Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem

1 Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.5 — Ver. 18.

THE Psalmist had begun with praying for grace for Jhimself. With this, however, he cannot end. The blessed experience of what grace is, as this had been made clear to him in the lines of this prayer, makes him think, not only of the transgressors whom he is now to teach, but also of all who are partakers with him of this grace, namely, the people of God. For these also he pours out his heart; he can never forget the city of God. This is both one of the essential elements of true prayer and a principal characteristic of the true petitioner. The true suppliant is also an intercessor. Would that we could give good heed to the important lesson which these last words of the Psalm teach us.

In the first place, the true intercessors for the Church of God are those who have first learned to pray for themselves. Personal need is the school in which true intercessors are brought up. It is in the confession of personal sins, in the conflict for the assurance of a personal interest in God’s grace, that the secret of believing intercession is learned. There are always many who, in the church and the prayer-meeting, plead together for themselves and others, and yet know but little of personal dealing with God in the prayer: ‘Cleanse me from my sin.’ These still know little of true prayer. The sinner must first of all feel as if he were the only one with whom God had to do. He must attain to dealing with God for himself alone: then he will learn to understand the grace of God, and know how to plead for this blessing in behalf of the people and the city of the Lord. He then obtains, not only courage to speak of God to his fellow-men, but also delight in the work; he feels, too, that he has power to speak and plead with God in behalf of ‘his fellow-men.

Those who have thus learned to pray for themselves become intercessors of their own accord. Grace is not self-seeking. The love of God shed abroad in the heart works love to God’s people and Church. This is true in the ancient people of Jehovah. Think, for example, of the prayers of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel (Ezra ix., Neh. ix., Dan. ix.), or of the way in which the converted Saul of Tarsus bore the conoregations of God on his heart. It is on this account that such suppliants are called ’ watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem,” the Lord’s remembrancers’ (Isa. lxii. 6). It is a part of the wonderful honor which the grace of God bestows, that God makes us

19G fellow-workers with Him, and that He should use us in awakening, not only men, but also Himself. He is prepared to take counsel with us, and at our urgent request, He will bestow blessing. Hence it will always be seen that, as soon as there are many in a congregation that, in their own experience, learn to understand the grace of God as exhibited in this Psalm, the prayer-meeting will speedily furnish evidence of the fact in the growing use of the petition: ‘Do good unto Zion.’

It is, however, not merely the experience of the grace of God in the deliverance from personal sin that thus stirs up to prayer. There is still something more. David felt himself to be one with the people, and fearing lest his sin might possibly prove injurious to the city as a whole, he prayed that these hurtful consequences might be averted. And thus is it with every true suppliant. Mindful of the terrible power of sin to carry infection and desolation far beyond the sphere in which it had its origin, the intercessor entreats the Lord to turn aside the dreaded evil, and, notwithstanding his sin, to do good to Zion according to His good pleasure.

‘Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion.’ It is to God’s good pleasure in Zion that intercessors appeal when they ask Him to do good to her. As in the prayer for grace the Psalmist appeals to God’s loving-kindness and the greatness of His compassion, so here also he turns to God’s good pleasure in His people. He has not to stir up God to show favor; he has not to awaken dispositions in God that are not already in existence. No: it is what he knows God to be that gives him power and courage to pray. Would that we could never forget this. Our strongest argument in prayer is the being and the heart of God. The more we cleave to what God has revealed to us concerning His feelings towards His people, and to His purposes and promises, the more shall we feel the power to pray. The good pleasure of God towards Zion will be the ground of our hope, the measure of our expectations, and the strength of our assurance of faith. Were our souls only more fully possessed by this conviction, how thoroughly should we feel ourselves aroused by the wonderful thought that that good pleasure waits upon our poor prayers, and will act according to them, to pray more earnestly: ‘Do good unto Zion.’

This great comprehensive beneficence is expressed in the words: ‘Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.’ That petition includes building up, where they were not yet completed; rebuilding, where they were broken down by hostile attacks; outbuilding, where they had become too narrow for the growing number of inhabitants. It includes prayer for the new spiritual growth and progress of the congregation of the Lord, for the maintenance of God’s authority and truth over against the hostile powers of unbelief and the world, and for the extension of the kingdom of God by the ingathering of those who do not as yet know him.

He that really knows the grace of God, and has endeavored to understand what His plan and good pleasure are with respect to the city which He has had prepared for His habitation, will certainly feel how suitable and necessary this prayer is in our time. How little does Zion, the city of God, the dwelling-place of the Most High, exhibit the splendor of the New Jerusalem that once descended from heaven (Rev. xxi. 10). In the midst of severe toil and hot conflict, and much disappointment and numberless hindrances, living stones are being brought in, and the walls slowly rise. There is need of the earnest and urgent prayer: ‘Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.’ Believers, who in this Psalm have learned to taste something of the grace of God, make this wTord also your own. In view of the declining life of the people of God, and their failure in powerful growth in grace, in view of the growing fury of the onsets of unbelief and the service of the world, in view of the needs of millions that do not yet know the Lord, we pray you, let the grace shown to you rouse you to the persistent supplication: 6 Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.5