_O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me._ GOD’S EXHAUSTIVE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN This lyric has always been the subject of praise. Aben Ezra said there was none like it in the five books. Lord Brougham spoke of it as “that singularly beautiful poem” Herder said that language utterly failed him in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways._ GOD KNOWS AND TAKES STRICT AND ACCURATE NOTICE OF ALL OUR WAYS This is so, because-- I. God rules and governs men. But this could not be without such knowledge. And so at times He governs men’s secret projects. 1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Such knowledge is too wonderful for me._ GOD’S ALL-KNOWLEDGE If we had to take our trial for our lives before the tribunal of an earthly judge, there are probably three questions which we should ask ourselves with no little anxiety: Has the judge himself the power, or does he represent some one wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?_ THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD I. Lay down some positions. 1. God is intimately and essentially in all parts and places of the world. One of the heathen, being asked to give a description of what God was, tells us most admirably, “God is a sphere, whose centre is ev... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there._ GOD’S PRESENCE IN THE UNDER-WORLD We are told that the Jew had no knowledge of a heaven for the soul, that the only future he knew was that of a mysterious under-world where the spirits of the dead reposed. It is this under-world which the psalmis... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea._ CHRISTIANITY THE UNIVERSAL RELIGION The traveller who passes from one quarter of the globe to another feels that the encircling sky which girdles in the ocean is but a type of the unseen power that surrounds us all.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The darkness and the light._ THE CHANGES OF THE SKY What is the lesson conveyed by the great alternate changes of the sky? Now it is sweetly luminous, and now a solemn darkness. Strictly speaking, as we all know, there is no change in the sky at all. It is always an infinite darkness, and always l... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb._ GOD AS THE CREATOR OF MAN I. He created man, who is a wonder to man’s self (verses 13, 14). II. He created man, who comes by the process of evolution (verses 15, 16). The oak is not less a Divine creation because it cam... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made._ MAN ADORING HIS MAKER I. The expressive declaration--“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” 1. The wonders and mysteries of the human frame are little thought of, or understood, by the children of men; yet surely we may say, “The finge... [ Continue Reading ]
_My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret._ DAILY GROWTH God, being one, the author of nature as of grace, worketh harmoniously in both His kingdoms. And as in other ways, so in this: in both He createth and hath created by a single act; in both He carrieth on His work, silentl... [ Continue Reading ]
_How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God._ THOUGHTS OF GOD The sense of God’s nearness brings thoughts of God. The devout soul cherishes these thoughts, and they become to it a joy unspeakable. One thing arrests attention. It is the sense of God as a “fellow-person” which this good man h... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I awake, I am still with Thee._ A CHRISTIAN AWAKENING WITH GOD I. His disposition. 1. It is the care and endeavour of a good man when he awakes to be still with God. (1) The time. (A) When not asleep, and so hindered by the necessities of nature. A godly man is careful to be with God in e... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men._ INDIGNATION AGAINST THE WICKED I. Here is a fact in relation to the moral government of God. That fact is the ultimate ruin of the wicked. “Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” The wicked will ultimately be r... [ Continue Reading ]
_I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies._ RIGHTEOUS HATRED What, then, is a perfect hatred? What may there be which is right, worthy, and fruitful of good, in the perfection of hatred? If we look go the Hebrew psalms for an answer, we notice that such expressions of hatred as oc... [ Continue Reading ]
_Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts._ MAN ADDRESSING GOD I. Man requesting Divine scrutiny. 1. Reverence manifested. “O God.” He realized God’s presence, and his soul was filled with awe. 2. Thorough investigation invoked. “Search me,” etc. Not that God was to thus... [ Continue Reading ]
_See if there be any wicked way in me._ SECRET SINS I. The true Christian may plainly be known from all others by three things:-- 1. He does really rejoice in all the attributes of God. He adores His justice, loves His mercy, confides in His power, bows to His wisdom, is glad that He knows all th... [ Continue Reading ]