Homilist Psalm 73:15-28 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of your children.… Searching for relief in the right direction (vers. 16, 17) He went where the mind of God was to be met with, where he obtained such ideas from the great Fountain of wisdom as calmed his agitation and solved his difficulties. Whenever God speaks to us, whether in providential events, or in the works of nature, or in sacred writings, or in the dictates of our own consciences, it must be in some place, and that place is a sanctuary. To go into this sanctuary, is simply to put our minds in a reverent, praying, waiting attitude. II. FINDING relief in the right direction. 1. New light came (ver. 17). The condition of the wicked. (1) Their position is dangerous. "Thou didst set them in slippery places."(2) Their danger is awful. "Thou castedst them down into destruction." Into destruction of what? Of all their property, worldly grandeur, health, friends, all that renders existence tolerable. This comes and breaks the sleep of sin. "As a dream when one awaketh."(3) His own temper in relation to their prosperity (ver. 21). 2. New inspiration came. New confidence in God. (1) New confidence in His upholding power (ver. 23). (2) New confidence in His future guidance (ver, 24). Man wants a guide through this life. God is the only safe Guide. Following His guidance, we shall be led on to glory. (3) A supreme delight in God (ver. 25). He felt that without God the universe to him was nothing; that with God, whatever else was absent, he had all his delight. "God is the strength of my heart."(4) Here is a fact in the history of all men. The fact is decay. The law of decay is universal and inexorable. (5) Here is a privilege in the experience of some men. God is the soul's power and portion, all-satisfying, inexhaustible, ever-enduring "portion."(6) A higher consciousness of nearness to God (vers. 27, 28). (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.WEB: If I had said, "I will speak thus;" behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. |
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