_O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee._ A PORTRAIT OF A SUFFERING MAN I. Depicting his wretched state. He speaks of himself as “full of troubles,” satiated with sufferings. 1. He represents himself as tottering on the grave and without power (Psalms 88:2). 2. Crushe... [ Continue Reading ]
_For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave._ HEMAN: A CHILD OF LIGHT WALKING IN DARKNESS (with 1 Chronicles 25:5):--A seer is just a man who sees. Other men also have eyes indeed, but, then, they do not see with their eyes as a seer sees. Now, Heman was a seer. Heman... [ Continue Reading ]
_Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave._ A TRUE AND A FALSE IDEA OF THE GRAVE I. A true idea of the grave: “Free”-- 1. From all physical sufferings. 2. From all secular anxieties. 3. From all social tumults. 4. From all human tyrannies. II. A false idea of the grave. That... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves._ FOR THE TROUBLED As men, the people of God share the common lot of men, and what is that but trouble? Yea, there are some sorrows which are peculiar to Christians, some extra griefs of which they partake because they ar... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am shut up, and I cannot come forth._ THE IMPRISONING POWER OF SUFFERING I. Suffering always shuts us up to ourselves. It does this in two ways, it destroys both the disposition and the capacity to go out into society. Suffering isolates, it throws us back upon Ourselves, and makes us feel our... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction._ THE GODLY MAN IN TROUBLE 1. Godliness doth not make men senseless of grief, nor doth it hinder tears or mourning, or any other effects of sorrow to be seen in their body. 2. Sorrow should neither hinder the godly to seek God, nor move them to seek thei... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead?_ shall the dead arise and praise Thee? THE GREAT PROBLEM I. Here is a problem common to humanity. Lived there ever a man who has not asked this question in some form or other? II. Here is a problem that unaided reason cannot answer. 1. Ancient philosophy tri... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the morning shall my prayer prevent Thee._ MORNING DEVOTION As the Oriental traveller sets out for the sultry journey over burning sands by loading up his camel under the palm-trees’ shade, and fills his water flagons from the crystal fountain which sparkles at its roots, so does Christ’s pilg... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?_ DIVINE HIDING God sometimes hides Himself in nature that He may reveal Himself in providence; He sometimes hides Himself in providence that He may reveal Himself in grace; and He sometimes hides Himself in grace that He may reveal Himself in glory.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer Thy terrors, I am distracted._ RELIGIOUS TERRORS As the comforts which true religion affords are the only sure support against the evils and calamities to which every condition of life is more or less exposed, so the terrors of reli... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness._ ON SORROW FOR THE DEATH OF FRIENDS I. The sorrow which we naturally feel when we are bereaved of dear and worthy friends, and the bounds within which it ought to be restrained. If Christianity pronounces it the heig... [ Continue Reading ]