Psalm 21:4 He asked life of you, and you gave it him, even length of days for ever and ever. In Christ these words are true of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are supremely true of Him who is the fountain of life. "He asked life of Thee." Is thin true of us? That depends upon what meaning we attach to the petition, "asking life." What we should ask for is life given to God here, in the hope of life to be received from God hereafter. We may put out of all hope of this life eternal all who openly reject it. It is the heart given to God which God requires. Religion may only too easily be in any man like the clothes which he so regularly takes off at night and puts on in the morning. It must be the life, the heart, the will, the whole inner man given to God here, through faith and hope of that eternal life which He will bestow upon His true people in the world beyond the grave. Our life in this world must be, as far as we can make it, a resemblance of His pure and blessed life while He was on earth, the perfect example of what every man ought to be who is made in the image and likeness of God. What He was perfectly and altogether, that we must be in part. Then shall we have life from His life. Do not suppose that any Christian can obtain that life without communion with Christ. It is as we live in and for Christ in this world that we shall find life — life from Him here, life with Him hereafter. (W. J. Stracey, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.WEB: He asked life of you, you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever. |
    |