Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc21/v22250

Text File | 1994-03-02 | 11KB | 193 lines

22250
 #7-14 Wherever the believer is, he can find a way to the throne
 of grace by prayer. God calls us by his Spirit, by his word, by
 his worship, and by special providences, merciful and
 afflicting. When we are foolishly making court to lying
 vanities, God is, in love to us, calling us to seek our own
 mercies in him. The call is general, "Seek ye my face;" but we
 must apply it to ourselves, "I will seek it." The word does us
 no good, when we do not ourselves accept the exhortation: a
 gracious heart readily answers to the call of a gracious God,
 being made willing in the day of his power. The psalmist
 requests the favour of the Lord; the continuance of his presence
 with him; the benefit of Divine guidance, and the benefit of
 Divine protection. God's time to help those that trust in him,
 is, when all other helpers fail. He is a surer and better Friend
 than earthly parents are, or can be. What was the belief which
 supported the psalmist? That he should see the goodness of the
 Lord. There is nothing like the believing hope of eternal life,
 the foresights of that glory, and foretastes of those pleasures,
 to keep us from fainting under all calamities. In the mean time
 he should be strengthened to bear up under his burdens. Let us
 look unto the suffering Saviour, and pray in faith, not to be
 delivered into the hands of our enemies. Let us encourage each
 other to wait on the Lord, with patient expectation, and fervent
 prayer.
22258
 * A prayer in distress. (1-5) Thanksgiving for deliverance.
 (6-9)

 #1-5 David is very earnest in prayer. Observe his faith in
 prayer; God is my rock, on whom I build my hope. Believers
 should not rest till they have received some token that their
 prayers are heard. He prays that he may not be numbered with the
 wicked. Save me from being entangled in the snares they have
 laid for me. Save me from being infected with their sins, and
 from doing as they do. Lord, never leave me to use such arts of
 deceit and treachery for my safety, as they use for my ruin.
 Believers dread the way of sinners; the best are sensible of the
 danger they are in of being drawn aside: we should all pray
 earnestly to God for his grace to keep us. Those who are careful
 not to partake with sinners in their sins, have reason to hope
 that they shall not receive their plagues. He speaks of the just
 judgments of the Lord on the workers of iniquity, ver. #4|. This
 is not the language of passion or revenge. It is a prophecy that
 there will certainly come a day, when God will punish every man
 who persists in his evil deeds. Sinners shall be reckoned with,
 not only for the mischief they have done, but for the mischief
 they designed, and did what they could to effect. Disregard of
 the works of the Lord, is the cause of the sin of sinners, and
 becomes the cause of their ruin.

22263
 #6-9 Has God heard our supplications? Let us then bless his
 name. The Lord is my strength, to support me, and carry me on
 through all my services and sufferings. The heart that truly
 believes, shall in due time greatly rejoice: we are to expect
 joy and peace in believing. God shall have the praise of it:
 thus must we express our gratitude. The saints rejoice in
 others' comfort as well as their own: we have the less benefit
 from the light of the sun, nor from the light of God's
 countenance, for others' sharing therein. The psalmist concludes
 with a short, but comprehensive prayer. God's people are his
 inheritance, and precious in his eyes. He prays that God would
 save them; that he would bless them with all good, especially
 the plenty of his ordinances, which are food to the soul. And
 direct their actions and overrule their affairs for good. Also,
 lift them up for ever; not only those of that age, but his
 people in every age to come; lift them up as high as heaven.
 There, and there only, will saints be lifted up for ever, never
 more to sink, or be depressed. Save us, Lord Jesus, from our
 sins; bless us, thou Son of Abraham, with the blessing of
 righteousness; feed us, thou good Shepherd of the sheep, and
 lift us up for ever from the dust, O thou, who art the
 Resurrection and the Life.
22267
 * Exhortation to give glory to God.

 - The mighty and honourable of the earth are especially bound to
 honour and worship him; but, alas, few attempt to worship him in
 the beauty of holiness. When we come before him as the Redeemer
 of sinners, in repentance, faith, and love, he will accept our
 defective services, pardon the sin that cleaves to them, and
 approve of that measure of holiness which the Holy Spirit
 enables us to exercise. We have here the nature of religious
 worship; it is giving to the Lord the glory due to his name. We
 must be holy in all our religious services, devoted to God, and
 to his will and glory. There is a beauty in holiness, and that
 puts beauty upon all acts of worship. The psalmist here sets
 forth God's dominion in the kingdom of nature. In the thunder,
 and lightning, and storm, we may see and hear his glory. Let our
 hearts be thereby filled with great, and high, and honourable
 thoughts of God, in the holy adoring of whom, the power of
 godliness so much consists. O Lord our God, thou art very great!
 The power of the lightning equals the terror of the thunder. The
 fear caused by these effects of the Divine power, should remind
 us of the mighty power of God, of man's weakness, and of the
 defenceless and desperate condition of the wicked in the day of
 judgment. But the effects of the Divine word upon the souls of
 men, under the power of the Holy Spirit, are far greater than
 those of thunder storms in the nature world. Thereby the
 stoutest are made to tremble, the proudest are cast down, the
 secrets of the heart are brought to light, sinners are
 converted, the savage, sensual, and unclean, become harmless,
 gentle, and pure. If we have heard God's voice, and have fled
 for refuge to the hope set before us, let us remember that
 children need not fear their Father's voice, when he speaks in
 anger to his enemies. While those tremble who are without
 shelter, let those who abide in his appointed refuge bless him
 for their security, looking forward to the day of judgment
 without dismay, safe as Noah in the ark.
22278
 * Praise to God for deliverance. (1-5) Others encouraged by his
 example. (6-12)

 #1-5. The great things the Lord has done for us, both by his
 providence and by his grace, bind us in gratitude to do all we
 can to advance his kingdom among men, though the most we can do
 is but little. God's saints in heaven sing to him; why should
 not those on earth do the same? Not one of all God's perfections
 carries in it more terror to the wicked, or more comfort to the
 godly, than his holiness. It is a good sign that we are in some
 measure partakers of his holiness, if we can heartily rejoice at
 the remembrance of it. Our happiness is bound up in the Divine
 favour; if we have that, we have enough, whatever else we want;
 but as long as God's anger continues, so long the saints'
 weeping continues.

22283
 #6-12 When things are well with us, we are very apt to think
 that they will always be so. When we see our mistake, it becomes
 us to think with shame upon our carnal security as our folly. If
 God hide his face, a good man is troubled, though no other
 calamity befall him. But if God, in wisdom and justice, turn from
 us, it will be the greatest folly if we turn from him. No; let
 us learn to pray in the dark. The sanctified spirit, which
 returns to God, shall praise him, shall be still praising him;
 but the services of God's house cannot be performed by the dust;
 it cannot praise him; there is none of that device or working in
 the grave, for it is the land of silence. We ask aright for
 life, when we do so that we may live to praise him. In due time
 God delivered the psalmist out of his troubles. Our tongue is
 our glory, and never more so than when employed in praising God.
 He would persevere to the end in praise, hoping that he should
 shortly be where this would be the everlasting work. But let all
 beware of carnal security. Neither outward prosperity, nor
 inward peace, here, are sure and lasting. The Lord, in his
 favour, has fixed the believer's safety firm as the deep-rooted
 mountains, but he must expect to meet with temptations and
 afflictions. When we grow careless, we fall into sin, the Lord
 hides his face, our comforts droop, and troubles assail us.
22290
 * Confidence in God. (1-8) Prayer in trouble. (9-18) Praise for
 God's goodness. (19-24)

 #1-8 Faith and prayer must go together, for the prayer of faith
 is the prevailing prayer. David gave up his soul in a special
 manner to God. And with the words, ver. 5, our Lord Jesus
 yielded up his last breath on the cross, and made his soul a
 free-will offering for sin, laying down his life as a ransom.
 But David is here as a man in distress and trouble. And his
 great care is about his soul, his spirit, his better part. Many
 think that while perplexed about their worldly affairs, and
 their cares multiply, they may be excused if they neglect their
 souls; but we are the more concerned to look to our souls, that,
 though the outward man perish, the inward man may suffer no
 damage. The redemption of the soul is so precious, that it must
 have ceased for ever, if Christ had not undertaken it. Having
 relied on God's mercy, he will be glad and rejoice in it. God
 looks upon our souls, when we are in trouble, to see whether
 they are humbled for sin, and made better by the affliction.
 Every believer will meet with such dangers and deliverances,
 until he is delivered from death, his last enemy.

22298
 #9-18 David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was
 a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David
 acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins,
 but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him
 any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted,
 but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will
 be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who
 commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in
 God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet,
 according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in
 himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands,
 but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the
 Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any
 merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that
 reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day
 coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them. In the
 mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if
 possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.