Psalm 16.
IT has been truly said there was no path in the garden of Eden. An innocent man in a garden of delights had only to remain where God had placed him. He needed no path to lead him out of such a scene. Then again there will be no path in heaven. A holy man in a perfect scene will have no desire to leave it. We shall need no path in heaven.
In a ruined world there is, and of necessity must be, a path through it, and out of it; for in such a world none can stay. The guilty man cannot stay, the godly man would not if he could. From the Bates of Eden man became, a wanderer in a fallen world—a sinner who, from the moment he enters the world, treads a path that leads out of the world by death the path of death.
For the believer, however, there is another path— the path of lit e. "A path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: the lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it" (Job 28:7, 87There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: 8The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. (Job 28:7‑8)). It lies beyond the range of nature's keenest vision, and nature's greatest strength. The wit of man has never discovered it, and the might of man will never tread it. Like the path of death it passes through a world of sorrow, yea through the valley of the shadow of death, but, unlike the path of death, it leads into the presence of the LORD where there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
This path, which could never be discovered by nature, has been disclosed by grace, and trodden in perfection by a perfect Man—the Man Christ Jesus. There has been Une here to whom, by reason of His intrinsic perfection, the path of life could be disclosed. The Lord Jesus can say, "Thou wilt Show Me the the path of life;" and every step of that path He has trodden in perfection, and reached the goal at the right hand of God. Moreover in treading the path He becomes the perfect example for His people, and sets their feet in the, path that He has trodden, for His last words ere He left this scene were "Follow Me." We indeed may tread this path with faltering steps and many a stumble, but, as our pattern, and for our encouragement, Christ has gone before us in the path.
The Lord is Himself gone before;
He has mark'd out the path that we tread;
It's as sure as the love we adore,
We have nothing to fear nor to dread.
It is this path that is so blessedly traced for us in the sixteenth Psalm. Seeing the path trodden by Christ in perfection we cannot but admire it; and what we admire we imitate.
Before we seek to trace the blessedness of this path, let us ask ourselves "What is the life to which the Lord refers when He speaks of the path of life?" There is the common round of life with all its varied dudes and relationships—a life which is enacted on earth, bounded by time and ended by death. There is too the life of service and conflict with the enemy; but this again is limited to an earthly sphere. The "life" of which the Lord speaks is not confined to earth, limited to time, or touched by death. It is the inner life lived with, God and before God. A "life" indeed that is lived un earth, that sustains the soul in its passage through time and death, that is enjoyed in fullness at the right hand of God, and endures for evermore. It is this life that is so blessedly set before us in the Sixteenth Psalm. Being the "inner life” of communion with God, it is a life that is independent of circumstances, though sustaining us in circumstances. For this reason adverse circumstances have little place in the Psalm. They are recognized, for a godless world, death and the grave are mentioned, but only as the dark background of a life which can be lived untouched by evil in a world of evil.
Who could overate the blessedness of such a life: as one has said, " This living relationship with God casts a light, a halo on all; it lights the soul up with such a direct consciousness of divine blessing that nothing is like it, save the full realization of it in the presence of God. A man with God, enjoying Him in a nature capable of doing so with all the necessary result where it shall be fulfilled without a cloud—a man as Christ was in this world with God—is the most perfect joy possible, sane the everlasting fulfillment of all known and felt in it.”
HOW true this is and yet how easily we may neglect this "inner life." Assured of our standing before God we may be careful that the outward life shall be correct before men, and maintain activity in service, while little exercised as to the inner life before God. Let us however remember that right walk before men as well as true service for Christ, is the outcome of the life lived before God.
1. CHRIST THE DEPENDENT MAN.
THE Psalm opens by presenting Christ as the perfectly dependent Man. "Preserve Me, O God," is the language of dependence. The first great principle of the inner life lived before God is dependence. It is natural for man to be dependent upon his God, nevertheless fallen man would rather be dependent upon anything and anyone but God. In Christ there was found at last upon earth a Man who was wholly dependent upon the power of God to preserve Him at every step of His path. He could indeed have preserved Himself; nevertheless in grace He takes a place as the dependent Man. "We understand dependence on God when we are in a strait, but dependence upon God pure and simple when we have resources in our possession is little known. All the resources of creation were at His command, all the post of heaven were ready to do His bidding when He said, ' Preserve Me, O God.'”
2. CHRIST THE CONFIDING MAN.
IN Thee do I put my trust" is the language of confidence. Christ's perfect dependence upon God was the outcome of His perfect confidence in God. He had unbounded confidence in boundless love. The storm that the devil raised found Christ in calm sleep with His head on a pillow. The real pillow of His heart was the Father's love. As the perfect Man He can say "In Thee do I put my trust," and sleep in the storm; then as the mighty God He rises up, saying, "Peace be still" and calms the storm. It has been truly said. "The storms drive us home, but the storm found Him at borne." The storms that send us to the Father found Him with the Father. Nothing ever moved Him from dependence upon the Father's power, and confidence in the Father's love. He has gone, but He has left His pillow behind Him, for the Father's love is our portion.
3. CHRIST THE SUBJECT MAN.
A THIRD great characteristic of the inner life comes before us in the second verse. "O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, thou art my Lord." This is the expression of One who tales the place of subjection and obedience to the will of another. A life of absolute subjection to the sovereign will of God at all times is an intolerable thought to the natural man, yet Chis is the path of life and joy. To do the will of One whose infinite love has purposed me for eternal, blessing, and whose divine power and wisdom is carrying out His purposes, must be the way of blessing. This path of subjection to the' will of Another has been trodden in perfection by Christ as Man. Coming into the world He could say, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O my God:" passing through it He could say, "I do always those things that please Him:" passing out of it He could say, "Not my will but thine be done." There has been One here who, in all circumstances, and at all times—moment by moment—did nothing but the will of God.
When the storm of opposition was rising on every hand He can say, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." The clouds that thickened round His path ever found Him confiding in the Father's love and subject to the Father's will. And when that greatest of all storms—the storm that was over our heads—was about to burst on His head, He is still confiding in the Father's love, for He can say, "The cup which my Father bath given Me shall I not drink it:" and still subject to the Father's will, for He adds, "Not my will but thine be done.”
In the 2nd Psalm Christ is the Subjugator who will put clown all insubjection with a rod of iron. Blessed it is to know that One is coming who will deal with all the lawlessness of the world and bring all into subjection to the will of God. This however is not wonderful when we remember who He is—God's anointed King.
In the 8th Psalm we are carried on to a time when the whole creation is brought into subjection to Christ„ as we read, "Thou hast put all things under His feet." Blessed indeed will this be, but again we say hardly wonderful when we remember who He is—the Son of Man crowned with glory and honor.
When, however, we come to the 16th Psalm, we learn that the One, who will subjugate everything to God, to whom all is to be put into subjection, has Himself been the perfectly subject Man. This indeed is a wonder for our souls to complete; and yet, may we not say that His power to subject the whole universe to Himself lies in the fact that He, Himself, was once the perfectly subject Man.
Thus the opening verses of the Psalm present these three great characteristics of the path of life— dependence upon the power of God, confidence in the love of God and subjection to the will of God.
4. CHRIST THE LOWLY MAN.
ANOTHER beautiful characteristic of the path of life, perfectly exemplified in the life of Christ, is its lowliness. Speaking as a Man Christ could say to God, "My goodness extendeth not to Thee;" speaking of the saints that are on the earth the—excellent—He could say, "In them is all my delight" (N. Tr.). The saints and the excellent of the earth are not often found among" the princes of this world." We do well to remember the words of the Apostle to the carnally minded Corinthians," Ye see your calling brethren, how that not many vise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish... the weak the base... and the things which are despised." It is among such that" the excellent" will be found, and it was with such that the Lord, in His lowly grace, identified Himself. If we would have the company of Christ we must also have the company of the lowly of this world, for it is with them He will be found. If Simon the Pharisee invites the Lord of glory to his house he finds that he must also have the company of the woman of the city. Nor was it simply that Christ associated with the lowly, but He delighted in them. His was the lowly mind. He could say "I am meek and lowly in heart." It was not only lowliness of manner or lowliness of speech—which indeed we can easily affect—it was lowliness of heart. The word for our guidance is, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;" and again, "in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.”
5. CHRIST THE SEPARATE MAN.
IN the pathway of Christ as the perfect Man, He would allow nothing to come in between His soul and God. He would pay no homage to the objects which men worship, nor take up their names upon His lips. An idol is not necessarily an actual image that is worshipped in place of the true God. It is anything that is allowed to come, as an object of the heart's affections between the soul and God; hence, even to believers, the Apostle can write, "Little children keep yourselves from idols." Alas how often we turn aside to pursue objects that come between our souls and God, only to find the truth of the Psalmist's words, "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another." It has been said that an innocent man had no object, he simply had to enjoy God's goodness: a fallen man has many objects which separate the heart from God; but the new man has one Object, "For me to live is Christ," and again, "The life which I now live.... I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
6. CHRIST THE SATISFIED MAN.
NOT only was Christ the separate Man, He was the perfectly satisfied Man. He could say, “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." The inheritance is that to which we are travailing on—the permanent portion of the soul; the cup is rather what is enjoyed by the way. The inheritance is ours by title, the cup is the measure of present enjoyment of the inheritance. The LORD is the portion of our inheritance and the LORD is the cup; thus the cup is not the enjoyment of circumstances by the way, but rather the enjoyment of the Lord in the circumstances. The circumstances may be sorrowful wilderness circumstances, as in the 23rd Psalm, and yet, says the Psalmist, "My cup runneth over." The taste of the Lord that he had in the circumstances gave Him overflowing joy. Such, in perfection, was the experience of the Lord in the midst of the 'sorrows of His path. At the most sorrowful moment of His life, when rejected by Israel and misunderstood by His own, we read "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." He was tasting of the cup by the way, while looking on to the inheritance of all things, for He can add, "All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.”
It is ours to know we have a glorious inheritance, to taste the cup by the way, and realize that the inheritance is kept for us, "Thou maintainest my lot.” To drink of this cup is to enter into the blessedness of the inheritance, and in so doing we are occupied with that which abides—that which will be maintained —in contrast to hastening alter the things of a World which "passeth away and the lust thereof.”
In passing through a world of death, the Lord, by reason of His circumstances, was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; but with the "goodly heritage" in view, He could say, "The lines have fallen unto Me in pleasant places.”
7. CHRIST THE GUIDED MAN.
WE realize in deeper measure how perfectly Christ has entered into Manhood as we hear Him say, "I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel." The One who gives divine counsel as God— whose name is Wonderful and Counselor— is the One who received counsel as Man. No man, as such, is able in his own wisdom to take the path of life in a world of sin. At every step, amidst the confusions of sin and self-will we need divine counsel. If, as the prophet says, we are to know how "to speak a word in season to him that is weary," we must have the ear opened "morning by morning... to hear as the learner." And this again is the language of the Lord. As Man He walked by the daily counsel of God. How necessary that we should be daily at His feet to hear His word.
Moreover there is not only divine counsel to guide, but also spiritual intelligence (Col. 1:9, 109For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:9‑10)). The "reins" would set forth this spiritual intelligence that forms the guiding principies of the soul. Such intelligence sees God's way with clearer vision when the soul is withdrawn from the influences of the busy world around, as in the retirement of the night seasons. Then indeed the spiritual intelligence, quickened by divine counsel, will see more clearly the path of life through a world of sin and death.
8. CHRIST THE SUPPORTED MAN.
TO tread the path of life it is not enough to have divine counsel and Spiritual intelligence, we also need divine support. This too is seen in perfection in the Lord's path as a Man. He could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me," and, having the LORD before Him, He was conscious of the LORD with Him,—” He is at my right hand;” and with the LORD at His right hand, He can add, "I shall not be moved." It is our privilege to follow the Lord in this path, though He alone could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me." Alai it is not "always" with us; we have not "always" the single eye that has no object but Christ. If it is not money or some gross object, it may be self in some form that we have before us. Self-ease, self-gratification or self exaltation may obscure the vision of our souls; but when the eye is single—when Christ is the one object—then indeed we shall have the sense of the Lord's presence with us, and, when 'He is with us, we "shall not be moved." In the world around there may be a babel of contending voices, and amongst the people of God much confusion, but supported by the Lord we shall not be moved.
9. CHRIST THE REJOICING MAN.
THE path of life, trodden by the Lord, led through death. Not death as making atonement for His people, but as setting forth the blessedness of a life that death cannot touch. It is the path of life through death. Here the prospect of death raises no cloud upon His spirit. So far from being cast clown at the thought of death, His heart is glad, His tongue rejoiceth, for His flesh will rest in pope. For the one treading the path of life, death is but a means to the fuller enjoyment of the life. At the moment when the natural man treading the path of death is tilled with Bloom and apprehension the one treading the path of life is marked by joy, praise and the rest of hope.
The secret of this joy is found in having the glorious end in view. The path of life may pass through a world of sorrow, may lead through the valley of the shadow of death, but it ends at last in the presence of God. For Christ, and those that are Christ's, this indeed is the Father's presence. This is more than glory, it is the Father's house where the Father's heart is displayed and the Father Himself is fully known and enjoyed. Here amidst the sorrows of earth we may taste the cup of life, there amidst the joys of heaven we shall enter upon the fullness of life. Here there are pleasures by the way, there are found the pleasures for evermore.
Such was the inner life that the Lord as Man lived with God, and before God as He passed through this world. Such a life was unknown to an innocent man in Eden and impossible to a fallen man in the world. Only a holy Man passing through this world could live a life marked by dependence upon the power of God, confidence in the love of God and subjection to the will of God: a life of lowliness that associated with the morally excellent of the earth, while maintaining separation from the evil of the world: a life of satisfaction with the inheritance to come: a life in which there is divine guidance and divine support: a life which death cannot touch or the grave close, and that leads to the presence of God where there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore. A life counselled for us by the Father's heart, in which we have the support of the Father's hand, until at last we enter upon its fullness in the Father's home.
Only in Christ do we see the life lived in its absolute perfection. But the life lived in perfection by Christ is possible for His people in the power of the Holy Spirit.