Psalms 27 and 32
There are few fathers or mothers who would leave a child alone in trouble, yet some boys and girls have known such sorrow.
David, who wrote this, may never have been forsaken by his parents; we read that when he was in great danger from King Saul and hid in a cave, his family went to stay with him. His father and mother must have been old at that time, as David was their youngest son, and he feared they might be harmed, so sent them to another land. Yet David knew if such a sad thing, as “his father and mother to forsake him” were ever to be, the Lord would help him, and that would be better than the best help any father and mother could give.
There were enemies for David and Israel, and they often asked in the Psalms for help to be freed; but when we read of the Lord Jesus we find He did not ask for help against His enemies, but asked for them to be forgiven, and gave that example to His disciples, waiting for God to punish; and in this psalm there is also that thought:
“Wait on the Lord; be of good courage.” Also a verse about the happy man. “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Ps. 32:1
To transgress means to break god’s laws; whatever we think, say, or do, not right in God’s sight, is sin.
Are we happy when we do wrong? No, there is no one really happy in sin. But the Lord forgives those who believe in Hint, and to know this makes them very happy. These verses are quoted in the New Testament, and there we learn it is because of the death of the Lord Jesus, that God forgives (Romans 4,6,7, 8,24, 25)
Now notice what God promises to for those who believe Him:
Perhaps you sometimes know, as you watch the eyes of your father or mother that they wish you to do a certain thing, and they do not need to, tell you. So this verse means the Lord would just as gently show us the right ways, for He would, instruct and teach as carefully, by His Word, the Bible.
“Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit at bridle.”
No matter how carefully a driver trains a young horse or moue, he must put on, each a bit and bridle; he could not guide them in the road by his eye. Sometimes we do not turn from wrong by God’s gentle guiding by His words, and He must turn us by a harder way of sickness or trouble. So when we want to go our own way instead of God’s way, let us remember what this psalm says, “Be ye not as the horse or the mule.”
To what land did David send his father and mother? (Ans. 1 Samuel 22:1-41David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. 3And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. 4And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. (1 Samuel 22:1‑4)).
ML 08/11/1940