_In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion._ A PICTURE OF A PIOUS OLD MAN I. The entreaties of a pious old man. 1. Against evil. (1) Moral failure (Psalms 70:1). (2) General danger (Psalms 70:2; Psalms 70:4). (3) Divine desertion (verse 9). 2. For good. (1) Divine p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou art my hope, O Lord God: Thou art my trust from my youth._ GOD OUR HOPE IN YOUTH It was a man well advanced in life who uttered these words. Aye, the snows of age are falling on his head; his back bends under the weight of years; but,--is the frail old man dejected and forlorn? No, nothing of... [ Continue Reading ]
_By Thee have I been holden up from the womb._ GOD THE CREATOR, PRESERVER, AND GOVERNOR OF THE WORLD I. Our birth and being are owing to God, as the original cause of them. II. It is His providence which sustains, preserves, and holds up our goings in life. Even if the materials of our being had,... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am as a wonder unto many; but Thou art my strong refuge._ A WONDER UNTO MANY Consider the text, with reference to David, to Christ, and to the Christian. (_John Cawood, M. A._)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort._ GOD, OUR CONTINUAL RESORT David knew what it was to hide himself away in the great caverns and rocks of his native land. He had done so in the cave of Adullam. And such residences are never forgotten. You may live for an age in su... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cast me not off in the time of old age: forsake me not when my strength faileth._ THE CRY OF THE AGED This is the cry of trembling, tottering age to man as well as God. Among the very saddest of human experiences is the decay which is the harbinger of death. If death were always a swift, sudden t... [ Continue Reading ]
_O God, be not far from me._ GOD ALWAYS NEAR A busy woman entered her room hastily as twilight shades were falling--went directly to her desk, turned on the gas, and began to write. Page after page she wrote. The solitude became oppressive: She wheeled her chair around, and with a shock of joyful... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I.. . will yet praise Thee more and more._ MORE AND MORE When sin conquered the realm of manhood, it slew all the minstrels except those of the race of Hope. For humanity, amid all its sorrows and sins, hope sings on. To believers in Jesus there remains a royal race of bards, for we have a ho... [ Continue Reading ]
_My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof._ AN INEXHAUSTIBLE SUBJECT This psalmist’s words may well be a pattern for old men, who need fear no failure of buoyancy, nor any collapse of gladness, if they will fix their thoughts whe... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only._ GOD THE SOURCE OF THE MINISTER’S STRENGTH I. What is the help the minister requires?--“the strength of the Lord God.” 1. Not human strength, that is but weakness. What was Isaiah’s comfort b... [ Continue Reading ]
_O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works._ THE OLD MAN’S SERMON His scholarship. “O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth.” 1. The psalmist was an instructed believer. He had not merely been saved, but taught: conversion had led to instruction. I... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou who hast showed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth._ DIVINE HELP IN TIMES OF TROUBLE This is a psalm of experience: it begins with trusting and ends with praise, which is the usual ending for such beginning. I. The fac... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side._ CHRISTIAN DIGNITY The world has its great men; so has the Bible. Alongside the monarch, the Bible puts the man who rules his own spirit well; the warrior, one who fights the fight of faith; the artist, one who by loving deeds paints... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will also praise Thee with the psaltery, even Thy truth, O my God: unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel._ THE PRAISES OF A HEBREW SAINT Dr. Sanday has remarked that, “on the great world-stage different races have different functions,” and that “for the Hebrew it was re... [ Continue Reading ]