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THE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD
THE peculiar construction of this psalm forbids us to look for much connexion between its several parts. It is composed of short detached sentences, committed to writing at different times as they occurred to the mind of the Royal penman, and afterwards reduced to a certain kind of order; eight of them beginning with the same letter through all the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If however we take the words of our text as connected with the preceding verse, we must understand it as a prayer that a sense of God’s loving-kindness might be given him to comfort him under his afflictions. This sense we shall not exclude; though we shall not entirely limit it to this: for, if we take the words by themselves, they contain some peculiarly important hints, which we are desirous to impress upon your minds.
In elucidating them, we propose to shew,
I. What the Scriptures speak respecting the loving-kindness of God—
They are full of this glorious subject: they declare,
1. That it is the one source of all the benefits we enjoy—
[Survey the lustre and use of the heavenly bodies, the rich fecundity of the earth, the structure of the human body, or the faculties of the soul; Whence do they proceed? Who is their author; and by what motive was he actuated in bestowing them upon us? Can they be traced to any other source than the kindness of our God? Behold the gift, the stupendous gift of God’s only dear Son, and of salvation by him! Can this be traced to any other source [Note: See Joh_3:16. Tit_3:4-5. Eph_2:7.] — — —]
2. That it is our chief support under all trials—
[We will grant something to philosophy; and acknowledge that it can fortify the mind in some degree: but it is not to be compared with religion in point of efficacy. That may silence murmurs, and produce a reluctant submission; but this will turn trials into an occasion of joy and glorying [Note: Rom_5:1-3. Act_5:41; Act_16:25.].]
3. That a comfortable sense of it is the privilege of all the Lord’s people—
[God promises “his Holy Spirit unto all them that ask him.” That Spirit shall be in them “a spirit of adoption,” a witness, an earnest, a seal, a Comforter. From the days of Abel to the present hour, God has delighted to rejoice the souls of his servants by the testimonies of his love.]
But, if the loving-kindness of God be thus manifested to his people, it may be asked,
II. Why David prayed that it might be for his comfort? He did so,
1. Because, without a sense of it, his trials would have been insupportable—
[David was exposed to many and severe trials: and, if he had not been favoured with peculiar supports, he would have sunk under them. This he often mentions [Note: 1Sa_30:6 and Psa_116:3-5.]: and St. Paul also acknowledges his obligation to God for similar supports [Note: 2Co_1:3-5.]. When such manifestations were withdrawn, even Jesus himself almost fainted [Note: Mat_27:46.]: but when they were vouchsafed, the weakest females were made triumphant over all the malice of their persecutors [Note: Heb_11:35.].]
2. Because, though all are partakers of it, all do not find it to their comfort—
[How many have the blessings of health and wealth, who taste nothing of God’s loving-kindness in them, but make them the occasions of more flagrant opposition to his will! How many have been restored to health, who by their subsequent misconduct have turned that mercy into a real curse! Above all, how many have made Christ himself a stumbling-block instead of a Saviour, and “the gospel a savour of death,” when it might have been to them “a savour of life!” Thus would all men do, if they were left to themselves: even Hezekiah’s miraculous recovery, and St. Paul’s visit to the third heavens, would have issued only in their deeper condemnation, if God had not given grace to the one, and “a thorn in the flesh” to the other, to counteract the propensities of their fallen nature. Well then might David make this a matter of prayer to God, when none but God could impart to him this benefit.]
3. Because, if it be not to our comfort, it will be, in a most awful manner, to our discomfort—
[It is no light matter to abuse the merciful kindness of God. The day is coming, when every mercy we have received, must be accounted for; and when “it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha than for those” who have slighted a preached gospel. Every mercy therefore should be received with a holy fear and jealousy, lest it should prove only an occasion of more aggravated guilt, and heavier condemnation.]
Application—
[Let us more frequently reflect on the loving-kindness of God [Note: Psa_26:3; Psa_63:3.]—Let us meditate on it especially in seasons of trouble [Note: Ps. 143:78.]—And let us endeavour to requite it by devoting ourselves unreservedly to his service [Note: Psa_116:12 and Isa_63:7.]—]