Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/240

232 grief." Nothing is more killing to a soul than the want of God's favour, nothing more reviving than the return of it. (2.) That then his enemies would triumph; Lest mine enemy say, So would I have it; lest Saul, lest Satan, be gratified in my fall." It would gratify the pride of his enemy; he will say, "I have prevailed, I have gotten the day, and been too hard for him and his God;" it would gratify the malice of his enemies; They will rejoice when I am moved. And will it be for God's honour to suffer them thus to trample upon all that is sacred both in heaven and earth?

III. His prayers are soon turned into praises; (v. 5, 6.) But my heart shall rejoice, and I will sing to the Lord. What a surprising change is here in a few lines! In the beginning of the psalm, we have him drooping, trembling, and ready to sink into melancholy and despair; but, in the close of it, rejoicing in God, and elevated and enlarged in his praises. See the power of faith, the power of prayer, and how good it is to draw near to God. If we bring our cares and griefs to the throne of grace, and leave them there, we may go away like Hannah, and our countenance will be no more sad, 1 Sam. i. 18. And here observe the method of his comfort.

1. God's mercy is the support of his faith. "My case is bad enough, and I am ready to think it deplorable, till I consider the infinite goodness of God; finding I have that to trust to, I am comforted, though I have no merit of my own. In former distresses, I have trusted in the mercy of God, and I never found that it failed me; his mercy has in due time relieved me, and my confidence in it has in the mean time supported me. Even in the depth of this distress, when God hid his face from me, when without were fightings, and within were fears, yet I trusted in the mercy of God; and that was as an anchor in a storm, by the help of which, though I was tossed, I was not overset." And still I do trust in thy mercy; so some read it. "I refer myself to that, with an assurance that it will do well for me at last." This he pleads with God, knowing what pleasure he takes in those that hope in his mercy, cxlvii. 11.

2. His faith in God's mercy filled his heart with joy in his salvation; for joy and peace come by believing, Rom. xv. 13. Believing, ye rejoice, 1 Pet. i. 8. Having put his trust in the mercy of God, he is fully assured of salvation, and that his heart, which was now daily grieving, should rejoice in that salvation. Though weeping endure long, joy will return.

3. His joy in God's salvation would fill his mouth with songs of praise; (v. 6.) "I will sing unto the Lord, sing in remembrance of what he has done formerly; though I should never recover the peace I have had, I will die blessing God that ever I had it; he has dealt bountifully with me formerly, and he shall have the glory of that, however he is pleased to deal with me now. I will sing in hope of what he will do for me at last; being confident that all will end well, will end everlastingly well. But he speaks of it as a thing past; He has dealt bountifully with me; because by faith he had received the earnest of the salvation, and he was confident of it as if it had been done already.

In singing this psalm, and praying it over, if we have not the same complaints to make that David had, we must thank God that we have not, dread and deprecate his withdrawings, sympathize with those that are troubled in mind, and encourage ourselves in our most holy faith and joy. PSALM XIV.

It does not appear upon what occasion this psalm was penned, nor whether upon any particular occasion. Some say, David penned it when Saul persecuted him; others, when Absalom rebelled against him. But they are mere conjectures, which have not certainty enough to warrant us to expound the psalm by them. The apostle, in quoting part of this psalm, (Rom. iii. 10, &c.) to prove that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, (v. 9.) and that all the world is guilty before God, (v. 19.) leads us to understand it, in general, as a description of the depravity of the human nature, the sinfulness of the sin we are conceived and born in, and the deplorable corruption of a great part of mankind, even of the world that lies in wickedness, 1 John v. 19. But as in those psalms which are designed to discover our remedy in Christ, there is commonly an allusion to David himself, yea, and some passages that are to be understood primarily of him, as in ii, xvi, xxii, and others; so in this psalm, which is designed to discover our wound by sin, there is an allusion to David's enemies and persecutors, and the other oppressors of good men at that time, to whom some passages have an immediate reference. In all the psalms from the 3d to this, (except the 8th,) David had been complaining of those that hated and persecuted him, insulted him and abused him; now here he traces all those bitter streams to the fountain, the general corruption of nature, and sees that not his enemies only, but all the children of men, were thus corrupted. Here is, I. A charge exhibited against a wicked world, v. 1. II. The proof of the charge, v. 2, 3. III. A serious expostulation with sinners, especially with persecutors, upon it, v. 4..6. IV. A believing prayer for the salvation of Israel, and a joyful expectation of it, v. 7. To the chief musician. A psalm of David. HE fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is none that doeth good. 2. The looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

If we apply our hearts, as Solomon did, (Eccl. vii. 25.) to search out the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness, these verses will assist us in the search, and will show us that sin is exceeding sinful. Sin is the disease of mankind, and it appears here to be malignant and epidemical.

1. See how malignant it is, (v. 1.) in two things,

(1.) The contempt it puts upon the honour of God; for there is something of practical atheism at the bottom of all sin; The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. We are sometimes tempted to think, "Surely there never was so much atheism and profaneness as there is in our days;" but we see the former days were no better; even in David's time there were those who had arrived at such a height of impiety, as to deny the very being of a God, and the first and self-evident principles of religion. Observe, [1.] The sinner here described; he is one that saith in his heart, There is no God; he is an atheist. There is no Elohim, no Judge or Governor of the world, no Providence presiding over the affairs of men. They cannot doubt of the being of God, but will question his dominion. He says this in his heart; it is not his judgment, but his imagination. He cannot satisfy himself that there is none, but he wishes there were none, and pleases himself with the fancy, that it is possible there may be none; he cannot be sure there is one, and therefore he is willing to think there is none. He dares not speak it out, lest he be confuted, and so undeceived, but he whispers it secretly in his heart, for the silencing of the clamours of his conscience, and the imboldening of himself in his evil ways. [2.] The character of this sinner; he is a fool, he is simple and unwise; and this is an evidence of it: he is wicked and profane; and this is the cause of it. Note, Atheistical thoughts are very foolish wicked thoughts, and they are at the bottom of a great deal