Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps16.6

Text File | 1993-03-26 | 10KB | 172 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        Jesus found the way of obedience to lead into "_pleasant
places_." Notwithstanding all the sorrows which marred his
countenance, he exclaimed, "Lo, I come; in the volume of the book
it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy
law is within my heart." It may seem strange, but while no other
man was ever so thoroughly acquainted with grief, it is our
belief that no other man ever experienced so much joy and delight
in service, for no other served so faithfully and with such great
results in view as his recompense of reward. The joy which was
set before him must have sent some of its beams of splendour
a-down the rugged places where he endured the cross, despising
the shame, and must have made them in some respects pleasant
places to the generous heart of the Redeemer. At any rate, we
know that Jesus was well content with the blood-bought portion
which the lines of electing love marked off as his spoil with the
strong and his portion with the great. Therein he solaced himself
on earth, and delights himself in heaven; and he asks no more
"GOODLY HERITAGE" than that his own beloved may be with him where
he is and behold his glory. All the saints can use the language
of this verse, and the more thoroughly they can enter into its
contented, grateful, joyful spirit the better for themselves, and
the more glorious to their God. Our Lord was poorer than we are,
for he had not where to lay his head, and yet when he mentioned
his poverty he never used a word of murmuring; discontented
spirits are as unlike Jesus as the croaking raven is unlike the
cooing dove. Martyrs have been happy in dungeons. "From the
delectable orchard of the Leonine prison the Italian martyr dated
his letter, and the presence of God made the gridiron of Laurence
pleasant to him." Mr. Greenham was bold enough to say, "They
never felt God's love, or tasted forgiveness of sins, who are
discontented." Some divines think that discontent was the first
sin, the rock which wrecked our race in paradise; certainly there
can be no paradise where this evil spirit has power, its slime
will poison all the flowers of the garden.

        "_I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel_."
Praise as well as prayer was presented to the Father by our Lord
Jesus, and we are not truly his followers unless our resolve be,
"I will bless the Lord." Jesus is called Wonderful, Counsellor,
but as man he spake not of himself, but as his Father had taught
him. Read in confirmation of this, #Joh 7:16; 8:28; 12:49,50|;
and the prophecy concerning him in #Isa 11:2,3|. It was our
Redeemer's wont to repair to his Father for direction, and having
received it, he blessed him for giving him counsel. It would be
well for us if we would follow his example of lowliness, cease
from trusting in our own understanding, and seek to be guided by
the Spirit of God. "_My reins also instruct me in the night
seasons_." By the reins understand the inner man, the affections
and feelings. The communion of the soul with God brings to it an
inner spiritual wisdom which in still seasons is revealed to
itself. Our Redeemer spent many nights alone upon the mountain,
and we may readily conceive that together with his fellowship
with heaven, he carried on a profitable commerce with himself;
reviewing his experience, forecasting his work, and considering
his position. Great generals fight their battles in their own
mind long before the trumpet sounds, and so did our Lord win our
battle on his knees before he gained it on the cross. It is a
gracious habit after taking counsel from above to take counsel
within. Wise men see more with their eyes shut by night than
fools can see by day with their eyes open. He who learns from God
and so gets the seed, will soon find wisdom within himself
growing in the garden of his soul; "Thine ears shall hear a voice
behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn
to the right hand and when ye turn to the left." The night season
which the sinner chooses for his sins is the hallowed hour of
quiet when believers hear the soft still voices of heaven, and of
the heavenly life within themselves.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 6.--"_The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
places; yea, I have a goodly heritage_." Bitter herbs will go
down very well, when a man has such delicious "meats which the
world knows not of." The sense of our Father's love is like honey
at the end of every rod; it turns stones into bread, and water
into wine, and the valley of trouble into a door of hope; it
makes the biggest evils seem as if they were none, or better than
none; for it makes our deserts like the garden of the Lord, and
when we are upon the cross for Christ, as if we were in paradise
with Christ. Who would quit his duty for the sake of suffering,
that hath such relief under it? Who would not rather walk in
truth, when he hath such a cordial to support him, than by the
conduct of fleshly wisdom, to take any indirect or irregular
method for his own deliverance?--^Timothy Cruso.

        Verse 6.--"_The lines_." Probably alluding to the
division of the land by lot, and the measuring of it off by ropes
and lines. David believed in an overruling destiny which fixed
the bounds of his abode, and his possessions; he did more, he was
satisfied with all the appointment of the predestinating
God.--^C. H. S.

        Verse 7.--"_I will bless the Lord, who hath given me
counsel_." The Holy Ghost is a spirit of counsel, powerfully
instructing and convincingly teaching how to act and walk, for he
directs us to set right steps, and to walk with a right foot, and
thereby prevents us of many a sin, by seasonable instruction set
on upon our hearts with a strong hand; as #Isa 8:11|. For, as the
same prophet says (#Isa 11:2|), he is the spirit of counsel and
of might. Of counsel to direct; of might, to strengthen the inner
man. Such he was to Christ the Head, of whom it is there spoken.
For instance, in that agony (on the determination of which our
salvation depended), and conflict in the garden, when he prayed,
"Let this cup pass," it was this good Spirit that counselled him
to die; and he blesseth God for it. "I bless the Lord that hath
given me counsel." It was that counsel that in that case caused
his heart to say, "Not my will, but thine."--^Thomas Goodwin.

        Verse 7.--"_My reins_." Common experience shows that the
workings of the mind, particularly the passions of joy, grief,
and fear, have a very remarkable effect on the reins or kidneys,
and from their retired situation in the body, and their being hid
in fat, they are often used in Scripture to denote the most
secret working of the soul and affections.--^John Parkhurst.

        Verse 7.--"_My reins also instruct me in the night
seasons_." This shows that God, who, he says, was always present
to him, had given him some admonition in his dreams, or at least
his waking thoughts by night, from whence he gathered a certain
assurance of his recovery; possibly he might be directed to some
remedy. Antonine thanks the gods for directing him in his sleep
to remedies.--^Z. Mudge, in loc, 1744.

        Verse 7.--"_My reins also instruct me in the night
seasons_." We have a saying among ourselves that "the pillow is
the best counsellor;" and there is much truth in the saying,
especially if we have first committed ourselves in prayer to God,
and taken a prayerful spirit with us to our bed. In the quiet of
its silent hours, undisturbed by the passions, and unharassed by
the conflicts of the world, we can commune with our own heart,
and be instructed and guarded as to our future course even "_in
the night season_." David especially seems to have made these
seasons sources of great profit as well as delight. Sometimes he
loved to meditate upon God as he lay upon his bed; and it was no
doubt as he meditated on the Lord's goodness and on the way by
which he had led him, that he was, as it were, constrained, even
at midnight, to arise and pray. While, therefore, we acknowledge
the pillow to be a good counsellor, let us with David here
acknowledge also that it is the Lord who gives the counsel, and
sends the instruction in the night season.--^Barton Bouchier.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 6.--"_Pleasant places_." Bethlehem, Calvary,
Olivet, Tabor, Zion, Paradise, etc. II. _Pleasant purposes_,
which made these lines fall to me. III. _Pleasant praises_. By
service, sacrifice, and song.

        Verse 6 (second clause).--I. A heritage. II. A goodly
heritage. III. I have it. IV. Yea, or the Spirit's witness.

        Verse 6.--"_A goodly heritage_." That which makes our
portion good is--I. The favour of God with it. II. That it is
from a Father's hand. III. That it comes through the covenant of
grace. IV. That it is the purchase of Christ's blood. V. That it
is an answer to prayer, and a blessing from above upon honest
endeavours.

        Verse 6.--We may put this acknowledgment into the mouth
of--I. _An indulged child of providence_. II. _An inhabitant of
this favoured country_. III. _A Christian with regard to his
spiritual condition_.--^William Jay.

        Verse 7.--Taking counsel's opinion. Of whom? Upon what?
Why? When? How? What then?

        Verse 7.--Upward and inward, or two schools of
instruction.