The moment, beloved friends, that we have believed in the Lord Jesus, everything that would comfort, that would tend to give us joy and confidence, finds its only source to be in Him; and also everything that would try us, everything that would condemn and search the conscience, all these things end in simple and entire blessing because of Him So that even that truth from which we naturally shrink, as showing what should be the moral perfectness of the saint, when we see it according to the place in which we are in Christ, is sure to lead to blessing and to joy.
Now it is thus that we have to read such a psalm as this.
There are few parts of the Holy Scriptures that show us more entirely what our own failure and weakness is, and how we have stumbled, than the Psalms, because they describe the perfectness of One who was unblemished before God, who never stumbled. Therefore all those things which show His perfectness, both outwardly and inwardly, must be full of discomfort and discouragement to us, if looked at apart from their real object. If we seek to establish our security before God, by getting the experience which the Psalms give, we must say, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” No soul could get solid peace. Yet many are endeavoring to do so; many are seeking the same lineaments in themselves, the same features of experience which are depicted in the Psalms, and then judging of themselves by this as a standard. For instance, that in the next psalm: “Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence; let Thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved mine heart; Thou hast visited me in the night; Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” (vss. 2, 3) Now, inasmuch as imperfection is sure to be found in our ways and inward feelings, these feelings can never form the stable ground of peace in the presence of God. Therefore it is not until we see that every claim of God’s holiness has been met, and perfectly answered by Jesus; that when God tried (as He did) His reins and His heart, He found nothing that did not perfectly suit His holiness in Jesus: it is not, I say, until we see this, and know that Jesus had entered into the pleasures that are at God’s right hand for evermore, in consequence of this, that our joy is full. Then there is joy, because it is said “for us.” (Heb. 9:2424For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: (Hebrews 9:24)) And this is true of the one who has but touched the hem of the garment of Jesus. There never was an ailing or sorrowing heart that looked at Jesus that did not find God’s salvation in Him—in Him who is now made higher than the heavens.
All these psalms thus become the portion of the soul that has faith in Jesus. It is not by going on, treading step after step in experience, the path that Jesus trod, that we enter life. No; we reach it at once through Him who has trodden all these steps, and who is now with the Father. We are placed immediately in the glory which Christ has attained. We should read the Psalms as those who have reached acceptance, and blessing, and glory too (in one sense) in Him; and then we shall find ourselves placed in circumstances here in which we have to say, as He said, “Preserve Me, O God: for in Thee do I put My trust.”
These are words for saved ones to use. Jesus did not use these words, as needing to be saved from wrath. He came from the Father into this world, He stood here as the heavenly One— “the Son of Man who is in heaven;” He was never less than that, and yet He was in altogether different circumstances, and could say, “Preserve Me, O God: for in Thee do I put My trust.” And thus we, who are placed in the midst of evil and of danger from enemies who seek to tempt and to hinder us, can use this prayer. There are many circumstances, in the midst of which we stand from day to day, beneath which Satan lurks, and through which we are brought into conflict with him. Now we may either yield to Satan in these things, or honor God in overcoming him. Our feet will slide, and Satan will vanquish us, else we shall bring the power of God into them by faith, and thus triumph.
The Lord Jesus always applied the mind of God to present circumstances, and looked to Him to supply the needed strength from hour to hour. He did not stand alone, for as man it was not suited that He should stand independently and alone. He was the One who had His ear opened morning by morning to hear as the learned, the obedient servant, doing not His own will, but the will of another, and standing in dependence upon Him. And see what blessed communion with the Lord Jesus must be felt by the soul that is ready to follow Him in this path. He who knows in any little measure what this path is has to say constantly, “Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust;” he has to find his place now where that of the Lord Jesus was.
I have said we reach not salvation, peace, or glory by obedience; but there is much joy in thus doing the will of another. There was joy to Jesus in taking the place of obedience; it was the only place in which the great enemy could be triumphed over. Therefore He took it, and He found blessing to be in it.
Now, dear friends, that heart cannot be in communion with Jesus that loves and chooses any other place. A saint even may stand in independence of God, and seek to manage circumstances himself; and such a one is blessed; for those whom God has blessed are blessed. He never ceases to bless those who believe in Jesus. But still, these accepted ones may be walking so carelessly, may be standing so in the place of independence, as not to be in communion with Him who chose the place of dependence on God. If so, they will be unconscious of the difficulty of acting rightly in the circumstances around them, because it is generally, when there is the attempt to depend upon and trust in God, that the pressure around is felt; and then the blessed cry ascends from the heart— “Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust.”
There is no cry more honorable to the saint. It was a cry that it suited Jesus to utter. Because He took the place of obedience, and because He therefore felt the pressure of circumstances, He said, “Preserve Me, O God ... ” So when the soul is brought into temptation and conflict, it may be, in the midst of Satan’s cruel arrows—for they fall very terribly on those who are seeking to walk on in obedience—this cry ascends from the saint to God. And no cry is more acceptable to God. It comes from the Spirit of Christ within those who are in conflict with the evil. There is in it the recognition of God and of need—of need because we are in tried humanity; and this is contrasted with God. Though Jesus was truly God, yet “being found in fashion as a man”—a perfect and unspotted man—He “suffered being tempted.”
“O My soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art My Lord.” So difficult a lesson is it to learn to say this that the soul of Jesus alone could say it and abide in it. He said it in steadfastness of soul, and He did not decline from it. He acknowledged Jehovah, and said unto Him, “Thou art my Lord.” This is contrary to all idolatry; contrasting the LORD with everything that claims dominion over our will, our affections, our desires, our feelings; the putting down all these idols, and placing Jehovah supreme over all. Now this is a thing never found perfectly in any, save in Jesus—giving God the supremacy in all we do, and putting down our own will, both in the choice of the means, and as to the end, in everything giving up our own wills to God’s. But just in proportion as it is found in the saints, happy are they; they will escape ten thousand cares, ten thousand trials, which come upon them when they are setting up any other master. Where this is done there is likeness to Jesus, and the partaking of His joy. On the contrary, whenever anything gets into the place of pre-eminence which the Lord alone should occupy, there is sure to be disorder in the soul’s affections. This thought ought to humble and search the saint, because he was not only weak, and miserable, and worthless in the flesh, but God has given him the Holy Spirit that he may be strong, and able as to all things, through Christ strengthening him. And if our hearts, dear friends, tell us that it is not so with us, let us try ourselves by this. I believe it must humble, bring very low, test obedience, break down many a self-complacent thought. Yes, I am persuaded that if applied in faithfulness to our souls it would produce that chastened, soft, humble feeling that is often wanting amongst the saints.
In this subjection we find the “goodness”—the moral perfectness of understanding, of will, and of action, in Jesus. Everything that flowed from the understanding, the affections, and the will in Jesus had perfection in it, and this constituted His “goodness.” But what did He say of His goodness? Did it give Him joy? Yes; but (He says) this goodness existing in me is not to produce any change in thy condition, O God! “My goodness extendeth not to thee; but” —Whose condition then is changed by it?— “to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all My delight.”
Now, this is always a part of the faith of the servants of God, to see that there are those here below, “in the earth,” who are a royal priesthood, in whom, when the earthen pitcher is broken, instantly will shine forth the brightness of the light which is in them. Sense only sees the earthen pitcher; but faith is quick in discerning the pulse that beats feebly even towards Jesus, and that loves to think of His ways. It may be difficult sometimes to discern who these “holy ones” are, but wherever there is any confession of the lip to the name of Jesus and the evidence of faith in the heart towards Him, we see one in whom is Christ’s “delight,” one whom He loves as Himself. The grudging, evil, jealous feeling of the world, and of the flesh in the believer (for they are all the same), loves to detect evil—cruelly to analyze and describe (and Satan is ever ready to help in doing this) the follies and the weakness of the saints. It loves to dissect their actions, and then to boast itself, because it thinks it is not quite so weak and evil as another. How different to the Spirit of Christ! Nothing so marks the possession of the Spirit of Christ as that love which is not jealous, which vaunteth not itself, but which delights to find out even the weakest and feeblest of those whom it sees to be the “holy ones.” Do you then count it your joy (I would have you try yourselves by this, beloved friends); see whether you find it blessed to be bound up with the church of God, closely, in thought, in feeling, and affection, as well as in outward manifestation, owning them to be of God, excellent and glorious, those of whom Christ says, “In whom is all My delight.” On them His “goodness” rests, it was for them; well may they be considered “excellent!” You know the Lord Jesus says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto ME.” Nothing has a more practical effect on the Christian than day by day to be thinking of Christ, not only as He is in heaven, but also as being in His saints here below, so that we may care for them, and say, “In whom is all my delight.” When we thus link God and the saints, when, in looking up to God, we can say, Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust; and, down here on the saints, in whom is my delight, the soul finds itself in the place of practical blessing. Then the disappointments, even which we meet with will only be as the seed falling into the ground and dying, that it may bring forth much fruit. No seed falling thus into the ground will perish: though there be long patience needed in waiting for it, the fruit will come and yield a plentiful harvest.
Now, contrasted with this is the condition of those of whom it is said, “Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into My lips.” It is the contrast of those who are of the world with those who are of God. The Lord would have no fellowship with these. He says, I will have no communion with the things with which they have communion. “Drink-offerings of blood” is the character of their holy things. They “hasten after another god;” no matter what the measure of their departure, their faces are set another way.
And then, verse 5, we find his own happy relation to God— “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance.” But this was not more true of Him than it is of us. I would, dear friends, that we should meditate much on the precious thought. Our joy is in God; there are many joys and sympathies, but there is no real happiness except in God. If all the affections and joys of heaven were the portion of the soul, it would be still unhappy without God. There would be misery in heaven except God were the portion of each there. I do not attempt to explain how this will be realized; but still, if the soul be occupied with coining glory, it needs to connect this thought of God being its portion and its joy with it, otherwise the very glory itself would burden it too much, for glory is a strange thing to us.
“And of My cup.” The cup is a present thing, a present blessing. Jesus proved this because He walked in practical, present fellowship with God; and we shall prove it too in proportion as we seek to walk thus. We shall not lose blessing ultimately, but we shall lose present blessing; all will fail if we seek happiness in any other way than in knowing the LORD to be the “portion of our cup.” We may mingle many a cup for ourselves, we may seek for blessing in this thing or in that, but all will fail to promote our comfort and joy; we shall never find a full portion of blessing unless the LORD Himself be the “portion of our cup.” Nothing but God can satisfy the soul.
“Thou maintainest (that is, sustainest) My lot.” Preserving, sustaining care, is that which the soul feels it chiefly needs when looking at the danger that surrounds it. The exercised soul almost trembles at receiving any joy or blessing if it does not know that it comes from God, and is sustained for it by Him, because as the grass of the field, so it withereth. But if any soul is able to say, “This is not a cup without God, but from Him,” then there is strength and joy, and it can add, “Thou sustainest my lot.” So that whatever blessing we may receive from God—is it salvation, or the power of service, or any earthly good or blessing coming through Jesus—it is our privilege to be able to say, “Thou maintainest my lot.”
And then, just in proportion as we see the LORD to be the portion of our inheritance and of our cup, our preserver and sustainer, shall we be able to say, “The lines are fallen, unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” The saints seldom say this now. Pleasantness is little known now, and why? Because the LORD is not thus realized. But just in proportion as we know, as we cleave to God, do we find our true joy, and the “lines to have fallen” to us in “pleasant places.”
Blessed are those who seek to realize this experience; but it is here, I repeat, the saints so frequently fail, even in the practical acknowledgment of God in their ways.
And when the soul is able to say, “I have waited on the Lord, and sought counsel,” it will also be able to “bless “ Him, as here, “I will bless the LORD who hath, given me counsel.” Now this is a happy thing. But it is only when the soul waits on God that we can expect to trace happy results in what we undertake. If we have chosen our own path, we shall find estrangement and sorrow, and we shall not be able to “bless the Lord” in the sense of this verse; for it describes the harvest springing up joyfully, in consequence of our having walked in the counsels of the LORD. We are often so wayward, so hasty, and so careless, that we do the thing for which we need direction first, and ask counsel afterward; then we cannot “bless the Lord,” who has given us counsel, though we may have to bless Him perhaps for delivering us from the folly of our own ways.
Having the LORD to counsel—not only the Word of God, but also the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, to counsel and direct, to give us His own feelings and desires—we can go forward. The saint has a secret power of judgment within himself, and often “in the night seasons,” when circumstances of excitement are still, we are instructed and admonished by the Holy Spirit. “My reins (that is, my secret thoughts) instruct me in the night seasons.” This is really a present positive blessing. The Holy Ghost dwelleth in us, the Spirit of Christ is in us, and if there were more attention to these secret admonitions, to this secret power of judgment (of course guided by the Word) we should find that we have a power of action that the world can never know.
We have seen our blessed Lord as knowing the path of sorrow, but here we see the end of it— “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Now, in order to understand this, we must mark the contrast between death and life, as it is said, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me,” &c. It was after knowing separation from God that he was to be shown “the path of life” and the “fullness of joy” at God’s right hand. Now we cannot follow Jesus in His path of suffering, dear brethren, here; we can never know what He knew; for He knew wrath, and wrath is that which we have never known, can never know. We may know affliction, we may know suffering and sorrow, yet the end is sure and certain. Or we may know something of what the “path of life” is, by contrasting it with our knowledge of the path of death. None but the saints can do this. If the Spirit dwelling in us has led us to know what the path of death is, because He is the “living Spirit,” we are able to distinguish how everything fair and lovely goes to corruption, and is marked with death.
Well, all the sorrows and hindrances which we now so often know shall be done away, and we shall know what it is to see and to enter upon the “path of life” with the same feelings of joy which our blessed Lord describes in John 17. Jesus knew it, even when here, and He has left this chapter (John 17) to us, that we might be comforted by knowing the blessedness of His service and His ways, to share with Him in their circumstances, as well as in the glory hereafter. And as we shall surely know this end of blessing, we should desire not to shrink from, but to be placed in those circumstances now in which we may know something of the blessedness of walking in the ways of Jesus. The soul that is not careless, but, on the contrary, is an exercised soul, knows that the place in which Jesus walked here is the place on which the blessing of God can rest, therefore it will desire it.
It is Thy hand, my God!
My sorrow comes from Thee;
I bow beneath Thy chastening rod,
‘Tis love that bruises me.
I would not murmur, Lord;
Before Thee I am dumb;
Lest I should breathe one murmuring thought,
To Thee for help I come.