_O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath: neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure._ GREAT PERSONAL AFFLICTION I. Elements of aggravation. 1. A dread of Divine displeasure (Psalms 38:1). 2. A crushing sense of sin (Psalms 38:4). 3. The desertion of professed friends (Psalms 38:11). 4. The assaults... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore._ GOD’S ARROWS Those arrows commonly are either wicked men or devils, whom God sendeth forth to afflict His own children, sharp as arrows, light and swift as arrows, and ready to do harm to God’s saints; or else sickness, poverty, i... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is no soundness in my flesh because of Thine anger._ --He proceedeth to exaggerate and amplify the greatness of his grief from the universality thereof; that his sickness was not laid on any one part of his body, but upon his whole flesh, and upon all his bones. His flesh is his exterior par... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mine iniquities are gone over my head._ SINS COMPARED TO DEEPENING WATERS He compareth his sins to waters which, albeit, at the first entrance they seem so shallow, that scarce they touch our ankles; yet the further we go into them, they prove the deeper, and soon pass from our knees to our should... [ Continue Reading ]
_My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness._ SUFFERING FOR SIN I. David’s unhappy situation. 1. The pain and anguish he felt on account of sin (Job 20:12; Psalms 88:15). 2. Shame and self-abhorrence (Proverbs 13:5; Job 42:6). 3. Danger. Though the principle of spiritual life be n... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly: I go mourning all the day long._ ON RELIGIOUS DESPONDENCY Those who have lived without Christ and only unto themselves, whether in greater or less degree, are apt, when brought to serious spiritual concern, to fall into despondency. I. To describe this des... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and my groaning is not hid from Thee._ GOD’S KNOWLEDGE OF OUR DESIRES I. We have here A fact that is without exception. The Lord knows all our desires. How great, then, must God be, and how near such knowledge brings us to God. II. The performance of as import... [ Continue Reading ]
_They also that seek after my life lay snares for me._ WHEN FRIENDS ARE SLOW IN HELPING, FOES ARE MOST BUSY Our friends should blush, that the wicked are more instant against us, than they are to maintain us. But it is no wonder, since by nature men are more bent and prone to evil than to do good... [ Continue Reading ]
_For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope._ HOPE’S LEVER You have heard, no doubt, of the great Grecian mechanician who once said, “If I had a lever long and strong enough, and a fulcrum on which to rest it, I could move the earth.” Such was the philosopher’s confidence in the power of the mechanical lever.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For I am ready to halt._ RESOLUTION ALMOST EXHAUSTED We reach the “I will” by “I must” and “I ought.” Now, this struggle with self-will is like a man with narrow chest and feeble lungs walking in the teeth of a biting north-east wind; it is like a bare-footed girl treading a road made with rough... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin._ OF CONFESSION OF SIN I. What confession of sin is. It is a declaration of acknowledgment of some moral evil or fault to another. II. How far confession of our sins is necessary. 1. It is a necessary part of repentance, that we should co... [ Continue Reading ]