Psalm CXIX and Its Teaching

“For this cause I bow my knees to the Fatheb that He would grant you, that ye may be strengthened with power theough His Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in LtOYE, may be strong to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (the Holy Spirit), unto Him be the glory in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.” — Eph. iii. 14t21.

These words have often, and not without good reason, been regarded as one of the highest expressions of what the life of a believer may be on earth. And yet this view is not without its dangers, if it fosters the idea that the attainment of such an experience is to be regarded as something exceptional and distant, and hides the blessed truth that, though in varying degree, it yei is meant to be the certain and immediate heritage of every child of God. Each morning each believer has as much the right as the need to say: My Father will strengthen me to-day with power, is strengthening me even now, in the inner man through His Spirit. Each day we are to be content with nothing less than the indwelling of Christ by faith, a life rooted in love, and made strong to know the love of Christ. Each day we believe that the blessed work of being filled in with all the ftdness of God is being prepared and carried on and accomplished in us. And each day we ought to be strong in the faith of God’s power, and be giving Him glory in Christ, as able to do above what we ask and think, according to the power of the Spirit working in us.

The words are, among many other things, remarkable for the way in which they present the truth of the Holy Trinity in its bearing on our practical life. Many Christians understand that it is right and needful at different times in the pursuit of the Christian life, to give special attention to the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. They often feel it diflBcult to combine the various truths into one, and to know how to worship the Three in One. Our text reveals the wondrous relationship and the perfect unity. We have the Spirit within us as the power of God, and yet He does not work at our will or His own. It is the Father who, according to the riches of His glory, grants us to be strengthened “through the Spirit in the inner man.’ It is the Father who does exceeding abundantly above what we ask or think “according to the Power that worketh in us.’’ So far from the presence of the Spirit within us being to us instead of God, He renders us more absolutely and unceasingly dependent on the

Father. The Spirit can only work as the Father works through Him. We need to combine the two truths — a deep reverent, trustful consciousness of the Holy Spirit as indwelling, with a continual and dependent waiting on the Father to work through Him.

Even so with Christ. We bow our knees to God as Father in the name of the Son. We ask Him to strengthen us through the Spirit with the one object, that Christ may dwell in our heart. So the Son leads to the Father and the Father again reveals the Son in us. And then, again, as the Son dwells in the heart, and it is rooted and grounded in love, drawing its life out of Divine love as its soil, bringing forth fruits and doing works of love, we are led on to be filled with all the fulness of God. The whole heart with the inner and outer life becomes the scene of the blessed interchange of the operation of the Holy Three. As our hearts believe this we give glory through Christ to Him who is able to do more than we can think by His Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful salvation this of which our heart is the scene; the Father ever breathing His Spirit into us, and by His daily renewing fitting it to be the home of Christ; the Holy Spirit ever revealing and forming Christ within us, so that His very nature, disposition, and character becomes ours; the Son imparting His life of love, and leading us on to be filled with all the fulness of God.

This is meant to be our everyday religion. Oh! let us worship the Three-One God in the fulness of faith every day. In whatever direction our Bible study and our prayer lead us, let this ever be the centre from which we go out and to which we return. We were created in the image of the Three-One God. The salvation by which God restores us is an inward salvation; it is nothing to us if it is not wrought in our heart and enjoyed there. The God who saves us can do it in no other way than as the indwelling God, filling us with all His fulness. Let us worship and wait; let us believe and give Him glory.

Have you ever noticed in Ephesians how the three Persons of the Trinity are ever mentioned together.

i. 3. The Father, Jesus Christ, spiritual or Holy

Ghost blessings. 1. 12, 13. The Father, to the praise of His Glory,

in Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit. i. 17. The Father, Our Lord Jesus, the Spirit of

Wisdom. ii. 18. Access through Christ, in one Spirit, to the

Father. ii. 22. In Christ, a habitation of God, through the

Spirit, iii. 4-9. The mystery of Christ, hid in God, preached

by the Grace of God, revealed by the Spirit. iv. 4-6. One Spirit, One Lord, One God and Father. V. 18-20. Filled with the Spirit, giving thanks to

God, in the name of Christ. vi. 10-18. Strong in the Lord, the whole armour of God, the sword of the Spirit, praying in. the Spirit

As you study and compare these passages, and seek to gather up their teaching in some true and humble conception of the glory of our God, notice specially what an intensely practical truth this of the Holy Trinity is. Scripture teaches little of its mystery in the Divine nature, almost all it has to say has reference to God’s work in us, and our faith and experience of His salvation.

A true faith in the Trinity will make us strong, bright, God-possessed Christians. The Divine Spirit making Himself one with our life and inner being; the Blessed Son dwelling in us, as the way to perfect fellowship with God; the Father, through the Spirit and the Son working out day by day His purpose — that we be filled with all the fulness of God.

Let us bow our knees unto the Father! Then the mystery of the Trinity will be known and experienced.