I long for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight. Sermons
The metaphor in the Hebrew is "pour forth a stream of praise." "You have stood at the fountain-bead of a stream of water, and admired while it bubbled up and ran down in a cleat' little rivulet, tilt at length it swelled into the mighty river. Such is the allusion here. The heart taught of God cannot contain itself, but breaks out in praise and singing. This would be the effect of Divine illumination, and this would be felt to be a privilege, yea, a high duty" (John Stephen). I. JOY FINDS EXPRESSION IS PRAISE. "IS any merry, let him sing psalms." There are natural expressions, by the body and the bodily faculties, of all the various emotions. Let a man be unsophisticated, and free from external restraints, and his body will respond to his moods. He will tear things if he is vexed. He will drop his head if he is convicted of doing wrong. He will flush if lie is taken by surprise; and so on. If a man is glad, he wants to sing. Send a party of young people out for a day of pleasure, and they must sing. The genuine religious man, who finds joy in God anti in God's Word, must praise; he cannot help it. He must become ungenuine in order to keep praise in. Our public services have so much of the element of praise, because it is expected that God's people will ever be full of the "joy of the Lord." II. PRAISE FINDS RENEWAL FOR THE JOY. Many things live and grow through expression, and soul-joy in God is one of them. Silence joy, and it will fade and die down. Let it speak, let it sing, and it will ever grow louder, stronger, worthier. We shall love to sing, delight in singing, and so the joy of our hearts will grow stronger and stronger. Praise has its aspect as a duty we owe to God. "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." But we need not miss seeing how much it does for us, in the renewing of our soul's joy in God. - R.T. I have longed for Thy salvation, O Lord; and Thy law is my delight. I. THE STATE OF MIND OF WHICH HE WAS THE SUBJECT. This phraseology implies, that of all other benefits, none are of such great value as the salvation of the soul; also that we cannot save ourselves, neither is salvation to be hoped for from the hills or the mountains, or from the creature in any form which it can wear. It is "the grace of God" alone that "brings salvation." Then in what does this salvation consist? It consists in emancipation from the curse of the law, deliverance from the anger of God. It is a salvation with the possession of the blessings of forgiveness, of renewal, of progressive sanctification, of preparation for the joys in the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb. II. THE GRAND TEST BY WHICH WE MAY JUDGE OF THE INTEGRITY OF THIS ARDENT DESIRE WHICH IS HERE EXPRESSED, "Thy law is my delight." The law of God presents us with the first and most beautiful exhibition of God's moral character and His attributes. The law of God, by its types and shadows, directs us to the grand remedial means — the great propitiation which was to take away the sin of the world. The law of God, considering it as embracing the whole lively oracles, points us to the Saviour, Christ the Lord. The law of the Lord says, that those who come to Him He will in no wise cast out. There is everything, therefore, in the Word of God, and in the Gospel of our salvation, to awaken our reverence, our admiration, and our most affectionate desire. () I. HIS LONGING. By salvation is meant here no other thing but that which in the Scripture is sometimes called "life eternal," sometimes "the kingdom of heaven," sometimes "the glory which shall be showed" hereafter, sometimes "the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living," sometimes "the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," sometimes "an inheritance, immortal and undefiled, which fadeth not"; in a word, those unspeakable, and not to be conceived, blessings, "which God hath prepared for those that love Him." This was the object, the mark of David's longing. This salvation he calleth the Lord's (Thy salvation); because, as for us, it is neither an inheritance which we are born unto, nor a purchase which by any desert we can compass, so it is the Lord's every way: it is He which hath first prepared it: it is He which hath freely disposed it according to the good pleasure of His own will: it is He which reserveth it in heaven for those who are reserved unto Jesus Christ. There are three things required of a Christian: first, by a feeling of sin to seek Christ. Secondly, by a holy faith to find Christ. Thirdly, by newness of life to dwell with Christ. The first of these three is the same longing for salvation which I entreat of; and therefore, as in a ladder there is no coming to the upper step but by the nethermost, so there is no dwelling with Christ, which is the height of happiness in this life, but by finding Him; found He cannot be but by seeking; to seek Him and to long for Him are all one; no man seeks Him but he which longs for Him, and no man longs for Him but he will care to seek Him. II. HIS LOVE. "Thy law is my delight." It is not enough for a man to say he longs and desires to be saved, unless he make conscience to use the appointed means to bring him thereunto. It had been but hypocrisy in David to say he longed for salvation, if his conscience had not been able to witness with him, that the law was his delight. It is mere mockery for a man to say he longeth for bread, and prayeth to God every day to give hint his daily bread, if he either yet walk in no calling, or else seek to get by fraud and rapine, not staying himself at all upon God's providence. Who will imagine that a man wishes for health, who either despiseth or neglecteth the means of his recovery? God hath in His wisdom appointed a lawful means for every lawful thing: this means being obediently used, the comfortable obtaining of the end may be boldly looked for; the means being not observed, to think to attain to the end is mere presumption. There is nobody almost, but if he be asked, for shame he will say he loveth God's Word, and that he were a very wretch if he should not. But come to the undeceivable marks and unseparable signs of this love, it will then appear that God's Word hath but a very few friends. The very sign of love to the Word of God is love to the public ministry thereof in God's Church: the reason is plain. He which loveth the Word unfeignedly, must needs love the means by which the Word shall become most profitable unto him. The next sign of love to the Word is the private use of it. If a man should be stinted to one meal a week, he would have a pined body at the week's end; what shall then become of our souls if we think it enough that they once a week be fed with the Word of God, and do not give them some other private refreshing. The third sign of love to the Word is love to the obedience of the Word. If ye love me (saith Christ), keep My commandments: so, if we love the Word, we cannot but make conscience to do that which is commanded by the Word. The reason is this: he which truly loveth the Word must needs tender the credit of it, and labour by all means to maintain it. Now, it is the greatest honour to the Word of God that may be, when men which possess it are ruled by it, and walk according to it. The fourth sign of love to the Word is hatred of all false religion which is contrary to the Word. I hate vain inventions (saith David), and again, I esteem all Thy precepts most just, and hate all false ways. The last sign of our love to the Word is to love it when the profession of it is most despised. This is noted as a special fruit of David's love. Examine but this one psalm (vers. 23, 51, 61, 69, 110, 141). () People Heth, Nun, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Delight, Desire, Law, Longed, O, SalvationOutline 1. This psalm contains various prayers, praises, and professions of obedience.
2. Aleph.
9. Beth
17. Gimel
25. Daleth
33. He
41. Waw
49. Zayin
57. Heth
65. Teth
73. Yodh
81. Kaph
89. Lamedh
97. Mem
105. Nun
113. Samekh
121. Ayin
129. Pe
137. Tsadhe
145. Qoph
153. Resh
161. Sin and Shin
169. Taw
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 119:174 5832 desire
8288 joy, of Israel Library Notes on the First Century:
Page 1. Line 1. An empty book is like an infant's soul.' Here Traherne may possibly have had in his mind a passage in Bishop Earle's "Microcosmography." In delineating the character of a child, Earle says: "His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred note-book," Page 14. Line 25. The entrance of his words. This sentence is from Psalm cxix. 130. Page 15. Last line of Med. 21. "Insatiableness." This word in Traherne's time was often …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of MeditationsLife Hid and not Hid
'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'--PSALM cxix. 11. 'I have not hid Thy righteousness in my heart.'--PSALM xl. 10. Then there are two kinds of hiding--one right and one wrong: one essential to the life of the Christian, one inconsistent with it. He is a shallow Christian who has no secret depths in his religion. He is a cowardly or a lazy one, at all events an unworthy one, who does not exhibit, to the utmost of his power, his religion. It is bad to have all the goods in the shop window; it is just …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture A Cleansed Way
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word.'--PSALM cxix. 9. There are many questions about the future with which it is natural for you young people to occupy yourselves; but I am afraid that the most of you ask more anxiously 'How shall I make my way?' than 'How shall I cleanse it?' It is needful carefully to ponder the questions: 'How shall I get on in the world--be happy, fortunate?' and the like, and I suppose that that is the consideration …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture 'Time for Thee to Work'
'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy Law. 127. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. 128. Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.' --PSALM cxix. 126-128. If much that we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of revelation, even if we would; …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture A Stranger in the Earth
'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy commandments from me.... 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.' --PSALM cxix. 19, 64. There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture May the Fourth a Healthy Palate
"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste." --PSALM cxix. 97-104. Some people like one thing, and some another. Some people appreciate the bitter olive; others feel it to be nauseous. Some delight in the sweetest grapes; others feel the sweetness to be sickly. It is all a matter of palate. Some people love the Word of the Lord; to others the reading of it is a dreary task. To some the Bible is like a vineyard; to others it is like a dry and tasteless meal. One takes the word of the Master, and it …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year Inward Witness to the Truth of the Gospel.
"I have more understanding than my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my study; I am wiser than the aged, because I keep Thy commandments."--Psalm cxix. 99, 100. In these words the Psalmist declares, that in consequence of having obeyed God's commandments he had obtained more wisdom and understanding than those who had first enlightened his ignorance, and were once more enlightened than he. As if he said, "When I was a child, I was instructed in religious knowledge by kind and pious friends, who …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII A Bottle in the Smoke
First, God's people have their trials--they get put in the smoke; secondly, God's people feel their trials--they "become like a bottle in the smoke;" thirdly, God's people do not forget God's statutes in their trials--"I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes." I. GOD'S PEOPLE HAVE THEIR TRIALS. This is an old truth, as old as the everlasting hills, because trials were in the covenant, and certainly the covenant is as old as the eternal mountains. It was never designed …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856 The Dryness of Preachers, and the Various Evils which Arise from their Failing to Teach Heart-Prayer --Exhortation to Pastors to Lead People Towards this Form Of
If all those who are working for the conquest of souls sought to win them by the heart, leading them first of all to prayer and to the inner life, they would see many and lasting conversions. But so long as they only address themselves to the outside, and instead of drawing people to Christ by occupying their hearts with Him, they only give them a thousand precepts for outward observances, they will see but little fruit, and that will not be lasting. When once the heart is won, other defects are …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents Of Deeper Matters, and God's Hidden Judgments which are not to be Inquired Into
"My Son, beware thou dispute not of high matters and of the hidden judgments of God; why this man is thus left, and that man is taken into so great favour; why also this man is so greatly afflicted, and that so highly exalted. These things pass all man's power of judging, neither may any reasoning or disputation have power to search out the divine judgments. When therefore the enemy suggesteth these things to thee, or when any curious people ask such questions, answer with that word of the Prophet, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ Seven-Fold Joy
"Seven times a day do I praise Thee because of Thy righteous judgments."--Ps. cxix. 164. Mechthild of Hellfde, 1277. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 I bring unto Thy grace a seven-fold praise, Thy wondrous love I bless-- I praise, remembering my sinful days, My worthlessness. I praise that I am waiting, Lord, for Thee, When, all my wanderings past, Thyself wilt bear me, and wilt welcome me To home at last. I praise Thee that for Thee I long and pine, For Thee I ever yearn; I praise Thee that such …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series) And in Jeremiah He Thus Declares his Death and Descent into Hell...
And in Jeremiah He thus declares His death and descent into hell, saying: And the Lord the Holy One of Israel, remembered his dead, which aforetime fell asleep in the dust of the earth; and he went down unto them, to bring the tidings of his salvation, to deliver them. [255] In this place He also renders the cause of His death: for His descent into hell was the salvation of them that had passed away. And, again, concerning His cross Isaiah says thus: I have stretched out my hands all the day long …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching The Christian Described
HAPPINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN O HOW happy is he who is not only a visible, but also an invisible saint! He shall not be blotted out the book of God's eternal grace and mercy. DIGNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN There are a generation of men in the world, that count themselves men of the largest capacities, when yet the greatest of their desires lift themselves no higher than to things below. If they can with their net of craft and policy encompass a bulky lump of earth, Oh, what a treasure have they engrossed …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan Excursus on the Choir Offices of the Early Church.
Nothing is more marked in the lives of the early followers of Christ than the abiding sense which they had of the Divine Presence. Prayer was not to them an occasional exercise but an unceasing practice. If then the Psalmist sang in the old dispensation "Seven times a day do I praise thee" (Ps. cxix. 164), we may be quite certain that the Christians would never fall behind the Jewish example. We know that among the Jews there were the "Hours of Prayer," and nothing would be, à priori, more …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils The Daily Walk with Others (I. ).
When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magnify We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk alone with God in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience. A WALK WITH GOD ALL DAY. A word presents itself to be …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren The Talking Book
In order that we may be persuaded so to do, Solomon gives us three telling reasons. He says that God's law, by which I understand the whole run of Scripture, and, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be a guide to us:--"When thou goest, it shall lead thee." It will be a guardian to us: "When thou sleepest"--when thou art defenceless and off thy guard--"it shall keep thee." And it shall also be a dear companion to us: "When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." Any one of these three arguments …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 How to Read the Bible
I. That is the subject of our present discourse, or, at least the first point of it, that IN ORDER TO THE TRUE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES THERE MUST BE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEM. I scarcely need to preface these remarks by saying that we must read the Scriptures. You know how necessary it is that we should be fed upon the truth of Holy Scripture. Need I suggest the question as to whether you do read your Bibles or not? I am afraid that this is a magazine reading age a newspaper reading age a periodical …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 25: 1879 The Obedience of Faith
"Is there a heart that will not bend To thy divine control? Descend, O sovereign love, descend, And melt that stubborn soul! " Surely, though we have had to mourn our disobedience with many tears and sighs, we now find joy in yielding ourselves as servants of the Lord: our deepest desire is to do the Lord's will in all things. Oh, for obedience! It has been supposed by many ill-instructed people that the doctrine of justification by faith is opposed to the teaching of good works, or obedience. There …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891 Faith
HABAKKUK, ii. 4. "The just shall live by faith." This is those texts of which there are so many in the Bible, which, though they were spoken originally to one particular man, yet are meant for every man. These words were spoken to Habakkuk, a Jewish prophet, to check him for his impatience under God's hand; but they are just as true for every man that ever was and ever will be as they were for him. They are world-wide and world-old; they are the law by which all goodness, and strength, and safety, …
Charles Kingsley—Twenty-Five Village Sermons What the Truth Saith Inwardly Without Noise of Words
Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth.(1) I am Thy servant; O give me understanding that I may know Thy testimonies. Incline my heart unto the words of Thy mouth.(2) Let thy speech distil as the dew. The children of Israel spake in old time to Moses, Speak thou unto us and we will hear, but let not the Lord speak unto us lest we die.(3) Not thus, O Lord, not thus do I pray, but rather with Samuel the prophet, I beseech Thee humbly and earnestly, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. Let not Moses …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ That the Body and Blood of Christ and the Holy Scriptures are Most Necessary to a Faithful Soul
The Voice of the Disciple O most sweet Lord Jesus, how great is the blessedness of the devout soul that feedeth with Thee in Thy banquet, where there is set before it no other food than Thyself its only Beloved, more to be desired than all the desires of the heart? And to me it would verily be sweet to pour forth my tears in Thy presence from the very bottom of my heart, and with the pious Magdalene to water Thy feet with my tears. But where is this devotion? Where the abundant flowing of holy …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ Links Psalm 119:174 NIV
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