" And is the twilight closing fast ?
(I hear the night-breeze wild) ; And is the long week's work all done ? "
"Thy work is done, my child."
" Must I not rise at dawn of day ?
(The night-breeze swells so wild); And must I not resume my toil ? "
" No ! nevermore, my child."
^ George Adam Sraitli, The Forgiveness of Sins, 92. ■ Phillips Brooks, Seeki'iig Life, 318.
PSALM CIV. 23 335
•' And may I sleep through all the dark ?
(The wind to-night is wild) ; And may I rest tired head and feet ? "
" Thou mayest rest, my child."
" And may I fold my feeble hands ?
(Hush ! breezes sad and wild) ; And may I close these wearied lids ? "
"Yes, close thine eyes, my child."
" Oh, passing sweet these closing hours !
And sweet the night-breeze mild. And the Sabbath-day that cometh fast ! "
" The Eternal Day, my child."
"The night is gone, clear breaks the dawn,
It rises soft and mild; Dear Lord ! I see Thee face to face 1 **
" Yes ! face to face, my child."
Leanness of Soul.
PS. XXV.-CXIX. — 2 2
Literature.
Banks (L. A.), David and his Friends, 212.
Din wood ie (J.), Outline Studies. 157.
Eyton (R.), The Search for God, 88.
Holden (J. S.), Life's Flood-Tide, 35.
Jeffs (H.), The Art of Exposition, 133.
Jellett (H.), Sermons on Special and Festival Occasions, 115.
Maclaren (A.), The Book of Psalms (Expositor's Bible), iii. 139.
Murphy (J. B. C), The Service of the Master, 160.
Parker (J.), T]ie City Temple, i. 147.
Perowne (J. J. S.), The Book of Psalms, ii. 223.
Spurgeon (C. H.), The Treasury of David, v. 77, 97.
Voysey (C), Sermons, ix. (1886), No. 47.
Wordsworth (C), Christian Boyhood at a Public School, ii. 189.
saB
Leanness of Soul.
And he gave them their request ;
But sent leanness into their soul. — Ps. cvi. 15.
1. The history of God's past is a record of continuous mercies, the history of man's is one of as continuous sin. The memory of the former quickened the Psalmist into his sunny song of thankfulness in the previous psalm ; that of the latter moves him to the confessions in this one. The two psalms are comple- ments of each other, and are connected not only as being both retrospective, but by the identity of their beginnings and the difference of their points of view. The parts of the early history dealt with in the one are lightly touched or altogether omitted in the other. The key-note of Psalm cv. is, " Eemember his mighty deeds" ; that of Psalm cvi. is, " They forgot his mighty deeds."
2. After an introduction in some measure like that in Psalm cv., the Psalmist plunges into his theme, and draws out the long, sad story of Israel's faithlessness, of which he recounts seven instances during the wilderness sojourn. One is the lusting for flesh food — an evil traced to forgetfulness of God's doings, to which is added impatient disinchnation to wait the unfolding of His counsel or plan. These evils cropped up with strange celerity. The memory of benefits was transient, as if they had been written on the blown sands of the desert. " They hasted ; they forgot his works." Of how many of us that has to be said ! We remember pain and sorrow longer than joy and pleasure. It is always difficult to bridle desires and be still until God discloses His purposes. We are all apt to try to force His hand open, and to impose our wishes on Him, rather than to let His will mould us. So, on forgetfulness and impatience there followed then, as there follow still, eager longings after material good and a tempting of God, who is " tempted " when unbelief demands proofs of His power,
340 LEANNESS OF SOUL
instead of waiting patiently for Him, In Num. xi. 33 Jehovah is said to have smitten the people " with a very great plague." The psalm specifies more particularly the nature of the stroke by calling it "leanness" or "wasting sickness," which invaded the life of the sinners. The words are true in a deeper sense, though not so meant. For whoever sets his hot desires in self-willed fashion on material good, and succeeds in securing their gratifica- tion, gains with the satiety of his lower sense the loss of a shrivelled spiritual nature. Full-fed flesh makes starved souls.
Desire and its Gratification.
1. The words of the text have a wider scope than as a reference to an incident in Israelitish history. ' They tell a sad story indeed, written in the annals of God's ancient people, but they call up stories innumerable in the lives of men for whose example the story was written, but who have failed to profit by it, and to whose lives there may be appended the same legend, " He gave them their request ; but sent leanness into their soul." And if we are like the Israelites, if we forget all that God has done for the promotion of our happiness here, all that He has done to fit us for a higher state of being hereafter ; if we will not wait for His counsel, wait for a time when we shall no longer see His dealings darkly reflected to us in an imperfect mirror, but clear before us in the pure atmosphere of heaven ; and if, instead of patiently bearing with the conditions of our pilgrim life, we murmur because we cannot have all our wishes gratified, and are dissatisfied with the restraints under which we may be placed, is it incredible that God should punish us, as He did them, by granting us the things upon which we have set our hearts ?