Show the wonders of Your loving devotion, You who save by Your right hand those who seek refuge from their foes. Sermons
1. He prays for the righteous cause. 2. In a righteous spirit. 3. On the ground of a righteous character. 4. On the ground of righteous conduct. Now we come to other grounds upon which he urges God to save him. I. THE COMPASSION OF GOD for THOSE WHO URGENTLY CRY TO HIM. (Vers. 6, 7.) He calls, because God answers him; and now he calls for a special exercise of mercy, because God saves those who find their refuge or safety in him. He was pleading according to the law of God's nature, and had, therefore, a Divine warrant for his prayer: "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." II. HIS IMMINENT DANGER. (Vers. 7, 9, 11, 12.) His enemies were the enemies of God (ver. 7). They would destroy him (ver. 9). They haunted his footsteps everywhere (ver. 11). He prays, therefore, to be protected as the pupil of the eye is protected, as if he could not be kept secure enough; and to be hidden under the shadow of the Divine wings, where no danger could reach him (Deuteronomy 32:10, 11). III. THE WICKEDNESS OF HIS ADVERSARIES. 1. Their want of sympathy and their hard pride. (Ver. 10.) "Enclosed in fat" is equivalent to "have become gross and unfeeling." 2. They were bent on the ruin of others as well as themselves. (Ver. 11.) 3. They were fierce and furious in their wicked efforts. (Ver. 12.) Like a greedy lion, like a young vigorous lion lurking in his lair. IV. THEY WERE MEN WHO SOUGHT THEIR PORTION IN THIS PASSING LIFE; WHILE HE SOUGHT HIS IN GOD. (Vers. 13-15.) 1. They were satisfied with the treasures of this world. With children and worldly substance, and were not worthy, therefore, to triumph over the righteous cause and the righteous persons. Deliver me from such worldlings. 2. He was seeking after the highest good. (Ver. 15.) "In righteousness let me behold thy face; let me be satisfied, when I awake, with thine image." An echo of the eleventh verse of the previous psalm, which reveals his trust in a future life. "There is an allusion probably to such a manifestation of God as that made to Moses (Numbers 12:8), where God declares that with Moses he will speak "mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude [rather, 'form,' the same word as here] of Jehovah shall he behold." - S.
Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. The blessing of sanctified affliction is that we are made to see our weakness. David here seems as a little child, ready to fall, stretching out its hand and crying to its Father, "Hold up my goings," etc.I. THE BELIEVER'S POSITION IS OFTEN A VERY SLIPPERY ONE. Christ told us, "in the world ye shall have tribulation," and this is part of it. We are sent into the world to glorify God's holy law. And this we do by a life of simple faith in Jesus. II. IT IS SO EVEN IN THE PATHS OF GOD. Even in His very paths. Liberty may degenerate into licence; holy caution into legalism; activity into neglect of communion with God, and that into neglect of service. Reliance in Christ to forgetfulness of the Spirit of Christ; and even joy in affliction to an overlooking of our sin, which is the cause of it. III. THE PETITION. "Hold up my goings," etc. 1. It is the very picture of helplessness. "I can do nothing, cannot stir a step, without Thee." Oh! to be brought here. The omnipotence of weakness. 2. It is the language of faith. In ver. 6 he says, "I know that Thou wilt hear me." How simple but how strong this faith. 3. There is also the testimony of an upright conscience. 4. The memory of God's past dealings with him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.) I. TRUE RELIGION IS A WALKING OR GOING ON IS GOD'S PATHS. Think of a country with many tracks in. it perhaps, but without any marked roads or paths; a country like one immense down or waste, where in the main men go hither and thither just as they will. Now this is how most men regard the world and their own condition in it. But God appears and marks out certain ways or paths in this world, and bids us inquire for them and keep to them. And this is true religion — obedience to this Divine call. It is a ceasing to live at random, to live as God dictates. II. THE PRAYER WE HAVE TO CONSIDER. It Implies — 1. A lively apprehension of the evil consequences of falling. An ordinary man does not care, he knows nothing of the malignity of sin. If for a moment sin has disturbed him by reason of some unusual transgression, the effect has been very shallow, very transient. Not so is it with the traveller in God's ways. He knows how evil and bitter a thing sin is. 2. A consciousness of his proneness to fall. Liability is not a word strong enough. All, even the holiest creatures, are liable to fall — witness Adam and the once holy angels — and even in the holiest places. But in us there is a direct tendency to fall. 3. A belief in the ability and willingness of God to thus hold us up. "Thou wilt hear me, O God," so he says in the next verse. There is such a thing as dwelling, if not too frequently, yet too exclusively on our weakness and danger. This is better than ignorance of them, and much better than knowing them, to be careless about them; but it comes far short of the perfection or completeness of true religion. That sees not alone the evil in us, but also the fulness of help for us which there is in God. Let us think much of the helping hand of God. III. THE MANNER IN WHICH WE MAY EXPECT SUCH A PRAYER AS THIS TO BE ANSWERED. 1. By mercifully removing occasions of falling out of our way. 2. By calling the sustaining graces of His servants into exercise. This a more honourable way for us. 3. By sending such afflictions as are calculated to keep them from falling. 4. By keeping alive a spirit of prayer within us for His upholding. As long as God keeps you prayerful, humbly and earnestly prayerful, be the ground what it may that you go over, you are safe. (C. Bradley, M. A.) I. SEE HIS COURSE. "My goings." Religion does not allow a man to sit still. All religion is vain unless he is, so to speak, set a-going — unless he says, "I will walk in Thy truth." His goings are in God's paths. 1. Those of His commands. 2. Of His ordinances. 3. Of His dispensations. II. HIS CONCERN RESPECTING THIS COURSE. "Hold up my goings," etc. It is the language — 1. Of conviction. He know the injury that would result from a fall or even a slip in religion. 2. Of apprehension, for he knew his footsteps were prone to slide. 3. And of weakness; he knew he could not keep himself. 4. Of confidence, for he was sure that God could and would hold him up. (W. Jay.) In considering the feelings that breathe in this prayer we note that they express —I. A VEHEMENT DESIRE TO WALK IN GOD'S WAYS. There is a sense in which all men desire to walk in God's ways. For they know the consequences of disobedience, how it provokes His anger and involves punishment. They dislike obedience, but they desire its rewards. Like a hireling, they labour at their task, but only for its promised hire. Could they only be assured that they could get the wages without the work they would gladly leave it alone. But those who have been pardoned through the blood of Jesus, though they have no fear of punishment, yet desire to walk in all the commandments of the Lord, doing what is well-pleasing in His sight. II. A DISTRESSING SENSE OF WEAKNESS IS DISCOVERED AND BEMOANED IN HIMSELF. It is "when he would do good," i.e. when he desires, and in proportion as he desires, to do good that he is conscious of the evil present with him. If he does not much desire to walk in God's ways he will not be much distressed at his failures. But if his desire be vehement it is far otherwise with him. III. THE CRY. OF ONE WHO BELIEVES THAT THE LORD IS ABLE AND WILLING TO HOLD HIM UP. It is the cry of faith, not alone of desire. And the lesson of the whole is, that would we be upheld, our cry must be of vehement desire, of deep sense of need, and of firm faith. (W. Grant.) People David, Psalmist, SaulPlaces JerusalemTopics Adversaries, Assailants, Clear, Confiding, Enemies, Faith, Foes, Kindness, Love, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Loving-kindnesses, Marvellous, Marvelous, Mercies, Mercy, O, Passing, Refuge, Rise, Save, Savest, Savior, Saviour, Seek, Separate, Shew, Steadfast, Trust, Withstanders, Wonder, Wonderful, Wonderfully, WondrouslyOutline 1. David, in confidence of his integrity, craves defense of God against his enemies10. He shows their pride, craft, and eagerness 13. He prays against them in confidence of his hope Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 17:7 1270 right hand of God Library The Two Awakings'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' --PSALM xvii. 15. 'As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image.'--PSALM lxxiii. 20. Both of these Psalms are occupied with that standing puzzle to Old Testament worthies--the good fortune of bad men, and the bad fortune of good ones. The former recounts the personal calamities of David, its author. The latter gives us the picture of the perplexity of Asaph its writer, when he 'saw the prosperity … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Hope of Future Bliss Mysterious visits. Out of the Deep of Fear and Anxiety. His Journey to South Russia. My God Will Hear Me How a Desolate Man Ought to Commit Himself into the Hands of God Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Gospel Transcends Law. Seasonable Counsel: Or, Advice to Sufferers. An Exhortation to Love God The Resemblance Between the Old Testament and the New. Second Sunday Before Lent The Blessed Privilege of Seeing God Explained Departure from Ireland. Death and Burial at Clairvaux. 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