Psalms 48:9

We have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.

Thought--its highest theme and material aid

Three points stand out distinctly in the text, all of which are closely connected.

I. The mental art is thought. “We have thought.” It is you that think, not your body. But all mental acts are not thought. Memory, consciousness, sensations, emotions, are not thought, though they may be productive of it. Thought is judgment. We think when we analyze, compare, classify. Now, this faculty has certain properties, as--

1. Power; for it is the mightiest of all forces. The entire universe is the outcome of the thought of God.

2. Pleasantness, which rises at times to ecstasy. Pleasure is connected with the use of all our faculties, and not least with this of thought.

3. Universality. All can think. This is a thinking age, but it can never get beyond Jesus Christ, for He is the wisdom of God and the light of the world.

II. The theme of thought--God’s lovingkindness. Yes, perhaps, some of you say, a noble and inspiring subject of thought, truly. But is there not a prior question? Is it a fact that God exists and that He loves? We live in a perplexing world, and strange and bold theories are afloat. How shall we know that God is, and that He loves? Begin with the fact nearest you, and which you do not and cannot question--your own personal existence. Each of you can say, “I am.” Equally certain is it you did not make yourself. You come from a source adequate to such a result, and that source we call God, by which word we mean one equal to such a workmanship as you are. And now, admitting you had a Creator, what is there in you that indicates His heart towards you? What is there that shows love? Look at yourself fairly, beginning with your body, and take part after part. Your eye; what would you have lost if born blind, and what have you gained by seeing? Your ear; what do you owe for that? Your hands; what have they done for you? Is speech worth having? Any benevolent meaning in putting your palate at the entrance of food into your body?--in protecting the drum of the ear?--in giving you a curtain for the eye?--in covering the brain with a helmet of bone? Work without sleep would bring on madness, and at night the curtain is drawn, and you get your needed rest. What as to yourself, viewed as distinct from this wonderful framework? You have consciousness, sensation, memory, judgment. Can any calculation adequately convey to you the value of these endowments? You have, moreover, a moral sense, a heart, a will. And for these moral capabilities and cravings there is an abundant response in the hearts around you, and the proofs of a supreme moral Ruler--proofs which remain such, whatever your disposition towards them, and your ignoring of their voice. Having studied this personal Bible--yourself, extend the same thoughts to your nearest of kin, your household, your neighbourhood, your nation, your race--think of mankind in all generations. Add to these data all other living beings that do and have existed from the beginning as far as your imagination can give them room, and then ask, Did all the good and enjoyment embraced within this whole come out of indifference, malevolence or love?

III. Material aid. We do not need the particular help which the ancient Jews had; but we can no more dispense with material appliances in our religious services than we can cease here to be clothed with flesh and be denizens of a material globe. We have God’s own original temple--the house in which Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Christ worshipped, a house the marvellous Divine teachings of which science is every day unconsciously unfolding to the eye of faith--a house big enough and free enough to hold all men at all hours, without money and without price, a house in which we “all live, and move, and have our being.” Here we can all think on the Divine love, and pray. Nor, whatever you may specifically and religiously do in things material, would we ever have you despise or neglect this really Divine temple with all its marvellous aids to religious thought. But, while doing that, you can and ought to do the other thing also. You ought, out of the stones and clay of this inexhaustible storehouse, go and make other buildings specially adapted to the purpose of religious thought and worship, and not only build them, but use them, and induce all you can to avail themselves of their help. (J. C. Gallaway, M. A.)

A worthy theme for thought

Who were these people who declared to the Lord that they had thought of His lovingkindness in the midst of His temple? According to the title of the psalm, they were the sons of Korah--the singers in the house of the Lord. I think it is suggestive that they did not say, “We have sung of Thy lovingkindness.” They had done that; but they said, “We have thought”; and there are some singers who have not done that, for they have sung solemn words thoughtlessly, caring only for the music, and not for the meaning.

I. Their occupation was gracious. “We have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God.”

1. Thought is a noble faculty; the power to exercise it distinguishes men from the brute beasts. We grovel when we are under necessity to perform the acts that relate only to the body; we rise as we are able to perform the functions of the mind and heart.

2. God’s lovingkindness is a theme that is specially worthy of thought. It is an amazing thing that He should ever have so highly favoured such unworthy persons as we are, and favoured us so long, tenderly, and perseveringly.

3. Such thought as our text describes is essential to all true worship. It is very much in proportion to our thought that we do really worship. Suppose we sing the praises of God without thinking; is that praising Him? Nay, no more than if we could have taught a parrot, or constructed an automaton to make the same set of sounds.

4. This task of thinking of God’s lovingkindness ought to be a very easy one, for there is abundance of material to think of in God’s lovingkindness. I beg you to consider the various acts of Divine grace, all of which are full of the lovingkindness of the Lord--the everlasting covenant, personal election, redemption, effectual calling, adoption, sanctification, final perseverance.

II. The place was appropriate. “In the midst of Thy temple.”

1. If we are in the midst of God’s spiritual temple, His true Church, we may well think of His lovingkindness in permitting us to be there. Some of your old companions are not here; perhaps they even ridicule the idea of coming to such a place as this. Possibly some of your former associates are now where hope and mercy can never reach them.

2. Standing in the midst of that temple, which is the true Church of God, we cannot help thinking of the lovingkindness of the Lord, for every stone in that temple testifies to His lovingkindness. These are the living stones that are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord.”

3. We may also think of the lovingkindness of the Lord in the midst of His temple, because everything in that temple reminds us of His lovingkindness. There was, for instance, the altar of burnt offering; and we can say, “Thank God for the lovingkindness which has provided for us the one great atoning sacrifice by which our sin is for ever put away.” There stood, too, the golden altar of incense; and every thoughtful believer says, “Thank God for the lovingkindness which has given us Christ to be our Intercessor before the throne of God on high, where His prevailing prayers are continually ascending on our behalf.” There also stood the shew-bread upon the sacred table; and we say, “Thank God for Him who, as the Bread of life, is the ever-present and ever-satisfying food for His people.” There, too, was the golden candlestick or lamp-stand; and we can say, “Thank God for His lovingkindness in having provided all-sufficient light for His people.”

III. The result was beneficial.

1. They were made joyous (Psalms 48:11). So, think of the lovingkindness of the Lord to you, and see if that does not make melody in your heart unto Him, and cause the big bells in your soul to ring carillons of praise so full of jubilant gladness that your very body shall seem as if it could hardly bear the joy. I have sometimes seen an old church steeple rock and reel when a marriage peal has been run out from the ancient belfry; and, in like manner, at times, one has felt so happy that the poor physical frame seemed as if it could scarcely endure such excess of bliss as the soul was delighting in the lovingkindness of the Lord.

2. Thinking upon the lovingkindness of the Lord would unloose our tongues (Psalms 48:12). If you have really tasted of God’s lovingkindness, you must tell others about it. You cannot keep as a secret the love of God to you. The first instinct of a new-born soul is to tell its joy to somebody else.

3. As we think of God’s lovingkindness, we shall be confirmed in our loyalty to Him (Psalms 48:14). “This God is our God;” He was our father’s God, and our mother’s God, and the God of the dear ones whom He took from us to be with Him in heaven; and “this is our God.” He is the God to whom we looked in the day of our soul’s distress, when we saw Him in Christ Jesus, reconciled unto us through the death of His Son; “this God is our God for ever and ever.” He is the God who has heard our prayers, the God who has been with us in our direst extremity; He is the God on whom we have cast our unworthy selves, trusting Him with our souls, and our all, for this world and the world to come, “this God is our God for ever and ever.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)