We ory, "Why?" "Why am I thus ? " "Why all this from God to me?" God's ser- vants who have been most affiicted hnve most felt this mystery. So it was with Abra- ham, when" the horror of great darkness fell upon him" (Gen. xv.12). So it was with Jacob, !n that night of long and awful wrestling with the angel (Gen. xxxii. 24). So it was with Moses and the prophets (Isa. xl. 27). So it was with the psalmist here. His sufferings were intensified by the sense of desertion (vers. 1, 2). He cried to God, but there was no answer. He continued day and night in prayer, and yet there was no response. And yet he will not give up his trust in God. He tries to calm himself by remembrance of God's holiness and love, and by the thought of God's gracious dealings with his people. But, alas I this only aggravated his pain. The contrast was sharp and terrible. " Our fathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them. But 1 am a worm, and no man." It seemed to him that the desertion, which he felt so keenly, was equally apparent to others. But instead of pity, there was scorn; instead of sympathy, there was reproach. Lowered in the estimation of others, he was lowered also in his own. All this seemed irreconcilable with a right relation to God. He cannot understand, but no more can he repro~ch. The bond of love is strained, but it is not ruptured. Like Job, he is ready to say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." How thankful should we be for such revelations! They not only teach us patience, but they help ne in the time of our trial to draw nearer in loving concord with Jesus and his saints. II. THE PBAYEB OF TRUST. There is a time to speak. Speech helps to unburden the heart. But the psalmist does not cry for help till he has reached a calmer mood, and so far encouraged himself by recollection of God's love and kindness in his life from the first (vers. 9, 10). He looks to the past, that he may be braced to look at the present. Then, in sight of all the distresses and perils that surrounded him, he cries mightily to God (vers. 11-18). His faith is sorely tried, but it does not fail. Even with things waxing worse and worse, with enemies many and fierce, 'l'l"ith strength well-nigh worn out, with death staring him in the face (ver. 18), he renews his pathetic cry, "Be not far from me, 0 Lord: 0 my strength, haste thee to help me" (vers. 19-21). III. THE SONG OF VICTORY, The capacity of the soul is wonderful. It can sink very low, o.nd it can rise very high. It has been said of prayer- " What changes one short hour f\peat in thy presence has availed to make I" And we see this here. Fear is turned to praise (vers. 22-24). Loneliness gives place to the joys of "the great congregat.ion" (vers. 25, 26). Individual sufferings are for- gotten in the glad vision of the triumphs of Messiah, and the glory and blessedness of his kingdom (vers. 27-31). Who is there who loves the Lord, whose heart does not rejoice in foretaste and foresight of these good times, and with renewed ardour pray, "'rhy kingdom come" ?-W. F. Vers. 1-10.-The cry of despair struggling with the cry of faith. The writer was apparently an exile, still in the hands of his heathen captors. His extreme peril, the obloquy and scorn to which he was exposed o.s a professed worshipper of Jehovah, his imminent death, are touched on with a tenderness and a power which have made the language familiar to us in another application-as used by Christ in the agonies of the cross. It is the cry of despair struggling with the cry of faith. I. THE CRY OF DESPAIR. That God had forsaken him. 1. Iladforsaken him for a long time. (Vers. 1, 2.) It was not a temporary eclipse, hut scemecl a permanent desertion. 2. That this abandonment was somehow consistent with God's faithfulness. (Ver. 3.) There was no doubt it <lid not arise from caprice, bnt from holiness. That made the darkness very dnrk. 3. It arose from his personal, unworthiness. (Vcrs. i-6.) God bad rescued his fathers; but ho was a worm, nnd not a man, unworthy of deliverance, despised of men. "Fear not, thou worm Jacob." 4 . .A contrast to God's former care of hirn. (Vers. 9, 10.) Not easy to analyze the contents of such a consciousnoss. But in general, "It is the sense of the Divine mercy, care, and support gone!" II. But there is in the background, FAITH BTRUCJCJLINCJ AGAmBT THIS DEBrAIR. PRALMS. 162 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS. xnI, 1--31,
1, He still can say, "Jfy God." Repeatedly (vers. 1, 2). No unbelief could dissolve that tie. 2. Faith will not let go its hold upon liis "holiness," however dark its aspect towards him now. (Ver. 3.) God cannot be far from a man who retains the sense of his holy faithfulness. 3. He is su_ffering in the righteous cause-for God's sake. (Vers. 6-8.) As Christ was. There is more than a ii;leam of hope for him here. 4. God liad brought him into the world, and cared for him in helpless infancy. (Vers. 9 10.) 'l'hese are the grounds of persistent faith battling o.gainst the sense of desertio~ and despair; and they are all-sufficient for us in our darkest hours. "We can but trust; 1.-e cannot know."-S.