At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both horse and rider lie stunned. Sermons
"And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. "And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail." God did but speak the word, as the God of Jacob that commands deliverances for Jacob, and, at his rebuke, the chariot and horse were both cast into a dead sleep. See the power and efficacy of God's rebukes. "It is impossible to mistake the allusion to the deeper sleep of death, falling on the sleeping Assyrian army, before the valiant men could 'find their hands,' in the half-waking grasp of weapons in the hour of danger." I. GOD'S REBUKES ARE SOMETIMES WORDS. Illustrate by Moses' messages from God to Pharaoh. Or the case of the prophet who went to Bethel to rebuke Jeroboam. Or Nathan's rebuke of David. Or Elijah's rebuke of Ahab. What is it that specially calls for the Lord's rebuke? Wilfulness. Persistent forcing of a man's own way. And even more precisely, the daring of the man who forces his way when he knows it is contrary to the will of God, or when he means to put dishonour on God. This is the case before us now. Sennacherib was forcing his own way, with designed intention of insulting and humiliating the God of Israel. And still the Divine rebuke is called forth when we fall into the committal of "presumptuous sins." II. GOD'S REBUKES ARE SOMETIMES DEEDS. But they are voiceful deeds. See here, the rebuke was a night blast that slew the tens of thousands, and drove Sennacherib back to his land, a defeated and humiliated man. God's rebuke to hardened Pharaoh was the flower of his army drowned in the Red Sea. God's rebuke to over confident David was three days' plague in the land. God's rebuke to Herod, who accepted the homage due alone to God, was a terrible disease, that carried him off in agony and disgrace. Read life aright, and we may find God's rebuke in disappointments that we have known, and disasters we have suffered. Blessed are they who (1) receive, who (2) heed, and who (3) respond to, their Lord's rebuke! - R.T. I. LOSES SIGHT OF SELF IN DEVOUT ADMIRATION OF THE CHARACTER AND DOINGS OF GOD. 1. He will praise God for His doings.(1) Undeserved by us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."(2) Unsought by us. We did not seek God, but He sought us by Jesus Christ.(3) Freely and heartily given by God out of His own sovereign love. "Bless the Lord, O my soul." 2. He will praise God for His faithfulness. With Him there is "no variableness, neither shadow of turning." 3. He will praise God "for ever." "Let not thy praises be transient — a fit of music, and then the instrument hung by the wall till another gaudy day of some remarkable providence makes thee take it down. God comes not guest-wise to His saints' house, but to dwell with them. David took this up for a life-work: 'As long as I live, I will praise Thee.'" II. EVINCES ITS REALITY BY RESOLVING TO IMITATE HIM. Our praise of the excellences of others is a very hollow affair unless we also cultivate those excellences. We praise God for His "unspeakable gift"; are we imitating His pure generosity? We praise Jesus Christ for His great self-sacrifice for us; are we denying ourselves in His spirit that others might be benefited? We bless God for the Gospel; are we exemplifying the spirit of the Gospel? A certain Dr. Whitaker, on reading the fifth chapter of Matthew, brake out, saying, "Either this is not the Gospel, or we are not of the Gospel." And is it not to be feared that the spirit of the Gospel for which men praise God, and the spirit of their lives, are often widely different? Let us evince the sincerity of our praise to God by imitating Him in our spirit and life. Let us admire Him, commune with Him, adore Him, until we are transformed into the same image. (W. Jones.). In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. I. AS THE GLORIOUS RESIDENT IN THE MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE (vers. 1, 2). God is everywhere; but is in an especial sense present with holy souls. They are represented as His "temple," which implies —1. Special connection with Him. 2. Special consecration to Him. 3. Special manifestation of Him. II. As the triumphant conqueror of his enemies. He does His work — 1. Thoroughly (vers. 3-5). 2. Easily (ver. 6). His word is the fire that will burn up corruption, the hammer that will break the rocky heart, the sword that will slay moral evil. 3. Judicially (vers. 8, 9). God is infinitely just in crushing all evil. Satan is a usurper, and all his hosts are rebels. As a just God, He will put all-enemies under His feel. In a moral sense, God is a "God of battles." He is eternally warring against wrong. III. AS THE ABSOLUTE MASTER OF MALIGN PASSIONS (ver. 10). 1. He subordinates human wrath. As the mariner makes the gale his servant to bear his vessel to the port, so God makes the malign passions of men and devils to bear on His great purposes to their complete fulfilment. 2. He restrains it. He allows the wrath of His creatures to go no further than He chooses. As He has set a boundary to the ocean, He has also to the human passions. "So far shalt thou go, and no further." IV. AS THE SUPREME OBJECT OF HUMAN WORSHIP (ver. 11). This implies two things. 1. Devout resolutions. "Vow and pay unto the Lord your God." In this clause we have the fundamental God, and do right, and we shall get on as much as He thinks good for us. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.) People Asaph, Jacob, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Asleep, Carriage, Cast, Chariot, Dead, Deep, Fast, Horse, Horses, Jacob, Lay, Lie, O, Overcome, Rebuke, Rider, Riders, Sleep, Stunned, Voice, WrathOutline 1. A declaration of God's majesty in the church11. An exhortation to serve him reverently. Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 76:6 1245 God of the fathers Library Letter Xlviii to Magister Walter De Chaumont. To Magister [75] Walter de Chaumont. He exhorts him to flee from the world, advising him to prefer the cause and the interests of his soul to those of parents. MY DEAR WALTER, I often grieve my heart about you whenever the most pleasant remembrance of you comes back to me, seeing how you consume in vain occupations the flower of your youth, the sharpness of your intellect, the store of your learning and skill, and also, what is more excellent in a Christian than all of these gifts, the pure and innocent … Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths . Concerning Jonathan, one of the Sicarii, that Stirred up a Sedition in Cyrene, and was a False Accuser [Of the Innocent]. Jerusalem Beginning at Jerusalem The Jerusalem Sinner Saved; Question Lxxxii of Devotion The Harbinger King of Kings and Lord of Lords Question Lxxxi of the virtue of Religion Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1120) to a Youth Named Fulk, who Afterwards was Archdeacon of Langres Covenanting Confers Obligation. The Power of God Psalms Links Psalm 76:6 NIVPsalm 76:6 NLT Psalm 76:6 ESV Psalm 76:6 NASB Psalm 76:6 KJV Psalm 76:6 Bible Apps Psalm 76:6 Parallel Psalm 76:6 Biblia Paralela Psalm 76:6 Chinese Bible Psalm 76:6 French Bible Psalm 76:6 German Bible Psalm 76:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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