they
have made their enemy, fasten upon their guilty consciences, which
can neither shelter themselves from them nor strengthen themselves
under them; and therefore not their being, but their bliss, must
needs be utterly consumed by them; not the least degree of comfort
or hope remains to them; the higher they were lifted up in their
prosperity the sorer will their fall be when they are cast down
into <i>destructions</i> (for the word is plural) and suddenly
<i>brought into desolation.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p20">3. Their prosperity is therefore not to be
envied at all, but despised rather, <i>quod erat
demonstrandum—which was the point to be established,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.20" parsed="|Ps|73|20|0|0" passage="Ps 73:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. <i>As a dream when one
awaketh, so, O Lord! when thou awakest,</i> or when they awake (as
some read it), <i>thou shalt despise their image,</i> their shadow,
<i>and make it to vanish. In the day of the great judgment</i> (so
the Chaldee paraphrase reads it), when they are awaked out of their
graves, thou shalt, in wrath, despise their image; for <i>they
shall rise to shame and everlasting contempt.</i> See here, (1.)
What their prosperity now is; it is but an image, a vain show, a
fashion of the world that passes away; it is not real, but
imaginary, and it is only a corrupt imagination that makes it a
happiness; it is not substance, but a mere shadow; it is not what
it seems to be, nor will it prove what we promise ourselves from
it; it is as a dream, which may please us a little, while we are
asleep, yet even then it disturbs our repose; but, how pleasing
soever it is, it is all but a cheat, all false; when we awake we
find it so. A hungry man <i>dreams that he eats, but he awakes and
his soul is empty,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.29.8" parsed="|Isa|29|8|0|0" passage="Isa 29:8">Isa. xxix.
8</scripRef>. A man is never the more rich or honourable for
dreaming he is so. Who therefore will envy a man the pleasure of a
dream? (2.) What will be the issue of it; God will awake to
judgment, to plead his own and his people's injured cause; they
shall be made to awake out of the sleep of their carnal security,
and then God shall despise their image; he shall make it appear to
all the world how despicable it is; so that the righteous shall
laugh at them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.6-Ps.52.7" parsed="|Ps|52|6|52|7" passage="Ps 52:6,7">Ps. lii. 6,
7</scripRef>. How did God despise that rich man's image when he
said, <i>Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee!</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.19-Luke.12.20" parsed="|Luke|12|19|12|20" passage="Lu 12:19,20">Luke xii. 19,
20</scripRef>. We ought to be of God's mind, for his judgment is
according to truth, and not to admire and envy that which he
despises and will despise; for, sooner or later, he will bring all
the world to be of his mind.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.21-Ps.73.28" parsed="|Ps|73|21|73|28" passage="Ps 73:21-28" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.73.21-Ps.73.28">
<h4 id="Ps.lxxiv-p20.6">Devout Confidence.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxxiv-p21">21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked
in my reins.   22 So foolish <i>was</i> I, and ignorant: I was
<i>as</i> a beast before thee.   23 Nevertheless I <i>am</i>
continually with thee: thou hast holden <i>me</i> by my right hand.
  24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive me <i>to</i> glory.   25 Whom have I in heaven <i>but
thee?</i> and <i>there is</i> none upon earth <i>that</i> I desire
beside thee.   26 My flesh and my heart faileth: <i>but</i>
God <i>is</i> the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
  27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou
hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.   28 But
<i>it is</i> good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust
in the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxxiv-p21.1">God</span>, that I may declare
all thy works.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p22">Behold Samson's riddle again unriddled,
<i>Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong
sweetness;</i> for we have here an account of the good improvement
which the psalmist made of that sore temptation with which he had
been assaulted and by which he was almost overcome. He that
stumbles and does not fall, by recovering himself takes so much the
longer steps forward. It was so with the psalmist here; many good
lessons he learned from his temptation, his struggles with it, and
his victories over it. Nor would God suffer his people to be
tempted if his grace were not sufficient for them, not only to save
them from harm, but to make them gainers by it; even this shall
work for good.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p23">I. He learned to think very humbly of
himself and to abase and accuse himself before God (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.21-Ps.73.22" parsed="|Ps|73|21|73|22" passage="Ps 73:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>); he reflects
with shame upon the disorder and danger he was in, and the vexation
he gave himself by entertaining the temptation and parleying with
it: <i>My heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins,</i> as
one afflicted with the acute pain of the stone in the region of the
kidneys. If evil thoughts at any time enter into the mind of a good
man, he does not roll them under his tongue as a sweet morsel, but
they are grievous and painful to him; temptation was to Paul as a
thorn in the flesh, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.7" parsed="|2Cor|12|7|0|0" passage="2Co 12:7">2 Cor. xii.
7</scripRef>. This particular temptation, the working of envy and
discontent, is as painful as any; where it constantly rests it is
the <i>rottenness of the bones</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.14.30" parsed="|Prov|14|30|0|0" passage="Pr 14:30">Prov. xiv. 30</scripRef>); where it does but
occasionally come it is the pricking of the reins. Fretfulness is a
corruption that is its own correction. Now in the reflection upon
it, 1. He owns it was his folly thus to vex himself: "<i>So foolish
was I</i> to be my own tormentor." Let peevish people thus reproach
themselves for, and shame themselves out of, their discontents.
"What a fool am I thus to make myself uneasy without a cause?" 2.
He owns it was his ignorance to vex himself at this: "So ignorant
was I of that which I might have known, and which, if I had known
it aright, would have been sufficient to silence my murmurs. <i>I
was as a beast (Behemoth—a great beast) before thee.</i> Beasts
mind present things only, and never look before at what is to come;
and so did I. If I had not been a great fool, I should never have
suffered such a senseless temptation to prevail over me so far.
What! to envy wicked men upon account of their prosperity! To be
ready to wish myself one of them, and to think of changing
conditions with them! <i>So foolish was I.</i>" Note, If good men
do at any time, through the surprise and strength of temptation,
think, or speak, or act amiss, when they see their error they will
reflect upon it with sorrow, and shame, and self-abhorrence, will
call themselves <i>fools</i> for it. <i>Surely I am more brutish
than any man,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.2 Bible:Job.42.5-Job.42.6" parsed="|Prov|30|2|0|0;|Job|42|5|42|6" passage="Pr 30:2,Job 42:5,6">Prov. xxx.
2; Job xlii. 5, 6</scripRef>. Thus David, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.10" parsed="|2Sam|24|10|0|0" passage="2Sa 24:10">2 Sam. xxiv. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p24">II. He took occasion hence to own his
dependence on and obligations to the grace of God (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.23" parsed="|Ps|73|23|0|0" passage="Ps 73:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): "<i>Nevertheless,</i>
foolish as I am, <i>I am continually with thee</i> and in thy
favour; <i>thou hast holden me by my right hand.</i>" This may
refer either, 1. To the care God had taken of him, and the kindness
he had shown him, all along from his beginning hitherto. He had
said, in the hour of temptation (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|14|0|0" passage="Ps 73:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>All the day long have I
been plagued;</i> but here he corrects himself for that passionate
complaint: "Though God has chastened me, he has not cast me off;
notwithstanding all the crosses of my life, <i>I have been
continually with thee;</i> I have had thy presence with me, and
thou hast been nigh unto me in all that which I have called upon
thee for; and therefore, though perplexed, yet not in despair.
Though God has sometimes written bitter things against me, yet he
has still <i>holden me by my right hand,</i> both to keep me, that
I should not desert him or fly off from him, and to prevent my
sinking and fainting under my burdens, or losing my way in the
wildernesses through which I have walked." If we have been kept in
the way with God, kept closely in our duty and upheld in our
integrity, we must own ourselves indebted to the free grace of God
for our preservation: <i>Having obtained help of God, I continue
hitherto.</i> And, if he has thus maintained the spiritual life,
the earnest of eternal life, we ought not to complain, whatever
calamities of this present time we have met with. Or, 2. To the
late experience he had had of the power of divine grace in carrying
him through this strong temptation and bringing him off a
conqueror: "I was foolish and ignorant, and yet thou hast had
compassion on me and taught me (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.2" parsed="|Heb|5|2|0|0" passage="Heb 5:2">Heb. v.
2</scripRef>), and kept me under thy protection;" for the
unworthiness of man is no bar to the free grace of God. We must
ascribe our safety in temptation, and our victory over it, not to
our own wisdom, for we are foolish and ignorant, but to the
gracious presence of God with us and the prevalency of Christ's
intercession for us, that our faith may not fail: "<i>My feet were
almost gone,</i> and they would have quite gone, past recovery, but
that thou hast holden me by my right hand and so kept me from
falling."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p25">III. He encouraged himself to hope that the
same God who had delivered him from this evil work would
<i>preserve him to his heavenly kingdom,</i> as St. Paul does
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.18" parsed="|2Tim|4|18|0|0" passage="2Ti 4:18">2 Tim. iv. 18</scripRef>): "I am now
upheld by thee, therefore <i>thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel,</i> leading me, as thou hast done hitherto, many a
difficult step; and, since I am now continually with thee, thou
<i>shalt afterwards receive me to glory</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.24" parsed="|Ps|73|24|0|0" passage="Ps 73:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. This completes the happiness of
the saints, so that they have no reason to envy the worldly
prosperity of sinners. Note, 1. All those who commit themselves to
God shall be guided with his counsel, with the counsel both of his
word and of his Spirit, the best counsellors. The psalmist had like
to have paid dearly for following his own counsels in this
temptation and therefore resolves for the future to take God's
advice, which shall never be wanting to those that duly seek it
with a resolution to follow it. 2. All those who are guided and led
by the counsel of God in this world shall be received to his glory
in another world. If we make God's glory in us the end we aim at,
he will make our glory with him the end we shall for ever be happy
in. Upon this consideration, let us never envy sinners, but rather
bless ourselves in our own blessedness. If God direct us in the way
of our duty, and prevent our turning aside out of it, he will
afterwards, when our state of trial and preparation is over,
receive us to his kingdom and glory, the believing hopes and
prospects of which will reconcile us to all the dark providences
that now puzzle and perplex us, and ease us of the pain we have
been put into by some threatening temptations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p26">IV. He was hereby quickened to cleave the
more closely to God, and very much confirmed and comforted in the
choice he had made of him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.25-Ps.73.26" parsed="|Ps|73|25|73|26" passage="Ps 73:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. His thoughts here dwell
with delight upon his own happiness in God, as much greater then
the happiness of the ungodly that prospered in the world. He saw
little reason to envy them what they had in the creature when he
found how much more and better, surer and sweeter, comforts he had
in the Creator, and what cause he had to congratulate himself on
this account. He had complained of his afflictions (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.14" parsed="|Ps|73|14|0|0" passage="Ps 73:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); but this makes them
very light and easy, <i>All is well if God be mine.</i> We have
here the breathings of a sanctified soul towards God, and its
repose in him, as that to a godly man really which the prosperity
of a worldly man is to him in conceit and imagination: <i>Whom have
I in heaven but thee?</i> There is scarcely a verse in all the
psalms more expressive than this of the pious and devout affections
of a soul to God; here it soars up towards him, follows hard after
him, and yet, at the same time, has an entire satisfaction and
complacency in him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p27">1. It is here supposed that God alone is
the felicity and chief good of man. He, and he only, that made the
soul, can make it happy; there is none in heaven, none in earth,
that can pretend to do it besides.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p28">2. Here are expressed the workings and
breathings of a soul towards God accordingly. If God be our
felicity,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p29">(1.) Then we must have him (<i>Whom have I
but thee?</i>), we must choose him, and make sure to ourselves an
interest in him. What will it avail us that he is the felicity of
souls if he be not the felicity of our souls, and if we do not by a
lively faith make him ours, by joining ourselves to him in an
everlasting covenant?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p30">(2.) Then our desire must be towards him
and our delight in him (the word signifies both); we must delight
in what we have of God and desire what we yet further hope for. Our
desires must not only be offered up to God, but they must all
terminate in him, desiring nothing more than God, but still more
and more of him. This includes all our prayers, <i>Lord, give us
thyself;</i> as that includes all the promises, <i>I will be to
them a God. The desire of our souls is to thy name.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p31">(3.) We must prefer him in our choice and
desire before any other. [1.] "<i>There is none in heaven but
thee,</i> none to seek to or trust in, none to court or covet
acquaintance with, but thee." God is in himself more glorious than
any celestial being (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.6" parsed="|Ps|89|6|0|0" passage="Ps 89:6">Ps. lxxxix.
6</scripRef>), and must be, in our eyes, infinitely more desirable.
Excellent beings there are in heaven, but God alone can make us
happy. His favour is infinitely more to us than the refreshment of
the dews of heaven or the benign influence of the stars of heaven,
more than the friendship of the saints in heaven or the good
offices of the angels there. [2.] <i>I desire none on earth besides
thee;</i> not only none in heaven, a place at a distance, which we
have but little acquaintance with, but none on earth neither, where
we have many friends and where much of our present interest and
concern lie. "Earth carries away the desires of most men, and yet I
have none on earth, no persons, no things, no possessions, no
delights, that I desire besides thee or with thee, in comparison or
competition with thee." We must desire nothing besides God but what
we desire for him (<i>nil præter te nisi propter te—nothing
besides thee except for thy sake</i>), nothing but what we desire
from him, and can be content without so that it be made up in him.
We must desire nothing besides God as needful to be a partner with
him in making us happy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p32">(4.) Then we must repose ourselves in God
with an entire satisfaction, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.26" parsed="|Ps|73|26|0|0" passage="Ps 73:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>. Observe here, [1.] Great distress and trouble
supposed: <i>My flesh and my heart fail.</i> Note, Others have
experienced and we must expect, the failing both of flesh and
heart. The body will fail by sickness, age, and death; and that
which touches the bone and the flesh touches us in a tender part,
that part of ourselves which we have been but too fond of; when the
flesh fails the heart is ready to fail too; the conduct, courage,
and comfort fail. [2.] Sovereign relief provided in this distress:
<i>But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.</i>
Note, Gracious souls, in their greatest distresses, rest upon God
as their spiritual strength and their eternal portion. <i>First,
"He is the strength of my heart,</i> the rock of my heart, a firm
foundation, which will bear my weight and not sink under it. <i>God
is the strength of my heart;</i> I have found him so; I do so
still, and hope ever to find him so." In the distress supposed, he
had put the case of a double failure, both <i>flesh and heart
fail;</i> but, in the relief, he fastens on a single support: he
leaves out the flesh and the consideration of that, it is enough
that God is <i>the strength of his heart.</i> He speaks as one
careless of the body (let that fail, there is no remedy), but as
one concerned about the soul, to be <i>strengthened in the inner
man.</i> Secondly, <i>"He is my portion for ever;</i> he will not
only support me while I am here, but make me happy when I go
hence." The saints choose God for their portion, they have him for
their portion, and it is their happiness that he will be their
portion, a portion that will last as long as the immortal soul
lasts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p33">V. He was fully convinced of the miserable
condition of all wicked people. This he learned in the sanctuary
upon this occasion, and he would never forget it (<scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.27" parsed="|Ps|73|27|0|0" passage="Ps 73:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): "<i>Lo, those that are
far from thee,</i> in a state of distance and estrangement, that
desire the Almighty to depart from them, <i>shall</i> certainly
<i>perish;</i> so shall their doom be; they choose to be far from
God, and they shall be far from him for ever. <i>Thou wilt</i>
justly <i>destroy all those that go a whoring from thee,</i> that
is, all apostates, that in profession have been betrothed to God,
but forsake him, their duty to him and their communion with him, to
embrace the bosom of a stranger." The doom is sever, no less than
perishing and being destroyed. It is universal: "They shall all be
destroyed without exception." It is certain: "<i>Thou hast
destroyed;</i> it is as sure to be done as if done already; and the
destruction of some ungodly men is an earnest of the perdition of
all." God himself undertakes to do it, into whose hands it is a
fearful thing to fall: "Thou, though infinite in goodness, wilt
reckon for thy injured honour and abused patience, and wilt destroy
those that go a whoring from thee."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxxiv-p34">VI. He was greatly encouraged to cleave to
God and to confide in him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.28" parsed="|Ps|73|28|0|0" passage="Ps 73:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>. <i>If those that are far from God shall perish,</i>
then, 1. Let this constrain us to live in communion with God; "if
it fare so ill with those that live at a distance from him, then it
is good, very good, the chief good, that good for a man, in this
life, which he should most carefully pursue and secure, it is best
for me to draw near to God, and to have God draw near to me;" the
original may take in both. <i>But for my part</i> (so I would read
it) <i>the approach of God is good for me.</i> Our drawing near to
God takes rise from his drawing near to us, and it is the happy
meeting that makes the bliss. Here is a great truth laid down, That
it is good to draw near to God; but the life of it lies in the
application, "It is good for <i>me.</i>" Those are the wise who
know what is good for themselves: "<i>It is good,</i> says he (and
every good man agrees with him in it), <i>it is good for me to draw
near to God;</i> it is my duty; it is my interest." 2. Let us
therefore live in a continual dependence upon him: "<i>I have put
my trust in the Lord God,</i> and will never go a whoring from him
after any creature confidences." If wicked men, notwithstanding all
their prosperity, shall perish and be destroyed, then let us trust
in the Lord God, in him, not in them (see <scripRef id="Ps.lxxiv-p34.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.3-Ps.146.5" parsed="|Ps|146|3|146|5" passage="Ps 146:3-5">Ps. cxlvi. 3-5</scripRef>), in him, and not in our
worldly prosperity; let us trust in God, and neither fret at them
nor be afraid of them; let us trust in him for a better portion
than theirs is. 3. While we do so, let us not doubt but that we
shall have occasion to praise his name. Let us trust in the Lord,
that we may declare all his works. Note, Those that with an upright
heart put their trust in God shall never want matter for
thanksgiving to him.</p>
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