then the floods would have engulfed us, then the torrent would have overwhelmed us, Sermons
I. JEHOVAH'S RESISTANCE MAY BE A PERMISSION. It need not be confounded with a prevention. God does not always save men by taking their enemies, or the schemes of their enemies, away. He does not turn back the floods. He lets them flow on just the same. He may not even remove the feeling and the fear which the floods produce. We should never lose the confidence that, if our enemies are in the floods, God is much more in the floods. They may seem to work our enemy's purpose; they really do work out God's purpose. Divine permissions are the signs of Divine wisdom and love. And this St. Paul had to learn. II. JEHOVAH'S RESISTANCE MAY BE A PRESERVATION. Only the shakable, ill-founded things are swept down by the mountain spate. The house founded on the rock makes effective resistance. And that is what God did for the returned exiles - held them safe through that time of strain and storm. God in our circumstances we often find it very difficult to trace; God for us we may always see clearly; and that guarantees preservation. - R.T.
Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorning of those that are at ease. Homilist. I. Man's disregard for man EXPLAINS THE SOCIAL SORROWS OF THE WORLD. Were all men lovingly interested in each other, would there be pauperism, fraud, oppression, persecution, war, etc.?II. Man's disregard for man reveals the MORAL APOSTASY OF MANKIND. The constitution of the soul, with its moral sense and social sympathies, as well as the Bible, assure us that man was made to love his brother, that no man should seek his own supremely, but each another's weal. Sin has broken the social bond, shattered the social temple, unstrung the social harp. III. Man's disregard for man PROVES THE WORLD'S NEED OF A REDEEMER. If men do not care for men, who is to help the world? There is only One who can do it, and that is Christ. He came for this purpose, He came to redeem men from all iniquity. (Homilist.) (N. McMichael.). If it had not been the Lord who was on our side. Homilist. I. ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (vers. 1-5).1. The words represent the great troubles from which the Almighty wrought deliverance, as springing out of the hostility of man. 2. The hostility of man is represented by two figures — (1) (2) II. PRAISED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (vers. 6, 7). 1. Temporal. Israel in Babylonian exile. 2. Spiritual. Without figure, the unregenerate soul is in thraldom, and the Gospel alone can deliver it. III. TRUSTED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (ver. 8). This trust is founded — 1. On His past goodness. 2. On His glorious name. 3. On His unbounded resources. (Homilist.) I. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY ESTIMATING HER DANGER (vers. 3-5, 7).II. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY RECOGNIZING HER DELIVERER (vers. 1, 2, 8). III. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY EXPRESSING HER GRATITUDE (ver. 6). This psalm abounds with striking figures, which, intelligently explained, may be forcefully applied. (J. O. Keen, D. D.) To this writer the nation's life had been full of "ifs" and "thens" — its saddening possibilities with their dreary consequences. If we had stood alone, if God had not been round about us, if unerring wisdom had not thought for us and worked for us when the calamity threatened, — then had we been as the bird in the snare of the fowler, then had we been overwhelmed! Ifs and thens, — possibilities and their consequences.I. HUMAN POSSIBILITIES MAY BE UNDER DIVINE CONTROL. Whenever God calls a life into existence, He fills it to the brim with "ifs" and "thens," with possibilities and their consequences. Take the first recorded scene in human life, remembering that it is highly symbolic. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it;" that was a life of far-reaching possibilities, which God made still clearer by laying down His "if" and "then": if man obeyed, then all would be well; if he disobeyed, then all would be ill. God has treated every life since upon the same broad, universal Scale; and we need to bear in mind constantly, earnestly, that our life is arranged in the same fashion. II. DIVINE DELIVERANCE FOLLOWS DIVINE CONTROL. God has filled each life with its possibilities that there may ever be the supreme need for His guidance. God has not stereotyped life for us. Each sets up his life's story from founts of movable type; it may be in this way, it may be in that, as we set the type. This makes life so magnificent, so awful. But when God is on our side, when we have chosen Him for our controller, when we set the type of life as He directs, then the printed page comes forth at last fair and clear upon imperishable parchment; and God shall read its record before assembled worlds, and pronounce it "well done," for it will be His work done by us under His superintendence and by His strength. Let the life be under Divine control, and it must be crowned with Divine deliverance as surely as sunrising brings the light. (G. Davies.) Why should believers need to be rescued from the teeth of the wild beast: why not prevent the wild beast from laying hold of them? Why should they need to be delivered from the snare of the fowler: why not prevent the snare from being set? Why should they need to be snatched from the swiftly rushing torrent, which is just about to overwhelm them: why not keep back the floods of waters, and bid their proud waves be still? Afflictions are sent by God.I. TO PROMOTE OUR SPIRITUAL IMPROVEMENT. The branches are pruned, and they bring forth more fruit: the flowers are crushed, and they yield their precious perfumes: the gem is cut deeper, and it sparkles with new lustre: the gold is thrown into the crucible, and, purified from the dross, it shines with greater splendour than ever. Once, in company with a clerical friend in a rural district, I paid a visit to a member of his church, whose affliction had been severe and protracted. He was a stone-mason. His sufferings had evidently been sanctified; and, some remarks being made in connection with this, he said, "I must have been a very hard stone, sir; for I have needed a great deal of hewing." II. TO TEST OUR SINCERITY. Not on a review day can the brave man be distinguished from the coward. Amidst brilliant uniforms, and waving banners, and the sounds of martial music, and applauding spectators, you cannot discriminate the true man from the counterfeit. But the real character is known, when comes the tug of war, and the enemy is before you, and friends and companions are falling thick around you. So it is in the Christian warfare. Far more moral courage is demanded for a sick-bed than for a field of battle, where men are urged on to the work of mutual destruction. And who can tell what a hallowed influence may proceed from afflictions, when endured in an uncomplaining and cheerful spirit! (N. McMichael.) 1. The figures employed describe the situation of God's people in any place or age, when they suddenly find themselves overtaken by calamity, when sorrow bursts upon them like the mountainous wave on a ship, when floods of ungodly men make them afraid, when they seem to feel in their flesh the teeth Of slander and malice, when they are unexpectedly entangled in perplexities and difficulties like the bird in the snare. So the early believers in the Messiah were troubled by Jewish and Roman persecutors, saints in many lands have been worried by Papal wolves, the evangelists of the last century were mobbed by worldly men, and the Christians in Madagascar and British India were more recently assailed by heathen foes. So the man of business is smitten by misfortune, disease springs upon its unsuspecting victim, and a family is diminished by death. So the convicted sinner is stricken by the terrors of God's law, the convert has to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, and the righteous soul is in heaviness through manifold temptations. All the cry is, what can be dons? How may we escape? Who will help us?2. If Christians, we can profitably call to mind many escapes from evil. 3. It becomes us carefully to trace blessings to their source. The poet is less particular to describe the danger and the escape than to proclaim and praise the great Deliverer. We did not save ourselves. It was not the stamp of our foot that quieted the earthquake, not the sound of our voice that stilled the tempest, not the might of our arm that slew the lion, not the power of our hand that rent the network. It was lint any creature except as sent by God, armed with a portion of His strength, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, that in any degree accomplished our salvation. (E. J. Robinson.) People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Covered, Engulfed, Flood, Overflowed, Overwhelmed, Passed, Soul, Stream, Streams, Swept, Torrent, WatersOutline 1. The church blesses God for a miraculous deliveranceDictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 124:1-58609 prayer, as praise and thanksgiving Library PSALM CXXIV. [Psalm 124] 8,6,8,6,8,8,7 Wo Gott der Herr nicht zu uns hält [48]Justus Jonas trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1869 If God were not upon our side When foes around us rage, Were not Himself our Help and Guide When bitter war they wage, Were He not Israel's mighty Shield, To whom their utmost crafts must yield, We surely must have perished. But now no human wit or might Should make us quail for fear, God sitteth in the highest height, And makes their counsels clear; When craftiest snares and nets … Catherine Winkworth—Christian Singers of Germany Letter Xliv Concerning the Maccabees but to whom Written is Unknown. 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