Divine Power
“This is the rest ivhernvith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the 7-efreshi)?g’’’ —
JBi&me
Potocr.
“Je ntlftlj bg It’s poiarr for cfacr.” — rs. l.wi. 7.
The Psalm from which these words are taken is one of the many that were inspired by memories of the Sinai wilderness, — the great drama of the Exodus. The words of our motto-verse are ushered in by the proudest of these memories — ■” Come and see the works of the Lord,... He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on foot; there did we rejoice in Him.... He ruleth by His power for ever.” Varied are the figures employed by the sacred minstrel in describing the illustrious event. Jehovah had broken the meshes of the enclosing net (11). From the fire of Egypt’s brick-kilns He had rescued them (12). Through the furnace they had emerged purified (10). Through the raging flood of the Red Sea He had conducted them (6). They had only to “stand still and see the salvation of God” (5 and 12). “For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and through water; but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place” (vers. 10-12).
An emanci])ation effected from the territory of the greatest and proudest of the old world dynasties : — an enslaved people, in the might of their God, rising in a night, breaking their chains, leaving every memento of bondage and degradation behind them; and after a miraculous march of forty years, at last entering triumphantly the promised land. All this could not have been accomplished without the cognisance of the surrounding nations. Hence the Psalmist, remembering these glorious ‘works of the Lord and His wonders of old,’ breaks out into a lofty appeal to the kingdoms of his own age to recognise the hand of Israel’s Jehovah, (ver. i.) “]Iake a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of His name; make His ];raise glorious. Say unto God, How terrible art Thou in Thy works! through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee.... He ruldh by His power for ever.”
What a glorious palm-shade underneath which to encamp! What an unspeakably comforting assurance, whether to nations or to individuals, that the same mighty hand which shattered the chains of the Hebrew bondsmen and smote the tongue of the Egyptian sea, may be recognised in every event which befalls His people — every public calamity, every domestic heart-sorrow. Whether it be the bondage and deliverance of a nation, or the preparing and withering of a family gourd, we can write above all, “He ruleth by His power for ever.” Whether He smites or heals, darkens or gladdens, gives or takes away, it is ours to say, in the words of this inspiring hymn (vers. 8, 9), “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard, 7vhich holdeth our soul in life.’” Life is His. He kindles the spark, and, when He sees meet, He quenches it. Death is but the revocation of His own grant, the lapsing of the lease into the hands of life’s great Proprietor. “He turnelh man to destruction, and saith, Return, ye children of men.”
The psalm is supposed by some to have been specially composed by David on the occasion of that great festival at the end of his reign, when, after having collected material for his projected Temple on Mount Moriah, ‘all Israel’ assembled, at the summons of their aged king, and in response to his appeal, “consecrated their service unto the Lord.” What could be more natural than for the minstrel monarch, at such a time, to revert in the first instance to God’s wondrous transactions with them as a nation, ever since the hour of the Exodus; and then to pass to a personal retrospect of God’s dealings with himself throughout his chequered history, from the morning of his life in the valleys of Bethlehem till now, when the sun was westering and the shadows were falling? He too had to tell of varied sorrows. He too had been tried as silver is tried. He too had been brought through fire and through water, and had affliction laid upon his loins, (affliction which few bereaved parents are called to endure). — But even on the mingled retrospect, in which all these figures of speech met, — the furnace, the net, the fire, the flood, the sackclothed loins — he could see mercy, — rich, undeserved mercy, mingling with and tempering judgment. The dark clouds of his stormy life-career were alternated with glorious sunshine; the dreary spots of the wilderness were far outnumbered by the green. Elim palms stood conspicuous amid stretches of barren sand. And remembering how graciously God had heard his prayers iH the past, succoured him in trouble, and made his earthly trials conspire for the good of his soul, we can understand how appropriately he records his votive resolve in vcr. 13, “I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings, I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams, I will offer bullocks with goats. Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” He gives to God all the glory of his past deliverances and triumphs. He takes none to himself. “Sing forth,” he says, “the honour of His name... which suffereth not our feet to be moved.”
The psalm and its many devout and instructive sentiments was designed for the Church of God and believers in every age. Its lessons are not local but universal. The safe and triumphant passage of Israel through the Red Sea and the Jordan of old, are pledges of covenant mercy to His people in all times and in all seasons of affliction. Through every sea of sorrow and trouble He makes a passage for them, gives songs in the night, takes off their sackcloth, and girds them with gladness. It is a striking assertion, “through the flood” (the place where we might have expected nothing but trembling and terror, anguish and dismay), — “there,” says the Psalmist, “did we rejoice in Him!”
How many there are who can endorse this as their experience: that “there,” in their very seasons of distress and sadness, they have been enabled, as they never did before, to triumph and rejoice. How near their God in covenant is brought! how brightly shine His promises! In the day of our prosperity we cannot see the brilliancy of these. Like the sun at noon, hiding out the stars from sight, they are undiscernible but when night overtakes, the deep dark night of sorrow, out come these clustering stars — blessed constellations of Bible hope and promise and consolation.
Like Jacob at Jabbok, it is when our earthly sun goes down that the Divine Angel comes forth, and we wrestle with Him and prevail. It was at night, “in the evening,” Aaron lit the sanctuary lamps. It is in the night of trouble the brightest lamps of the believer are often kindled. It was in his loneliness and exile John had the glorious vision of his Redeemer. There is many a Patmos still in the w’orld, whose brightest remembrances are those of God’s presence and upholding grace and love in solitude and sadness. How many pilgrims, still passing through these Red Seas and Jordans of earthly affliction, will be enabled in the retrospect of eternity to say, — full of the memories of God’s great goodness, “We went through the flood on foot, there” (there, in those dark experiences, with the surging waves on every side, deep calling to deep, Jordan, as when Israel crossed, it in ’ the time of overflowing,’ (flood), yet “there did we rejoice in Him!”
“Sing forth the honour of His name, and make His praise glorious.” There are seasons, indeed, when we cannot tune the harp of broken strings, when the summons of the 5th verse is more appropriately ours, “Come, and see the works of God, He is terrible in His doing towards the children of men.” When we have to say unto Him, “How terrible art Thou in Thy works.” But while justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne, mercy and truth go continually before His face. While “God hath spoken once, yea twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God; Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy.” “I will sing of mercy and judgment, unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing!” “We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place!”
Occupying now the glorious place of security, which can alone be found in Christ and His finished salvation, let us commit the keeping of our souls, and of all near and dear to us, to Him for the future in well doing; knowing that there will be no floods or fires sent but what He appoints; and, if sent, let us seek to be able to say, “Thy will be done!” That so we may come at last to stand without flmlt before the throne, with every flood passed, every fire quenched, every tear dried. With room found provided, for all whom death has severed from us, in that “wealthy place” above; and confident then, at least, that the Divine dispensations and dealings were for our good, we shall be able to utter the invitation, “Come, and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.”
“Source of my life’s refreshing springs,
Whose presence in my heart sustains me,
Thy love appoints me pleasant things,
Thy mercy orders all that pains me.
“Well may Thy own beloved, who see
In all their lot their Father’s pleasure,
Bear loss of all they love, save Thee,
Their living, everlasting treasure.”
“1 WILL TRUST IN THE COVERT OF THY WINGS.’’