The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 261

I. THE PERSONAL SENSE OF Goo's MERCY. There are some things, perhaps many things, which cannot be learned intellectually, which no man can know until he knows experimentally. He may know about them, and may be able to talk about them, but the knowledge is a surface-matter; it is not real, not spiritually elfecti ve, until it comes through personal experience. God's mercy is one of these things. There are elements m mercy which we can mentally apprehend, such as tenderness, consicleratencss, gentleness, pity; but there is an element which we can only realize by feeling in relation to it. A man must feel undeserving before he can know what God's mercy is. Then he gains a right sense of the "pitifulness of thy great mercy." 'l'he self-satisfied Pharisee never thinks that God's mercy concerns him. In that mercy the penitent publican finds refuge. II. lTs RAYS THROWN BA0K ON THE PAST OF DIVINE DEALING. Let a man feel thus in relation to God's mercy, and then he can look back over his own past, and back over the past of history, and find God's mercy, as bearing and forbearing, everywhere. So the returned exiles would be able to read their old history as a nation. What shone out to view everywhere was God's mercy. Man's waywardness and wilfulness, and God's pitifulness and gentleness. III. lTs BAYS THROWN FORWARD ON THE FUTURE OF DIVINE DEALING. It is alone on the basis of what God is to us that we can rest our confidence of what he is going to be. Our soul's argument takes this form, " This God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our Guide even unto the end." Because his mercy is our portion, we are sure that "his mercy endureth for ever."-R. T. Ver. 2.-God and other gods. "Oh give thanks unto the God of gods." This expres- sion appears to recognize other gods in order to make comparison with them of the One only, living, and true God. It is necessary to keep in mind that there are gods for whom their worshippers claim that they are verily and indeed gods. True, "the gods of the nations are idols (helpless vanities), but the Lord (Jehovah) made the heavens;" but that is the view which the worshippers of Jehovah take, not the view which the nations that serve these gods take. For us there is no comparison between God and the gods. And yet Scripture invites us to make comparisons. Some fresh- ness may be gained by taking one point of view; but it must be regarded as a point of view, and in no sense a complete setting of truth in relation to this subject. Goda, as distinct from God, are always wrongly treated when they are regarded as distinct and independent deities. It may be the fact of history that to the mass of the people they become such; but that is their delusion. They never really are such; they are always either incarnations of God, in order to bear direct relation to human and earthly things, or they are guardian angels or patron saints. 'l'his may be clearly illustrated from the Hindu religion. Brahma is the one living god; but there are five cults of Brahma, according as he is presented incarnate in Vishnoo, 'Siva, 'Sakti, Gane'sa, or Surya. It might be said that these are gods, but the deeper truth is that they are no more than sensible helps to the apprehension of Brahma., and to right relations with him. This suggests interesting points of reflection. I. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS OF SUPREME IMP0RTAN0E FOR MAN. Leave man alone, and anywhere and everywhere he will inevitably materialize God and give him some formal shape, either in act or thought. And then man deteriorates, because he puts the stamp of super1orit;y on hi~ bodily inv~stieure instead of on his spiri!ual self. His god becomes a body, with passions to be !Ildulged. Therefore God so Jealously guards for the Israelites his unseen, spiritual Being, and forbids every attempt to make a likeness of him. II. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD IS PIIEBERVED IN THE ONE IN0ARNATI0N IN WHICH RE HAS SHOWN HIMSELF. The "Man Christ Jesus" is the One and only true incar- nation of God. It was a simple and genuine man's life, which soon gave place to a presence spiritually realized. The Christ we worship is no figure of a God. It is the God who was unseen passing by us and for a moment removing his hand and letting us see, and then passing into the unseen again.-R. T. Ver. 4.- Wonders of creative power. "Who alone doeth great wonders." "Jehovah is the great Thaumaturge, the unrivalled Wonder-worker. None can be likened unto PB, 0XXXVI, 1-26.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 293