Psalm 3:8














We have heard of the vox regis, and in these last days we are threatened with the equally dangerous and delusive vox populi. Let us consider -

I. NUMBERS DO NOT DETERMINE THE QUESTION OF RIGHT. There is a tendency with many to shirk responsibility. They look to others. Surely what the many say must be right. But this is folly. God has given us reason and freedom. We must judge for ourselves. Only what we know to be true can be truth to us; only what we feel in our consciences to be right can be binding upon us as duty. Besides, we see how often in the past the few have been in the right, not the many. Noah by his faith condemned the world. Elijah stood alone against the priests of Baal. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego dared the fiery furnace rather than bow with the multitude before the golden idol. Only when the people are all righteous can they be all right.

II. NUMBERS DO NOT DETERMINE THE QUESTION OF SUCCESS. No doubt there are times when numbers prevail. The few are crushed by the mere weight and force of the multitude. It has been said that "God is on the side of the biggest battalions;" but this is true in only a limited sense. Suppose the battalions are undisciplined or badly commanded, defeat may come instead of victory. But in the nobler fields - in the strife of truth and falsehood - how often has the victory been with the few, instead of the many! Besides, the question, in the deepest sense, is not - What wilt succeed? but - What is right?

"He is a slave, who will not be
In the right, with two or three." Further, we must not measure success by the poor standards of this world. What seems failure to us may be victory in the sight of the holy angels and of God.

III. NUMBERS DO NOT DETERMINE THE QUESTION OF HAPPINESS. It is hard to stand alone. It costs a struggle to dare to be singularly good. But better far have peace within than sacrifice conscience to convenience, and freedom to popularity. St. Peter was happier shut up in prison than when, in fear of men, he denied his Lord. St. Paul was infinitely more calm and joyous when he stood before Nero than when, with all the authority of the Sanhedrin, he set out on his fierce crusade against the Christians. Better be true than false; better be free than the slave of opinion; better, with St. Stephen and the martyrs, press heavenwards through "peril, toil, and pain," than follow a multitude to do evil. - W.F.

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord.
I. THE MEANING OF THIS SENTIMENT. The words carry a general confession of the influence of Divine Providence upon every event, and in particular with respect to salvation, or deliverance from impending danger. The words imply three things.

1. All confidence in man stands opposed to the sentiment. It is not opposed to the use of means, but to an excessive reliance on second causes of any kind. Success in any attempt is to be ultimately attributed to God.

2. The Psalmist had in view the omnipotence of Providence. God has not only the direction and government of means and second causes, but is Himself superior to all means. Salvation signifies a great and distinguished deliverance.

3. The sentiment has respect to the mercy and goodness of God, or His readiness to hear the cry of the oppressed and send deliverance to His people. Power and wisdom alone give an imperfect display of the Divine character.

II. DIVINE PROVIDENCE IN DEALING WITH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. In conclusion, some practical improvement of the subject.

1. It is our duty to give praise to God for the present happy and promising state of public affairs.

2. We should testify our gratitude to God by living in His fear, and by a conversation such as becometh the gospel.

3. And by usefulness in our several stations. Let us guard against using our liberty as a cloak for licentiousness, and thus poisoning the blessing after we have attained it.

(T. Witherspoon, D. D.)

This will be seen if we consider —

I. THE WORK OF THE FATHER IN DEVISING IT.

1. Adam fell by his own sin, and so involved all posterity.

2. Thus all needed salvation; and.

3. God's flee grace devised it.

II. THE INCARNATION AND ATONEMENT OF CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, WHICH EXECUTED IT.

III. THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST IN APPLYING IT. For of ourselves we cannot repent and believe. And yet unless we do we are lost. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us into a state of grace.

(T. Myers, A. M.)

Thy blessing is upon Thy people
At the Mint a piece of gold is put under the stamp, and in the twinkling of an eye the machine descends and the gold becomes a sovereign. So when we see that God is our Father, and that He in Christ died for us, then in a moment, like the stamp on the gold, we receive the witness of the Holy Spirit. The gold bears the stamp of the a the image and blessing of God.

I. WHAT IS A BLESSING? Not merely when we have what we wish, but far more when we do not wish what we have not.

II. THE GREATEST BLESSING IS TO KNOW THAT WE HAVE THE LORD FOR OUR FATHER.

III. IT IS A GREAT BLESSING WHEN WE CAN LIVE TEMPERATELY. What a curse is drunkenness.

IV. IS NOT THE BIBLE A BLESSING? An infidel said one day, "There is only one thing that troubles me: I am afraid the Bible is true." But what a blessing that it is so. When Sir Walter Scott lay dying he requested a friend to help him into his library, so that he could look out from the window on the river Tweed. Then he asked for something to be read to him. His friend said, "What book shall I select?" Sir Walter replied, "Can you ask? There is but one — the Bible." Is this book a blessing to you?

V. THE LORD GIVES HIS PEOPLE THE BLESSING OF BEING ABLE TO TRUST HIM. In the darkness of night you may strike a match and try to light the candle, but you must first take off the extinguisher. And so you cannot feel happy while you keep on the extinguisher of doubt over your heart. How blessed it is to trust in God.

VI. WHAT A BLESSING TO KNOW THAT JESUS DIED FOR US.

(William Birch.)

I. WHAT IS GOD'S BLESSING? Given an occasion upon which we are called upon to write on paper our idea of the Divine blessing: hand me the papers and I will examine them: shall I find in a thousand instances upwards of nine hundred that will run after this fashion? — God's blessing is sunshine, music, prosperity, deliverance from all affliction, distress, fear; God's blessing is on the house where there is no vacant chair, upon the fold where there is no dead lamb, upon the estate where there is no covered grave. So your papers would read, and so would they be wrong. God's blessing may be upon a man without any sense of external sunshine. The clouds do not alter the month. There may be dark clouds upon a June noonday, but it is still June, the sun is still warm, summer is still on the eve of coming upon us, with all its countless flowers and all its ineffable music. God's blessing does not mean exemption from pain; nor does God's discipline mean mere penalty. God's blessing is not a sleeping draught but an inspiration. If you are asleep when you ought to be awake do not say, This is the blessing of God. God's blessing, I repeat, is not an opiate; it is an inspiration, an excitement, a voice in the soul that says, Onward!

II. HOW ARE WE TO KNOW THAT THE BLESSING IS ON US? Easily; there need be no difficulty about that. When you feel that you must do more work, God's blessing is upon you. Be sure of that confidence. When you want to be idle, God has withdrawn from you because you have withdrawn from Him. When are we to know that God's blessing is upon us? I will tell you: when you feel that you must help other people more liberally than you have ever done; not when you tie your purse strings, but when you open them is God's blessing on you. You have done nothing yet; I have done nothing yet. It is the crime of the Church that it has played with its responsibilities. We are always compounding with God, we are always filing our bill in the chancery court of heaven, and asking God to accept a penny in the pound. Do not close your eyes under such circumstances and say, This is the comfort of grace. When you feel that you must go four-and-twenty hours in the day in doing good, God's blessing is upon you. Of course, nature will say, Lie down, poor child, and rest awhile, because time spent in sleep is time spent in true labour; thou shalt in sleep recover thine energy, and do ten fold more because of a good night's rest. But when the first thought is work, and the middle thought is work, and the last thought is work, then say, Thy blessing is upon Thy people; this is no longer an inspiration but a fact accomplished.

III. WE CANNOT ARRANGE FOR THE DIVINE BLESSING. Do not accept the sophism that the Divine blessing can be used as an element in speculation or investment. The Divine blessing comes as the wheat comes: it comes after ripping up the earth, sowing it, preparing it, and after a long process, it may be, of waiting; so it comes not by itself but as the final mark in a series, as the blessing upon a process. When the golden wheat swings in the autumnal wind and throws back the autumnal sunlight, all the seasons of the year seem to culminate in that one motion. Winter is there, because winter gave the earth its hospitality of sleep; spring is there, and summer is there, and autumn is there: in that golden wheat the four seasons of the year hold harmonious festival. Some have not begun yet to do anything. When the lists are made out our names will not be upon them. The first shall be last and the last shall lie first.

(Joseph Parker, D. D.)

I. GOD'S SPECIAL RELATION IN THE WORLD. "Thy people." The king of a nation and the father of a family hold peculiar relations

II. FROM GOD'S SPECIAL RELATION SPRING SPECIAL BENEFITS. "Thy blessing." The ruler of a people, from his position and power, holds in his hands benefits which are for his nation alone. A loving father has a peculiar regard for the welfare of his own family. Israel enjoyed benefits that were not extended to other nations.

III. THE BENEFITS SPRINGING FROM THE SPECIAL RELATION MUST BE SOUGHT BY PRAYER. Spiritual blessings are obtained only by prayer. The Apostles had a definite promise given to them of the Holy Ghost, yet they were commanded to pray for His descent (Acts 1:4-14). So in the individual life (Luke 11:18).

(William Harris.)

This was the confidence and comfort of the Psalmist when deprived of earthly friends and earthly comforts. The more we know of the power of sin, the more we shall prize the sovereignty of God.

I. THE NATURE OF THIS BLESSING WHICH IS UPON THE PEOPLE OF GOD. All the blessedness they have is by Christ Jesus the Lord; and to understand the blessing we must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. As there was a fourfold curse pronounced upon the serpent, you will find the very reverse relative to the Lord Jesus Christ and His people.

1. The serpent was to "go upon his belly." While the enemy is condemned in all that he does, the Lord Jesus Christ is justified in all that He does. The Lord Jesus felt that all He thought, and all He did, and all He said was right. He felt that He had no sin of His own. He enjoys the consciousness that all He has done and does is right, and we in Him get rid of all our sins, guilt, and fears, and rest not in a consciousness of our fleshly, personal, legal right, but in a consciousness of the righteousness of Christ, the efficacy of His great salvation, the eternity of His glory. Draw a line of distinction between a moral reality and a spiritual reality. Moral reality is good, and a good principle to act upon among men; but if I go to eternal things I must go beyond this — I must come to the reality of atoning blood, I must come to the reality of saving grace.

2. The enemy was "to eat dust." This is to be understood figuratively. As for the enemy, and all that are with him, their attainments shall be all perishable — shall be but dust. Was the Lord Jesus to feed upon perishable things? No. His meat His attainments are imperishable, His honours incorruptible, His glories inimitable, His grandeur indescribable. While He lived in this world He lived upon immortal things. He is with us in these infinite provisions, in opposition to that destitution, that famine, that state of misery which we deserve. The "blessing" overcomes a great curse. While dust shall be the serpent's meat, our bread shall be royal dainties.

3. The serpent was to be cast out. There was to be enmity between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed. They should come together, and one or the other must prevail. "The prince of this world is cast out."

4. The serpent's head should be bruised. Here is the confusion, the defeat, of all his plans. But can confusion ever reach the infinite mind of Jehovah-Jesus?

II. THE PROGRESSION OF THIS BLESSING. It has been progressive from age to age; and nothing has met with so much opposition. Look at some typical circumstances and watch the progression. Cases of Joseph, David, Mordecai, the Redeemer Himself. See the progress in two individual cases, that of Jeremiah and that of Paul. There is this difference between providence, and grace. Grace is progressive, but providence is retrogressive. The fruit we had last year is gone, but the grace we had when the world was created we have now. None of it passes away.

III. THE CONTINUATION OF THE BLESSING. This originates chiefly in the manner of it. There is no way in which anything contrary to it can enter into the vitals of this blessing, or into the union which the people have with Christ, to affect that union. If you look behind them there is mercy behind them from everlasting. If you look at what is before them, it is eternal life, eternal salvation, eternal glory. So that from the very manner of this blessing no curse can come in.

(James Wells.)

I. THE PEOPLE. The children of Israel were, in a national sense, the people of God. But were they so individually? It is not the name of Christian that can stamp us the people of God. It is in a personal, and not merely in a national or ecclesiastical sense, that God's people are an elect people.

II. THIS PEOPLE ARE A PURCHASED PEOPLE. What shall be the price paid down for that spiritual people, the Church of the firstborn? We are redeemed, not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the blood of Christ.

III. THE PEOPLE ARE A VOLUNTARY PEOPLE. They do not follow God reluctantly, as did the literal Israel. Everyone can say with David, I have "chosen" the way of truth.

IV. A HOLY PEOPLE (Deuteronomy 14:2). The sanctity of Israel was only external and relative; only a type of the purity of the invisible Church. The whole body of the people of whom we speak are holy in an internal and personal sense (John 1:13; 1 John 3:24).

V. A PEOPLE VALUED AND BELOVED. We value the objects of our choice because we have chosen them. God's blessing is on the people themselves, and on their allotments, enjoyments, and even their afflictions, and their labours and connections.

(T. Kennion, M. A.)

Dr. Stewart of Moulin said, "I remember an old pious very recluse minister whom I used to meet once a year. He scarcely ever looked at a newspaper. When others were talking about the French Revolution he showed no concern or curiosity about it. He said he knew from the Bible how it would all end, better than the most sagacious politician: that the Lord reigns; that the earth shall be filled with His glory; that the gospel should be preached to all nations; that all subordinate events are working out these great ends. This was enough for him, and he gave himself no concern about the news or events of the day, only saying, "It will be well with the righteous.".

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness.
This Psalm is mainly a gentle, earnest remonstrance with antagonists, seeking to win them to a better mind. The cry for an answer by deed is based on the name and on the past acts of God. The pronoun "my" is best attached to "righteousness," as the consideration that God is righteous is less relevant than that He is the source of the Psalmist's righteousness. Since He is so, He may be expected to vindicate it by answering prayer with deliverance. He who feels that all good in himself comes from God may be quite sure that, sooner or later, and by some means or other, God will witness to His own work. The strophe division keeps together the prayer and the beginning of the remonstrance to opponents, and does so in order to emphasise the eloquent, sharp juxtaposition of God and the "sons of men." Ver. 6 may be the continuance of the address to the enemies, carrying on the exhortation to trust. Vers. 7 and 8 are separated from ver. 6 by their purely personal reference. The Psalmist returns to the tone of his prayer in ver. 1; only, that petition has given place, as it should do, to possession and confident thankfulness. The Psalmist here touches the bottom, the foundation fact on which every life that is not vanity must be based, and which verifies itself in every life that is so based. The glad heart possessing Jehovah can lay itself down and sleep, though foes stand round. The last words of the Psalm flow restfully like a lullaby.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Homilist.
I. PRAYING.

1. A recognition of God's righteousness. He might have thought upon God now as the "author" of his righteousness, and felt that all that was righteous in his own heart and life came from God; or as the vindicator of his righteousness who alone was able to defend his righteous cause; or as the administrator of righteousness, conducting His government upon righteous principles and bringing even upon him only the sufferings he justly deserved. There is something deep in the soul of man which leads him to appeal to the righteous God when he feels himself to be the victim of fraud or violence. Even Christ Himself did so.

2. A remembrance of God's goodness. "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." The reference is to some deliverance which he had experienced. He remembered, perhaps, the goodness of God to him when, ill the field guarding his father's flocks, he was delivered out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear; or His goodness to him in delivering him from the giant of Philistia. The memory of God's past mercies to him gave courage to his heart and an argument in his prayer now. Because God has helped us we expect Him to help us again, and thus we plead. Not so with man. The more our fellow being has helped us the less reason we have to expect His aid. Man's capacity for help is limited. The capability of God is unbounded.

3. An invocation of God's favour. "...Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer." Mercy is what we want. Mercy to forgive, to renovate, to strengthen the soul, to labour and to wait.

II. REBUKING. David having addressed the righteous God in prayer, hurls his rebuke at his enemies. His rebuke is marked —

1. By boldness. "...O ye sons of men" — ye great men of the land — "...O how long will ye turn my glory into shame, how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing. In this appeal the speaker's sense of honour, justice, truth seems to have run into a passion that fired and flooded his whole being.

2. By alarm. "...Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him," which means, "Know this, the Lord will take care of me whom He has elected King to serve Himself, and He will hear when I call upon Him." Your opposition is futile. Beware, you are rebelling not merely against me, but against Omnipotence itself. It is a terrible thing to oppress or injure God's elected ones.

3. By authority. "...Stand in awe, and sin not, commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah." — Mind this. This command includes three things.(1) Cease from your rage. Let your insurrectionary passion be hushed. The soul under wrong passions is like a rudderless bark driven by the tempest; shipwreck is all but inevitable.(2) Retire to thoughtfulness. "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." It is in man's own soul that God meets with him, and communes with him as He did of old before the mercy seat.(3) Practise religion. "...Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord." What is righteous sacrifice? The consecration of our energies, our self, our all, to the service of justice, truth, and God. "...The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart Thou wilt not despise."

III. TEACHING. "There be many that say, who will show us any good? Lord lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us."

1. The universal craving of humanity There are many that say unto us," etc. Men are everywhere craving for happiness. From shops and sanctuaries, from the peasant's cot and the prince's castle, from the bush of savages and the bench of senators, from all lands and lips. the cry is heard,. "Who will show us any good?" We are children walking m the dark, who will show us the way; we are dying with thirst, who will moisten our fevered lips; we are starving with hunger, who will give us any bread? Man, the world over, feels that he has not what he wants.

2. The only satisfaction of humanity. What is it? Fame, wealth, sensual pleasure, superstitious observances? No, these have been tried a thousand times, and failed. Here it is: "Lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance," which means the conscious presence and favour of God.

IV. EXULTING. "...Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." Some render this from the time in which their corn and wine increased, supposing David to refer to the hour when abundant supplies began to come into him, an exile at Mahanaim (2 Samuel 16:1; 2 Samuel 17:28). This may be the correct version. The language in either version expresses the feelings of a soul happy in God.

1. God made him inwardly happy, even in his poverty. He had lost for a time his palace and his kingdom, and was dependent upon the supplies of friends. Yet he was happy, and who made him happy? "...Thou hast put gladness in my heart." God alone can make us happy anywhere and anywhen. "...Although the fig tree shall not blossom," etc. (Habakkuk 3:17). What does Paul say? "...I glory in tribulation." Martyrs have sung in dungeons, and triumphed in flames.

2. God made him consciously secure. His enemies counted their millions. His death they desired. Yet what does he say? — "...I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep." God was his refuge and strength, etc. "...If God be for us, who can be against us?" Learn from this poem where happiness alone can be found. It is in God. An ancient Italian author, in one of his romantic legends, tells us of a tree, many branched, and covered apparently with delectable bunches of fruit; but whoso shook that tree in order to possess the fruit, found, too late, that not fruit, but stones of crushing weight came down upon his head. An emblem this of the tree of unholy pleasure. It is many-branched, it is attractive in aspect, its boughs bend with rich clusters of what seems to be delicious fruit, the millions of the world gather round it, and, with eager hands, shake it in order if possible to taste the luscious fruit. But what is the result of their efforts? Stones come tumbling down that paralyse the soul. "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed; for the end of those things is death."

(Homilist.)

I. THE PSALMIST'S APPEAL. This book is full of such appeals. It is remarkable that there has come down to us a book full of the most confidingly, reverent, pleading utterances, addressed to the unseen and eternal God. There are not many petitions in this Psalm. "Hear me when I call" — only "hear me," that is enough. Is there no heart to respond to us? Yes, He is hearing, that is enough.

II. THE GROUNDS OF THE APPEAL. Two considerations on which the appeal is founded.

1. The character of God. Not simply "my righteous God," but "God, the author of my righteousness, from Whom all that is true and right in me has come."

2. And the goodness already experienced. "Thou hast enlarged me." It was not untried mercy. No one looks to history for a message of despair — at any rate, no good man — for he always finds that the storm ends in calm, that the darkest hour precedes the dawn, that the struggles result in progress. Let us also appeal for mercy to the God of righteousness, and take the past as an argument. There has been care in the past; there has been goodness in the past: Gethsemane is in the past; Calvary is in the past. Plead the past.

(James Owen.)

Thou hast enlarged me.
I. DAVID'S PRAYER FOR MERCY DESIRED.

1. The tide which David here puts upon God. "God of my righteousness." That is, the God who makes me to be righteous: the Author of it. Better here, the God that shows me to be righteous, that maintains my righteous cause. Look at this —(1) Directly in itself. God does own the righteousness of those who are His servants. This is grounded on His nature. His affection and His relation carries Him to it likewise. He is my God, and therefore the God of my righteousness. There is also His covenant and interest. In two ways God owns our righteousness. In clearing it and in avenging it.(2) Reflexively, as coming from David; who, having righteousness and equity on his side, does now with a great deal of boldness and confidence take himself to God for redress. Whence we see what is to be practised by everyone else.

2. The request itself. "Hear me when I call" has respect to David's complaint in case of injury. "Hear my prayer," that is, grant me that particular request which I desire of Thee. See his desire of being heard in his performance, "when I call." Attention must be given to the matter of prayer, that it be such as is according to God's will; the manner of prayer, that it be with zeal, fervency, and intention; the principle of prayer, that it be done in faith. There should also be the ordering of ourselves in other things suitable hereunto, as their hearing of God Himself. Hearing of others in their necessities: abstaining from all kinds of sin whatsoever.

3. The terms whereupon he deals with Him. On account of mercy, grace, and favour. We must have recourse to His mercy, and urge upon Him this consideration above all others. Let us make much of this attribute of mercy, and improve it to our own comfort and advantage.

II. DAVID'S ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MERCY RECEIVED. God loves to manifest His power in deliverance. He brings into distress, and so from thence takes occasion to enlarge. There is a double enlargement, one of state and condition; the other of heart and affection. There is a double enlargement of spirit, the one is in order to duty, the other in order to comfort.

(Thomas Horton, D. D.)

This enlargement is the great thing to be desired and sought after in all our histories. Sin dwarfs us — it lowers us alike in the scale of creation and in the scope of our immortal being. So possible is it for all true spiritual life to be crushed, all inward growth and spiritual development to be repressed, by worldliness of heart and aim. The contrast therefore is a study; enlargement of estate, or enlargement of soul. "Thou hast enlarged me. Here is a beautiful consciousness.

I. THE CAUSE REVEALED. "When I was in distress." Distress had driven me to Him Who revealed me to myself. He diminished my estate and my health; but He enlarged me.

II. THE QUESTION SUGGESTED. Why? Because I am a man capable of enlargement. You cannot enlarge the merely finite like this. Every spiritual advance is only a step upward and onward in the immortal ascent, every enlargement is only a prophecy of yet wider range. Not one word can be said too much of the majesty of the soul. Standing on the verge of eternity after long years of life, the soul is yet young, and feels the immortal pulses. It is just beginning to know. Unless we grow in grace we may question if we are Christians at all, for life means growth, and the knowledge of God is the infinite study of eternity.

III. THE INFLUENCE CREATED. An enlarged man has a glorious might of personal influence; such a man elevates social intercourse as he moves among his fellows, and treats their interests in the light of their larger being. The enlarged man seeks to have part in the kingdom which brings life and peace to all his brethren in Christ.

IV. THE EXPECTATION ENJOYED. For what is all this enlargement given? Surely the Divine ministries have a worthy end and aim, or else we have a mystery in man which we have in no other sphere of use or adaptation. The soul implies Divine training and immortal rest. Heaven is the corollary of soul life. Faint not under the good hand of God, for He will exalt you in good time. The enlarged life will have a sphere, where it can enjoy and serve God, forever and for evermore. Thus, too, may we bear distress aright.

(W. M. Statham.)

This Psalm and the previous one are Psalms of distress, utterances of a soul that is crying to God out of the depths; yet, none the less, they are songs of faith, hope, rest in God. In the text we see that gladness comes out of the sorrow, and light shines out of the darkness.

I. THROUGH DISTRESS THERE COMES AN ENLARGEMENT OF PERSONAL CHARACTER.

1. Suffering strengthens character; brings to light the hidden qualities of a man, and teaches him courage, endurance, and self-reliance. I have read of a great botanist who was exiled from his native land, and had obtained employment as an undergardener in a nobleman's service, that while in this situation his master received the present of a valuable plant, the nature and habits of which were quite unknown to him. It was given to the care of the head gardener, and he, supposing it to be of tropical growth, put it into a hothouse, and treated it like other hothouse plants. Under this treatment the plant began to wither and die. One day the undergardener asked permission to examine it, and as soon as he had done so he said, "This is an Arctic plant, and you are killing it with this hothouse treatment." So he took it out to the open air, and heaped ice round it, to the great astonishment of the head gardener. The result justified his wisdom; for the plant was soon perfectly healthy and strong. This story is a parable of human character. It is ease, not difficulty, that is dangerous. Put a man under hothouse treatment, surround him with luxury, hedge him in from opposition; and you take the surest means of sapping him of life and power. Teach him to suffer; and you teach him to be strong.

2. But in a large character, sympathy must be present as well as strength. Without sympathy no character can possess that breadth which is so essential to its perfecting; and there is no such teacher of sympathy as suffering.

II. THINK OF THE LARGER AND SURER PLACE WHICH SUFFERING GIVES US IN THE WORLD OF MEN. There is something in the experience of suffering which enhances a man's social influence. In every walk of life the men of sorrows are the men of power. We may not be able fully to explain why this is so; but we know quite well that the very fact of suffering gives a man a claim upon us, and a hold over us, which nothing else can give. "Under our present conditions," says one, "there is something in the very expansiveness of joy which dissociates, while sorrow seems to weld us together, like hammer strokes on steel." Do we not find that the influence which Jesus exerts is an emanation from His Cross? He was made "perfect through sufferings" — not perfect in His own nature, for that was perfect already, but perfect in His power to touch and save and bless; and so His dominion was enlarged through His distress.

III. No doubt David was thinking most of all of a religious enlargement — AN ENLARGEMENT OF HIS HEART TOWARDS GOD, AND AN ENLARGEMENT OF GOD'S MERCY TOWARDS HIM.

1. Men are enlarged through their distress. Their horizon grows wider and deeper. The sunlight fades, the night falls; but in the darkness a greater and more glorious world appears; for the stars shine out from the immeasurable depths — those "street lamps of the City of God."

2. Our enlargement in distress does not lie only in our new thoughts about God, but in God's new mercies towards us. The Lord has special mercies for His children in distress, as a mother has kisses and fond soothing words for her little child who has hurt himself by a fall. Did you ever consider this, that there are stores of blessing held in reserve within the eternal treasuries, the fulness of which you can only know in the day of trial?

3. In one of two ways distress works — it makes a man either better or worse. We have seen it making people narrower and more selfish and more sullen. We have also seen it making them broader and more sympathetic, more considerate and more gracious. All depends upon their way of meeting it. Meet it in the Psalmist's faith, hope, and patience.

(J. G. Lambert, B. D.)

People
Absalom, David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Belongeth, Belongs, Blessing, Chief, David, Deliverance, Instruments, Musician, Psalm, Salvation, Selah, Stringed
Outline
1. The security of God's protection

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 3:8

     1320   God, as Saviour
     6634   deliverance
     8666   praise, manner and methods

Psalm 3:1-8

     5087   David, reign of
     8618   prayerfulness

Library
Table of the Books of Holy Scripture According to Date.
HISTORICAL BOOKS. PROPHETIC AND POETICAL BOOKS. B.C. 4004 1689 Genesis 1529 Job Psalm lxxxviii. by Heman, the Ezrahite, (See 1 Chron. ii. 6) 1491 Exodus 1491 Leviticus 1451 Numbers Psalm xc. and (perhaps) xci 1450 Deuteronomy 1451 1427 Joshua 1312 Ruth 1120 Judges 1171 1056 1 Samuel Psalms, certainly vii, xi, xvi, xvii, xxii, xxxi, xxxiv, lvi, liv, lii, cix, xxxv, lvii, lviii, cxliii, cxl, cxli, and many more 1056 1 Chronicles Psalms, certainly ii, vi, ix, xx, 1023 Psalms
Charlotte Mary Yonge—The Chosen People

The History of the Psalter
[Sidenote: Nature of the Psalter] Corresponding to the book of Proverbs, itself a select library containing Israel's best gnomic literature, is the Psalter, the compendium of the nation's lyrical songs and hymns and prayers. It is the record of the soul experiences of the race. Its language is that of the heart, and its thoughts of common interest to worshipful humanity. It reflects almost every phase of religious feeling: penitence, doubt, remorse, confession, fear, faith, hope, adoration, and
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Godly are in Some Sense Already Blessed
I proceed now to the second aphorism or conclusion, that the godly are in some sense already blessed. The saints are blessed not only when they are apprehended by God, but while they are travellers to glory. They are blessed before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and blood. What, reproached and maligned, yet blessed! A man that looks upon the children of God with a carnal eye and sees how they are afflicted, and like the ship in the gospel which was covered with waves' (Matthew 8:24),
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Of the Necessity of Divine Influences to Produce Regeneration in the Soul.
Titus iii. 5, 6. Titus iii. 5, 6. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. IF my business were to explain and illustrate this scripture at large, it would yield an ample field for accurate criticism and useful discourse, and more especially would lead us into a variety of practical remarks, on which it would be pleasant
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

Christ's Kingly Office
Q-26: HOW DOES CHRIST EXECUTE THE OFFICE OF A KING? A: In subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. Let us consider now Christ's regal office. And he has on his vesture, and on his thigh, a name written, "King of kings, and Lord of lords", Rev 19:16. Jesus Christ is of mighty renown, he is a king; (1.) he has a kingly title. High and Lofty.' Isa 57:15. (2.) He has his insignia regalia, his ensigns of royalty; corona est insigne
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Consolation
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received at the LORD 's hand double for all her sins. T he particulars of the great "mystery of godliness," as enumerated by the Apostle Paul, constitute the grand and inexhaustible theme of the Gospel ministry, "God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

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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