Ps. xxxvii. 3 — 6. Trust in the Lord, and do good: so shalt thou dwell m the land, and verily thou shalt he fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord : and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass : and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.
IT might be supposed that God, the righteous Governor of the universe, would in this world dis- tinguish his people from his enemies by his visible dispensations towards them : but he does not : he suffers " all things to come alike to all ; so that none can discern either love or hatred by all that is before them^" This is often a stumbling-block to the righteous, who are apt to be discouraged, when they see the prosperity of the wicked, and are them- selves suffering all manner of adversity. David was at one time greatly dejected, or rather, I should say, offended, at this very thing ; and was led to imagine that he had served God for nought''. To guard us against such mistaken views of providence, and against the feelings which they are wont to excite in the breast, he wrote this psalm. That we may not repine at the success of evil-doers, he teaches us to consider, how short their triumph is, and how awful will be their end. He then, in the words of our text, instructs us,
I. What we are to do for God —
It is here taken for granted that we have many difficulties to contend with. But instead of being- discouraged by them, our duty to God is,
1. To go on steadily in his service —
[" Trust thou in the Lord, and do good." It should be an established principle in our hearts, that duty is ours, and events are God's ; and that we should attend to our own con- cerns, and leave God to his. Now beyond all doubt our great concern is, to prosecute and " finish the work which God has
a Eccl. ix. 1,2. ^ Ps. Ixxiii. 1 — 14.