God had provided for the redemption of his soul. Not even Isaiah himself prophesied more fully, or more minutely, re- specting the sufferings and glory of the Messiah, than David did. Hence, viewing himself as a redeemed sinner, bought with the blood of God's only dear Son, he could not but adore the boundless extent of God's mercy towards him : " Thy mercy is great unto the heavens."
This must be the foundation of love in us also. Our blessed Lord has told us, that " they who have much forgiven will love much ; but those who have but little forgiven will love little*^." There is no one so ignorant or obdurate, but that he will ac- knowledge that God is merciful : but the hopes of the gene- rality are founded, not so much on the extent of God's mercy, as on the smalhiess of the occasion which they have for the exercise of it : and hence they are never penetrated with any deep sense of it as exercised towards them. But a person duly sensible of the greatness of his sins, will form a corre- sponding estimate of God's mercies ; which will appear to him, " as the heavens, great" and without limit ; insomuch, that he will be able to find no terms whereby to express his views of them more justly than those of David in another psalm ; " As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy to them that fear him'^."
Let this be borne in mind, that all our love to God must have its origin in a knowledge of ourselves : since it is only from a view of our own extreme guilt and helplessness that we can appreciate in any degree the patience and forbearance, the mercy and loving-kindness, which, from our earliest infancy to this present hour, he has exercised towards us ]
2. The inviolability of his truth —
[God had promised to David, that in due time he should sit upon the throne of Israel; and the many signal deliverances which he had received, all tended to confirm in his mind an expectation of the promised blessing. And it is remarkable, that Saul himself was struck with those particular occurrences precisely in that view : *' Now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand®." Hence " the truth" and faithful- ness of God appeared to him as no less worthy of admiration than his love and mercy.
And will not every one who has ever laid hold upon the promises of the Gospel, and found them verified in his own experience, fix his mind upon this attribute of the Deity with grateful adoration? Will he not even find in his own soul a more impressive evidence of the truth of God, than in the
'^ Luke vii. 47. '^ Ps. ciii. 11. « 1 Sam. xxiv. 20.
596.] David's love to god, 489
whole universe besides ? The very circumstance of his having been preserved by the power of God amidst so many snares and temptations, whilst so many, who once appeared in a more hopeful state than he, have made shipwreck of their faith, will fill his soul with rapture, and constrain him to say, " The Lord my God changeth not ; and therefore it is that I am not con- sumed^." Others may prove by arguments the truth of God, at the same time that they have no admiring or adoring thoughts of it ; but he will regard himself as a living witness of this glorious perfection ; and will both think and speak of it as one who is even lost with wonder in the contemplation of it.]
Such were the grounds of David's love to God. We next proceed to notice,
II. His expression of it —
Full of ardour,
1. He determines to praise and glorify God to the
uttermost —
[The determination of his soul he thus declares : " My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise." Here is the result of deep conviction. He knew his obligations to God : and, whether others would concur with him or not, his purpose was unalterable : if no other creature in the universe would praise God, he would. He felt it to be his bounden duty : nor should all the sneers of an ungodly world divert him from the performance of it.