The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 1 — Section 145

HOMILETICS. Ver. 2.-The triumpl, of victory. "Thou hast given him his heart's desire." We seem to hear in this psalm the trumpets and harps and shawms of the temple, and jubilant voices of Levites praising God for some great victory. Joy-bells are rung and Te Deum laudamus chanted because the king has come home in triumph. The psalm is closely connected with the preceding one. There we see the king going forth to war, consecrating his banner and trusting his cause to God. The Church prays, "The Lord hear thee . . . grant thee according to thine own heart" (Ps. xx. 1-4). Here it triumphs in victory, and praises God as the Hearer of prayer. Whether the psalm refers to some special victory of David or any of his successors; or whether it be applied to Christ and his kingdom, the practical spiritual lessons we may draw from it are the samr. One of the greatest Jewish commentators says, "Our ancient doctors interpreted this psalm of King Messiah; but against the heretics (Christians) it is betiEr to understand it of David" (Rasbi, quoted by Perowne). Take up briefly tbe leading thoughts which the text naturally suggests. I. DESIRE Is THE MAINSPRING OF LIFE. Could the infinite multitude of desires, good or bad, transient or constant, noble or base, loving or selfish, which at this moment agitate human hearts, all cease, and be replaced by dull apathy, hope and effort would die. The whole busy drama of life would come to a dead stand, like an engine stopping when the fire is burnt out. Because so many of these desires are either wrong or ill-regulated, the word "lust "-often used in our English Bible, originally meaning simply ''pleasure" or "desire "-has come to have an ill meaning. St. James puts his finger on these ungoverned discordant desires as the source of all the strife that disturbs the world (Jas. iv. 1, 2). If all hearts submitted their desires to reason and God's law, the world would be one vast peace society. Vexatious litigation and unfair competition would be unknown. II. Therefore OUR HEART'S DESIRE IB THE TEST OF OUR CHARACTER. Not what a man says and does, but what he would like to say and do, if he could and dared, decide his character. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." From the momentary wish, too unreasonable or too languid to stir us to action, to the deep steadfast purpose which rules a life, our desires mark us for what we arc, and mould us to what we shall be. Find what it is you deeply and habitually desire, and you have the key to your characters (Prov. :x:ix. 22). III. DESIBE IB THE sour, OF PRAYER. If we do not present to God our heart', desire, we do not pray. Words without desire are not living prayer,only a dead form. Desire without words may be the truest, highest kind of prayer (Rom. viii. 26). Here is the peril of even the best forms of prayer. Their benefit is that they help to put our Lest desires into better words than we coul,l find for ourselves; and by the power of association, as well as aptness, quicken our desires and instruct us what we ought to desire. Their d.ancrer is that we may mistake form and habit fur lire and spirit-a danger not confined. to s;t forms. Extempore prayer may be as heartless nod lifeless as o. Tartar prayer-mill. Our own private prayers may de~enerate into dead forms. Every earnest Christi.,'l.n (I suppose) is aware of this danger. ,vhen men crime to our Saviour, his question was not" What have you to say 1" but" What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" What is tliy heart's desire 7 IV. The whole world of human desire is OPKN TO Goo's EYE. Heart-secrets aro no secrets to him (Jer. xvii. 9, 10). '!'he silent wish that flashed to tho surface of consciousness, soaring up iuto light, or plunging, like a guilty thing, into darkness- God saw it; sees it still. 'l'he passionate longing, so timid yet so strong thni tLo brnrt would die sooner th'.ln betray it, is to him as though proclaimed with svnnd of PB, XXI, 1-13.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 147