Ver. 18.-Divine relationship, our 'bese plea in J'YT'ayer. "We tby people and sheep of thy pasture.", This verse gives a gleam of hope and confidence at the end of the long cry of anguish. Compare a New Testament cry, "Though we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." Illustrate by our Lord's distress on the cross. In extreme anguish, he yet could say, "My God, my God I " We may set in order three possible pleas which we are permitted to use in prayer. (1) Our needs; (2) God's Name; (3) God's relations. He must be consistent with himself. I. OuR NEEDS. This may seem the most persuasive plea from our point of view. It is, indeed, our best plea in asking from our fellow-men. With them we must make out a clear case of need. And God graciously allows it to be our plea with him. But in our family life we know that the children's wanting a thing is not a sufficient reason for giving it to them; because their wants and desires are not necessarily their real needs. '!'here are some considerations on which their needJ! must be estimated. True, we ought to speak quite freely our thoughts about our needs when we draw near to God; and it is equally true that a Divine and gracious consideration of our needs guides the Divine decisions and the Di vine doings; but we must not think of this as the supreme persuasion with God. II. Goo's NulE. In the Old Testament it is impressively presented to us that the supreme motive urging God is jealousy of his own Divine Name. All good for man is bound up in keeping the honour of the Divine Name. Man has no anchorage for his trust and hope if God be not infinitely good. For our sakes he must do nothing, give nothing, withhold nothing, if these things imperil his Name, make us question his Divine integrity. Ezekiel is the prophet who puts this point most forcibly. "Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, 0 house of Israel, but for mine holy Name's sake" (Ezek. xxxvi. 22). Apply to God's Name as the Almighty One, the All-holy One, the All-saving One. There must always be consistency between the Divine doings and the Divine Name. Good men, like Joshua, are jealous of the Divine Name. III. Goo's RELATIONS. Not what he abstractly is, but what he relatively is to ua. God has been pleased to come into relations with us; to set himself in relations. He has therefore limited himself, conditioned himself, placed himself under honourable obligations. And so our supreme plea in prayer has come to be, reminding God of the honourable obligations involved in his relationships to us. We may be sure of this- he must be true to himself. 'fhis may be fully opened out in connection with the most blessed relationship of Fatherhood.-R. 'l',
Vere, 1-13.-Prayer for deliverance from suffering. "Written in a time of the deepest distress; the city is desolate and thti whole nation oppressed by the cruel thraldom of their heathen oppressors. 'l'hey are apparently deserted by God, and their bitterness enhanced by the feeling that God w~ exacting from them the penalty for the iniquity of their forefathers." I. SoFFERUIG, 1. God's Church seemed in danger of being entirely overthrown. (Vers, 1-5.) Nothing causes profounder sadness to izood men than the apparent triumph of the cause of unrighteousness and injustice. 2. This seemed a retributive penalty for the sins of themselves and their forefathers. (Ver. 8.) Nothing aggravates our sufferings so much as the knowledge that we, and those connected with us, have been the real causes of them; that they are Divine punishments. II. 'l'HE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE, (Vers. 8, 9, 12.) Contains three pleas. 1. Their own misery. "We are brought very low;" we are come to great misery (vers. S, 12). It is the cry for mercy to a compassionate Father; and God has taught us to make this appeal. 2. For the sake Qf God's own Name. His Name or nature is that he is the God of salvation, and that for his own sake, as well as for the sake of his guilty sons and daughters, ho will deliver. It is his nature to help anu save; his glory is his goodness, as we are tau~ht in Ex.od. xxx.iv. 6, 7. But this is more wouderfully 156 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [P8, LXXX, 1-19.
brought out in the incarnation and the life and death of Chri~t. God's Name or nature is love. 3. Becau.•e of their dose relation to God. (Ver. 13.) They are his people, nourished and cared for and led by him. The Lord will not abandon those that are eo closely related to him. "The Lord is my Shepherd; therefore I shall not want." Christ, as the good Shepherd, is his Reprcsentative,-S.