Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. Sermons
What "casting off" is here referred to by the psalmist no one seems to have satisfactorily explained. The best suggestion, perhaps, is that the sentiments of a returned exile are here interwoven with the sentiments of David. The idea of God, as one who had cast off his people for awhile, is quite suitable to a returned exile, but quite unsuitable to David. The thought is, however, found in the original of this psalm ( Psalm 60:1); and if we must connect it with David, it is necessary to assume that he suffered some temporary repulse in the beginning of his national wars, and that, in a gloomy, poetic way, he regarded this as "God casting off his people." A good writer on Psalm 9. says, "From the first five verses we should gather that the country had been crushed by some great national disaster." One is forcibly reminded of two scenes in the national history. I. THE ANXIETY OF MOSES ABOUT GOD GOING WITH ISRAEL. Recall the expressions of Divine indignation in the matter of the golden calf. The purpose was, as it were half formed, to cast off a people who were showing themselves so unfaithful to the trust reposed in them. Moses interceded. The evident burden on his heart was the possibility that God might not himself go with them; and he passionately pleaded, "If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." Well he knew that "God with us assures confidence and victory." II. THE ANXIETY OF JOSHUA ABOUT GOD GOING WITH ISRAEL. When the covenant was broken, through the covetousness of Achan, God for a time withdrew his defense and help, cast off his people, with the result that the army was defeated, and the whole expedition placed in jeopardy. Joshua was terribly distressed. It seemed to him (not knowing the real cause of the disaster) that the very Name of God was being dishonored, and he passionately pleaded for that restoration of God's presence and power which alone could give confidence and victory. The history of God's people furnishes abundant illustrations of the same truth; and it was sealed for ever, as the truth of truths for helpless man, when the ascending Jesus gave his assurance, "Lo, I am with you all the days." - R.T. Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. I. A VERY COMMON EXPERIENCE. "Trouble." 1. Bodily. 2. Family. 3. Church. 4. Heath. II. A VERY CERTAIN RESOURCE. Betaking ourselves to God in prayer. 1. The resource itself. God. He knows all our troubles. He is ever graciously disposed to help and comfort His people. 2. How the resource is available. By prayer. It may be very short — a mere fragment. But it must be the prayer of conscious need, and of believing supplication. III. A VERY EVIDENT TRUTH. "For vain is the help of man." Good men may give us wise counsel, and they may sympathize sincerely and tenderly, and they may pray for us, and thus be instrumental of good to our souls; but they can neither sustain us in trouble, nor sanctify our sorrows, nor deliver us out of our afflictions. 1. They cannot control our circumstances. But God can; He alone disposes of the conditions of men — raiseth up, or casteth down — enriches, or impoverishes — sends prosperity, or adversity — joy, or grief. 2. They cannot drive back our enemies. Either those in the world, or our spiritual ones; but God can; He can enable us effectually to resist both, and to triumph over them. 3. They cannot turn our afflictions into a blessing. But God can; He is able "out of the eater to bring forth meat, and out of the strong to bring forth sweetness." 4. They cannot deliver us from our troubles. Look at Abraham on the mount with Isaac! Jacob meeting Esau! Israelites on way to Red Seal Daniel in den of lions! Hebrews in the fiery furnace! Peter in prison — Paul in the stocks! In all these cases vain would have been the skill and power of man; but God did deliver each and all of them; and He will deliver those who pub their trust in Him. () About twenty years ago a fisherman on the way to his boat met his little boy, who pleaded with him to be taken on the little voyage across to the neighbouring island. The fisherman looked at the waves; they had begun to pub on their white caps of wrath, and the swell of the sea had commenced, and he hesitated; but at last he allowed his boy to go. All seemed well in the smack, till half way across a sudden squall caught the canvas and flung the father and his assistant into the deep. They caught hold of the rope that attached the little boat behind the smack, and climbed in and were saved. Looking back, they saw the smack on her beam end, filling rapidly, and a pale, white little face, the face of the little boy at the cabin window. He had been sent down below when the squall had come. The father, in desperation, flung himself on the sinking smack. One blow of his strong fist shattered the window, and the little face there still looked out, but he cannot escape: what could the father do? The window is too small. The man was nearly demented; he tried to tear the beams from the sinking vessel, but they were too strong; and the little boy, in his homely Scotch, said, "Daddy, save me, help me." Deeper and deeper, the smack turned on her side; and the tears streamed down the little white face, and down the face of the despairing father. At last he cried, "God help thee, my laddie, I canna." Down went the smack, with a gurgle and a foaming bubble, and that was all. That father never went to sea again. Twenty years passed, and on his death-bed it was the same cry, "God help thee, my laddie, I canna." Dear soul, you are in greater danger than that little fisher-lad. You're sinking! God help you, you immortal soul, you're sinking; and I cannot help you, your father can't, your mother can't. God help thee (). People David, Manasseh, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Adversary, Adversity, Deliverance, Enemy, Foe, Grant, Man's, O, Oh, Salvation, Trouble, Vain, WorthlessOutline 1. David encourages himself to praise God
5. He prays for God's assistance according to his promise
11. His confidence in God's help
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 108:12 5864 futility Psalm 108:11-12 5821 criticism, among believers Library Jesus is Arrested.
Jesus was standing with his three Apostles on the road between Gethsemani, and the Garden of Olives, when Judas and the band who accompanied him made their appearance. A warm dispute arose between Judas and the soldiers, because he wished to approach first and speak to Jesus quietly as if nothing was the matter, and then for them to come up and seize our Saviour, thus letting him suppose that he had no connection with the affair. But the men answered rudely, 'Not so, friend, thou shalt not escape …
Anna Catherine Emmerich—The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus ChristLet us See How He Continues after This: "These Events...
Let us see how he continues after this: "These events," he says, "he predicted as being a God, and the prediction must by all means come to pass. God, therefore, who above all others ought to do good to men, and especially to those of his own household, led on his own disciples and prophets, with whom he was in the habit of eating and drinking, to such a degree of wickedness, that they became impious and unholy men. Now, of a truth, he who shared a man's table would not be guilty of conspiring …
Origen—Origen Against Celsus The Alarum
That is not, however, the topic upon which I now desire to speak to you. I come at this time, not so much to plead for the early as for the awakening. The hour we may speak of at another time--the fact is our subject now. It is bad to awake late, but what shall be said of those who never awake at all? Better late than never: but with many it is to be feared it will be never. I would take down the trumpet and give a blast, or ring the alarm-bell till all the faculties of the sluggard's manhood are …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 The Mercy of God
The next attribute is God's goodness or mercy. Mercy is the result and effect of God's goodness. Psa 33:5. So then this is the next attribute, God's goodness or mercy. The most learned of the heathens thought they gave their god Jupiter two golden characters when they styled him good and great. Both these meet in God, goodness and greatness, majesty and mercy. God is essentially good in himself and relatively good to us. They are both put together in Psa 119:98. Thou art good, and doest good.' This …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Psalm 108:12 NIV
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