The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 62

which the heathen bowed down. Hence the scathing sarcasm and concentrated con- tempt of these memorable verses, But has the day passed when men's "idols are silver and gold"? Is not that the exact description of ourselves as a nation? Do not we worship silver and gold? Would that we could but catch the cont-agion of the contempt which pervades these verses for our idols of to-day I We need to and shall have to; and if we will not learn by gentle means, God will have to purer: us of our idolatry by methods sharp and terrible, like as those by which Israel was brought to a better mind. 6. Earnest endeavoor to arouse one another to trust only and altogether in God. (Vers. 12-15.) Would that the world's contempt of Christians to-day led them thus earnestly to stir one another up to a more completely God-surrendered life I 6. Renewed assurance of the grace and goodness of the Lord in his faithful people. (Vere. 12-15.) '.!.'his follows on-it always does-earnest endea~our to deepen the hold of God on the hearts of others. Our own hearts come to be filled with deep and blessed sense of God's love, and the witness of the Spirit is heard full and clear within. 7. Fresh consecration to God. This seems to be the force of the concluding verses of the psalm (vers, 16-18). The Lord in the heavens is sure to do his part; but we are here to do ours. Our time, however, is but short, for we are hastening to the grave where the dead are, and where none can praise God; therefore let us use our time well; and, God helping us, we will (ver. 18). III. LESSONS FOR OURSELVES. 1. How completely was the heart of Israel turned round J '.!.'heir besetting sin before the Exile he.d been idolatry and departure from God. But now! God knows how to turn our hearts altogether to himself. 2. The contrast of the Ohristian'sfaith as to the life after this with the faith of lsrael, Theirs is dark, ours is bright.-S. C. Ver. 12.-Looking back and looking on: a new year's sermon. There never has been a year in w hicb, when we look back, we have been unable to say, " The Lord hath been mindful of us." And we may be sure there never will be a year of which, when we look forward to it, we may not say, "The Lord will bless us." The psalmist is quite sure about this: may we be so likewise I But- I. LET UB LOOK BACK ALONG THE OOURBE OF THE OLD YEAB. 1. We affirm our conviction that we all should make thankful confession of the Lord's mindfulness of us. 2. But many will look back in far other ways. (1) Some in self-congratulating spirit, but with no thanl1fulness to God. They will say to themselves, that what good they have won has been all their own doing. But for their own mindfulness of them- selves, there would have been but little to be glad about. (2) Others will deny that the Lord hath been mindful of them ; it seems to them that he has forgotten them, if he has not turned against them. They point to their lessened, much lessened, resources. They were ever so much better off at the beginning of the year than they are now. Or here is a widow mourning bitterly the loss of her husband and the father of her now helpless children. Or e. husband, whose home is darkened by bereavement of his beloved wife. Or others, who are kept prisoners on beds of weak- ness, hopeless disease, or pain. " What I " say these, " hath the Lord been mindful of us? It does not o.t all seem like it." 3. Well, we reply, if he has not, then it is very unlike him. (1) For his mindfulness of us is certainly not a recent thing; he says to his people that the kingdom has been prepared for them from before the foundation of the world. (2) Aud all around us are proofs of his loving forethought. See in the history of creation how all our needs were thought of before man was placed on the earth. You cannot do so simple a thing as put some coal on the fire without being reminded of this. Where did that coal come from? Was it not got ready for our use long ere we could need it? (3) And in the kingdom of his grace this mindfulness of us is con- spicuously seen. Christ was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world. God was not taken by surprise when sin entered our world and began to do it11 deadly work. God bad reckoned with it, and had determined that where sin did abound, grace should much more abound. Tho two arms of Christ's cross embrace-one, all tho sinners of the past; the other, all that shall be to the end of time. "'fhe mischief is more than met by the remedy, the malady by the medicine, and the plaster is as wide as the wound n (M. Henry). (4) And it is true also in God's pers?nal dealings with us. Reckon up your mercies-spiritual, temporal, personal, relative-and set PBALMS-IlI. i' 66 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, CXV, 1-18,