A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand, Sermons
I. IN SOME MEN THE FACULTY OF SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT NEEDS TO BE AROUSED. In a sense this is true of every man. The spiritual faculty is dormant, as is the mental faculty. The educational element has its place in material as well as in spiritual knowledge. Usually, in religious spheres, the spiritual faculty is cultured. But vast masses of humanity, at home and abroad, have little chance of getting beyond the animal stage. The psalmist, however, is evidently thinking of those who voluntarily imprison their thoughts and interests in the things of the flesh and sense. To be a natural brute when we may be a man, is an infinite pity; to be a willing brute when we might be a son of God, is an infinite shame. II. IN SOME MEN THE FACULTY OF SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT NEEDS TO BE DELIVERED. It has been aroused. It has had times of power. But business, pleasure, intellectual pride, material interests, have dimmed it. The man has become a "fool" to his best interests. He has persistently limited his vision to this world, until he has come really to believe that there is no world but this. Press this conclusion: We are responsible for our attitude towards spiritual things; and for our capacity to apprehend spiritual truths. If we pamper the body, we shall be sure to dim the spiritual vision. - R.T.
A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this In this psalm we have a contrast between the animal and the spiritual life, the latter exulting in God, uttering His praise, receiving His thoughts, studying His works; the former cleaving to the earth, wallowing in the dust, with no ambition that soars higher than the husks which it eats, or the roof of the sty which it occupies. "A brutish man." It is originally a compound expression — "a brute-man." It is a degrading epithet, and it is employed in common daily life.I. MAN'S NATURE IS VERY CLOSELY ALLIED TO THAT OF THE ANIMAL. It is difficult to define the boundary between instinct and reason. The mental faculties of man and of the animals run in parallel lines to a point high up on the scale, Where the difference begins. Animals serve man, and should be treated justly, considerately, kindly. II. THE DEGRADATION OF MAN TO THE LEVEL OF THE ANIMAL. 1. When he is ruled by appetite, not by conscience. A man will sometimes attempt to justify his avarice, his pride, his vindictiveness, his sensuality by saying that he is only following the lead of passions which God has implanted in him; that the light which "leads astray is light from heaven," that God has created the appetite in his nature. Yes; but God never intended it to rule or lead; He intended it to serve, to be under the control of reason and conscience and religious principle. 2. When he eats and drinks, and does not worship. Training may produce a great change in animals; education may turn the stolid rustic into an intelligent, cultured scholar; but there is something greater than any advantage which education may confer — that is, the capacity of union and communion with God of lifting up the soul to the Most High. And yet there are some who ignore this, who cast this pearl before the swine of evil passions, darken the window that looks heavenwards, nail the shutters over it, so that not a ray of light can reach the spirit; go down, down to the animal, as if there were no God, no worship, no adoration, no gratitude. The altar is in ruins; and the man has become as the brute. 3. Because he is working blindly. Take a man who is bent on acquiring wealth, who sacrifices everything on the altar of Mammon; he is shrewd, quick to take advantage of the favourable breeze, successful, makes his "pile," as they say. Is he working blindly? Yes, blindly; he has never discerned the meaning of what he is doing, he has never appraised the course at its right value, never estimated its bearing, its consequences to his moral nature; he is like a mole, scratching and burrowing in the dust, with no eye for the broad universe, and the light of God that floods it. And there is no thought of the future. He degrades himself to an equality with the brute, forgetting that while the beast "goes downwards to the earth," the spirit of man "goeth upward," and that man shall receive in another state "according to that he hath done in the body, whether it be good or bad." III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS DEGRADATION. 1. He has no eye for the greatest and noblest in life. Just as the eyes and the light, the air and the lungs correspond to each other, so it is with beauty and taste, science and intellect, friends and affection. And there is a spiritual faculty by which we discern spiritual things. The brutish man represses, restrains, stifles this faculty; resists the Spirit of God, who would quicken, direct, enlarge it. 2. He does not, then, value his nature, as God values it. He has degraded himself to a level with the swine; he has no sense of sonship, no feeling of spiritual dignity, he has gone down and down to the mire. Happy is he if he comes to himself, if in a sane moment the animal is cowed, and the angel asserts itself, and the ragged swineherd says, "I will arise and go to my Father." 3. He has no resources in time of suffering and trouble. God is a stranger — he dreads the thought of God — would fain hope that God does riot exist. He is like the brute; he has nothing to fall back upon. Very different is the experience of the spiritual man. Trouble comes; but he sees God in it. The tempest gathers; but "His way is in the whirlwind," etc. The deep, full, bitter cup is presented — but it has been mingled by a Father's love. The bear deprived of her whelps can only rage and moan; the brutish man bereaved of his children can only curse and rebel; the godly man, missing his loved ones in the gloom of the gorge of death, can say (Job 1:21). ( J. Owen.) People PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Brutish, Doesn't, Dull, Fool, Foolish, Fools, Knoweth, Sense, Senseless, Stupid, Understand, UnderstandethOutline 1. The prophet exhorts to praise God4. For his great works 6. For his judgments on the wicked 10. And for his goodness to the godly. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 92:6 8757 folly, effects of 5135 blindness, spiritual Library December 3. Thy Thoughts are Very Deep (Ps. Xcii. 5). Thy thoughts are very deep (Ps. xcii. 5). When a Roman soldier was told by his guide that if he insisted on taking a certain journey it would probably be fatal he answered, "It is necessary for me to go, it is not necessary for me to live." That was depth. When we are convicted like that we shall come to something. The shallow nature lives in its impulses, its impressions, its intuitions, its instincts, and very largely in its surroundings. The profound character looks beyond all these and moves … Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth God Alone the Salvation of his People The Majesty of God. --Ps. Xcii. Dialogue i. --The Immutable. Sweet is the Work, My God, My King Reprobation. Period ii. The Church from the Permanent Division of the Empire Until the Collapse of the Western Empire and the First Schism Between the East and the West, or Until About A. D. 500 Man's Chief End The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World. The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New. Psalms Links Psalm 92:6 NIVPsalm 92:6 NLT Psalm 92:6 ESV Psalm 92:6 NASB Psalm 92:6 KJV Psalm 92:6 Bible Apps Psalm 92:6 Parallel Psalm 92:6 Biblia Paralela Psalm 92:6 Chinese Bible Psalm 92:6 French Bible Psalm 92:6 German Bible Psalm 92:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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