Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands. As every state has its dangers, so the peril of religious concern is despondency. Thoughtfulness soon degenerates into distrust, and holy anxiety easily rusts into unbelief. The more a man looks within him the less he can trust himself, and the more a man looks around him the more he feels that he is in danger, and he is apt to say, "I shall surely one day fall by the hand of the enemy." He is fearful as to the result of future temptations. Now I want to meet such fears. I. Here first we see that GOD FILLS US WITH ASSURANCE. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." Then — 1. God is really at work on our behalf. Get a grip at this, thou troubled one, and by a personal faith say, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." Thou hast come to Jesus and trusted thy soul in His hands, then it is certain that the Lord hath brought thee to this state of mind. Every effect has a cause, and all spiritual faith is created by the Holy Ghost. Since then, the Lord has begun to save you, your confidence must be that He who began this good work will continue to operate in your soul. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me;" not, "I will perform it myself." 2. There is the full assurance that He will be at work still in order to complete that which He has commenced. Have you obtained a religion which is not the work of God? Then I would exhort you to get rid of it. Do as the man did with the bad banknote, throw it down on the highway or into a ditch, and run away from it. But, and if the religion you have received is the work of God, then be certain that He who began the work will perfect it. The psalmist affirms — 3. That He will complete the work. Did the Almighty pause in the middle of creation and leave His work unfinished? How, then, would the record run? That God had made the light, but had not made the sun? That He had made the waters, but had not divided them from the land, or said to the sea, "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no farther"? No, the first day of creation was a guarantee of the five which followed it and of the grand rest day which crowned the week. Here, then, is your confidence. You are anxiously asking Him, shall I persevere to the end? You shall be kept and perfected by the Lord in whom you trust. Now carry this confidence into everything. Into providence. The Lord will perfect that which concerns you there. You have a plan on hand. If it be God's plan for you for life you will carry it through. God often perfects that which truly concerns us by taking us away from that which never ought to concern us. But that crown of life which you have submitted to His wisdom, which you have taken up in obedience to the plain indications of His providence, which you follow out with integrity, walking before the Lord and committing your way unto Him — that crown of life shall have His blessing, and none shall be able to put you on one side. The Lord told David he should be a king. It did not look very likely, but since such was the Eternal purpose, there was no keeping the son of Jesse out of the throne. But this is more especially true in the work of grace in the heart. And it is also true of the work of grace all around us. II. THE LORD GIVES US REST IN HIS MERCY, for what says the text, "Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever." See how this works in us rest from fear. "Alas!" sighs one troubled heart, "I fear I shall fall into many sins between here and heaven." But sing in your heart, "Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever." The blood of atonement will never fail. Then up comes another fear. "I do not see how I am to be perfected My nature is so vile." The answer is the same. The Lord will bear with you and forbear. Some of God's children are the crookedest people that ever were in this world, and it must be sovereignty which chose them, for they are by no means naturally desirable or attractive. But His mercy endureth for ever. And some will pass through great affliction and some will experience a great many wants. And the hour of death will come. One man of God always feared death; but he might have spared himself his wretchedness, for he fell asleep one night in apparently excellent health, and died in his sleep. He never could have known anything about dying, for on his face were no tokens of pain or struggle, nor was there any reason to believe that he ever awoke till he lifted up his eyes amid the cherubim. And so, if we do not die shouting victory, we hope that we shall peacefully fall asleep, "for His mercy endureth for ever." "He will perfect that which concerneth me." Now do all of you who are just beginning life put yourselves and all your circumstances into God's hand and there leave them. III. THE LORD PUTS IT INTO HIS PEOPLE'S HEARTS TO PRAY, AND SUPPLIES THEM WITH A PLEA. "Forsake not the work of Thine own hands. Persevere in what Thou hast begun." This is a prayer which you and I may well bring before God, whose workmanship we are. A man takes his money into the bank and leaves it. He does not come back in a quarter of an hour and say, "Have you my money safe? I want to see it." The bank would not desire such a man who has no confidence in them. Let us not act so by Christ. Put in your all with Him and leave it there. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. |
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