Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc21/v22000

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 14KB | 240 lines

22000
 * The psalmist complains of the wickedness of the wicked. (1-11)
 He prays to God to appear for the relief of his people. (12-18)

 #1-11 God's withdrawings are very grievous to his people,
 especially in times of trouble. We stand afar off from God by
 our unbelief, and then complain that God stands afar off from
 us. Passionate words against bad men do more hurt than good; if
 we speak of their badness, let it be to the Lord in prayer; he
 can make them better. The sinner proudly glories in his power
 and success. Wicked people will not seek after God, that is,
 will not call upon him. They live without prayer, and that is
 living without God. They have many thoughts, many objects and
 devices, but think not of the Lord in any of them; they have no
 submission to his will, nor aim for his glory. The cause of this
 is pride. Men think it below them to be religious. They could
 not break all the laws of justice and goodness toward man, if
 they had not first shaken off all sense of religion.

22011
 #12-18 The psalmist speaks with astonishment, at the wickedness
 of the wicked, and at the patience and forbearance of God. God
 prepares the heart for prayer, by kindling holy desires, and
 strengthening our most holy faith, fixing the thoughts, and
 raising the affections, and then he graciously accepts the
 prayer. The preparation of the heart is from the Lord, and we
 must seek unto him for it. Let the poor, afflicted, persecuted,
 or tempted believer recollect, that Satan is the prince of this
 world, and that he is the father of all the ungodly. The
 children of God cannot expect kindness, truth, or justice from
 such persons as crucified the Lord of glory. But this once
 suffering Jesus, now reigns as King over all the earth, and of
 his dominion there shall be no end. Let us commit ourselves unto
 him, humbly trusting in his mercy. He will rescue the believer
 from every temptation, and break the arm of every wicked
 oppressor, and bruise Satan under our feet shortly. But in
 heaven alone will all sin and temptation be shut out, though in
 this life the believer has a foretaste of deliverance.
22018
 * David's struggle with, and triumph over a strong temptation to
 distrust God, and betake himself to indirect means for his own
 safety, in a time of danger.

 - Those that truly fear God and serve him, are welcome to put
 their trust in him. The psalmist, before he gives an account of
 his temptation to distrust God, records his resolution to trust
 in Him, as that by which he was resolved to live and die. The
 believer, though not terrified by his enemies, may be tempted,
 by the fears of his friends, to desert his post, or neglect his
 work. They perceive his danger, but not his security; they give
 him counsel that savours of worldly policy, rather than of
 heavenly wisdom. The principles of religion are the foundations
 on which the faith and hope of the righteous are built. We are
 concerned to hold these fast against all temptations to
 unbelief; for believers would be undone, if they had not God to
 go to, God to trust in, and future bliss to hope for. The
 prosperity of wicked people in their wicked, evil ways, and the
 straits and distresses which the best men are sometimes brought
 into, tried David's faith. We need not say, Who shall go up to
 heaven, to fetch us thence a God to trust in? The word is nigh
 us, and God in the word; his Spirit is in his saints, those
 living temples, and the Lord is that Spirit. This God governs
 the world. We may know what men seem to be, but God knows what
 they are, as the refiner knows the value of gold when he has
 tried it. God is said to try with his eyes, because he cannot
 err, or be imposed upon. If he afflicts good people, it is for
 their trial, therefore for their good. However persecutors and
 oppressors may prosper awhile, they will for ever perish. God is
 a holy God, and therefore hates them. He is a righteous Judge,
 and will therefore punish them. In what a horrible tempest are
 the wicked hurried away at death! Every man has the portion of
 his cup assigned him. Impenitent sinner, mark your doom! The
 last call to repentance is about to be addressed to you,
 judgement is at hand; through the gloomy shade of death you pass
 into the region of eternal wrath. Hasten then, O sinner, to the
 cross of Christ. How stands the case between God and our souls?
 Is Christ our hope, our consolation, our security? Then, not
 otherwise, will the soul be carried through all its difficulties
 and conflicts.
22025
 * The psalmist begs help of God, because there were none among
 men whom he durst trust.

 - This psalm furnishes good thoughts for bad times; a man may
 comfort himself with such meditations and prayers. Let us see
 what makes the times bad, and when they may be said to be so.
 Ask the children of this world, What makes the times bad? they
 will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the
 desolations of war, make the times bad: but the Scripture lays
 the badness of the times on causes of another nature, #2Ti 3:1,
 &c.|: perilous times shall come, for sin shall abound; and of
 this David complains. When piety decays times really are bad. He
 who made man's mouth will call him to an account for his proud,
 profane, dissembling, or even useless words. When the poor and
 needy are oppressed, then the times are very bad. God himself
 takes notice of the oppression of the poor, and the sighing of
 the needy. When wickedness abounds, and is countenanced by those
 in authority, then the times are very bad. See with what good
 things we are here furnished for such bad times; and we cannot
 tell what times we may be reserved for. 1. We have a God to go
 to, from whom we may ask and expect the redress of all our
 grievances. 2. God will certainly punish and restrain false and
 proud men. 3. God will work deliverance for his oppressed
 people. His help is given in the fittest time. Though men are
 false, God is faithful; though they are not to be trusted, God
 is. The preciousness of God's word is compared to silver refined
 to the highest degree. How many proofs have been given of its
 power and truth! God will secure his chosen remnant, however bad
 the times are. As long as the world stands, there will be a
 generation of proud and wicked men. But all God's people are put
 into the hands of Christ our Saviour; there they are in safety,
 for none can pluck them thence; being built on Him, the Rock,
 they are safe, notwithstanding temptation or persecution come
 with ever so much force upon them.
22033
 * The psalmist complains that God had long withdrawn. He
 earnestly prays for comfort. He assures himself of an answer of
 peace.

 - God sometimes hides his face, and leaves his own children in
 the dark concerning their interest in him: and this they lay to
 heart more than any outward trouble whatever. But anxious cares
 are heavy burdens with which believers often load themselves
 more than they need. The bread of sorrows is sometimes the
 saint's daily bread; our Master himself was a man of sorrows. It
 is a common temptation, when trouble lasts long, to think that
 it will last always. Those who have long been without joy, begin
 to be without hope. We should never allow ourselves to make any
 complaints but what drive us to our knees. Nothing is more
 killing to a soul than the want of God's favour; nothing more
 reviving than the return of it. The sudden, delightful changes
 in the book of Psalms, are often very remarkable. We pass from
 depth of despondency to the height of religious confidence and
 joy. It is thus, ver. 5. All is gloomy dejection in ver. 4; but
 here the mind of the despondent worshipper rises above all its
 distressing fears, and throws itself, without reserve, on the
 mercy and care of its Divine Redeemer. See the power of faith,
 and how good it is to draw near to God. If we bring our cares
 and griefs to the throne of grace, and leave them there, we may
 go away like Hannah, and our countenances will be no more sad,
 #1Sa 1:18|. God's mercy is the support of the psalmist's faith.
 Finding I have that to trust to, I am comforted, though I have
 no merit of my own. His faith in God's mercy filled his heart
 with joy in his salvation; for joy and peace come by believing.
 He has dealt bountifully with me. By faith he was as confident
 of salvation, as if it had been completed already. In this way
 believers pour out their prayers, renouncing all hopes but in
 the mercy of God through the Saviour's blood: and sometimes
 suddenly, at others gradually, they will find their burdens
 removed, and their comforts restored; they then allow that their
 fears and complaints were unnecessary, and acknowledge that the
 Lord hath dealt bountifully with them.
22039
 * A description of the depravity of human nature, and the
 deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind.

 - The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. The sinner
 here described is an atheist, one that saith there is no Judge
 or Governor of the world, no Providence ruling over the affairs
 of men. He says this in his heart. He cannot satisfy himself
 that there is none, but wishes there were none, and pleases
 himself that it is possible there may be none; he is willing to
 think there is none. This sinner is a fool; he is simple and
 unwise, and this is evidence of it: he is wicked and profane,
 and this is the cause. The word of God is a discerner of these
 thoughts. No man will say, There is no God, till he is so
 hardened in sin, that it is become his interest that there
 should be none to call him to an account. The disease of sin has
 infected the whole race of mankind. They are all gone aside,
 there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Whatever good is in
 any of the children of men, or is done by them, it is not of
 themselves, it is God's work in them. They are gone aside from
 the right way of their duty, the way that leads to happiness,
 and are turned into the paths of the destroyer. Let us lament
 the corruption of our nature, and see what need we have of the
 grace of God: let us not marvel that we are told we must be born
 again. And we must not rest in any thing short of union with
 Christ, and a new creation to holiness by his Spirit. The
 psalmist endeavours to convince sinners of the evil and danger
 of their way, while they think themselves very wise, and good,
 and safe. Their wickedness is described. Those that care not for
 God's people, for God's poor, care not for God himself. People
 run into all manner of wickedness, because they do not call upon
 God for his grace. What good can be expected from those that
 live without prayer? But those that will not fear God, may be
 made to fear at the shaking of a leaf. All our knowledge of the
 depravity of human nature should endear to us salvation out of
 Zion. But in heaven alone shall the whole company of the
 redeemed rejoice fully, and for evermore. The world is bad; oh
 that the Messiah would come and change its character! There is
 universal corruption; oh for the times of reformation! The
 triumphs of Zion's King will be the joys of Zion's children. The
 second coming of Christ, finally to do away the dominion of sin
 and Satan, will be the completing of this salvation, which is
 the hope, and will be the joy of every Israelite indeed. With
 this assurance we should comfort ourselves and one another,
 under the sins of sinners and sufferings of saints.
22046
 * The way to heaven, if we would be happy, we must be holy. We
 are encouraged to walk in that way.

 - Here is a very serious question concerning the character of a
 citizen of Zion. It is the happiness of glorified saints, that
 they dwell in the holy hill; they are at home there, they shall
 be for ever there. It concerns us to make it sure to ourselves
 that we have a place among them. A very plain and particular
 answer is here given. Those who desire to know their duty, will
 find the Scripture a very faithful director, and conscience a
 faithful monitor. A citizen of Zion is sincere in his religion.
 He is really what he professes to be, and endeavours to stand
 complete in all the will of God. He is just both to God and man;
 and, in speaking to both, speaks the truth in his heart. He
 scorns and abhors wrong and fraud; he cannot reckon that a good
 bargain, nor a saving one, which is made with a lie; and knows
 that he who wrongs his neighbour will prove, in the end, to have
 most injured himself. He is very careful to do hurt to no man.
 He speaks evil of no man, makes not others' faults the matter of
 his common talk; he makes the best of every body, and the worst
 of nobody. If an ill-natured story be told him, he will disprove
 it if he can; if not, it goes no further. He values men by their
 virtue and piety. Wicked people are vile people, worthless, and
 good for nothing; so the word signifies. He thinks the worse of
 no man's piety for his poverty and mean condition. He reckons
 that serious piety puts honour upon a man, more than wealth, or
 a great name. He honours such, desires their conversation and an
 interest in their prayers, is glad to show them respect, or do
 them a kindness. By this we may judge of ourselves in some
 measure. Even wise and good men may swear to their own hurt: but
 see how strong the obligation is, a man must rather suffer loss
 to himself and his family, than wrong his neighbour. He will not
 increase his estate by extortion, or by bribery. He will not,
 for any gain, or hope of it to himself, do any thing to hurt a
 righteous cause. Every true living member of the church, like
 the church itself, is built upon a Rock. He that doeth these
 things shall not be moved for ever. The grace of God shall
 always be sufficient for him. The union of these tempers and
 this conduct, can only spring from repentance for sin, faith in
 the Saviour, and love to him. In these respects let us examine
 and prove our own selves.