Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar. Sermons
Lowliness and humility are the court-dress of God; he who wears them will please him well. "Respect unto." Bends down to look on them; draws them near to communion with him; gives them office and place beside him; entrusts them with honorable commissions for him. There is sharp contrast with God's treatment of the proud. Them, too, he knoweth; but them he knoweth afar off; he keeps them at a distance; he has no intimacy with them, and could have no pleasure in their company. The proud man is the self-sufficient man, who is his own center. He does not want God, and would not know what to do with him if he had him. And there is no reason why God should want him, or trouble to find a place for one who does not want any place found for him. I. GOD HAS REGARD FOR THE LOWLY BECAUSE THEY WANT HIM. All good persons are fully responsive to frail, weak things, that are entirely dependent on them. See the mother with a sickly child; or the teacher with a backward but loving child. Lowliness is a noble quality. It must not be confused with timidity, or self-conscious humiliation. It is that kind of estimate a man has of himself, when he has set before himself a worthy standard. But what is here more especially in view is that lowliness is the consciousness of want; and, in its best form, the consciousness of want which only God can supply. The lowly man is "not sufficient of himself;" "his sufficiency is of God" It is of the very nature of God to be the "Friend of the friendless and the faint." II. GOD HAS REGARD FOR THE LOWLY BECAUSE HE WANTS THEM. God ever alone, in solitary and isolated grandeur, is a totally inconceivable idea. God is Love; and love wants somebody to love. And the lowly ones are precisely those whom God can love, whose love he can enjoy, and on whom his love can be wisely expended. Bonar has a striking hymn, beginning, "Thou needest me, even me." III. GOD HAS REGARD FOR THE LOWLY BECAUSE THEY ARE LIKE HIM. It may be difficult to recognize lowliness as an essential of the Divine character, but it is of the essence of goodness; and it is plain enough in God manifest in the flesh. Kinness in this brings man and Christ, man and God, into loving fellowship. - R.T. Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. I. WHAT IS HERE ASSERTED RESPECTING GOD. He is "high," i.e. glorious, majestic, infinite in every excellent and glorious attribute. II. THE CHEERING DECLARATION WHICH ACCOMPANIES THIS ASSERTION. "Yet hath He respect unto the lowly." 1. A character described. (1)Possessed of a humble and contrite heart.(2)Earnestly hungering and thirsting after righteousness.(3)Coming to Christ for the blessings of salvation.(4)Every Christian grace is connected with this lowliness.(5)The Scriptures represent those who were most eminent for piety as wearing this grace: Job, Daniel, Paul.2. The great God is here represented as manifesting peculiar favour to the lowly. (1)Forgiving mercy.(2)Introduction into His family.(3)Grace.(4)Glory.() I. AS IT AFFECTS THE JUDGMENTS WHICH WE FORM OF OURSELVES. Humility, as distinguished from meanness, and opposed to arrogance of mind, consists in forming a just and moderate opinion of our own endowments and merits. It disposes us to examine our character with impartiality — it suffers not self-love to magnify our good qualities — it contrasts our imperfections with our virtues — it compares our own excellencies and defects with those which are discernible in the characters of others, and permits us not to rise, in our own esteem, above the rank which we really possess among our brethren around us. II. AS IT AFFECTS OUR CONDUCT TOWARDS OUR BRETHREN. To the low it condescends without degrading the character — to the high it pays its homage without assentation or servility. Founded on a moderate conception of our own ability, it disposes us to listen with respect to the opinions of others; arising from a just sense of our own imperfection, it teaches us to make allowance for their errors and defects. In its external manner it is placid and unassuming. It expresses itself by the mildness of its look and the gentleness of its language. It claims not — it expects not any extraordinary attention; its own importance is forgotten amidst its courtesy to others. III. AS IT PREPARES US FOR DISCHARGING, IN THE MOST BECOMING MANNER, OUR DUTIES TO GOD. In the presence of that God whoso majesty fills the heavens and the earth the humble prostrate themselves on their native dust. Their own limited knowledge is annihilated in their esteem when they consider the height and the depth of the judgments of God; and their own imperfect goodness is lost to their view when they contemplate that diffusive bounty by which the universe is blest. Feeling and acknowledging the feebleness of their minds, they receive with gratitude the revelation of heaven. In their religious services there is no ostentation. Their employment is with God alone. It is to acknowledge His favours, of which they confess themselves unworthy; to bewail their transgressions, which they recollect with heartfelt sorrow; to adore the mercy which continues to regard them; to repeat the vows which they regret to have broken, or to bless the grace which has enabled them to perform it. () People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Afar, Exalted, Haughty, Knoweth, Lifted, Looks, Low, Lowly, Proud, Regardeth, Regards, Respect, Sees, Though, YetOutline 1. David praises God for the truth of his word
4. He prophesies that the kings of the earth shall praise God
7. He professes his confidence in God
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 138:6 8276 humility
8803 pride, evil of Library Faith in Perfection
In the opening, I must remark that this is not the heritage of all mankind. The word, "me," in the text, cannot be appropriated by any man, unless he, in some respects, resembles the character of David, who penned this psalm. The text, however, itself, is its own guard. If you look at it, you will see that there is in its bowels a full description of a true Christian. I will ask you three questions suggested by the words themselves, and according to your answer to these three questions, shall be …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859Question of the Contemplative Life
I. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? S. Thomas, On the Beatific Vision, I., xii. 7 ad 3m II. Do the Moral Virtues pertain to the Contemplative Life? S. Augustine, Of the City of God, xix. 19 III. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? S. Augustine, Of the Perfection of Human Righteousness, viii. 18 " Ep., cxxx. ad probam IV. Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God, or in the Consideration …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life Epistle Xlvii. To Dominicus, Bishop.
To Dominicus, Bishop. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage [1454] . We have received with the utmost gratification the letters of your Fraternity, which have reached us somewhat late by the hands of Donatus and Quodvultdeus, our most reverend brethren and fellow-bishops, and also Victor the deacon with Agilegius the notary. And though we thought that we had suffered loss from the tardiness of their coming, yet we find gain from their more abundant charity; seeing that from this delay in point …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The Coming Revival
"Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?"--PS. lxxxv. 6. "O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years."--HAB. iii. 2. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy right hand shall save me."--PS. cxxxviii. 7. "I dwell with him that is of a humble and contrite heart, to revive the heart of the contrite ones."--ISA. lvii. 15. "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us. He will revive us."--HOS. vi. 1, 2. The Coming …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession Forasmuch as Each Man is a Part of the Human Race...
1. Forasmuch as each man is a part of the human race, and human nature is something social, and hath for a great and natural good, the power also of friendship; on this account God willed to create all men out of one, in order that they might be held in their society not only by likeness of kind, but also by bond of kindred. Therefore the first natural bond of human society is man and wife. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one …
St. Augustine—On the Good of Marriage Prayer Out of the Deep.
Hear my prayer, O God; and hide not Thyself from my petition. Take heed unto me and hear me; how I mourn in my prayer and am vexed.--Psalm iv. 1, 2. In my trouble I will call upon the Lord, and complain unto my God; so shall He hear my voice out of His holy temple, and my complaint shall come before Him; it shall enter even into His ears.--Ps. xviii. 5, 6. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him; He also will hear their cry, and will help them.--Psalm cxlv. 18, 19. In the day when I cried …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep Wherefore a Few Witnesses, which the Lord Deigns to Suggest to My Mind...
32. Wherefore a few witnesses, which the Lord deigns to suggest to my mind, I proceed to mention, from out the teaching of Christ concerning humility, such as perhaps may be enough for my purpose. His discourse, the first which He delivered to His disciples at greater length, began from this. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." [2105] And these without all controversy we take to be humble. The faith of that Centurion He on this account chiefly praised, and said …
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity. Letter Xliii a Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey.
A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. There is no reason to mourn a son as lost who is a religious, still less to fear for his delicacy of constitution. 1. If God makes your son His son also, what do you lose or what does he himself lose? Being rich he becomes richer; being already high born, of still nobler lineage; being illustrious, he gains greater renown; and--what is more than all--once a sinner he is now a saint. He must be prepared for the Kingdom that has been prepared for him …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux That the Ruler Should be Always Chief in Action.
The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 23.) Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. v. 22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Sense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son.
For whereas man sinned, and is fallen, and by his fall all things are in confusion: death prevailed from Adam to Moses (cf. Rom. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. Ps. xlix. 12), while the devil was exulting against us;--then God, in His loving-kindness, not willing man made in His own image to perish, said, Whom shall I send, and who will go?' (Isa. vi. 8). But while all held their peace, the Son [441] said, …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Introduction. Chapter i. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers.
St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. But there are other reasons for the comparative neglect into which he has fallen. He learnt his theology, as we shall see, from Eastern authorities, and was not content to carry on and develop the traditional teaching of the West; and the disciple …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers 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 138:6 NIV
Psalm 138:6 NLT
Psalm 138:6 ESV
Psalm 138:6 NASB
Psalm 138:6 KJV
Psalm 138:6 Bible Apps
Psalm 138:6 Parallel
Psalm 138:6 Biblia Paralela
Psalm 138:6 Chinese Bible
Psalm 138:6 French Bible
Psalm 138:6 German Bible
Psalm 138:6 Commentaries
Bible Hub
|
