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PSALM cxxxix. 23, 24
169
in order to preach the next night, would not give him a map on a slate, but would accompany him on the way and further him on his journey." That is exactly it. There are snTinft_pf>Qp1p^ whn will give YQu^aanap pn the slate,4p tell ^u hn^y fo ^jQ^ i.hrn^^gh \j^ and hn^yg;jg^^tp.rjh eaven.alj.. last. Th(;^y givPijnpj f\ fff^y ouJ'.IJttp.s oFJI^^Jti^iS teacHng. or a Aew P^^g^ptg, of morality. Some are'_ esj2£fiiaJ]y foad..of.refery.iQg._You .to_ the Sermon oj, ihtLllau^t, adding that-^rjJoildQ not neeJ anyihmg-_eka>-as you faavf;^ oi;il7.i.n tra,p,p^ wh^t ^^lirjfitijhiaf JHLgM-tjbP^^. What^^ful men need IS not a^_giajp_^nly, although |ihaj} J^g tramT'b^^yTvn^^L^" T^^ Psalmist felt thaj what ,^,^waiite a guidg, who .ffiould take
him by thjB hand, a-ndjiijjd^j^^^ up when hp w?^ rg^dy , jj^ ftnll, aloflg th£_rjj^gged joumey^i^"9nJhe^ " Lpad me in the way eyedas'ting." ^
]j 0 might it please God that we should little regard the course of the way we tread, and have our eyes fixed on Him who conducts us, and on the blessed country to which it leads ! What should it matter to us whether it is by the desert or by the meadiDwe we go, if God is with us and we go into Paradise ? ^
* D. Davies, Talks with Men, Women and Children, iii. 495. ' St. Francis de Sales, Spiritual Letters.
PJ'
The Good Providence of God.
«r«
Literature.
Aitchison (J.), The Children's Own, 219.
Archibald (M. G.), Sundays at the Royal Military College, 73.
Kelman (J.), Ephemera Eternitatis, 332.
Ketcham (W. E.), in Thanksgiving Sermons, 288.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Psalms li.-cxlv., 385.
Matheson (G.), Sacred Songs, 49.
Pearse (M. G.), The Gospel for the Day, 179.
Voysey (C), Sermons, xiii. (1890), No. 48.
Wilkinson (J. B.), Mission Sermons, i. 95.
Christian World Pulpit, Ixxxiii. 385 (R. J. Campbell).
17.
The Good Providence of God.
Thou openest thine hand,
And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.— Ps. cxlv. i6.
SuKELY a delightful psalm — a psalm of great rejoicing for God's goodness to man's weakness ; of the Lord's being " nigh," very near to us ; of His abundant kindness, of His power and glory, of His open hand, of His feeding the hungry. Surely a psalm to make glad the heart ; a song for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery torment of the fiery furnace ; a song for every living thing because the Lord, the Lord God is with us. 0, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : praise Him, and magnify Him for ever ! He openeth His hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing.
I
God's Pensioners.
"Every living thing."
Life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue to Him- self, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy them. We do not half enough realize the fact that the condescen- sion of creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays Himself, obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to make.
1. God's pensioners! How did He treat them when He walked with them and talked with them in the days of His earthly life? There was a day when the disciples came in the wilderness to Jesus, saying, " This is a desert place, and now the
174 THE GOOD PROVIDENCE OF GOD
time is far passed : send them [the multitudes] away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread." Four thousand men besides women and children was a great family to provide for anywhere, and in such a place as this it would never occur to the disciples that their need could be supplied. Send them away — it was a perfectly natural suggestion. Let them go and get their supper, for they are hungry and it is getting late. And Jesus " answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat!* The disciples looked up in wonder — what did the Master mean? Should they go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread ? Where was the money to come from ? And where should they find so much bread to buy ? It was trouble enough at best to find bread for wife and little ones at home ; but here in the desert who could spread a table for ten thousand hungry guests ? Give ye them to eat. It was the voice of God. It was with the consciousness of Divine power that the command was given. It was the impulse of the great bounty that fed the world, the easy familiarity of One who was accustomed to open His hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
2. " Every living thing." What a family is this to be provided for, each with its separate mystery of life, each with life to be sustained, each to be adapted to the light and air, and the subtle influences upon which life depends !
(1) Shall we go into the primeval forest and think of the creatures that roam in its depths ? Shall we stand and let the procession pass before us ?