faith! Lord, I believe! help Thou mine unbelief!' and then, to endure, as seeing Him who is invisible.'

6

And now we come to the turning-point of the Psalm. David had felt the hopelessness and helplessness of man, and had cried, 'Help, Lord!' and here in the 5th verse we find the gracious answer, 'For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the

Lord.'

them;

The Lord's time had come: Now will I arise.'

As once in the days of Israel's oppression the Lord said, I have heard their cry, and am come down to deliver so is it here, 'Now will I arise.' He is sitting, as it were, calmly waiting the time; and when that comes, He will arise'; He will set the poor and needy in safety, as one within the ark in days of old; He will set him in safety, beyond the reach of all that would

ensnare him.

The words of the Lord are pure words.' The words of Him who cannot lie: pure, holy, true, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.' A figure used to denote the perfect purity of the words of God, purified, as it were, sevenfold. There is not one of all

here

His words which is not perfectly right and pure and good

and true.

Do not doubt them, beloved! Do not merely

believe them in a general way, but believe them as true to you and to me individually; for example, those gracious words of His, 'Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,' 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be

saved.

Only believe Him! He means what He says,

and every word in this blessed Book, from first to last, is a tried word; true and pure and faithful; 'profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.'

Then see the sure conviction of the Psalmist, and his

unwavering faith.

Thou shalt keep them, O Lord!

Thou shalt preserve them, from this generation, for ever!'

F

No fear, no doubt, no danger! Thou wilt keep them for evermore!

'The wicked walk on every side,' that is, they gather round, like the rising of a tempest. Just as we have seen oftentimes, with a bright sun and a clear sky, the clouds suddenly begin to gather, and ere long, from every side, the tempest rage around us; so here, the wicked are said to come round us on every side, to come about us like bees. But if the flood and the tempest rage, remember, I pray you, there is One who 'sitteth on the waterflood,' and who saith to you, in the moment of fear and darkness and danger, 'It is I, be not afraid!'

It may be, that there are some among us here, who are discouraged by reason of the faintness and feebleness of their faith. Is it so? If it is true that If it is true that your faith is so miserably weak and feeble that oftentimes you are ready to doubt whether, after all, you have any faith at all; remember, my brother, it was not a strong faith that our Lord saw when He arose and said to the stormy winds and waves on the Sea of Galilee, Peace, be still.' It was, 'Oh, ye of little faith!' Aye, thank God, He knows and understands it all; and if our faith is so poor and weak and feeble, His grasp is strong enough to hold us; that strong arm which is 'never shortened that it cannot save.' Oh! let us pray for more faith, day by day, and hour by hour; more simple, loving, child-like faith; more trustful confidence in Him, our loving Father, and so, under every circumstance, whether of joy or sorrow, which may gather around us in our earthly lot, at all times, whether of prosperity or adversity, we shall be kept in perfect peace, having our minds stayed on Him.' Is He not worthy of our trust, beloved? May we not well confide in His love? Yea, Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.'

PSALM XIII.

HOW LONG?

'How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?

'How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in daily how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

my heart 'Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;

'Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.'

WE have met this plaintive cry of How long?' once before, in the 6th Psalm and 3rd verse. Yet the two differ from each other in this, that there is another cause at work here. In the 6th Psalm it is the cry of an awakened conscience, finding not only many and bitter enemies without, but many and grievous foes within; and it is from the sense of that, the plague of sin in the heart, and the consequent need of rebukes and punishment, that the cry arises, Thou, O Lord, how long?' In the Psalm before us it arises, not so much from the consciousness of sin, as from the trial of faith and patience which God oftentimes lays upon His child, when He hides His countenance from him for a while; when, suddenly, perhaps, and unexpectedly, the soul is brought into a season of great sadness and depression; when the light seems gone from his sky, and the sun blotted out from the heavens. To some such season or condition as this the Psalmist evidently refers here, and it is under some such circumstances that the two natures, the old and the new, speak as it were together.

The old nature says, 'For ever?-I am only getting deeper and deeper down in misery and woe; darker and darker every day; there is no hope for me now,—surely it is For ever!'

Then does faith come in and say, 'How long?' One's

own heart, with its miserably weak faith, is ready to sink down and give up all hope for ever;' but faith limits the trial, and says, 'How long?' Lord, this is in Thy hand; Thou knowest it altogether. How long it may be I know not, but I know that the hours are numbered. 'How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord?' Observe how the expressions in these verses grow and increase in force and intensity. It is, first, 'How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord?' Just the whisper in the heart, Hath God forgotten to be gracious?' It is small wonder if He make us feel this at times, when we so often and so readily forget him.

We take note and remember carefully all our troubles and griefs; not those daily loving-kindnesses which surround us on every side; the love that is new every morning, while yet it is only the old old story. How little do we remember these! No wonder He so proves us that we are led to feel, 'Hath God forgotten to be gracious?'

Ah! beloved, if He dealt with us as we do with each other in this world! How could love and friendship exist between two people for any length of time, if there were on the one hand nothing but constant love and earnest devotion, and on the other nothing but careless indifference. It would need no prophet, truly, to tell what the end of such a friendship must necessarily be. But His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts; and so, thank God, He oftentimes makes us pause and exclaim, 'How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?'

A beautiful expression this, and very interesting to observe. Suppose a loving father, walking with his child, and looking down upon him with tenderest affection, sees something in him which he disapproves, which he feels to be wrong; he does not say a word, for if he did, the words of loving forgiveness would follow so

quickly on those of reproof, that the impression on the child would be comparatively slight; but he turns away and hides his face from him in the grief of his heart: oh! if there be a spark of love or affection in that child's heart, he will feel that silent reproof a keener rebuke, a more painful lesson, than any words that might have been said to him and the hiding of his father's face.

So is it with God, my beloved friends. It is not when, with the lightning glance of His justice, He points His finger to us and says 'Thou art the man' that the reproof is most felt; but when, we know not how or why, the light of our Father's countenance is withdrawn, and we are left in darkness, till we feel, 'Oh! is that face to be turned away from me for ever?' Ah, but though we have forgotten Him, thanks be to God, He hath never let go His hold of us. And so, even in the depths of that strange and mysterious sorrow, we can turn to Him and say, 'How long, Lord, wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?' The soul not actually driven away from God, cast out, or forsaken, and yet not in the light of God's countenance :—we all know more or less of this in our own experience: as a dear young Christian said lately, shortly before he departed to be with Christ. Ah,' he said, 'I have often let go Christ, but He has never let me go.'

When we are conscious of the weak hold we have of Him, we cannot wonder that we are in comparative darkness. It is not absolute desertion; we do not feel that He has forsaken us, but His face is hidden from us. I am in darkness truly; but, behind those clouds, the sun is shining still. How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?' 'How long wilt Thou forget me?' How long?' There is a limit to the hours of darkness; and if He hide His face it is only for a little moment, and not for ever. counsel in my soul, having

'How long shall I take sorrow in my heart daily?' lay up plans in my soul?

How long, that is, shall I Just what we are ever trying