We have born so harrowed and torn that we are brought to the brink of the grave. "To be destitute in circumstances is bad, but to be destitute in soul is far worse; to be left of friends is a calamity, but to be left of God would be destruction. Destitute of God is destitution with a vengeance. The comfort is that God hath said, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.'" The margin is, "Make not my soul bare;" strip me not of every hope; leave me not completely naked; abandon me not to nature's beggary and misery; let me not go down to the pit with all my sins upon my head; leave not my soul destitute of pardon and peace. The mood is well indicated in David's sense of being left alone of God for long months after his sin in the matter of Uriah. A comparison may be made between this prayer, "Leave not my soul
destitute," and the confident assurance, "None of them that trust in him shall be
desolate."
I. THE SOUL IN RIGHTEOUSNESS FEELS BEFRIENDED. That is, the soul that is in right relations, and has right desires inspiring right endeavors. That man can always say, "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge." And that befriending makes him superior to all surroundings of distress, and all consciousness of frailty.
II. THE SOUL IN SIN FEELS DESTITUTE. He is conscious that he has put himself out of the atmosphere in which alone the God of love and righteousness can reveal himself. The prodigal son felt destitute as soon as "he came to himself," and realized that no love wrapped him round. When a man sins, and persists in his sins, it is his soul that feels destitute. His surroundings may not immediately change, but his soul does. That loses what is its supreme treasure, the sense of God. "Man was made for God, and can find no rest till it gets rest in him." When man sins, and keeps his sin, he must lose his treasure. But soul-destitution may set man seeking after God's return with a passionate intensity. - R.T.
Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked.
I. SOME OF THE DESIRES OF THE WICKED.
1. That there is no God. They dare not submit their conduct to Divine inspection, and would be glad if there were no Being to inspect. But against this desire the godly oppose their prayers. And there are good reasons why they thus feel. If there were no God, everything must immediately be thrown into a state of confusion. Chaos would return.
2. If a God do and must exist, sinners wish Him to be a mere spectator of the affairs of the world. The grand objection they have to His existence is, that if He exist He must have the reins of government. But the saints not only desire God to reign, they wish Him to manage all the affairs of creation. They consider their own safety and that of others to depend on this special care of God.
3. If God must exist, and must be an active agent in governing the world, the wicked are desirous that He should work without any plan. They are afraid of Divine decrees. They fear that these decrees do not favour them. The righteous, on the other hand, found all their hopes of salvation, both as it regards themselves and others, on the purposes of God.
4. Sinners desire happiness and heaven without holiness. Between these two God has established an indissoluble connection. He has decreed that holiness shall be the only path to happiness. But this connection sinners wish to destroy. They hate holiness wherever it appears, and yet they intend to be happy. The righteous, on the contrary, love nothing so much as holiness.
5. Sinners desire that Christians may walk disorderly, and so dishonour the religion of Jesus. Against these falls the saints pray, and are grieved when they take place. They love their fellow-saints. Every spot that appears in their garments grieves their hearts. They feel some of the same distress on such occasions as is felt when they go astray themselves.
6. The wicked desire to remain ignorant of their own characters. The righteous daily pray the favour of being acquainted with themselves.
7. Wicked men are very desirous that there may be no day of judgment. They do not wish the final inspection of Omniscience. In such desires the righteous cannot unite. It is their ardent wish that there may be a day that shall bring every deed to light, and pass an impartial judgment on all the actions of men.
8. The wicked are very desirous to be left to act without restraint. Nothing do they desire more. In this particular the children of God, and all holy beings, oppose their wishes. It would ruin the world to have them gratified. Free the wicked from restraint and there would be but little difference between earth and hell.
II. INFERENCES.
1. The monstrous wickedness of the heart.
2. The nature of regeneration. It is a universal change in the desires of the heart, in the affections of the soul.
3. The great difference between the righteous and the wicked.
4. Why sinners do not desire or relish the society of the righteous. They have opposing desires.
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People
David,
Psalmist,
SaulPlaces
JerusalemTopics
142, David, Escape, Fall, Free, Maschil, Nets, Pass, Prayer, Psalm, Safely, Safety, Sinners, Themselves, Till, Whilst, Wicked, WithalOutline
1. David prays that his suit may be acceptable3. His conscience sincere7. And his life free from snaresDictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 141:10 5425 net
5562 suffering, innocent
Psalm 141:8-10
5511 safety
Library
The Incense of Prayer
'Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.'--PSALM cxli. 2. The place which this psalm occupies in the Psalter, very near its end, makes it probable that it is considerably later in date than the prior portions of the collection. But the Psalmist, who here penetrates to the inmost meaning of the symbolic sacrificial worship of the Old Testament, was not helped to his clear-sightedness by his date, but by his devotion. For throughout …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureEvening Hymns
…
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year
And Lest it Should Seem that Necessary Continence was to be Hoped for From...
2. And lest it should seem that necessary Continence was to be hoped for from the Lord only in respect of the lust of the lower parts of the flesh, it is also sung in the Psalm; "Set, O Lord, a watch to my mouth, and a door of Continence around my lips." [1810] But in this witness of the divine speech, if we understand "mouth" as we ought to understand it, we perceive how great a gift of God Continence there set is. Forsooth it is little to contain the mouth of the body, lest any thing burst forth …
St. Augustine—On Continence
For Acceptance in Prayer, and Daily Guidance. --Ps. cxli.
For Acceptance in Prayer, and daily Guidance.--Ps. cxli. Lord, let my prayer like incense rise, And when I lift my hands to Thee, As on the evening sacrifice Look down from heaven well-pleased on me. Set Thou a watch to keep my tongue, Let not my heart to sin incline; Save me from men who practise wrong, Let me not share their mirth and wine. But let the righteous, when I stray, Smite me in love,--his strokes are kind; His mild reproofs, like oil, allay The wounds they make, and heal the mind. …
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns
Epistle xxxv. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. In the past year I received the letters of your most sweet Holiness; but on account of the extreme severity of my sickness have been unable to reply to them until now. For lo, it is now almost full two years that I have been confined to my bed, afflicted with such pains of gout that I have hardly been able to rise on feast-days for as much as three hours space to solemnize mass. And I am soon compelled by severe pain to lie down, that …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great
How Some of the Heavenly Lovers Died Also of Love.
All the elect then, Theotimus, died in the habit of holy love; but further, some died even in the exercise of it, others for this love, and others by this same love. But what belongs to the sovereign degree of love is, that some die of love; and then it is that love not only wounds the soul, so as to make her languish, but even pierces her through, delivering its blow right in the middle of the heart, and so fatally, that it drives the soul out of the body;--which happens thus. The soul, powerfully …
St. Francis de Sales—Treatise on the Love of God
That all Hope and Trust is to be Fixed in God Alone
O Lord, what is my trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest comfort of all the things which are seen under Heaven? Is it not Thou, O Lord my God, whose mercies are without number? Where hath it been well with me without Thee? Or when could it be evil whilst Thou wert near? I had rather be poor for Thy sake, than rich without Thee. I choose rather to be a pilgrim upon the earth with Thee than without Thee to possess heaven. Where Thou art, there is heaven; and where Thou are not, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ
In this So Great Conflict, Wherein Man under Grace Lives...
13. In this so great conflict, wherein man under Grace lives, and when, being aided, he fights well, rejoices in the Lord with trembling, there yet are not wanting even to valiant warriors, and mortifiers however unconquered of the works of the flesh, some wounds of sins, for the healing of which they may say daily, "Forgive us our debts:" [1855] against the same vices, and against the devil the prince and king of vices, striving with much greater watchfulness and keenness by the very prayer, that …
St. Augustine—On Continence
The Theology of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
This Chapter offers no more than a tentative and imperfect outline of the theology of St. Hilary; it is an essay, not a monograph. Little attempt will be made to estimate the value of his opinions from the point of view of modern thought; little will be said about his relation to earlier and contemporary thought, a subject on which he is habitually silent, and nothing about the after fate of his speculations. Yet the task, thus narrowed, is not without its difficulties. Much more attention, it is …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers
Wherefore Let this be the First Thought for the Putting on of Humility...
42. Wherefore let this be the first thought for the putting on of humility, that God's virgin think not that it is of herself that she is such, and not rather that this best "gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no change nor shadow of motion." [2172] For thus she will not think that little hath been forgiven her, so as for her to love little, and, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish her own, not to be made subject to the righteousness …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.
Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist.
(at Jerusalem. Probably b.c. 6.) ^C Luke I. 5-25. ^c 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa [a Jewish proselyte, an Idumæan or Edomite by birth, founder of the Herodian family, king of Judæa from b.c. 40 to a.d. 4, made such by the Roman Senate on the recommendation of Mark Antony and Octavius Cæsar], a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course [David divided the priests into twenty-four bodies or courses, each course serving in rotation one week in the temple …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel
The Daily Walk with Others (I. ).
When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magnify We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk alone with God in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience. A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY. A word presents itself to be …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren
An Analysis of Augustin's Writings against the Donatists.
The object of this chapter is to present a rudimentary outline and summary of all that Augustin penned or spoke against those traditional North African Christians whom he was pleased to regard as schismatics. It will be arranged, so far as may be, in chronological order, following the dates suggested by the Benedictine edition. The necessary brevity precludes anything but a very meagre treatment of so considerable a theme. The writer takes no responsibility for the ecclesiological tenets of the …
St. Augustine—writings in connection with the donatist controversy.
Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux
Prayer
But I give myself unto prayer.' Psa 109: 4. I shall not here expatiate upon prayer, as it will be considered more fully in the Lord's prayer. It is one thing to pray, and another thing to be given to prayer: he who prays frequently, is said to be given to prayer; as he who often distributes alms, is said to be given to charity. Prayer is a glorious ordinance, it is the soul's trading with heaven. God comes down to us by his Spirit, and we go up to him by prayer. What is prayer? It is an offering …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments
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
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