November 28

But know, that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear me when I call unto him.—Psalms 4:8.

THE prophet hath this great support both of his faith and of his kingdom, the immutable and unshaken decree of the supreme and universal King, and it is the firm establishment of David's infinitely greater Son in his throne and kingdom, I will declare the decree. Psalms 2:7. In this verse, and there, we may most properly understand it of both; more immediately of David as the type, but chiefly, and in its consummate sense, as referring to Christ the Lord, and having its full end and accomplishment in his endless and eternal kingdom. He is, by way of eminence, God's holy One, holy, and harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And those, whoever they are, who endeavor to oppose themselves to the Divine purposes, betray the most desperate madness, and on whatever strength or counsel they depend in the enterprise, like waves dashed against the solid rock, they shall be broken in pieces, by what they vainly attempt to break. And on this basis does the whole safety of the church rest, and that of all God's saints, of all those whom he sets apart for himself, and (as the form of the original here has been thought to imply) wonderfully separates, as his peculiar people and treasure, the sacred charge of Christ, the great shepherd and bishop of souls, which all the powers of earth and the gates of hell shall in vain attempt to wrest from him. And this is the confidence on which believers should repose themselves. They never trust to themselves, or their own strength or virtues, but they often redouble that cry, Thou, Lord, art my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer. Psalms 18:2. And Psalms 34:8, Blessed, O Lord, is the man who trusteth in thee, who must previously and necessarily despair first of himself, as considered in himself alone, as the great apostle says, When I am weak, then I am strongest of all, 2 Corinthians 12:10; according to that lively and just expression, "Faith which is endangered in security, is secure in danger."

The psalmist adds, The Lord will hear me when I call. From the Divine decree and favor, he promises not to himself an entire freedom from all and every attempt of his enemies, but assures himself that God will be present in the midst of his calamities, present and propitious; not to the indolent and drowsy soul, but to that which solicits his assistance by prayer. And this is the determination of every godly man, whom the Lord has set apart for himself, that he will call upon God without ceasing, and that if any unusual difficulty arise, he will call upon him more fervently. Hence it appears, how entirely all our safety depends upon prayer. Yet, all our prayers, and those of the whole church, are sustained by those prayers of our great King and Priest; as Augustine says in reference to that known story in the evangelists, Because the waves rise, the ship may be tossed, but because Christ prays, it can not be sunk.