mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 62.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxiii" n="lxiii" next="Ps.lxiv" prev="Ps.lxii" progress="42.53%" title="Chapter LXII">
<h2 id="Ps.lxiii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxiii-p0.2">PSALM LXII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxiii-p1">This psalm has nothing in it directly either of
prayer or praise, nor does it appear upon what occasion it was
penned, nor whether upon any particular occasion, whether mournful
or joyful. But in it, I. David with a great deal of pleasure
professes his own confidence in God and dependence upon him, and
encourages himself to continue waiting on him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.1-Ps.62.7" parsed="|Ps|62|1|62|7" passage="Ps 62:1-7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. With a great deal of
earnestness he excites and encourages others to trust in God
likewise, and not in any creature, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.8-Ps.62.12" parsed="|Ps|62|8|62|12" passage="Ps 62:8-12">ver. 8-12</scripRef>. In singing it we should stir up
ourselves to wait on God.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxiii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62" parsed="|Ps|62|0|0|0" passage="Ps 62" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxiii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.1-Ps.62.7" parsed="|Ps|62|1|62|7" passage="Ps 62:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.62.1-Ps.62.7">
<h4 id="Ps.lxiii-p1.5">Waiting upon God; Confidence in
God.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxiii-p1.6">
<p id="Ps.lxiii-p2">To the chief musician, to Jeduthun. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxiii-p3">1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him
<i>cometh</i> my salvation.   2 He only <i>is</i> my rock and
my salvation; <i>he is</i> my defence; I shall not be greatly
moved.   3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye
shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall <i>shall ye be, and
as</i> a tottering fence.   4 They only consult to cast
<i>him</i> down from his excellency: they delight in lies: they
bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.   5 My
soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation <i>is</i> from
him.   6 He only <i>is</i> my rock and my salvation: <i>he
is</i> my defence; I shall not be moved.   7 In God <i>is</i>
my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, <i>and</i> my
refuge, <i>is</i> in God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p4">In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p5">I. David's profession of dependence upon
God, and upon him only, for all good (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.1" parsed="|Ps|62|1|0|0" passage="Ps 62:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>Truly my soul waiteth upon
God. Nevertheless</i> (so some) or "<i>However it be,</i> whatever
difficulties or dangers I may meet with, though God frown upon me
and I meet with discouragements in my attendance on him, yet still
my soul waits upon God" (or <i>is silent to God,</i> as the word
is), "Says nothing against what he does, but quietly expects what
he will do." We are in the way both of duty and comfort when our
souls wait upon God, when we cheerfully refer ourselves, and the
disposal of all our affairs, to his will and wisdom, when we
acquiesce in and accommodate ourselves to all the dispensations of
his providence, and patiently expect a doubtful event, with an
entire satisfaction in his righteousness and goodness, <i>however
it be. Is not my soul subject go God?</i> So the LXX. So it,
certainly so it ought to be; our wills must be melted into his
will. <i>My soul has respect to God, for from him cometh my
salvation.</i> He doubts not but his salvation will come, though
now he was threatened and in danger, and he expects it to come from
God, and from him only; for <i>in vain is it hoped for from hills
and mountains,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.23 Bible:Ps.121.1-Ps.121.2" parsed="|Jer|3|23|0|0;|Ps|121|1|121|2" passage="Jer 3:23,Ps 121:1,2">Jer.
iii. 23; Ps. cxxi. 1, 2</scripRef>. "From him I know it will come,
and therefore on him will I patiently wait till it does come, for
his time is the best time." We may apply it to our eternal
salvation, which is called <i>the salvation of God</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.23" parsed="|Ps|50|23|0|0" passage="Ps 50:23">Ps. l. 23</scripRef>); from him it comes; he
prepared it for us, he prepares us for it, and preserves us to it,
and therefore let our souls wait on him, to be conducted through
this world to that eternal salvation, in such way as he thinks
fit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p6">II. The ground and reason of this
dependence (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.2" parsed="|Ps|62|2|0|0" passage="Ps 62:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>):
<i>He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence.</i> 1.
"He has been so many a time; in him I have found shelter, and
strength, and succour. He has by his grace supported me and borne
me up under my troubles, and by his providence defended me from the
insults of my enemies and delivered me out of the troubles into
which I was plunged; and therefore <i>I trust he will deliver
me,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.10" parsed="|2Cor|1|10|0|0" passage="2Co 1:10">2 Cor. i. 10</scripRef>. 2.
"He only can be my rock and my salvation. Creatures are
insufficient; they are nothing without him, and therefore I will
look above them to him." 3. "He has by covenant undertaken to be
so. Even he that is the rock of ages is my rock; he that is the God
of salvation is my salvation; he that is the Most High is my high
place; and therefore I have all the reason in the world to confide
in him."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p7">III. The improvement he makes of his
confidence in God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p8">1. Trusting in God, his heart is fixed. "If
God is my strength and mighty delivered, <i>I shall not be greatly
moved</i> (that is, I shall not be undone and ruined); I may be
shocked, but I shall not be sunk." Or, "I shall not be much
disturbed and disquieted in my own breast. I may be put into some
fright, but I shall not be afraid with any amazement, nor so as to
be put out of the possession of my own soul. I may be perplexed,
but not in despair," <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.8" parsed="|2Cor|4|8|0|0" passage="2Co 4:8">2 Cor. iv.
8</scripRef>. This hope in God will be an anchor of the soul, sure
and stedfast.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p9">2. His enemies are slighted, and all their
attempts against him looked upon by him with contempt, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.3-Ps.62.4" parsed="|Ps|62|3|62|4" passage="Ps 62:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. If God be for us, we
need not fear what man can do against us, though ever so mighty and
malicious. He here, (1.) Gives a character of his enemies: <i>They
imagine mischief,</i> design it with a great deal of the serpent's
venom and contrive it with a great deal of the serpent's subtlety,
and this <i>against a man,</i> one of their own kind, against one
single man, that is not an equal match for them, for they are many;
they continued their malicious persecution though Providence had
often defeated their mischievous designs. "<i>How long will you</i>
do it? Will you never be convinced of your error? Will your malice
never have spent itself?" They are unanimous in their consultations
to cast an excellent man <i>down from his excellency,</i> to draw
an honest man from his integrity, to entangle him in sin, which is
the only thing that can effectually cast us down from our
excellency, to thrust a man, whom God has exalted, down from his
dignity, and so to fight against God. Envy was at the bottom of
their malice; they were grieved at David's advancement, and
therefore plotted, by diminishing his character and blackening that
(which was casting him down from his excellency) to hinder his
preferment. In order to this they calumniate him, and love to hear
such bad characters given of him and such bad reports raised and
spread concerning him as they themselves know to be false: <i>They
delight in lies.</i> And as they make no conscience of lying
concerning him, to do him a mischief, so they make no conscience of
lying to him, to conceal the mischief they design, and accomplish
it the more effectually: <i>They bless with their mouth</i> (they
compliment David to his face), <i>but they curse inwardly;</i> in
their hearts they wish him all mischief, and privately they are
plotting against him and in their cabals carrying on some evil
design or other, by which they hope to ruin him. It is dangerous
putting our trust in men who are thus false; but God is faithful.
(2.) He reads their doom, pronounces a sentence of death upon them,
not as a king, but as a prophet: <i>You shall be slain all of
you,</i> by the righteous judgments of God. Saul and his servants
were slain by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, according to this
prediction. Those who seek the ruin of God's chosen are but
preparing ruin for themselves. God's church is built upon a rock
which will stand, but those that fight against it, and its patrons
and protectors, shall be <i>as a bowing wall and a tottering
fence,</i> which, having a rotten foundation, sinks with its own
weight, falls of a sudden, and buries those in the ruins of it that
put themselves under the shadow and shelter of it. David, having
put his confidence in God, thus foresees the overthrow of his
enemies, and, in effect, sets them at defiance and bids them do
their worst.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p10">3. He is himself encouraged to continue
waiting upon God (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.5-Ps.62.7" parsed="|Ps|62|5|62|7" passage="Ps 62:5-7"><i>v.</i>
5-7</scripRef>): <i>My soul, wait thou only upon God.</i> Note, The
good we do we should stir up ourselves to continue doing, and to do
yet more and more, as those that have, through grace, experienced
the comfort and benefit of it. We have found it good to wait upon
God, and therefore should charge our souls, and even charm them,
into such a constant dependence upon him as may make us always
easy. He had said (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.1" parsed="|Ps|62|1|0|0" passage="Ps 62:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>), <i>From him cometh my salvation;</i> he says
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.5" parsed="|Ps|62|5|0|0" passage="Ps 62:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), <i>My
expectation is from him.</i> His salvation was the principal matter
of his expectation; let him have that from God, and he expects no
more. His salvation being from God, all his other expectations are
from him. "If God will save my soul, as to every thing else let him
do what he pleases with me, and I will acquiesce in his disposals,
knowing they shall <i>all turn to my salvation,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.19" parsed="|Phil|1|19|0|0" passage="Php 1:19">Phil. i. 19</scripRef>. He repeats (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.6" parsed="|Ps|62|6|0|0" passage="Ps 62:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) what he had said
concerning God (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.2" parsed="|Ps|62|2|0|0" passage="Ps 62:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>), as one that was not only assured of it, but greatly
pleased with it, and that dwelt much upon it in his thoughts: <i>He
only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence,</i> I know he
is; but there he adds, <i>I shall not be greatly moved,</i> here,
<i>I shall not be moved at all.</i> Note, The more faith is acted
the more active it is. <i>Crescit eundo—It grows by being
exercised.</i> The more we meditate upon God's attributes and
promises, and our own experience, the more ground we get of our
fears, which, like Haman, when they begin to fall, shall fall
before us, and we shall be <i>kept in perfect peace,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.3" parsed="|Isa|26|3|0|0" passage="Isa 26:3">Isa. xxvi. 3</scripRef>. And, as David's faith
in God advances to an unshaken stayedness, so his joy in God
improves itself into a holy triumph (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.7" parsed="|Ps|62|7|0|0" passage="Ps 62:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>In God is my salvation and my
glory.</i> Where our salvation is there our glory is; for what is
our salvation but the glory to be revealed, the eternal weight of
glory? And there our glorying must be. In God let us boast all the
day long. "The <i>rock of my strength</i> (that is, my strong rock,
on which I build my hopes and stay myself) <i>and my refuge,</i> to
which I flee for shelter when I am pursued, <i>is in God,</i> and
in him only. I have no other to flee to, no other to trust to; the
more I think of it the better satisfied I am in the choice I have
made." Thus does he <i>delight himself in the Lord, and then ride
upon the high places of the earth,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p10.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.14" parsed="|Isa|58|14|0|0" passage="Isa 58:14">Isa. lviii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxiii-p10.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.8-Ps.62.12" parsed="|Ps|62|8|62|12" passage="Ps 62:8-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.62.8-Ps.62.12">
<h4 id="Ps.lxiii-p10.11">An Exhortation to Trust in
God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxiii-p11">8 Trust in him at all times; <i>ye</i> people,
pour out your heart before him: God <i>is</i> a refuge for us.
Selah.   9 Surely men of low degree <i>are</i> vanity,
<i>and</i> men of high degree <i>are</i> a lie: to be laid in the
balance, they <i>are</i> altogether <i>lighter</i> than vanity.
  10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery:
if riches increase, set not your heart <i>upon them.</i>   11
God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power
<i>belongeth</i> unto God.   12 Also unto thee, O Lord,
<i>belongeth</i> mercy: for thou renderest to every man according
to his work.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p12">Here we have David's exhortation to others
to trust in God and wait upon him, as he had done. Those that have
found the comfort of the ways of God themselves will invite others
into those ways; there is enough in God for all the saints to draw
from, and we shall have never the less for others sharing with
us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p13">I. He counsels all to wait upon God, as he
did, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.8" parsed="|Ps|62|8|0|0" passage="Ps 62:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p14">1. To whom he gives this good counsel:
<i>You people</i> (that is, all people); all shall be welcome to
trust in God, for he is <i>the confidence of all the ends of the
earth,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.5" parsed="|Ps|65|5|0|0" passage="Ps 65:5">Ps. lxv. 5</scripRef>.
<i>You people of the house of Israel</i> (so the Chaldee); they are
especially engaged and invited to trust in God, for he is the God
of Israel; and should not a people seek unto their God?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p15">2. What the good counsel is which he gives.
(1.) To confide in God: "<i>Trust in him;</i> deal with him, and be
willing to deal upon trust; depend upon him to perform all things
for you, upon his wisdom and goodness, his power and promise, his
providence and grace. Do this <i>at all times.</i>" We must have an
habitual confidence in God always, must live a life of dependence
upon him, must so trust in him at all times as not at any time to
put that confidence in ourselves, or in any creature, which is to
be put in him only; and we must have an actual confidence in God
upon all occasions, trust in him upon every emergency, to guide us
when we are in doubt, to protect us when we are in danger, to
supply us when we are in want, to strengthen us for every good word
and work. (2.) To converse with God: <i>Pour out your heart before
him.</i> The expression seems to allude to the pouring out of the
drink-offerings before the Lord. When we make a penitent confession
of sin our hearts are therein <i>poured out before God,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.7.6" parsed="|1Sam|7|6|0|0" passage="1Sa 7:6">1 Sam. vii. 6</scripRef>. But here it
is meant of prayer, which, if it be as it should be, is the pouring
out of the heart before God. We must lay our grievances before him,
offer up our desires to him with all humble freedom, and then
entirely refer ourselves to his disposal, patiently submitting our
wills to his: this is pouring out our hearts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p16">3. What encouragement he gives us to take
this good counsel: <i>God is a refuge for us,</i> not only my
refuge (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.7" parsed="|Ps|62|7|0|0" passage="Ps 62:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), but a
refuge for us all, even as many as will flee to him and take
shelter in him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p17">II. He cautions us to take heed of
misplacing our confidence, in which, as much as in any thing,
<i>the heart is deceitful,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.5-Jer.17.9" parsed="|Jer|17|5|17|9" passage="Jer 17:5-9">Jer.
xvii. 5-9</scripRef>. Those that trust in God truly (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.1" parsed="|Ps|62|1|0|0" passage="Ps 62:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) will trust in him only,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.5" parsed="|Ps|62|5|0|0" passage="Ps 62:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. 1. Let us not
trust in the men of this world, for they are broken reeds
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.9" parsed="|Ps|62|9|0|0" passage="Ps 62:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Surely men
of low degree are vanity,</i> utterly unable to help us, and <i>men
of high degree are a lie,</i> that will deceive us if we trust to
them. Men of low degree, one would think, might be relied on for
their multitude and number, their bodily strength and service, and
men of high degree for their wisdom, power, and influence; but
neither the one nor the other are to be depended on. Of the two,
men of high degree are mentioned as the more deceiving; for they
are <i>a lie,</i> which denotes not only vanity, but iniquity. We
are not so apt to depend upon men of low degree as upon the king
and the captain of the host, who, by the figure they make, tempt us
to trust in them, and so, when they fail us, prove a lie. But lay
them <i>in the balance,</i> the balance of the scripture, or rather
make trial of them, see how they will prove, whether they will
answer your expectations from them or no, and you will write
<i>Tekel</i> upon them; they are alike <i>lighter than vanity;</i>
there is no depending upon their wisdom to advise us, their power
to act for us, their good-will to us, no, nor upon their promises,
in comparison with God, nor otherwise than in subordination to him.
2. Let us not trust in the wealth of this world, let not that be
made our strong city (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.10" parsed="|Ps|62|10|0|0" passage="Ps 62:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): <i>Trust not in oppression;</i> that is, in riches
got by fraud and violence, because where there is a great deal it
is commonly got by indirect scraping or saving (our Saviour calls
it the <i>mammon of unrighteousness,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.9" parsed="|Luke|16|9|0|0" passage="Lu 16:9">Luke xvi. 9</scripRef>), or in the arts of getting
riches. "Think not, either because you have got abundance or are in
the way of getting, that therefore you are safe enough; for this is
becoming <i>vain in robbery,</i> that is, cheating yourselves while
you think to cheat others." He that <i>trusted in the abundance of
his riches strengthened himself in his wickedness</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.7" parsed="|Ps|52|7|0|0" passage="Ps 52:7">Ps. lii. 7</scripRef>); but at his end he will be
a fool, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.11" parsed="|Jer|17|11|0|0" passage="Jer 17:11">Jer. xvii. 11</scripRef>. Let
none be so stupid as to think of supporting themselves in their
sin, much less of supporting themselves in this sin. Nay, because
it is hard to have riches and not to trust in them, if they
increase, though by lawful and honest means, we must take heed lest
we let out our affections inordinately towards them: "<i>Set not
your heart upon them;</i> be not eager for them, do not take a
complacency in them as the rest of your souls, nor put a confidence
in them as your portion; be not over-solicitous about them; do not
value yourselves and others by them; make not the wealth of the
world your chief good and highest end: in short, do not make an
idol of it." This we are most in danger of doing when riches
increase. When the grounds of the rich man brought forth
plentifully, then he said to his soul, <i>Take thy ease</i> in
these things, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p17.9" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.19" parsed="|Luke|12|19|0|0" passage="Lu 12:19">Luke xii. 19</scripRef>.
It is a smiling world that is most likely to draw the heart away
from God, on whom only it should be set.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxiii-p18">III. He gives a very good reason why we
should make God our confidence, because he is a God of infinite
power, mercy, and righteousness, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.11-Ps.62.12" parsed="|Ps|62|11|62|12" passage="Ps 62:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. This he himself was well
assured of and would have us be assured of it: <i>God has spoken
once; twice have I heard this;</i> that is, 1. "God has spoken it,
and I have heard it, once, yea, twice. He has spoken it, and I have
heard it by the light of reason, which easily infers it from the
nature of the infinitely perfect Being and from his works both of
creation and providence. He has spoken it, and I have heard once,
yea, twice (that is, many a time), by the events that have
concerned me in particular. He has spoken it and I have heard it by
the light of revelation, by dreams and visions (<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.15" parsed="|Job|4|15|0|0" passage="Job 4:15">Job iv. 15</scripRef>), by the glorious manifestation of
himself upon Mount Sinai" (to which, some think, it does especially
refer), "and by the written word." God has often told us what a
great and good God he is, and we ought as often to take notice of
what he has told us. Or, 2. "Though God spoke it but once, I heard
it twice, heard it diligently, not only with my outward ears, but
with my soul and mind." To some God speaks twice and they will not
hear once; but to others he speaks but once, and they hear twice.
Compare <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.14" parsed="|Job|33|14|0|0" passage="Job 33:14">Job xxxiii. 14</scripRef>.
Now what is it which is thus spoken and thus heard? (1.) That the
God with whom we have to do is infinite in power. <i>Power belongs
to God;</i> he is almighty, and can do every thing; with him
nothing is impossible. All the powers of all the creatures are
derived form him, depend upon him, and are used by him as he
pleases. His is the power, and to him we must ascribe it. This is a
good reason why we should trust in him at all times and live in a
constant dependence upon him; for he is able to do all that for us
which we trust in him for. (2.) That he is a God of infinite
goodness. Here the psalmist turns his speech to God himself, as
being desirous to give him the glory of his goodness, which is his
glory: <i>Also unto thee, O Lord! belongeth mercy.</i> God is not
only the greatest, but the best, of beings. Mercy is with him,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.130.4 Bible:Ps.130.7" parsed="|Ps|130|4|0|0;|Ps|130|7|0|0" passage="Ps 130:4,7">Ps. cxxx. 4, 7</scripRef>. He is
merciful in a way peculiar to himself; he is the <i>Father of
mercies,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.3" parsed="|2Cor|1|3|0|0" passage="2Co 1:3">2 Cor. i. 3</scripRef>.
This is a further reason why we should trust in him, and answers
the objections of our sinfulness and unworthiness; though we
deserve nothing but his wrath, yet we may hope for all good from
his mercy, which is over all his works. (3.) That he never did, nor
ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures: <i>For thou
renderest to every man according to his work.</i> Though he does
not always do this visibly in this world, yet he will do it in the
day of recompence. No service done him shall go unrewarded, nor any
affront given him unpunished, unless it be repented of. By this it
appears that power and mercy belong to him. If he were not a God of
power, there are sinners that would be too great to be punished.
And if he were not a God of mercy there are services that would be
too worthless to be rewarded. This seems especially to bespeak the
justice of God in judging upon appeals made to him by wronged
innocency; he will be sure to judge according to truth, in giving
redress to the injured and avenging them on those that have been
injurious to them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxiii-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.8.32" parsed="|1Kgs|8|32|0|0" passage="1Ki 8:32">1 Kings viii.
32</scripRef>. Let those therefore that are wronged commit their
cause to him and trust to him to plead it.</p>
</div></div2>