Psalms 6
RileyPsalms 6:1-10
THE LORD OF THE Psalms 6-8 THE chapters for this morning’s study, 6, 7 and 8, may be discussed under the one theme, the Lord of the Psalmist. The subject of each is suggested by its opening phrase, “O Lord”! We said in our last study that it was not certain there was any historic relation between the 3rd and Psalms 4, 5; but that a logical relation existed no one could doubt. This 6th Psalm seems of a very piece with the 3rd. It sounds as if the rebellion of Absalom had been the last straw needed to break the back of the father’s resistance; as if it sent him to his bed, weak in body, vexed in soul, discouraged unto death; as if it had produced a fainting weakness, a sense of secret disease, an insomnia that exceeded the sufferings of any nightmare, a cold sweat that mixed with hot tears in making a “swimming bed”; tears that blinded, that aged, that would have killed, had he not known the Lord! It must be that David is here thinking of Absalom’s rebellion, of the multitudes that had gone after this ungrateful son, of the sudden change in fortune making it appear that he who had conquered against Goliath, outwitted the machinations of Saul and excited the favor of the Lord and accepted the anointing of the prophet to the place of power, was at last to perish miserably at the hands of his own child, and by the perfidy of previous followers and friends.
It is a dark background and yet it is the very frame from which the face of David’s Lord shines with beauty. He is revealed in this chapter and in the succeeding ones as the God of patience, the adequate God, and the adorable Lord! THE GOD OF “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed; “My soul is also sore vexed; but Thou, O Lord, how long”? It is a suggestion that God may have a just offense. “Rebuke me not in Thine anger”. The Lord is never angry without a cause. “Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure”. When God is warmly displeased, there is occasion. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak”. How familiar the phrase! It is a sort of self-pity that we exercise instead of admitting frankly that we are wicked; we prefer to say we are “weak”. The first would sound like we willingly offended God.
The second lets us off with the idea that we did not mean to do it, but we slipped; we took the step in an unguarded moment. It gives us a chance to put ourselves into Pauline companionship and imagine that our case is much like that of the great Apostle who wrote to the Romans, “The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that doetk it, but sin that dwelleth in me”. It is all true; but sometimes we make a semi-satisfactory excuse of it instead of frankly confessing that we did what we wanted to instead of what we knew God wanted, and then we confess that we were “weak” instead of “wicked”.We are told that Sodom vexed the righteous soul of Lot, but in spite of that, he stayed in it until angels took him by the hands and literally dragged him beyond its burning borders.To be vexed about sin is not sufficient, so long as one is content to live in it or near it.But David knew his God as a God of great mercy.“Return, O Lord, deliver my soul. O save me, for Thy mercy’s sake. “For in death there is no remembrance of Thee; in the grave who shall give Thee thanks, “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears”, It is a pathetic plea, but consciously addressed to a compassionate God.This prayer is suggestive in the last degree. It is not an appeal to Absalom for peace; it is an appeal to God for pardon. David knew where the chief difficulty in his life was; it was not with his son; it was with his sin. And he did not do what some people are wont to do, camouflage and make it appear to the public that he was an injured father instead of a man who had sinned against the great Father—God. He did not set up as an excuse for his insomnia, for his vexed bones and his sick spirit the circumstance that former servants had rebelled against him, when he knew perfectly well that basal to his whole bad condition was his own behavior.The one thing about David that will forever be a tribute to his character, and of instruction to his fellows, is that fact. In the 51st Psalm he cries, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest”.There are a good many people in the world who get wrong with God and begin to go astray and immediately they look around and see upon what or whom they can lay the blame.
Ofttimes what they need to do is to look within. Once in a million times outsiders may bring us sorrow, but even then it will not be of the deepest sort; it will not be of the kind that will vex the bones, sicken the soul, drive sleep from the eyes, make every breath a groaning, suffuse the pillow with tears, and burn out the eyes with the brine thereof. It will be your own deed. Self is the successful enemy against you. Sometimes in a rebellious son we but see ourselves, in a betraying servant we are but reminded of how we also betrayed our Lord, and in the rebellion that breaks out against us everywhere we are led to read the history of our own rebellion against God.David’s God is also a God of gracious response.“The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer. Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them be ashamed suddenly”. If the Bible is true, if Christian experience is to be trusted, if the testimony of ten thousand in each and every age is to be taken, our God is a God of grace; His compassion faileth not; and even for the sinner He shows mercy, and for the saint, in sin, compassion; and when the sinful saint’s prayers are uttered, He doesn’t shut His ears.“Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish, Come to the mercy seat; fervently kneel; Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish, Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. “Joy of the desolate, light of the straying, Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure; Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure. “Here see the Bread of Life, see waters flowing Forth from the throne of God, pure from above, Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing Earth has no sorrow but Heaven can remove”. THE GOD The 7th Psalm. “O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me”.Follow the Psalmist in this Psalm and be convinced of two or three things concerning his God.He is altogether sufficient. Trust in Him is not in vain! Appeal to Him is an appeal to “all power”! His deliverance is adequate.In these verses David does not belittle his enemies, nor minimize his danger. He knows the greatness of both, but that does not stagger him seeing he trusts in the Lord; and all the more confident is he because of his own conscious integrity.Children of forty years ago used to have a habit of saying concerning the things of which they were absolutely sure, “Cross my heart and hope to die if it ain’t so”, but those children seldom said that glibly, and I think never save when they were confident of right. David seems to be in kindred frame of mind when he says,“O Lord, my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; “If I have wrought evil unto him that was at peace with me, (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) “Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust”. This is not one who is in debate as to whether he is in the right or not. He does not express doubt. This is hardly of a piece with what took place in one of our homes about twenty years ago and was at the time reported to me by the mother.She had had cookies for the noon meal and a full plate was left over which was transferred to the pantry shelf for the supper hour. In the afternoon all the family went away save the youngest girl and her little chum. When the meal was served in the evening and the cookies were sought, the plate was bare, and the mother called the little daughter in and said, “Dear, did you and your friend eat all those cookies”. “No’um. We didn’t eat any of them”. “Why you must have eaten them.
They are all gone.” “No’um. We didn’t”, and under pressure she protested innocence. Finally bedtime came, and at the mother’s knee, “Now I lay me”, had been completed, when remembering the incident, the mother said, “Now, darling, haven’t you something else to tell God before you sleep? Hadn’t you better fix up that matter about the cookies before you go to bed?” Folding her hands and dropping to her knees again, she said, “Dear Lord, thou knowest whether we took them cookies or not. If we did, forgive us; but Lord be with Helen, and don’t let her tell anything she ain’t real sure of. Amen.”There are a lot of grown up people who pray after that same manner.
Not that they are so seriously in doubt that they are sinners, but that they are not disposed to a full confession.Some years ago I heard a song that ran like this. “If I have wounded any soul today If I have caused one foot to go astray If I have walked in my own wilful way, Dear Lord, forgive.
“If I have uttered idle words or vain, If I have turned aside from want or pain, Lest I myself shall suffer through the strain Dear Lord, forgive.
“If I have been perverse or cold, If I have longed for shelter in Thy fold When Thou hast given me some fort to hold Dear Lord, forgive!
“Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee, Forgive the secret sins I do not see; O guide me, love me and my Keeper be, Amen.” But how few of us can truly say, “If I have”. Is there any doubt with us, and “if”, in our own hearts we are dpubtful, is it not rather a sign of spiritual conceit than a clear conscience and a clean, soul? He will execute justice.“Arise, O Lord, in Thine anger, lift up Thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that Thou hast commanded”. This is the Psalmist’s appeal to One whom he knew would judge when occasion required, and into whose hands he feared not to commit himself, believing as he (did that he had been faithful to God.Joseph Parker has a fine statement to this effect, “Purity is always courageous. The righteous are bold as a lion. Not so the wicked. ‘The wicked flee when no man pursueth’. A leaf, crisp in the autumn time, fell on the path a wicked man was treading, and he ran away as if a wolf had been rushing upon his track. Don’t defy where the morality is not equal to the occasion, for such defiance but aggravates a guilt it was intended to conceal. Be of a right mind towards God, Let the purpose of life be on the whole sound, good and upward, and then leave your enemies in the hands of God”. He will judge justly.His righteousness is sure. “The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. “Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just; for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. “My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. “If he turn not, He will whet His sword; He hath bent His bow and made it ready”. In this judgment the Psalmist has no alarm, nor does he even desire to escape. He has committed his case to the Lord; he fears not to leave it there. “Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me”.This can hardly be a disclaimer of all iniquity for the Psalmist oft confesses his sense of sin, nor is it a profession of all piety for the Psalmist would not profess to belong to the perfect company, but it is a plain statement that in the issue between himself and his enemies, he was right and could therefore refer all to God in confidence, and make his further appeal,“Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just; for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. “My defence is of God, who saveth the upright in heart. “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day. “If he turn not, He will whet His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. The beauty of this Psalm might the more profoundly impress one if read in that poetical form into which a recent Christian writer has thrown it. (P. 11, “Peerless Poems of David.”)THE LORD The 8th Psalm. Here we touch a more triumphant note, evincing a somewhat recovered spirit. The Psalmist is sometimes dejected but his natural optimism shortly reasserts itself, and it is an optimism born not so much of the fact that he is a healthy man as in the circumstance that he, by faith, has a true hold upon God. Every trusting soul knows the infinite source of his strength and cannot long remain disconsolate. To three things let us give attention in this 8th Psalm. They all have to do with the adoration of David for the Lord! His name is excellent; His work is infinite, and His ownership is complete.His Name is excellent.“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” A study of the names of God as found in Scriptures is an interesting study. The word here is Jehovah, the Self-Existent One, the eternal “I Am”, and yet when joined to other descriptive words the infinite wealth of His character and extent of His work is found in His Name. He is Jehovah-Elohim,the Creator; Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord who Provides; Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord that Healeth; Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord our Banner; Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord Our Peace; Jehovah-Raah, the Lord My Shepherd; Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord Our Righteousness; Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is Present!How marvelous a Name! How excellent, how worthy of adoration! How rich in promise! In Him we have all needed good; all health—our Banner, our Peace, our Shepherd, our Righteousness, and above all, His abiding Presence. “There is a Name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth; It sounds like music in mine ear The sweetest name on earth.
“It tells me of a Saviour’s love, Who died to set me free; It tells me of His precious Blood The sinner’s perfect plea.
“Jesus, the Name I love so well, The Name I love to hear, No saint on earth its worth can tell No heart conceive how dear.
“This Name shall shed its fragrance still Along this thorny road; Shall sweetly smooth the rugged hill That leads me up to God.” His work is infinite.“When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers; the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; “What is man that Thou art mindful of him; and the son of man, that Thou visitest him? “For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour”. This is an instance in which an apparent descent precedes an actual ascent. The Psalmist marvels that One who could make the infinite heavens would descend to concern about finite man, and yet before ,he finished, shows that the chief work of God in the whole universe is not worlds, or systems—not even the physical universe itself, even though it be infinite—but man, crowned with glory and honor and consequently the crown of Divine accomplishment. It is most amazing that skepticism has the affrontery to boast its smartness, and that atheism dares attempt to voice itself in the supposed language of Science. Skepticism has always been the sign of mental weakness, and atheism is mental inanity.Only “the fool has said in his heart, There is no God”. The heavens overhead laugh at such drunken and insane speech. The author of “Night Thoughts” said truthfully, “An undevout astronomer is mad” and history records the fact that the greater astronomers have been the most intense believers in God.Prof.
Leuba in answer to a questionnaire sent forth some time since, records that the majority of scientists are atheists, but the record is false to the fact. In the nature of the case, a true scientist can never be found among atheists.
A recent letter from Dr. W. W. Keen of Philadelphia, the great vivisectionist, enclosed a copy of part of an article taken from the Nineteenth Century magazine of June 1903, written by Lord Kelvin. In that Lord Kelvin said, “Science positively affirms creative power. It is not in dead matter that we live and move and have our being, but in the creating and directing Power which science compels us to accept as an article of belief.We cannot escape from that conclusion when we study the physics and dynamics of living and dead matter all around. Modern biologists are coming, I believe, once more to affirm acceptance of something beyond mere gravitational, chemical and physical forces; and that unknown thing is a vital principle. We have an unknown object put before us in science.
In thinking of that object we are ail agnostics. We only know God in His works, but we are absolutely forced by science to believe with perfect confidence in a Directive Power—in an -influence other than physical or dynamical, or electrical forces. * * * * If you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God, which is the foundation of all religion. You will find science not antagonistic but helpful to religion”. Certainly; it is only the ‘‘science falsely so-called”, set up by wild speculators of the Twentieth Century that has aught to say against the sacred Scriptures, the Deity of Christ or any other fundamental of the Christian faith.Finally, God’s ownership is complete. Speaking of man, the Psalmist says,“Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all under his feet; “All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, “The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Thy Name in all the earth”! This teaches us truly of God’s inherent right in all that He has created, and His absolute ownership of it as do those plainer passages that declare it. He could not set man over the works of His hands were they not His to subject according to His pleasure. He could not give him authority over all sheep and oxen and beasts of the field, but for the fact that the “cattle upon a thousand hills are the Lord’s”, the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea are His.One of the pathetic things about our professed Christianity is the fact that selfish men forget that at the best they are only stewards of God’s wealth. They are appointed over it but they are not independently possessed of it. If men remembered that, they would cease robbing God, not only withholding from Him the gifts of love, but even taking out of the till of the Divine treasury “the tithes that are holy unto the Lord”. If men believed in the Divine ownership, as all thoughtful men must believe in it, their consciences would be no more comfortable when they had filched “the tithe” than if they had robbed a bank or snatched a purse or held up, and relieved of his possessions, a street passenger.I know the affront with which men will answer such a statement. “Will a man rob God?
Wherein have we robbed Thee”? But I know also the Divine reply, “In tithes and offerings”. I know the charge, “Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed Me, even this whole race”, and I know the blessed promise for them who trample selfishness under feet and in patience pay their vows unto the Lord. Over their heads He. will “open the windows of heaven, and upon them shall be poured out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.