The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 2 — Section 65

HOMILE'l'ICS, Ver. 24.-Divine guidance. "Thou shalt guide," etc. Asaph looked out on the world of human life, and beheld a sight which troubled and perplexed him, as it has troubled and perplexed many a pious heart since. He saw the wealthy sinner clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously ; godless, yet prosperous; adding field to field; spending in selfish luxury what he gained by fraud and extortion; and at last dying in peaceful old age, and laid in a splendid sepulchre. And he saw the devout, honest, patient worshipper of God, toiling hard to keep the wolf from his door, glad of the <'rumbe f,om the rich man's table to eke out his children's scanty !Ileal; dying prematurely, worn out with care and hardship, and hurried into a nameless grave. A.s A.saph saw this, and much more like this, he could not help asking, " Wny is this P Why does not the hand of Omnipotence with a touch arrest the crooked balance, crown virtue and piety with prosperity, and overwhelm vice and injustice with misery and shame?" Then he "went into the sanctuary of God." He joined, though with troubled spirit, in praising God; "for his mercy en,lureth for ever." He poured out his soul in silent prayer, while the priest ministered at the golden altar. Then the Holy Spirit shed a light into his mind that lighted up the whole prospect of human life. He saw that he had left the main element out of his reckoning-for- gotten to ask," What will be the end 1" He discerned the dangers of prosperity and the benefits of adversity; how pride, covetousness, lust, selfishness, injustice, thrive in luxurious self-indulgence, like rank weeds in a rich soil; and how the Lord chastens those he loves (Heb. xii. 10). Then understood he their end. He confessed his error. A.nd with new humility anu fresh faith he here entrusts himself and all his concerns to God's fatherly guidance and sovereign will. "Thou shalt guide," etc. These words express a deep sense of need of Divine guidance; willingness to be guided; assurance that God will guide. I. THE NEED OF DIVINE GUIDA NOE. Man begins life as the most helpless of creatures. If not fed, clothed, cared for by others, he would perish almost as soon as born. Wit.b- out the company and training of his elders, if he could grow up at all, he would lack language, if not reason. A.s he grows up, and reaps the fruit of all this guidance and counsel, he begins to be impatient of control, to imagine himself self-sufficient. He will be guided by his own counsel. This conceit becomes in many cases so unbridled, that the thouj!ht of dependence even upon God becomes intolerable. "Our lips, say they, are our own: who is Lord over us?" The truth is that what we really need, when we have outgrown our :first lessons, is not less guidance, but of a higher sort. 'l'he stronger, richer, wiser, any one is, the more mischief he mny do, and the more misery he may incur, if he takes a wrong course. You, young man, in the pride of your untamed energy; you, man of the world, in the ripeness of your gathered e::i:peri- ence,-have not less, but more need of guidance than when you sat on the bench at school, or lay in your nurse's arms. 1. We need guidance because of our ignorance of the future. The only things we can certainly foresee are the motions of the heavenly bodies and the action of natural forces. The moment we get into the world of life we are in the region of uncertainty, 'frue, we foresee a great deal. Business would be impossible, life would be impossible, without a great deal of foresight. But over all hangs a haze of uncertainty. Your plans are laid, perhaps, with wise forecast. But will the ship come in? Will the rise or fall on which you reckon take place ? Will  THE DOOK OF PSALMS. [PB, LXXIII, 1-28,