happy experience, that " God's thoughts and ways as far exceed ours, as the heavens are above the earth*."] '^
t See Ps. Ixxii. 12, 13. which may be illustrated by Jonah i. 6, 15. and ii. 1 — 10.
" If this were a subject for a Charity Sermon, the Application should be altered, and another substituted, recommending the audience to imitate God by thinking of the distresses of their fellow-creatures.
David's desire affer god.
Ps. xlii. 1, 2. As the hart panteth after the ivater-hrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God ?
GREAT are the vicissitudes of the Christian hfe : sometimes the soul basks, if we may so speak, in the full splendour of the Sun of Righteousness ; and at other times it feels not in any degree the cheering influence of his rays. And these variations are some- times of shorter duration, like successive days ; and at other times of longer continuance, like the seasons of the year. In David these changes were carried almost to the utmost extremes of elevation and depression, of confidence and despondency, of exul- tation and grief. At the time of writing this psalm he was driven from his throne by Absalom, and con- strained to flee for his life beyond Jordan. There, exiled from the city and temple of his God, he stated, for the edification of the Church in all future ages, how ardently he longed for the renewed enjoyment of those ordinances, which were the delight and solace of his life. In these things he may be con- sidered as a pattern for us : we shall therefore endeavour distinctly to mark,
I. The frame of his mind towards God —
This is described in terms peculiarly energetic " he thirsted after God ; yea, he panted after him, as the hart panteth after the water-brooks." We cannot conceive any image that could mark more strongly the intenseness of his desire, than that which is here
572.] David's desire after god. 329
used. A hart or deer, when fleeing from its pur- suers, has naturally its mouth parched through fear and terror : but when, by its own exertions in the flight, its very blood almost boils within it, the thirst is altogether insupportable, and the creature pants, or brays, (as the expression is,) for some brook, where it may refresh its sinking frame, and acquire strength for further exertions. Such was David's thirst after God, the Mving God.
His circumstances, it is true, were peculiar —
[Jerusalem was the place where God had appointed the ordinances of his worship : and David, being driven from thence, was precluded from a possibility of presenting to the Lord his accustomed offerings. This was a great distress to his soul : for though God was accessible to him in prayer, he could not hope for that measure of acceptance which he had reason to expect in an exact observance of the Mosaic ritual ; nor could he hope that such manifestations would be vouchsafed to his soul, as he might have enjoyed, if he had approached God in the way prescribed by the law. Hence all his ardour might well be accounted for, since by the dispensation under which he lived, his way to the Deity was obstructed, and the commu- nications of the Deity to him were intercepted.
We acknowledge that these peculiar circumstances account for the frame of David's mind at that time.]
Nevertheless, his frame is as proper for us as it was for him —
[Though the observance of certain rites and ceremonies is no longer necessary, and God may be approached with equal ease from any spot upon the globe, yet it is no easy matter to come into his presence, and to behold the light of his coun- tenance lifted up upon us. To bow the knees before him, and to address him in a form of words, is a service which we may render without any difficulty ; but to draw nigh to the very throne of God, to open our mouths wide, and to have our hearts enlarged in prayer, to plead with God, to wrestle with him, to obtain answers of prayer from him, and to maintain sweet fellowship with him from day to day, this, I say, is of very difficult attainment : to do it indeed is our duty, and to enjoy it is our privilege ; but there are few who can reach these heights, or, having reached them, prolong to any great extent the heavenly vision. Hence we all have occasion to lament seasons of comparative darkness and declension ; and to pant with insatiable avidity after the renewed enjoyment of an absent God.]