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TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - Sermons from Psalms (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 051 PSA 68:19-20 Daily Blessings for God's People
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Daily Blessings for God's People
September 21st, 1871
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with
benefits, even the God of our salvation. He that
is our God is the God of salvation, and unto God
the Lord belong the issues from death."-
Psa_68:19-20.
We observe that this Psalm is a very difficult one. One
of the ablest commentators calls it a titanic Psalm. It
is truly a giant Psalm, and to master it means much
labour. Yet it is by no means difficult to understand
when it comet to practical duties, and to those
doctrines which are vital. For instance, the two verses
before us are very simple and do not need any
explanation, but only need to be impressed upon our
memory. So is it always throughout Holy Scripture;
wherever there are difficult places, they do not touch
vital truths. The matter of our salvation is plain
enough. The Book of Revelation may be difficult, but
not the Gospel according to Matthew. With regard to the
future, there may be many clouds, but with regard to
that blessed day which is past, which was the crisis of
the world's history, when our Saviour hung upon the
tree, the darkness is past, and the true light shineth
there. Don't, therefore, busy yourselves most about
those things which are most difficult, for they are
usually of least importance. Concern your heart most
with the simplicities of the gospel, for it is there,
in the way, the truth, and the life, that the essential
matter lies.
Let us come to these two verses, and remark that they
remind us first of the mercies of life. "Blessed be the
Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits." They then
assure us of the mercies of death. "He that is our God
is the God of our salvation, and unto God belong the
issues from death." And then the two verses tell us of
the common occupation of both life and death, namely,
the blessing of God, whose mercy continues to us in
both states. Blessed be Jehovah, whether I receive the
daily load of his benefits, or whether he open for me
the gates of the grace.
Let us begin then, and contemplate for a few moments:-
I. THE MERCIES OF OUR LIFE.
The text saith, "He daily loadeth us with benefits."
Let us keep to the English version just now. Take the
words of it. What is it that he gives us? Benefits. We
have a very beautiful word in the English
language-benevolence. You know that means good wishing,
bene volens. He may be a benevolent man who is not able
to do any act of kindness, to give any of his substance
away for lack of any. But God's goodness to us is not
merely bene volens, in which he wishes us well, but it
is beneficence or good doing. His gifts and benefits
are deeds of goodness, acts of goodness. He doth to us
that which is good. He doth not only wish us well, and
speak to us well, and direct us well, but he doeth well
unto us. He doth not only say, "I pity thy last
estate," but he delivers the lost out of their ruin. He
doth not say, as the churl doth, "Be thou warmed, and
be thou filled," and do no more, but, wishing us well,
he doth well unto us; he warms cur hearts with his
love, and fills them with his mercy, and sends us on
our way rejoicing. It is true God speaks us well. What
more could he say than, to us, he has said in his
blessed Word? It is true he wishes us well. "As I live,
saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him
that dieth, but had rather that he turn unto me and
live." But the essence of his goodness lies in this,
that he goes beyond wishes and words into acts.
Begin, brethren, with the greatest of his acts. "He
spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for
us all." In that gift he bath already given us all
things, and from that blessed pledge he has never gone
back, but he has given us all that we want for this
life, and for the life to come, for ye have grace and
glory, and hath abounded in each. The upper springs
fail not, neither do the nether springs. If Christ is
our perpetual bread and wine, so, too, our common
bread, in answer to our prayer, is given us according
to his assurance, "Thy bread shall be given thee, and
thy water shall be sure." Will you try to think of the
benefits which you have received, dear brother, dear
sister? Turn them over now in your mind-the benefits
that you have actually yourself received-not only read
of, and heard of, and had promises of, but that you
have received. Oh! the benefits of early education! the
being restrained from, sin. Oh! the benefits of
conviction! of being enlightened and made to see the
guilt off sin. Oh! the sweet benefit of being led to
the Saviour! made to stand at the cross foot, where the
blood speaks better things than that of Abel. Oh! the
benefit of perfect pardon and of righteousness, which
covers us and justifies in the sight of God! What an
unspeakable benefit is regeneration! Who shall prize
the benefit of adoption? Who is he that shall describe
the benefit of daily education in the things of God-of
preservation from falling into final, vital sin-of
sanctification carried on from day to day? We have
benefits that we know of, but we probably have ten
times as many that we know not of. Some of them come in
at the front door of the house; some of the richest of
them seem to steal in at the back door. They are among
the most precious bounties that fly in with so soft a
wing that we hear them not when they come. Ye shall
sooner count the hairs on your head, or the dust upon
the sand beach, than you shall be able to estimate the
number of his benefits.
Leave that word then, and note the next. It is said in
the text concerning God's benefits, that he loads us
with them-loads us with benefits. He does not put a
little upon us of his goodness, but much; very much,
until it becomes a load. Have you never known what it
is to be bowed right down with such goodness? I have, I
freely confess it-I have desired to praise him, but a
sense of love so bowed me down that I could only adopt
the language of the psalmist and say, "Praise is silent
for thee, O God, in Zion." It seemed as if "words were
but air, and tongues but clay, and his compassion's so
divine," that it was impossible to speak of them. His
mercies, as our hymn said just now, come as think and
as fast as the moments do. In fact, it is literally so.
Every moment needs heavings of the lungs, pulsings of
the blood. The slightest circumstance might prevent one
or the other. God's continued benefits come to us even
in the simple form of preserved life. We are constantly
exposed to peril. "Plagues and death around us fly."God
preserves us from perils to the body. Our
thoughts-whither might they go? They might in a moment
lead us into heresies and foul blasphemies. It is no
little thing to be preserved from that spiritual
pestilence that walketh both in darkness and the
noonday. Glory be to God, who sends us temporal and
spiritual benefits so numerous, and each one so
weighty, that eye cannot say less than this, "That he
daily loadeth us with his benefits, until we seem bowed
down to the earth under a joyful sense of obligation to
his mercy." "He loadeth us with benefits."
Oh! are any of you inclined to murmur? Do you think God
deals hard with you? Well, you are what you are by his
grace. Though you are not what you wish to be, yet
remember you are not what, if strict justice were
carried out, you would be. In the poor-house you might
be-few admire that residence. In the prison you might
be-God preserves you from the sin that would bring you
there. In the lunatic asylum you might be-better men
and women than you are have come to that. At the
grave's mouth you might be-on the sick bed, on the
verge of eternity. God's holiest saints have not been
spared from the grave. In hell you might be-amongst the
lost, wailing, but hopelessly wailing, gnashing your
teeth in utter despair. O God, when we think of what we
are not, because thy grace has kept us from it, we
cannot but say, "Thou hast loaded us with benefits."
But then think of what you are, you Christians. You are
God's children; you are joint-heirs with Christ. "All
things are yours"; ay, and "things to come," you have
guaranteed too-preservation to the end, and you have,
after the end of this life, glory without end. The
"many mansions" are for you; the palms and harps of the
glorified are for you. You have a share in all that
Christ has, and is, and shall be. In all the gifts of
his ascension you have a part; in the gifts that come
to us through his session at the right hand of God, you
have your share; and in, the glories of the Second
Advent, the grand hope of the Church of God, you shall
partake. See how, in the present, and in the past, and
in the future, he loadeth you with benefits. There are
two great words already.
But the next word is equally large. "Blessed be the
Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits." A poor man
shall call at your door, and you shall give to him all
he wants for food, and cover him, and give him
something to make glad his heart withal. If you do it
once, you reckon that you have done well. Supposing he
should call again to-morrow, you might find it in your
heart to do the same. But suppose he called upon you
seven days in the week: I am afraid that by degrees
that would become seven times too often, for we count,
when we have done men a good turn, that someone else
should see to them next time. If we load them
especially with benefits, we say, "Don't encroach;
don't ride a willing horse too fast. You must not come
again so often. You weary me." Ah! this is man; but
look at God. He daily loadeth us with benefits. How
many days has he done that with some of us? Thirty
years? "Ah!" saith one, "I can talk of sixty
years"-yes, and some of you of seventy and eighty
years. Well, he has loaded you with benefits every day.
You have never been above the rank of a pauper, so far
as your God is concerned. But I will put it
differently. You have been a gentleman commoner upon
the goodness of God all your life. It has been your
lot, like that of Mephibosheth, to sit daily at the
King's table and give a portion from him. And yet you
murmur. You have been unbelieving, proud, idle; all
sorts of ill-tempers have you shown. Yet has he daily
loaded you with benefits. It has sometimes seemed to be
a wrestling between our sin and God's love, but up to
this hour his love has conquered. We have drawn
mightily upon his exchequer, but that exchequer has
never been exhausted. The load of mercy which was used
yesterday won't do for to-day. Like manna, it must come
fresh and fresh, and the blessing is that it does come
fresh and fresh. When God draws the curtain and stands
in the sunlight, mercy streams in on the sunbeam; and
when he shuts the eyelids of the day and the evening
comes, it is mercy that puts its finger upon our
eyelids and bids us rest. He "daily loadeth us with
benefits"-every day; and he loads us with benefits not
only on bright days, but on dark days. When we are
sick, and tossing to and for upon the bed, he still is
loading us with benefits, only in another form. He
sends sometimes his choicest mercies to us in black-
edged envelopes. The very brightest gems of heaven come
to us, and we know them not. They sparkle not until
faith's eye has seen them. Nature has not perceived
their excellence. How he loadeth us with benefits on
Sabbath days! There is a dear brother who is almost
always here, who, when he sees me on Sunday mornings,
generally makes use of some such exclamation as this,
"Every day is good to me, but the Sabbath day is seven
good days in one. It is blest seven times over." And,
indeed, it so is. He loadeth us with benefits on the
Sabbath. But then we have our Monday mercies and our
Tuesday mercies too; and right on to the close on
Saturday night the Lord continues to heap on his
mercies one after another, that he may make us feel
that we shall sooner weary with thanking him than he
will weary in giving us cause for thankfulness.
There is one other word-a very little one, but a sweet
one too: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us
with benefits." "Us." Personal matters bring sweetness
to our soul, and herein lieth the wonder. That God
should load David with benefits was marvellous to
David, but not to me. The marvel to me is that he
should load me with benefits. Beloved brethren and
sisters, I do not feel your imperfections, and,
therefore, I do not so much perceive the sovereignty of
God in dealing graciously with you, but I know some of
my own shortcomings, and they seem to me to be greater
than those of others; therefore, do I with gratitude
admire the abounding mercy of God that he should load
me with benefits.
"Why do I meet to hear his voice,
And enter where there's room;
While thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?"
There may be some whose consciences will allow them to
think that their praying made the distinction. I am not
able to believe that, but I am compelled to feel that,
if I enjoy the things of Christ that others do not, it
is of the Lord's mercy, and not of any goodness in me,
but entirely of his infinite grace. Let us bless the
Lord at this hour because he loadeth us with benefits
when he might have passed us by. He might have suffered
us to go on heaping up our transgressions until the
measure thereof had been filled, and then he might have
made us reap for ever that which we had sown. Instead
of this, he has made us-many of us-however unlikely
persons-to be his chosen ones, and he hath loaded us
with benefits.
I have spoken very simply entirely with the view that
those hearts that have tasted that the Lord is gracious
may now wake up all their powers to praise and bless
the name of the Most High. We must not pass away from
this, however, without observing that our translation
is not literal-indeed, is not the meaning of the
passage. Those of you who will look at your Bibles will
perceive that the words "who" and "with benefits", are
put in it italics to show that they are not in the
Hebrew, but have been supplied by the translators, as
they thought them necessary to the sense; and some of
the best interpreters say that the passage means this,
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burdens";
and I have little doubt that that is the correct
translation. It is not so much that he loads us, as
that he lifts our load for us, and bears it for us.
Well, at any rate, that is a sweet rendering, "He daily
bears our burden"; and it is a rendering which is a
word of rebuke to some of you. Did you not come into
this tabernacle tonight with your burdens on your back?
Well, it was wrong you should ever have them. "Cast all
your care on him, for he careth for you." A man who has
a burden-bearer certainly need not bear the burden
himself. Faith is never burdened, because she knows
where to lay her burden. She hath a burden, but she
puts it on the Almighty God. But unbelief, with a far
less load than faith carries easily, is bowed down to
the dust. Arise, O child of God, whatever thy burden
is, and by an act of faith cast it upon God. You have
done your little all; leave it now. Your fretfulness
will not alter things. You cannot change he night, nor
make one hair white or black. Why fret and worry? The
world went on very well before you were born; it will
when you are dead. Leave the helm. Whenever you have
been foremast you made a mistake. He that carves for
himself will cut his fingers; but when God has been
foremost, and you have been content to follow, you have
never had any mistake then; and when God has been your
shepherd, you have been constrained to say, "I shall
not want." Oh! then, have done with burden-bearing, and
take up the language of the text, "Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears our burdens."
And then the text adds that he is "the God of our
salvation." In this life we ought to praise him. His
daily mercies are all sweetened with this
reflection-that we are saved souls. Our morsel may be
dry, but we dip it in this dainty sauce of his
salvation. It is true I am poor, but I am saved. It is
true I am sick, but I am saved. It is true I am obscure
and unknown, but I am saved; and the salvation of God
sweetens all. Then is it added to that, it is "our"
salvation. He that can grasp the salvation which is in
Christ and say, "This is mine," is rich to all the
intents of bliss, and has his daily life gilded with
joy.
And then it is added beyond that, "our God." God is
ours. He that is our God is the God of salvation. His
omnipotence and omniscience, his immutability and his
faithfulness-all his attributes are ours. The Father is
ours; the Son is ours; the Spirit is ours. The God of
election is ours; the God of redemption is ours; the
God of sanctification is ours. Oh! with all this, how
can we be cast down? Why should we repine! We have
certainly abounding cause for blessing and praising the
Lord. Those are the mercies If life. And now for a few
minutes let us contemplate:-
II. THE MERCIES OF DEATH.
"Unto God belong the issues from death." This may mean
several things. We will include its meanings under
these heads. Unto God belong escapes from death. Oh!
blessed be his name, we may come very near the grave,
and the jaws of death may be open to receive us; but
the pit cannot shut her mouth upon us until our hour is
come.
"Plagues of death around me fly.
Till he please, I cannot die.
Not a single shaft can hit,
Until the God of love see fit.
"What though a thousand at thy side,
At thy right hand ten thousand, died?
Our God, his chosen people saves,
Amongst the dead, amidst the graves."
Whatever occurs around us, we need not be alarmed. We
are immortal until our work is done. And amidst
infectious or contagious diseases, if we are called to
go there, we may sit as easily as though in balmy air.
It is not ours to preserve our life by neglecting our
duty. It is better to die in service than live in
idleness-better to glorify God and depart, than rot
above ground in neglecting what he would have us to do.
Unto God belong the issues from death. We may,
therefore, go without temerity into any danger where
duty calls us.
But then unto God belong the issues that lead actually
down to death. It may be we shall not die. There are
some who are comforted much by the belief that Christ
will come, and they shall not die. I do not profess to
be among the number. I would as soon die as not, and
rather, I think, if I might have my choice, for herein
would be a greater conformity to the sufferings of
Christ, in actually passing through the grave and
rising again, than will fall to the lot of those who do
not die. At all events, those who die not shall have no
preference beyond them that sleep. So the Apostle tells
us. "To" die is "gain"; and we will look upon it as
such. But whenever we die, if we die, it will be at
God's bidding. No one hath the key of death but the
Lord of life. A thousand angels could not hurl us to
the grave. All the devils in hell cannot destroy the
least lamb in Christ's flock. Till God saith "Return,"
our spirit shall not leave the body; and we may be well
content to depart when God saith the time is come. Oh!
how blessed it is to think that the arrows of death are
in the quiver of God, and they cannot be shot forth
unless as the Lord wills it! Unto the Lord belong the
issues from death.
Think of this, then, about your departed friends The
Master took them home. Think about your own departure.
It is not to be arranged by your folly, not by the
malice of the wicked. It will all be planned and
designed by the infinite love of God.
But the text may mean something more. Unto God belong
the issues from death; that is, the coming up from
death again. We place the bodies of the saints in the
territory of death, but they are only put there, as it
were, because there is a lien upon them for a time.
They must come out. They must be delivered. for his
word says, if we believe that Jesus Christ rose from
the dead, "so also them that sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him." There shall not be a bone or a piece
of a bone of one of the saints kept by the enemy as a
trophy of his conquest over the Saviour. Christ shall
vanquish death entirely, and from the sepulchre he
shall snatch all the trophies of the grave. We shall
rise again, beloved. What though our bodies rot? What
though they feed plants, and in due time feed animals,
and pass through innumerable permutations and
combinations? Yet he that made us can re-make us; and
the voice that bade us live shall bid these bodies live
again. "Unto God belong the issues from death." In this
we are comforted-to fall asleep, because the angel of
the churches shall guard our dust.
And then this further thought. The issues from death
grasp all that comes after death. The spirit issues
from death-never touched by it indeed. Leaving the body
behind a while, the spirit enters into a glory, waiting
for the fulness. Then when Christ descends, and the
trumpet sounds, and the dead in Christ rise in the
first resurrection, then shall the re-united manhood
enter into the fulness of the glory with a manifested
Saviour. These issues from death belong to God, and God
secures them to his people. He shall give them to them
for whom he has appointed them. He shall give them to
those whom he has made worthy by his grace to be
partakers of this heritage. They belong to him-not to
us by merit, but they are his gifts by covenant and by
grace. Oh! then, how sweet it is to think, "The path
down to the grave, my God has planted it. It is all
his-all his own; and when my turn shall come to go into
that garden wherein is the sepulchre, I shall be in my
Father's territory." Jesus Christ is Lord of the sick-
bed. He makes the bed of his people in their
affliction. Even down to the borders of the grave-to
the edge of Jordan's river-it is all Immanuel's land;
and he often makes it the land of Beulah. And then,
when I dip my foot in that chill stream, it is still my
Master's country. I am not out of the presence of the
Lord of life now I am coming to the land of death-shade
and through the river, but it is the Master's river
still, and, on the other side, it is my Lord's own
land. When the shining ones shall meet me to conduct me
up to the jewelled "city that hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God," I shall be always at home,
always in my Father's country, never an exile, never
come upon a tract of territory over which he hath no
power. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, for he is with me. His
rod and his staff, even there have they sway, and they
shall comfort me." Be of good cheer, beloved. "Goodness
and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life,"
and, life being ended, you shall "dwell in the house of
your God for ever." In life and in death, you shall
prove the tokens of his special love. And now we wind
up with this. Here is:-
III. THE COMMON OCCUPATIONS OF BOTH CONDITIONS.
"I will praise thee in life
I will praise thee in death
I will praise thee as long
As thou lendest me breath."
"I will praise thee for ever and ever." The one
occupation of a Christian is to praise his God. Now, in
order to do this, we must maintain by God's grace a
grateful, happy, praiseful frame of mind; and we must
endeavour to express that condition of mind by songs of
gratitude. This should be our morning's work. Should
there not be the morning song? This should be the
evening's work. Let it be our vespers to bless and
praise God. Israel had the morning lamb and the evening
lamb. Let us make both ends of the day bright with his
praise, and during the day. We are in a wrong state of
mind if we are not in a thankful state of mind. Depend
upon it, there is something wrong with you if you
cannot praise God. "Oh!" says one, "what, in trouble?"
Yes, in every bitter trouble too, for Job could say,
"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, and
blessed be the name of the Lord." "But are we never to
be sorrowful?" Yes, yet always rejoicing. How can that
be? Ah! the Lord teach you it! It is a work of grace.
Cast down, but yet, for all that, rejoicing in the
Lord! He lifts up the light of his countenance upon us,
even when heart and flesh are failing us. I say again,
there is something amiss with us when our heart does
not praise God. Do as much as you can also. When your
heart is glad, try to. praise him with your lip. Do you
work alone? Sing. Perhaps, if you work in company, you
cannot; but sing with the heart. Men of the world, I am
afraid, sing more than we do. I do not admire the most
of their songs. They do not seem to have much sense
about them-at least the modern ones. But let us sing
some of the songs of Zion. You do not want to put your
harps on the willows, but if they are there, take them
down and praise the Lord, who leadeth you with benefits
in life and in death. Therefore, habitually praise him.
And, brethren and sisters, all our actions, as well as
our thoughts and words, should tend to, the praise of
him who always blesses us. You may stop praising God
when he stops having mercy upon you-not till then; and
as there is always a new mercy coming to your doors let
new praise be going up out of your hearts." But how can
I praise God by my actions? saith one. "Do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the
Father by him." I try to praise God by preaching to-
night. Some of you will go to your trades. Well, praise
God at your trades. Any work, any lawful calling may be
to the Christian priest-(and all Christians are
priests)-the exercise of his sacred functions. You may
make your smock-frock, if you will, a vestment; you
shall make your meal a sacrament; you shall make
everything in the house like the pots that were before
the altar; the bells upon the horses shall be "holiness
unto the Lord."
And, dear brethren, to close. Let me remark that if we
praise God ourselves by word and life, we ought to try
to bring others to praise him too. You do not praise
God, indeed, unless you want others to do so. It is a
mark of sincere thankfulness that it desires others to
assist it in the expression of its joy. Blessed be the
Lord, this same Psalmist here, who says for himself,
"Blessed he the Lord", is the writer of the 67th Psalm.
You know how he says there, "Let the people praise
thee-yea, let all the people praise thee!Oh! let the
nations be glad and sing for joy!" Then he says again,
"Let the people praise thee, O God; yea, let all the
people praise thee!" Do your utmost to be the means, in
God's hands, of bringing others to praise him. Tell
them what he has done for you. Tell them of his saving
grace. Invite sinners to Christ. Let it be:-
"All your business here below
To say,"Behold the Lamb!"
and in this way you will be setting other tongues a-
praising God, so that when your tongue is silent, there
shall be others that will take up the strain. Labour
for this, beloved, every one of you. Labour for the
extension of the choir that shall sing the praises of
the Saviour I trust we shall never fall into that
narrow-minded spirit which seems to say, "It is enough
for me if I am saved, and if those that go to my little
place of worship are all right. It is quite enough."
No, Master, thy throne is not to be set up in some
little conventicle in a back street, and there alone.
Thou are not to reign in some little corner of a city,
and there alone Thou art not to take this island of
Great Britain, and reign in it alone; nor in Europe-in
one quarter of the earth alone. Let the whole earth be
filled with his praise! And what Christian heart will
refuse to say, "Amen and amen"? God grant it may be so!
Amen.
Provided by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
internet: hyperlink
Box 318
Columbus, NJ 08022