Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps4.8

Text File | 1993-03-16 | 11KB | 201 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        Sweet Evening Hymn! I shall not sit up to watch through
fear, but I will _lie down_; and then I will not lie awake
listening to every rustling sound, but I will lie down _in peace
and sleep_, for I have nought to fear. He that hath the wings of
God above him needs no other curtain. Better than bolts or bars
is the protection of the Lord. Armed men kept the bed of Solomon,
but we do not believe that he slept more soundly than his father,
whose bed was the hard ground, and who was haunted by
blood-thirsty foes. Note the word "_only_," which means that God
alone was his keeper, and that though alone, without man's help,
he was even then in good keeping, for he was "alone with God." A
quiet conscience is a good bedfellow. How many of our sleepless
hours might be traced to our untrusting and disordered minds.
They slumber sweetly whom faith rocks to sleep. No pillow so soft
as a promise; no coverlet so warm as an assured interest in
Christ.

        O Lord, give us this calm repose on thee, that like David
we may lie down in peace, and sleep each night while we live; and
joyfully may we lie down in the appointed season, to sleep in
death, to rest in God!

        Dr. Hawker's reflection upon this Psalm is worthy to be
prayed over and fed upon with sacred delight. We cannot help
transcribing it.

        "Reader! let us never lose sight of the Lord Jesus while
reading this psalm. He is the Lord our righteousness; and
therefore, in all our approaches to the mercy seat, let us go
there in a language corresponding to this which calls Jesus the
Lord our righteousness. While men of the world, from the world
are seeking their chief good, let us desire his favour which
infinitely transcends corn and wine, and all the good things
which perish in the using. Yes, Lord, _thy favour is better than
life itself_. Thou causest them that love thee to inherit
substance, and fillest all their treasure.

        Oh! thou gracious God and Father, hast thou in such a
wonderful manner set apart one in our nature for thyself? Hast
thou indeed chosen one out of the people? Hast thou beheld him in
the purity of his nature,--as one in every point godly? Hast thou
given him as the covenant of the people? And hast thou declared
thyself well pleased in him? Oh! then, well may my soul be well
pleased in him also. Now do I know that my God and Father will
hear me when I call upon him in Jesus' name, and when I look up
to him for acceptance for Jesus' sake? Yes, my heart is fixed, O
Lord, my heart is fixed; Jesus is my hope and righteousness, the
Lord will hear me when I call. And henceforth will I both lay me
down in peace and sleep securely in Jesus, accepted in the
Beloved; for _this is the rest wherewith the Lord causeth the
weary to rest, and this is the refreshing_.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 8.--It is said of the husbandman, that having cast
his seed into the ground, he sleeps and riseth day and night, and
the seed springs and grows he knoweth not how. #Mr 4:26,27|. So a
good man having by faith and prayer cast his care upon God, he
resteth night and day, and is very easy, leaving it to his God to
perform all things for him according to his holy will.--^Matthew
Henry.

        Verse 8.--When you have walked with God from morning
until night, it remaineth that you _conclude_ the day well, when
you would give yourself to rest at night. Wherefore, first look
back and take a strict view of your whole carriage that _day
past_. Reform what you find amiss; and rejoice, or be grieved, as
you find you have done well or ill, as you have advanced or
declined in grace that day. Secondly, since you cannot sleep in
safety if God, who is your keeper (#Ps 111:4,5|), do not _wake
and watch for you_ (#Ps 127:1|); and though you have _God_ to
watch when you sleep, you cannot be safe, if he that watcheth be
your _enemy_. Wherefore it is very convenient that at night you
renew and confirm your peace with God by faith and prayer,
commending and committing yourself to God's tuition by prayer
(#Ps 3:4,5; Ps 92:2|), with thanks-giving before you go to bed.
Then shall you lie _down in safety_. #Ps 4:8|. All this being
done, yet while you are _putting off_ your apparel, when you are
_lying down_, and when you are _in bed_, before you sleep, it is
good that _you commune with your own heart_. #Ps 4:4|. If
possibly you can fall asleep with _some heavenly meditation_,
then will your sleep be _more sweet_ (#Pr 3:21,24,25|); and _more
secure_ (#Pr 6:21,22|); your _dreams_ fewer, or more
_comfortable_; your head will be fuller of good thoughts (#Pr
6:22|), and your heart will be in a _better frame_ when you
_awake_, whether in the night or in the morning.--^Condensed from
Henry Scudder's Daily Walk, 1633.

        Verse 8.--"_I will both_," etc. We have now to retire for
a moment from the strife of tongues and the open hostility of
foes, into the stillness and privacy of the chamber of sleep.
Here, also, we find the "I will" of trust. "_I will both lay me
down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in
safety_." God is here revealed to us as exercising personal care
in the still chamber. And there is something here which should be
inexpressibly sweet to the believer, for this shows the
minuteness of God's care, the individuality of his love; how it
condescends and stoops, and acts, not only in great, but also in
little spheres; not only where glory might be procured from great
results, but where nought is to be had save the gratitude and
love of a poor feeble creature, whose life has been protected and
preserved, in a period of helplessness and sleep. How blessed
would it be if we made a larger recognition of God in the still
chamber; if we thought of him as being there in all hours of
illness, of weariness, and pain; if we believed that his interest
and care are as much concentrated upon the feeble believer there
as upon his people when in the wider battle field of the strife
of tongues. There is something inexpressibly touching in this
"laying down" of the Psalmist. In thus lying down he voluntarily
gave up guardianship of himself; he resigned himself into the
hands of another; he did so completely, for in the absence of all
care he slept; there was here a perfect trust. Many a believer
lies down, but it is not to sleep. Perhaps he feels safe enough
so far as his body is concerned, but cares and anxieties invade
the privacy of his chamber; they come to try his faith and trust;
they threaten, they frighten, and alas! prove too strong for
trust. Many a poor believer might say, "I will lay me down, but
not to sleep." The author met with a touching instance of this,
in the case of an aged minister whom he visited in severe
illness. This worthy man's circumstances were narrow, and his
family trials were great; he said, "The doctor wants me to sleep,
but how can I sleep with care sitting on my pillow?" It is the
experience of some of the Lord's people, that although equal to
an emergency or a continued pressure, a reaction sets in
afterwards; and when they come to be alone their spirits sink,
and they do not realise that strength from God, or feel that
confidence in him which they felt while the pressure was exerting
its force ... There is a trial in stillness; and oftentimes the
still chamber makes a larger demand upon loving trust than the
battle field. O that we could trust God more and more with
personal things! O that he were the God of our chamber, as well
as of our temples and houses! O that we could bring him more and
more into the minutiae of daily life! If we did thus, we should
experience a measure of rest to which we are, perhaps, strangers
now; we should have less dread of the sick chamber; we should
have that unharassed mind which conduces most to repose, in body
and soul; we should be able to say, "I will lie down and sleep,
_and leave to-morrow with God_!" Ridley's brother offered to
remain with him during the night preceding his martyrdom, but the
bishop declined, saying, that "he meant to go to bed, and sleep
as quietly as ever he did in his life."--^Philip Bennett Power's
'I Wills' of the Psalms.

        Verse 8.--Due observation of Providence will both beget
and secure inward tranquility in your minds amidst the
vicissitudes and revolutions of things in this unstable vain
world. "_I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for the
Lord only maketh me dwell in safety_." He resolves that sinful
fears of events shall not rob him of his inward quiet, nor
torture his thoughts with anxious presages: he will commit all
his concerns into that faithful fatherly hand that had hitherto
wrought all things for him; and he means not to lose the comfort
of one night's rest, nor bring the evil of to-morrow upon the
day; but knowing in whose hand he was, wisely enjoys the sweet
felicity of a resigned will. Now this tranquility of our minds is
as much begotten and preserved by a due consideration of
providence as by anything whatsoever.--^John Flavel, 1627-1691.

        Verse 8.--Happy is the Christian, who having nightly with
this verse, committed himself to his bed as to his grave, shall
at last, with the some words, resign himself to his grave as to
his bed, from which he expects in due time to arise, and sing a
morning hymn with the children of the resurrection.--^George
Horne, D.D., 1776.

        Verse 8.--"_Sleep_."

        "How blessed was that _sleep_
        The sinless Saviour knew!
        In vain the storm-winds blew,
        Till he awoke to others' woes,
        And hushed the billows to repose.

        How beautiful is _sleep_--
        The _sleep_ that Christians know!
        Ye mourners! cease your woe,
        While soft upon his Saviour's breast,
        The righteous sinks to endless rest."

^Mrs. M'Cartree.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 8.--The peace and safety of the good man.--^Joseph
Lathrop, D.D., 1805.

        Verse 8.--A bedchamber for believers, a vesper song to
sing in it, and a guard to keep the door.

        Verse 8.--The Christian's good-night.

        Verses 2-8.--The means which a believer should use to win
the ungodly to Christ. (1). Expostulation, verse #2|. (2.)
Instruction, verse #3|. (3.) Exhortation, verses #4,5|. (4.)
Testimony to the blessedness of true religion, as in verses
#6,7|. (5.) Exemplification of that testimony by the peace of
faith, verse #8|.