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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM LXXIII.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This psalm, and the ten that next follow it, carry the name of Asaph in
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the titles of them. If he was the penman of them (as many think), we
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rightly call them psalms of Asaph. If he was only the chief musician,
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to whom they were delivered, our marginal reading is right, which calls
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them psalms for Asaph. It is probable that he penned them; for we read
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of the words of David and of Asaph the seer, which were used in
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praising God in Hezekiah's time,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+29:30">2 Chron. xxix. 30</A>.
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Though the Spirit of prophecy by sacred songs descended chiefly on
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David, who is therefore styled "the sweet psalmist of Israel," yet God
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put some of that Spirit upon those about him. This is a psalm of great
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use; it gives us an account of the conflict which the psalmist had with
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a strong temptation to envy the prosperity of wicked people. He begins
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his account with a sacred principle, which he held fast, and by the
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help of which he kept his ground and carried his point,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:1">ver. 1</A>.
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He then tells us,
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I. How he got into the temptation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:2-14">ver. 2-14</A>.
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II. How he got out of the temptation and gained a victory over it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:15-20">ver. 15-20</A>.
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III. How he got by the temptation and was the better for it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:21-23">ver. 21-23</A>.
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If, in singing this psalm, we fortify ourselves against the life
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temptation, we do not use it in vain. The experiences of others should
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be our instructions.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps73_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps73_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>God's Goodness to His People; Unsanctified Prosperity.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>A psalm of Asaph.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Truly God <I>is</I> good to Israel, <I>even</I>
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to such as are of a clean heart.
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2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well
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nigh slipped.
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3 For I was envious at the foolish, <I>when</I> I saw the prosperity
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of the wicked.
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4 For <I>there are</I> no bands in their death: but their strength
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<I>is</I> firm.
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5 They <I>are</I> not in trouble <I>as other</I> men; neither are they
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plagued like <I>other</I> men.
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6 Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence
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covereth them <I>as</I> a garment.
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7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart
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could wish.
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8 They are corrupt, and speak wickedly <I>concerning</I> oppression:
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they speak loftily.
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9 They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue
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walketh through the earth.
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10 Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full
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<I>cup</I> are wrung out to them.
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11 And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in
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the most High?
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12 Behold, these <I>are</I> the ungodly, who prosper in the world;
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they increase <I>in</I> riches.
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13 Verily I have cleansed my heart <I>in</I> vain, and washed my
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hands in innocency.
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14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened
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every morning.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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This psalm begins somewhat abruptly: <I>Yet God is good to Israel</I>
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(so the margin reads it); he had been thinking of the prosperity of the
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wicked; while he was thus musing the fire burned, and at last he spoke
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by way of check to himself for what he had been thinking of. "However
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it be, yet God is good." Though wicked people receive many of the gifts
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of his providential bounty, yet we must own that he is, in a peculiar
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manner, good to Israel; they have favours from him which others have
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not.</P>
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<P>
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The psalmist designs an account of a temptation he was strongly
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assaulted with--to envy the prosperity of the wicked, a common
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temptation, which has tried the graces of many of the saints. Now in
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this account,</P>
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<P>
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I. He lays down, in the first place, that great principle which he is
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resolved to abide by and not to quit while he was parleying with this
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temptation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:1">v. 1</A>.
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Job, when he was entering into such a temptation, fixed for his
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principle the omniscience of God: <I>Times are not hidden from the
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Almighty,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+24:1">Job xxiv. 1</A>.
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Jeremiah's principle is the justice of God: <I>Righteous art thou, O
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God! when I plead with thee,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+12:1">Jer. xii. 1</A>.
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Habakkuk's principle is the holiness of God: <I>Thou art of purer eyes
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than to behold iniquity,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+1:13">Hab. i. 13</A>.
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The psalmist's, here, is the goodness of God. These are truths which
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cannot be shaken and which we must resolve to live and die by. Though
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we may not be able to reconcile all the disposals of Providence with
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them, we must believe they are reconcilable. Note, Good thoughts of God
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will fortify us against many of Satan's temptations. <I>Truly God is
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good;</I> he had had many thoughts in his mind concerning the
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providences of God, but this word, at last, settled him: "For all this,
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God is good, <I>good to Israel, even to those that are of a clean
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heart.</I>" Note,
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1. Those are the Israel of God that are of a clean heart, purified by
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the blood of Christ, cleansed from the pollutions of sin, and entirely
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devoted to the glory of God. An upright heart is a clean heart;
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cleanness is truth in the inward part.
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2. God, who is good to all, is in a special manner good to his church
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and people, as he was to Israel of old. God was good to Israel in
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redeeming them out of Egypt, taking them into covenant with himself,
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giving them his laws and ordinances, and in the various providences
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that related to them; he is, in like manner, good to all those that are
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of a clean heart, and, whatever happens, we must not think
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otherwise.</P>
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<P>
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II. He comes now to relate the shock that was given to his faith in
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God's distinguishing goodness to Israel by a strong temptation to envy
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the prosperity of the wicked, and therefore to think that the Israel of
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God are no happier than other people and that God is no kinder to them
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than to others.</P>
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<P>
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1. He speaks of it as a very narrow escape that he had not been quite
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foiled and overthrown by this temptation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>But as for me,</I> though I was so well satisfied in the goodness
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of God to Israel, yet <I>my feet were almost gone</I> (the tempter had
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almost tripped up my heels), <I>my steps had well-nigh slipped</I> (I
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had like to have quitted my religion, and given up all my expectations
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of benefit by it); <I>for I was envious at the foolish.</I>" Note,
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1. The faith even of strong believers may sometimes be sorely shaken
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and ready to fail them. There are storms that will try the firmest
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anchors.
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2. Those that shall never be quite undone are sometimes very near it,
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and, in their own apprehension, as good as gone. Many a precious soul,
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that shall live for ever, had once a very narrow turn for its life;
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almost and well-nigh ruined, but a step between it and fatal apostasy,
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and yet snatched as a brand out of the burning, which will for ever
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magnify the riches of divine grace in the nations of those that are
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saved. Now,</P>
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<P>
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2. Let us take notice of the process of the psalmist's temptation, what
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he was tempted with and tempted to.</P>
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<P>
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(1.) He observed that foolish wicked people have sometimes a very great
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share of outward prosperity. He <I>saw,</I> with grief, <I>the
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prosperity of the wicked,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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Wicked people are really foolish people, and act against reason and
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their true interest, and yet every stander-by sees their prosperity.
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[1.] They seem to have the least share of the troubles and calamities
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of this life
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>They are not in the troubles of other men,</I> even of wise and good
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men, <I>neither are they plagued like other men,</I> but seem as if by
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some special privilege they were exempted from the common lot of
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sorrows. If they meet with some little trouble, it is nothing to what
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others endure that are less sinners and yet greater sufferers.
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[2.] They seem to have the greatest share of the comforts of this life.
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They live at ease, and bathe themselves in pleasures, so that <I>their
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eyes stand out with fatness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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See what the excess of pleasure is; the moderate use of it enlightens
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the eyes, but those that indulge themselves inordinately in the
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delights of sense have their eyes ready to start out of their heads.
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Epicures are really their own tormentors, by putting a force upon
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nature, while they pretend to gratify it. And well may those feed
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themselves to the full who have <I>more than heart could wish,</I> more
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than they themselves ever thought of or expected to be masters of. They
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have, at least, more than a humble, quiet, contented heart could wish,
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yet not so much as they themselves wish for. There are many who have a
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great deal of this life in their hands, but nothing of the other life
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in their hearts. They are ungodly, live without the fear and worship
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of God, and yet they prosper and get on in the world, and not only are
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rich, but <I>increase in riches,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
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They are looked upon as thriving men; while others have much ado to
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keep what they have, they are still adding more, more honour, power,
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pleasure, by increasing in riches. <I>They are the prosperous of the
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age,</I> so some read it.
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[3.] Their end seems to be peace. This is mentioned first, as the most
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strange of all, for peace in death was every thought to be the peculiar
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privilege of the godly
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:37">Ps. xxxvii. 37</A>),
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yet, to outward appearance, it is often the lot of the ungodly
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>There are no bands in their death.</I> They are not taken off by a
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violent death; they are foolish, and yet die not as fools die; for
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<I>their hands are not bound nor their feet put into fetters,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+3:33,34">2 Sam. iii. 33, 34</A>.
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They are not taken off by an untimely death, like the fruit forced from
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the tree before it is ripe, but are left to hang on, till, through old
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age, they gently drop of themselves. They do not die of sore and
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painful diseases: <I>There are no pangs,</I> no agonies, <I>in their
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death, but their strength is firm</I> to the last, so that they
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scarcely feel themselves die. They are of those who <I>die in their
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full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet,</I> not of those that
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<I>die in the bitterness of their souls and never eat with
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pleasure,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:23,25">Job xxi. 23, 25</A>.
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Nay, they are not bound by the terrors of conscience in their dying
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moments; they are not frightened either with the remembrance of their
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sins or the prospect of their misery, but die securely. We cannot judge
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of men's state on the other side death either by the manner of their
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death or the frame of their spirits in dying. Men may die like lambs,
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and yet have their place with the goats.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) He observed that they made a very bad use of their outward
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prosperity and were hardened by it in their wickedness, which very much
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strengthened the temptation he was in to fret at it. If it had done
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them any good, if it had made them less provoking to God or less
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oppressive to man, it would never have vexed him; but it had quite a
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contrary effect upon them.
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[1.] It made them very proud and haughty. Because they live at ease,
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<I>pride compasses them as a chain,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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They show themselves (to all that see them) to be puffed up with their
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prosperity, as men show their ornaments. <I>The pride of Israel
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testifies to his face,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+5:5,Isa+3:9">Hos. v. 5; Isa. iii. 9</A>.
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<I>Pride ties on their chain,</I> or necklace; so Dr. Hammond reads
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it. It is no harm to wear a chain or necklace; but when pride ties it
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on, when it is worn to gratify a vain mind, it ceases to be an
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ornament. It is not so much what the dress or apparel is (though we
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have rules for that,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+2:9">1 Tim. ii. 9</A>)
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as what principle ties it on and with what spirit it is worn. And, as
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the pride of sinners appears in their dress, so it does in their talk:
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<I>They speak loftily</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
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they affect <I>great swelling words of vanity</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+2:18">2 Pet. ii. 18</A>),
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bragging of themselves and disdaining all about them. Out of the
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abundance of the pride that is in their heart they speak big.
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[1.] It made them oppressive to their poor neighbours
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Violence covers them as a garment.</I> What they have got by fraud
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and oppression they keep and increase by the same wicked methods, and
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care not what injury they do to others, nor what violence they use, so
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they may but enrich and aggrandize themselves. <I>They are
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corrupt,</I> like the giants, the sinners of the old world, when <I>the
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earth was filled with violence,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+6:11,13">Gen. vi. 11, 13</A>.
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They care not what mischief they do, either for mischief-sake or for
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their own advantage-sake. <I>They speak wickedly concerning
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oppression;</I> they oppress, and justify themselves in it. Those that
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speak well of sin speak wickedly of it. <I>They are corrupt,</I> that
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is, dissolved in pleasures and every thing that is luxurious (so some),
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and then they deride and speak maliciously; they care not whom they
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wound with the poisoned darts of calumny; from on high they speak
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oppression.
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[3.] It made them very insolent in their demeanour towards both God and
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man
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>They set their mouth against the heavens,</I> putting contempt upon
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God himself and his honour, bidding defiance to him and his power and
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justice. They cannot reach the heavens with their hands, to shake God's
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throne, else they would; but they show their ill-will by setting their
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mouth against the heavens. <I>Their tongue</I> also <I>walks through
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the earth,</I> and they take liberty to abuse all that come in their
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way. No man's greatness or goodness can secure him from the scourge of
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the virulent tongue. They take a pride and pleasure in bantering all
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mankind; they are pests of the country, for they neither fear God nor
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regard man.
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[4.] In all this they were very atheistical and profane. They could
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not have been thus wicked if they had not learned to say
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:12,13">Job xxii. 12, 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Behold, these are the ungodly.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
"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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:136">Ps. cxix. 136</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
"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>
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+5:8">Matt. v. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
they will not say that they cleansed their hearts in vain.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_20"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The End of the Wicked.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
I. He kept up a respect for God's people, and with that he restrained
|
|
himself from speaking what he had thought amiss,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:32">Prov. xxx. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+18:6">Matt. xviii. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
"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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>)
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
1. The prosperity of the wicked is short and uncertain. The high places
|
|
in which Providence sets them are <I>slippery places</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joe+1:15">Joel i. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
from <I>the glory of his power,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+1:9">2 Thess. i. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+29:8">Isa. xxix. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+52:6,7">Ps. lii. 6, 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+12:19,20">Luke xii. 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps73_28"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Devout Confidence.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, that I may declare all thy works.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
I. He learned to think very humbly of himself and to abase and accuse
|
|
himself before God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:21,22"><I>v.</I> 21, 22</A>);
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+12:7">2 Cor. xii. 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+14:30">Prov. xiv. 30</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+30:2,Job+42:5,6">Prov. xxx. 2; Job xlii. 5, 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus David,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+24:10">2 Sam. xxiv. 10</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He took occasion hence to own his dependence on and obligations to
|
|
the grace of God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+5:2">Heb. v. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+4:18">2 Tim. iv. 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
"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>"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:25,26"><I>v.</I> 25, 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>);
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
2. Here are expressed the workings and breathings of a soul towards God
|
|
accordingly. If God be our felicity,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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>
|
|
|
|
(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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+89:6">Ps. lxxxix. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(4.) Then we must repose ourselves in God with an entire satisfaction,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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>
|
|
|
|
VI. He was greatly encouraged to cleave to God and to confide in him,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+73:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+146:3-5">Ps. cxlvi. 3-5</A>),
|
|
|
|
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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