II. THAT MAN'B WORK SHOULD BF, ESTATILTRIIED. This is the prayer of those who feel the uncertainty of life, and fear that they will ho unable to complete what they have begun. The pmyer may take two forms. 1. Permit me to finish the work I have started. 2. Let my children carry on to completion my work. Do not let it be lost and useless, as an unfinished thing. "Establish thou the work of our hands upon us." "When Moses prays that the' children' of the pre,er. t generation may see God's glory, he perhaps has in mind the exclusion of the latter from entrance into the land of Canaan. lt was only to their children that this, the culminating and most glorious blessing, was to be vouchsafed."-R. T.
Ver. 11.-Prayer and worlc. "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establi~h thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our bands establieh thou it." I. THAT ClOOD MEN ARE ENGAClED IN IMPORTANT W0T\K. God ha.~ a work to do; and the psalmist prays that it may be made manifest to their eyes. We desire to see God's work-the revelations and exercises of his great power and love. But the thon~h t here is of our worlc. 1. It is divinely appointed. Not self-chosen. The great aim of it is the same as God's-to save men, by our giving them all possible help. 2. This work gives to life its chief value and interest. Living for the bodies and souls of others is intrinsically more valuable than all the private ends we pursue. II. Goon MEN FEEL ANXIOUS FOR THE SUCCESS OF THEIR WORK. They want it established, made strong, prospered. Even as they aim to succeed in their temporal work. On account of the intrinsic importance of the work itself. Becanse of the consequences of the work in thefuture. "And thy glory unto their children." Good men think not only of their own future, but of the future of Christ's Church. Because of oor future. It will soon be of the utmost consequence to us whether our work has been established or not. Have we done anything, are we doing anything, that will last-of a beneficent kind? III. Gooo MEN FEEL THAT THE SUCCESS OF THEm WORK DEPENDS ON THE BLESSING OF Gon. "Let thy beauty be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands." If our work is to be strong-be established-the strength must come from God. The utmost we can do is to accomplish the outward conditions of success ; but God alone can reach the heart of the sinner and sufferer to cleanse and comfort. Our work ought to be beautiful, but God alone can give the beauty. If our work be the work of gratitude, love, humility, and self-sacrifice, it is God that has made it beautiful. IV, THAT THE DIVINE BLESSING ON OUR WORK IS OBTAINED BY PP.AYER. 1. God has made prayer necessary to the success of spiritual work. Christ taught this con- stantly, "Pray ye the Lord of the harvest," etc/; "Thy kingdom come." 2. As a matter of experience, the men who have prayed most over their work have succeeded best. Their prayer expressed their earnestness andfaith-trust and spirit of depend- ence. Observe how work and prayer are here conjoined. Prayer useless where there iii no work on hand.-S.
EXPOSITION. who thoronghly trusts in God, This subject PSALM XCI. is worked ont by an "antiphonal arrange- Tms psalm, like the majority in the present ment" (Cheyne)-the first speaker deliver- Book, is without a title. Jewish tradition, ing vers. 1, 2; the second, vers. 3, 4 ; then however, ascribed it to Moses-a conclusion the first responding with ver.,. 5-8; and which Dr. Koy ond others accept as borne agnin the second with vers. 9-13. In out by the facts, especially by the many oonclnsion, a third speaker, me.king himself close resemblances between it and Deut. the mouthpiooe of Jehovah, crowns all by xxxii., xxxiii. Other critios, and they are declaring the blessings which God himself the majority, traoe in it a different hand, - will bestow 111pon his faithful ones (vers. but regard it as suggested by Ps. J:o. 14---16). The subject is the security of the man This psalm is, apparently, liturgical, 268 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [re, xcr. 1-16.