avid's struggle with, and triumph over a strong temptation to
distrust God, and betake himself to indirect means for his own
safety, in a time of danger.
- Those that truly fear God and serve him, are welcome to put
their trust in him. The psalmist, before he gives an account of
his temptation to distrust God, records his resolution to trust
in Him, as that by which he was resolved to live and die. The
believer, though not terrified by his enemies, may be tempted,
by the fears of his friends, to desert his post, or neglect his
work. They perceive his danger, but not his security; they give
him counsel that savours of worldly policy, rather than of
heavenly wisdom. The principles of religion are the foundations
on which the faith and hope of the righteous are built. We are
concerned to hold these fast against all temptations to
unbelief; for believers would be undone, if they had not God to
go to, God to trust in, and future bliss to hope for. The
prosperity of wicked people in their wicked, evil ways, and the
straits and distresses which the best men are sometimes brought
into, tried David's faith. We need not say, Who shall go up to
heaven, to fetch us thence a God to trust in? The word is nigh
us, and God in the word; his Spirit is in his saints, those
living temples, and the Lord is that Spirit. This God governs
the world. We may know what men seem to be, but God knows what
they are, as the refiner knows the value of gold when he has
tried it. God is said to try with his eyes, because he cannot
err, or be imposed upon. If he afflicts good people, it is for
their trial, therefore for their good. However persecutors and
oppressors may prosper awhile, they will for ever perish. God is
a holy God, and therefore hates them. He is a righteous Judge,
and will therefore punish them. In what a horrible tempest are
the wicked hurried away at death! Every man has the portion of
his cup assigned him. Impenitent sinner, mark your doom! The
last call to repentance is about to be addressed to you,
judgement is at hand; through the gloomy shade of death you pass
into the region of eternal wrath. Hasten then, O sinner, to the
cross of Christ. How stands the case between God and our souls?
Is Christ our hope, our consolation, our security? Then, not
otherwise, will the soul be carried through all its difficulties
and conflicts.
avid's struggle with, and triumph over a strong temptation to
distrust God, and betake himself to indirect means for his own
safety, in a time of danger.