life, and hunted him " as a partridge upon the mountains." His timid friends were alarmed for his safety, and recommended him to flee to some moun- tain where he had a hiding-place ; and thus to con- ceal himself from the rage of Saul. But David, being strong in faith, spurned the idea of resorting to any such pusillanimous expedients, and deter- mined confidently to repose his trust in God, Thus in this psalm we see, in a contrasted view,
I. The counsels of unbelief —
Unbelief always views the dark side of a ques- tion ; and not only keeps out of view those consi- derations that should animate and encourage the soul, but suggests others which are most injurious tp its welfare :
1. It magnifies the difficulties we have to en- counter—
[Doubtless the dangers which encompassed David were great and imminent : the arrows with which his enemies sought to kill him, were already on the string, pointed at him, as it were, and needing only to be drawn, in order to pierce him to the heart : the foundations also of law and justice were so en- tirely subverted under the government of Saul, that there was nothing to prevent the wicked from executing their murderous plots. But still there was no sufficient ground for that despond- ing question, " What can the righteous do ?" Mcthinks the ques- tion under any circumstances is not only unbelieving, but atheis- tical : for if there be a God, and that God be a hearer of prayer, the question should rather be, " What cannot the righteous do?" Let us look at an instance or two, as a specimen of what one righteous may do, even when according to human appearance the circumstances may be most desperate. The whole army of Israel is appalled at the sight of one gigantic warrior : yet a young stripling, with bib sling and stone, destroys the giant, and puts to flight the whole army of the Philistines. Again : at a period when idolatry so prevailed in Israel, that Elijah thought himself the only worshipper of Jehovah in the whole land, one righteous man stems the torrent, destroys the priests of Baal, and demolishes all his temples and altars throughout the country. But another instance of singidar importaiice is that of Oded*; who, by his own unaided expostulation, liberated two hundred thousand captives, and constrained their victorious enemies not only to restore thein to their homes without injury, but to treat
them * 2 Chron. xxviii. 9 — 15.
335.1 THE WORKINGS bP UNBELIEP AND OP PAITH. 19
them \Vith a tenderness truly parental Shall any one,
after such instances as these, and many others that might be mentioned, ask, " What can the righteous do ?" We should re- member, that, as " with God all things are possible," so " all things are possible to him that believeth ;" yea, " if we have faith only as a grain of mustard-seed, we may root up trees or moun- tains, and cast them into the depths of the sea. "J
2. It prompts to the use of unbecoming expe- dients—
[However it might be proper for David to use prudential cautions, and not to put himself directly into the hands of Saul, it did not become him to " flee as a bird to his mountain," just as if he had no refuge in his God. His duty was, to repose a confidence in God, and to expect assuredly the accompli!>hment of all God's promises towards him, in spite of all the efforts of his most malignant enemies. But such is constantly the voice of unbelief: it bids us not wait God's time, but contrive some way for ourselves, lest peradventure God should have forgotten his engagements, or not be able to fulfil them. Thus it operated in Rebecca. She knew that God had designed the blessir.gs of the birthright for Jacob, her younger son : but when she saw that Isaac's intention was in the space of an hour or two to give them to Esau, she conceived that the Divine purpose would be frustrated, if she did not instantly interpose for its accomplishment. To what a system of falsehood and treachery she had recourse, is too well known to need any recital : but it is a striking instance of the tendency of unbelief. And who does not feel this ten- dency in his own heart ? Who has not at some unhappy moment sought, by dissimulation or concealment, to avoid the cross, which a more faithful confession of the Saviour would have brought upon him ? But to use any indirect means either to avoid an evil or to obtain a good, is a certain proof of an unbelieving heart : for, " He that believeth will not make haste."]