2284. “Clear Shining After Rain.”

No. 2284-38:565. A Sermon Delivered On Lord’s Day Evening, July 20, 1890, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

A Sermon Intended For Reading On Lord’s Day, November 27, 1892.

As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. {2Sa 23:4}

For other sermons on this text:
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2284, “Clear Shining After Rain” 2285}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2947, “Royal Emblems for Loyal Subjects” 2948}
   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2998, “Rule of Christ, The” 2999}

1. What a blessing it is to the country if, at certain seasons, we have a time of clear shining after the rain! Under some circumstances, nothing but sunshine will save the crops that are ready to be reaped; and there will be great loss to the farming interest, and, indeed, to us all, unless we have the sunshine when it is needed. We must never neglect to pray to the Lord who alone can give, to the natural world, clear shining after rain.

2. Our text, however, has a higher meaning than this. These words occur in David’s description of a fit, true, and wise ruler. All rulers have not been fit to rule; indeed, in David’s day, and in most Oriental countries at the present time, the King, the Sultan, the Emperor, the Shah, all rule for themselves. Their one great business is to extort all the taxes they can from the people, and to give them as little as possible in return. To fleece the sheep, is the great business of an Oriental shepherd; to feed them, does not seem to enter into his mind. But David says that, where rulers were wise, just, and upright, their country flourished. A good ruler, especially in the East, where he had everything in under control when he came to the throne, was like “a morning without clouds”; and the people around him grew like the grass in times when, after heavy showers of rain, the sun shines out with cheerful rays, and warms the earth into verdure. We may be thankful, dear friends, that we do not know what despotic rule means; for, good as it may occasionally happen to be, it may also be intolerably bad. Let other lands have what masters they wish, but let us be free, and our own masters still, as we still are, thanks to the gracious providence of God that has smiled upon us.

3. The beautiful simile, by which David describes the rule of a good king, I will first take out of its context, and look at it for other purposes; and then I will put it back into its context, and use it as David used it, only in a higher sense. The beautiful picture that he draws is produced by a combination, first, rain, and then, clear shining after rain; and the most flourishing condition of spirituality is produced by the same two causes; it comes as the result of a combination of rain and sunshine. We shall never rise to the highest spiritual state by having all rain and no sunshine. Although we may prefer it, we shall never attain to the fullest fruit-bearing by having all sunshine, and no rain. God sets the one opposite the other, the dark day of cloud and tempest against the bright day of sunshine and calm; and when the two influences work together in the soul, as they do in the natural world, they produce the greatest degree of fertility, and the best condition of heart and life.

4. I intend to use the text in four ways; and first, I shall show you how the “clear shining after rain” is revealed in the heart of the convert. In the second place, I shall point out to you how this “clear shining after rain” often produces the best condition of things in the soul of the believer. Thirdly, I shall prove to you that our text makes a very happy combination in the ministry of the Word; and, in closing, I shall speak to you about the “clear shining after rain” in the ages to come.

5. I. I shall begin by showing you how the “clear shining after rain” is revealed IN THE HEART OF THE CONVERT.

6. When a man is truly converted, do you know how it is revealed? All conversions are not alike; there is a very great difference between them. Some are very definite; you can tell to a minute when the man is converted. Others are very indistinct; there is a long previous preparatory process, and you cannot say exactly when the man turned to God. If you get up tomorrow morning, and do not look at the Almanac, but look toward the east, and take a pencil and try to record exactly when the sun rises, I think it is highly probable that you will not manage the task correctly. On an extremely clear and bright morning, you might tell, to a second, when the rim of the sun appeared above the horizon; but we do not often have clear, bright mornings nowadays. We have not seen the sun much recently; and, probably, you would find that it was up before you had made the pencil mark, and most likely you would learn that it was up before you had discovered when it rose. So it is often in the workings of divine grace. Some men have the light of God; but they cannot tell when the light first came to them. Let none of you imagine that you are not converted because you do not know the hour when it occurred; otherwise, you would be as foolish as I should be if I said to some old lady, “How old are you?” “Well, I am somewhere about eighty.” “But when was your birthday? Do you not remember your birthday?” “No, sir, I do not.” Suppose I were to tell her she was not alive because she did not know her birthday, I should be very foolish; and if you say to yourself, “Soul, you were never born again because you do not know when the event happened,” you will be very foolish, too. If you can say, “One thing I know, whereas I was blind, but now I see,” be satisfied and grateful, even though you cannot tell when the great miracle was performed. Conversions, then, are not all alike.

7. Yet, as a usual rule, the work of grace begins in the heart with a time of gloom. Clouds gather; there is a general dampness all around; the soul seems saturated with doubt, fear, dread. There is something coming, but the soul does not know what; it feels that it is very sinful, and deserves whatever punishment God may send. Perhaps some of you are passing through that stage of experience just now. You get sadder and yet more sad every day; and yet you do not quite know why. You used to go to the theatre, and you enjoyed it; but you went the other night, and it seemed very dreary to you, as indeed it is. You went off to some carefree company, where you used to be very merry; but you seemed quite out of spirits, you could not join in their merriment, you were glad to get home. Something ails you; something ails you. Yes, the clouds are gathering over your head. That is how grace usually begins to work in the soul that God intends to save and bless.

8. After the clouds, in the next place, the rain falls. The real work of the Spirit of God often follows upon an inward depression of spirit. Now you really begin to repent of sin; now you are sorry for the past; now you begin to sigh and cry for Christ. You wish you knew him; you wish you loved him. Tears begin to drop; or if they do not actually fall from your eyes, yet there are inward weepings, and your soul is getting moist now with deep contrition, hatred of sin, dread of God’s anger, the fear of the wrath to come, and a wish to lay hold on eternal life. Now the rains, the blessed rains, have come, and softened your heart. If we were to water all the fields in summer-time, when the sun is shining with a scorching heat, it would be of very little use indeed. An Irish friend of mine once said, that he had carefully noticed that it did not rain when the sun was shining; but that, whenever it rained, there were always some clouds to keep the sunshine off. There is a great truth in what my friend said. Rain becomes doubly precious to the earth when all the surroundings are suitable for its reception. All the atmosphere becomes damp; whereas, if rain could fall when all is dry and warm, mischief might come of it. Well, now, God’s Holy Spirit loves to come and work in man a congenial atmosphere, a holy tenderness, a devout heart-breaking; then he brings a heavenly rain with the clouds.

9. What comes after the rain? Then, the sun shines: “clear shining after rain.” I am describing the conversion of a man to God, not in a cast-iron style; for, as I have already told you, experiences differ. But, as a rule, after the softening, saturating influences of the Holy Spirit have come to the man, then the clouds go, the rain ceases, and there comes clear shining. The sun shines out. The man perceives that he is a sinner, but that Christ has come to save him. He sees his own blackness; but he believes that Christ can make him whiter than the snow. He mourns his own rebellions; but he rejoices that he is made a reconciled child, and admitted into the sacred family. Now look at him; his face is full of brightness; he looks as if he would like to dance, he feels so happy. His sins are washed away, he has believed in Jesus, he has rested in Christ’s finished work, and now he is as merry as the birds in May. His cheerful exclamation is, “I feel like singing all the time,” for he is enjoying the clear shining after the rain. I should like to encourage any here tonight who are going through the rainy time. Believe me, it will not last for ever; you shall yet say, “Lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.” It will come all the sooner to you if you come to Christ at once. Look to him as lifted up on the cross for you; and you are now saved. May God grant that you may do so at once!

10. Well, now, what happens after this? We have come as far as the clear shining after rain; what follows this? Why, then everything grows. The grass is sure to grow when we have mist and heat together; and when a soul, having felt its need of Christ, at last beholds the light of his countenance, then it begins to grow. I love to see young converts with all the freshness of their new-born faith; they have not borrowed their language from other people. I like to see them with their zeal; they are not quite so prudent as some of us older people are. You will find that they are doing this, and doing that, and doing the other good thing, and the prudent people tell them not to do too much. My dear young friend, do not listen to them! There is many an old saint who has been the spokesman for the devil when he has tried to hold a young Christian back from doing more for Christ. I had a number of kind friends when I began labouring for the Lord, and especially when I began to preach; and these kind friends provided me with an unlimited quantity of blankets, and very wet blankets they were, too. They were afraid that I should get too hot in my Master’s service, so they were always ready with wet blankets to dampen my ardour. I do think that, sometimes, when Satan wants to repress the zeal of young converts, he finds more efficient servants among good people than he does among bad ones. Brethren, let the young converts grow; they will not grow too fast. Let them serve God zealously; they will not do too much for him. Let them burn with vehement zeal; there are plenty in the world who will try to cool it down. May God grant that our young friends may be able to resist that chilling influence, and still may be full of earnest might and spiritual strength in the service of their Saviour!

11. That, then, is the usual method of the progress of a convert; clouds, rain, clear shining, and then growth. We pray that we may see this process perfected in very many.

12. II. But now, secondly, I am going to use the text in another way. This “clear shining after rain” often produces the very best condition of things IN THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER.

13. You will see this state of things revealed in trial followed by deliverance. Were you ever nearer to God, my dear tried friend, than after a very heavy affliction, when God appeared for you, and brought you out of it? I can only speak for myself; but I must say this, in times of prosperity I have not always felt so much the nearness of God as in moments of great sorrow and tribulation, when I have sobbed myself to sleep upon the breast of my dear Lord; and when I have awakened, and have found that he has done for me what my helplessness could not do, and has set me free from my foes, and made me to rejoice in his name, then I have seen him; then I have known him, when he has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. See, then, dear souls, you who love the Lord, you may expect to have trials, and you may expect to have deliverances, too, for your very best state of growth comes by the two together; rain, and then the clear shining after the rain; trial followed by deliverance.

14. Next, this experience is realised in humiliation of self followed by joy in the Lord. It is a very healthy thing for a man to be made to know himself; and if he is made to know himself, he will have no reason for boasting. There is not a corner in our nature in which we may sit down, and say, “I have something which is good within me which I have myself worked out.” If there is anything good in us, it is the gift of God alone. The Lord often takes us down into our own natural hearts; and there conducts us from chamber to chamber, so that we may see our own filthiness and vileness. I suppose that no one here knows quite how bad he is by nature. If we could know it fully, our reason might reel. We might never be able to hope again, if we fully knew all the depravity of our hearts. Now, for a man to have plenty of rain to make him feel how evil he is, and then to have coupled with that a full conviction of the greatness and blessedness of Christ, and of his own interest in Christ; to see sin, and then to see the one great Sacrifice for sin; to see our death, and then to see Christ our life; this is the very best condition for any of us to be in. I would not have you glory in Christ, I do not think you can rightly glory in Christ, unless you also sorrow because of your own distance from him, and your own natural depravity. It is for our good to have this twofold experience. We might get presumptuous if we were always allowed to enjoy the clear shining; we might think that there was no reason to watch, no further reason to carry the shield of faith, or to wield the sword of the Spirit. To preserve us from this evil, we often get taken down a notch or two. We are made to see our poverty, so that we may value, all the more, the riches of God in Christ Jesus. Put those two together, deep self-humiliation and highly prizing our precious Christ, and you have a condition of things in which a child of God can grow.

15. Next, I think there is another happy combination of rain and clear shining, namely, tenderness mixed with assurance. I like to meet that man, whom Mr. Bunyan speaks of in his “Pilgrim’s Progress,” who was, above many, tender concerning sin. He was not afraid of lions; but he was dreadfully afraid of sins. He was not afraid of Vanity Fair; it had no charms for him; but he had some doubts about his interest in the celestial country. I love to see a child of God who, like Mr. Fearing, is very tender concerning sin. I know some who hardly dare put one foot before the other, for fear they should do wrong. I do not like this tenderness to become morbid; for then it causes unnecessary grief; but yet holy tenderness is a very beautiful characteristic of a child of God when it has mingled with it the clear shining of a full assurance that enables the man to say, “I know whom I have believed; I know I am God’s child; I know that no one shall pluck me from his hand.”

   More blessed, but not more secure,
   Are the glorified spirits in heaven.

These two things, tenderness and assurance, operating together, will produce a high state of spiritual fertility. It is a dreadful thing to see the full assurance of some men! I heard of one man, in a public house, saying, as he drank I do not know how many glasses of beer, “I may take what I like, for I am a child of God.” Oh wretched blasphemer! What worse blasphemy could there be than such talk as yours? He who is a true child of God says to himself, “I do not ask how far I may go without crossing the line of safety; but I do ask that I may be kept from temptation and sin; and if there are some things that I might do, if they expose me to temptation, or expose others to it, I will have nothing to do with them.” Give me, then, a man with a tender heart, who, at the same time, mixes full assurance with his tenderness. He is the man who will produce the fruit of holiness ending in everlasting life.

16. Once again, our text suggests to us the blending of experience and knowledge. Read the Westminster Assembly’s Confession of Faith; by all manner of means get a clear view of the doctrines of grace, so that you can state them to others, and know why you hold them firmly yourself; but, remember, if you do not experience them in your own heart, if you do not know the power of them in your own life, you know nothing at all about them. Dry doctrine, without the moisture of the Spirit of God, may only make fuel for your eternal destruction. When a man accommodates his religion up in the attic of his head, and never takes it down into the parlour of his heart, that man’s religion is vain. We must experience the power of the gospel in our own souls if it is to be of real service to us.

   True religion’s more than notion,
   Something must be known and felt.

It is very nice to talk about Christ; but do you trust him as your Saviour? It may be very easy to speak about the new birth; but have you felt it? When you get these two things together, first the rain of gracious experience, and then the clear shining of intellectual knowledge of Scripture, then you will produce fruit for God.

17. I must not linger longer over this very interesting point of the clear shining after rain as illustrated in the soul of the believer.

18. III. But now, in the third place, I think, dear friends, our text makes a very happy combination IN THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD.

19. You know that, nowadays, people will listen to anyone, provided that he is a clever preacher. I am often astonished at congregations that had a grand old man for a preacher, who always preached good sound doctrine to them, and I thought their church was a very tower of orthodoxy; but when he dies, they select someone who preaches no one knows what; but, then, he does it cleverly, and so they have him, to their eternal disgrace, and to the injury of the Church of God.

20. What is a good sermon? Well, I am very much of the opinion of old King George III, in his latter days. The old man knew the truth, and loved it; and when he used to hear his fine court chaplains, he would often go out of the chapel, and say, “It will not do; nothing to feed a soul on.” Old George did not have too much of a brain; but all the things he did know, he clung to. Another time, as he went out of the chapel, he would say, “That will do; that will do; a soul can feed on that.” That was his way of judging a sermon: “Can a soul feed on it?” And if a soul could not feed on it, it did not suit George. I hope that it will not suit you either, unless it stands this test, “Can a soul feed on it?” You may have the best china dinner-service, and the silver plate, and the damask table-cloth; but if, on the table, there is nothing but dry bones, I should not recommend you to go there for dinner. We need something to eat both for our bodies and our souls if they are to be kept healthy.

21. He who would have a fruitful ministry must have clear shining after the rain, by which I mean, first, law, and then, gospel. We must preach plainly against sin. In our ministry there must be rain, we must have the clouds and darkness, and divine justice bearing heavily upon the sinner’s conscience. Then comes in Christ crucified, full atonement, simple faith, and clear shining of comfort to the believing sinner. But there must be the rain first. He who preaches all sweetness and all love, and has nothing to do with warning men about the consequences of sin, may be thought to be very loving; but, in truth, he is altogether unfaithful to the souls of men. I do not suppose that any of you women can sew without needles. Yet your object is not simply to get the needle into the stuff, is it? No; you want to get in a bit of cotton, or thread, or silk. Well, now, try whether you can sew with a piece of silk alone. You cannot do so. You must put in the needle first, must you not? And he who would do any work for God, must have a sharp needle, as he deals plainly with the sin of man, and he must then draw after it the silken thread of the gospel of Christ There must be rain first, and clear shining afterwards.

22. But, dear friends, when we come to deal with you, we have to tell you that what we want to see in you is, first, repentance, and then zeal: rain, and then clear shining. I am always sorry if my ministry produces men and women who, suddenly, seem to become Christians directly, without any sense of sin, without any softening, without any fear of divine wrath, for I am afraid that those clear shinings without any rain will parch the ground, and make it dry, but never cause it to produce true fruit for God. In our ministry, dear friends, it must not be so; and here I speak to my fellow Christians as well as to myself. Your ministry may be in the Sunday School, or in street preaching, or sick visiting, but all true ministry must have rain about it as well as sunshine.

23. If your service is to be successful, bringing glory to God, there must be in it, first, prayer, and then, blessing. You must go out with prayer, you must go out weeping, bearing precious seed, and afterwards there will come the clear shining, when you return rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you. God will bless and prosper your work if you go to it in the spirit of your Saviour; but there must be deep anxiety in your soul, and great longings and anguish before God, if you expect to have the Lord’s blessing resting upon your efforts to serve him.

24. I think my text also means grace softening, and then shining. I wish that the Lord would visit all his Church with a heavy shower of rain; I mean, by way of softening the Church, making the Church loving in spirit, and anxious for souls. Then what would happen? The Lord would soon visit it with clear shining, and we should see conversions as numerous as the blades of grass which spring up in the fields. Oh, come, come, divine dew, and rest on this assembly now, and on this church all the days of the week! Then shine, oh Sun of righteousness, with glorious warmth and power, and we shall soon see a plentiful harvest, to the praise and glory of our God!

25. This is, I think, the meaning of the expression, “clear shining after rain,” as applied to the ministry of the Word.

26. IV. I am finished when I have said just this much with regard to the clear shining after rain IN THE AGES TO COME.

27. I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet. Every now and then I see the walls of our city placarded with an intimation that something very wonderful is going to happen in such and such a year. Now, believe me, brethren, it may be, but then it may not be. Whenever I find a brother quite sure about what will happen on April the 1st, in such and such a year, I begin to wonder whether he knows anything at all about the subject; I suspect that all those who prophesy in these days, apart from the sacred Word, are as much to be respected as the Norwood gipsy, and no more. And yet I am now going to turn prophet, taking my prophecy out of the Word of God.

28. And, first, times of gloom are to be expected. There has been held, in this city of London, a conference with regard to the establishment of peace. I heartily sympathize with the grand object of that conference. Oh, that wars might cease to the ends of the earth! War is the sum of all villainies. There is nothing to be said for it. It is a monstrous thing that men should murder each other wholesale. But there will be no end of war from anything that you and I can do apart from preaching the gospel of Christ. When the King comes, when Jesus comes, when the King shall reign in righteousness, there will be an end to war; but until then there will be wars and rumours of wars; and when you hear of them, do not be disturbed as though everything was going to pieces. There will be clear shinings after the rain. Indeed, though it is a reign of blood, afterwards he shall shine out who is our peace, and who will set up an unsuffering kingdom which shall know no end. In religious matters, do not expect that the world will go on getting better and better. I think the belief that it is already much improved has a very slight foundation of fact. We have learned the art of hiding sin behind the vestments of hypocrisy, but we are not much better after all. We have changed the appearance of sin, but the sin is there. Now, do not expect to see the churches always sound, and religion always spreading. You may see, someone will see, a falling away before the coming of Christ, and a departure from the faith. “The love of many shall wax cold.” It shall come to pass that, if you ask for faith, you will scarcely find it, for, “When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” Scarcely. It will be a very rare commodity; but do not be distressed, even though all men are turned aside from the Christ of God, for there will be “clear shinings after the rain.”

29. Although times of gloom are to be expected, an age of light will follow. There will come a day when Christ shall reign among his ancients gloriously; when the ungodly shall hide themselves in obscure places, and the meek shall have dominion on the earth, and the sons of God in that morning shall be acknowledged as the noblest of men. There is to come yet “a thousand years” (whatever that period may mean) of a reign of righteousness, when the entire earth shall be filled with the glory of God, and become the vestibule of heaven. Have comfort about that glorious truth.

30. Now, dear friend, with regard to yourself, it may be that, unless the Lord shall soon come to his temple, you will grow old, and as you grow old, the clouds will return after the rain. You will get into times of infirmity when there will be rain, and rain, and rain, and rain, and, perhaps, little sunshine; yet expect that, before you die, you will come to the clear shining after the rain. There is a place called the land of Beulah. It lies on the verge of the Jordan; but it also lies, with that little stream before it, on the verge of the heavenly Canaan. That land is full of light and flowers, and I have heard that, if the wind blows in the right direction, you may hear the music of heaven in that land, and from a hill in that land you may see the Celestial City. I have known some old men and women who have reached the land of Beulah. It has been a great delight to me to sit and talk with them in their last days. They have had clear shinings after the rain. They have told me all about the rain, about the children dying, about the wife who was buried long ago, about the poverty they passed through, about the persecution they endured, and so on, and so on. All that is rain; but they have never been able to tell me all about the clear shinings; but they have said that they felt as happy as they could be outside of heaven, and they had no particular wish about whether they should stay or whether they should go. I saw, the other day, an old man, who had passed his ninety-first year; and though he looked like little more than a skeleton, it was grand to hear him speak of the faithfulness of God, and the doctrines of the gospel. He was as clear on those points as he ever was; and, perhaps, even firmer. It was a great treat to listen to him. I pray that all of us may, in due time, get to the land Beulah, where all is bright and happy; and there may we dwell until the post comes from the King to say that we must cross the stream to joyfully behold our Lord; and, oh, what clear shining after rain will there be when we once get home, when we behold his face, and when we, like himself, have risen from the dead, and stand perfect and complete in our flesh to behold our God! Oh, the glory and the bliss of being —

   “For ever with the Lord,”

after the rain is over and gone! Go through it. Never be afraid of all the drenchings you may get on your way to glory. Get home as quickly as you can along the good old road; for, after the rain, comes the clear shining. May this be the motto of each one of you from this sweet Sabbath evening hour, “Clear shining after rain.” May God bless you all! Amen

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ps 32}

A Psalm of David,

You can see David all through this Psalm; here we have David’s sin, David’s confession of sin, David’s pardon. It is a Psalm of David. Oh, that each one of us might make it our own! It is entitled —

Maschil.

This is an instructive Psalm. The experience of one man is instructive to another. We learn the way in which we should walk, and sometimes the way in which we should not walk, by observing the footsteps of the flock. The Psalm begins with blessing.

1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

I think I hear a kind of sigh of relief, as if the man had been burdened with a load of guilt, and now at last his sin is put away; and his sigh has more solemn joy in it than if it had been a song: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Beloved, you must know the bitterness of sin before you can know the blessedness of forgiveness; and you must have such a sight of sin as shall break your heart before you can understand the blessedness of the divine covering, that sacred coverlet which hides sin effectively, blots it out, and even makes it cease to be. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Would you not think so, dear burdened heart, if it ever came to be your lot? I hope that it will be so tonight. Do we not think so, who remember the day when almighty mercy forgave us our transgression, and covered our sin? Indeed we do. This is one of the greatest blessednesses outside of heaven. Perhaps, for a kind of still soft melody with much of the minor key in it, this is the sweetest music in the whole Book, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

Now David must put the same truth in another form. He loves to reduplicate, to repeat again and again a truth which is very precious to him.

2. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Here are two reasons for the man’s blessedness: sin is not laid to his charge, and he is no longer deceitful; he no longer tries to palliate and to excuse his sin; he makes a clean breast of it; and God, in a higher sense, gives him a clean breast. He acknowledges the justice of God, and God displays his infinite mercy to him.

Now David tells us how he learned this sacred blessedness; what were the ways by which he went, which ended at last in this divine sweetness?

3, 4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I understand this to have been the feeling of David after his great sin, before he confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very insensitive state; but he does not appear to have been so. All the time until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because there was divine grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with comfort. Since he would not admit his sin before the bar of God, pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it so preyed upon him, that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that, not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were affected: “My bones waxed old.” Those solid pillars of the house of manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You cannot be a child of God and sin, and then be happy. Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God’s own heart, and you venture into uncleanness, it will sting you as does a viper it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper.

“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near death; and this terrible pain was always on him: “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me.” God has a heavy hand for his sinful children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence; but the Lord will not spoil his children. If we sin, we shall feel the weight of God’s hand. We ought to thank him for this; for though it brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin, and yet to be happy in it. One of the best things for an erring believer is a taste of his Father’s rod.

“Your hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” All David’s joy was squeezed out, pressed out, by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop of moisture.

When David had gone so far, and had played only on the bass strings for so long, he said, “Selah,” that is, “Tighten up the harp-strings, let us put them in tune again. We are going on to something better now.”

5. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah.

Oh, how swift is the divine compassion! Quick on the heels of confession came that word from Nathan, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” I can imagine David standing there, with the hot tears in his eyes, never so broken down as when his sin was all forgiven. Before he knew that he was pardoned, he stood tremblingly fearful, broken-hearted before God; but when Nathan had said (I will repeat those gracious words), “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die,” oh, what gratitude he felt, and what tenderness, and what hatred of sin! Dear hearer, if you are burdened under a sense of sin, go and make confession to God immediately. If you feel very heavy tonight at the memory of some great and grievous offence, if some scarlet spot is on your hand, and you cannot get rid of it, go and show it to God. With penitential honesty confess the sin, and it shall be forgiven you.

“Selah.” Now David puts the harp-strings right again. They still seem to suffer from the previous strain; and so he says “Selah” once more. “Sursum corda.” Lift up the heart; let the entire soul go up to God.

6, 7. For this everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come near to him. You are my hiding-place;

He had mentioned, in the first verse, his sin being covered. Now he not only hides his sin beneath the divine covering, but he hides himself beneath the divine shelter: “You are my hiding-place.” So does the believer sing —

   Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
   Let me hide myself in thee.

7. You shall preserve me from trouble;

Lord, if you have taken away the greatest of all troubles, that is, guilt on the conscience, if you have really forgiven me, what trouble have I to be afraid of? “You shall preserve me from trouble.”

7. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

If you have pardoned me, there is the making of all manner of music in the fact of my pardon. He who is washed by the precious blood of Jesus is the man to sing. Has not God made a chorister of him? John tells us, in the Revelation, that one of the elders said to him, concerning the white-robed throng, “These are those who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.”

“Selah.” David must tighten up the strings of his harp again, for now he wishes to exalt God, and to magnify his holy name, as he listens to his Lord’s gracious words.

8. I will instruct you and teach you in the way, which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye.

Here is another blessing. The God who has forgiven the errings of the past, will preserve us from erring again. God’s flowers always bloom double. He gives us justification; but he adds sanctification. He pardons our sins; but he also makes disciples and scholars of us, and teaches us the art of holiness, which is the noblest art that man can learn: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way, which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye.” When we are willing to be guided, we hardly need a word from God; a look is enough, just a glance of his eye: “I will guide you with my eye.”

9. Do not be as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near to you.

Do you want bits and bridles? If you want them, you shall have them. If you will be a horse or a mule, you shall be treated as horses and mules are. There are some Christians who need to be driven with a very sharp snaffle; {a} and they need to have their mouth made very tender, for now they are hard-mouthed; and, sometimes, they take the bit between their teeth, and try to run away instead of doing God’s bidding. Usually, the rods with which God scourges us are made of reeds grown in our own gardens. When God hides his face from his people, it is almost always behind clouds of dust, which they have made for themselves. You will have sorrow enough in the ordinary way to heaven; do not make an extra rod for your own back.

10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:

This refers to you who are outside the family of God, who do not come under his rod, you are not in his love and favour, for you have no faith in his dear Son. Do not think that you will escape punishment. If the Lord “scourges every son whom he receives,” what will he do with his enemies? “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.”

10. But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.

He always needs mercy; for he is still a sinner. He shall always have mercy; for his Saviour still lives. “Mercy shall surround him.”

11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous: and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

Be demonstrative; let men see that you are happy: “Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.” The Psalm is a joyful one, after all. David’s experience has taken him through a deep sense of his own sin; but it has brought him out into an elevated sense of God’s mercy; so he closes the Psalm with the jubilant exhortation, “Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.” So let us do this night, and for ever. Amen.

{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Courage and Confidence — The Christian Encouraged” 686}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Joy and Peace — Joy And Peace In Believing” 716}
{See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Privileges, Support in Affliction — Sweet Affliction” 749}

{a} Snaffle: A simple form of bridle-bit, having less restraining power than one provided with a curb. OED.

The Christian, Courage and Confidence
686 — The Christian Encouraged
1 Give to the winds thy fears;
      Hope, and be undismay’d;
   God hears thy sighs, and counts thy tears:
      God shall lift up thy head.
2 Through waves, and clouds, and storms,
      He gently clears thy way;
   Wait thou his time; so shall the night
      Soon end in joyous day.
3 He everywhere hath sway,
      And all things serve his might;
   His every act pure blessing is,
      His path unsullied light.
4 When he makes bare his arm,
      What shall his work withstand?
   When he his people’s cause defends,
      Who, who shall stay his hand?
5 Leave to his sovereign sway
      To choose and to command;
   With wonder fill’d thou then shalt own
      How wise, how strong his hand.
6 Thou comprehend’st him not;
      Yet earth and heaven tell,
   God sits as Sovereign on his throne,
      He ruleth all things well.
7 Thou seest our weakness, Lord,
      Our hearts are known to thee:
   Oh lift thou up the sinking hand,
      Confirm the feeble knee!
8 Let us, in life and death,
      Thy steadfast truth declare;
   And publish, with our latest breath,
      Thy love, and guardian care.
                  Paul Gerhardt, 1659.
                  tr. by John Wesley, 1739, a.

The Christian, Joy and Peace
716 — Joy And Peace In Believing <7.6.>
1 Sometimes a light surprises
      The Christian while he sings:
   It is the Lord who rises
      With healing in his wings.
   When comforts are declining,
      He grants the soul again,
   A season of clear shining,
      To cheer it, after rain.
2 In holy contemplation,
      We sweetly then pursue
   The theme of God’s salvation,
      And find it ever new.
   Set free from present sorrow
      We cheerfully can say,
   E’en let the unknown tomorrow
      Bring with it what it may:
3 It can bring with it nothing
      But he will bear us through:
   Who gives the lilies clothing,
      Will clothe his people too:
   Beneath the spreading heavens,
      No creature but is fed;
   And he who feeds the ravens,
      Will give his children bread.
4 Though vine nor fig tree neither
      Their wonted fruit should bear,
   Though all the field should wither,
      Nor flocks, nor herds be there!
   Yet God the same abiding,
      His praise shall tune my voice;
   For while in him confiding,
      I cannot but rejoice.
                  William Cowper, 1779.

The Christian, Privileges, Support in Affliction
749 — Sweet Affliction <8.7.4.>
1 In the floods of tribulation,
      While the billows o’er me roll,
   Jesus whispers consolation,
      And supports my fainting soul;
         Hallelujah!
      Hallelujah! praise the Lord.
2 Thus the lion yields me honey,
      From the eater food is given,
   Strengthen’d thus I still press forward,
      Singing as I wade to heaven,
         Sweet affliction,
      And my sins are all forgiven.
3 ‘Mid the gloom, the vivid lightnings
      With increasing brightness play;
   ‘Mid the thorn-brake beauteous flow’rets
      Look more beautiful and gay;
         Hallelujah!
      Hallelujah! praise the Lord.
4 So, in darkest dispensations,
      Doth my faithful Lord appear,
   With his richest consolations
      To re-animate and cheer:
         Sweet affliction,
      Thus to bring my Saviour near.
5 Floods of tribulations heighten,
      Billows still around me roar,
   Those that know not Christ ye frighten,
      But my soul defies your power:
         Halleljuah!
      Hallelujah! praise the Lord.
6 In the sacred page recorded
      Thus the word securely stands,
   “Fear not, I’m in trouble near thee,
      Nought shall pluck you from my hands:
         Sweet affliction,
      Every word my love demands.
7 All I meet I find assists me
      In my path to heavenly joy:
   Where, though trials now attend me,
      Trials never more annoy.
         Hallelujah,
      Hallelujah! praise the Lord.
8 Blest there with a weight of glory,
      Still the path I’ll ne’er forget,
   But, exulting, cry, it led me
      To my blessed Saviour’s seat;
         Sweet affliction,
      Which has brought to Jesus’ feet.
                        Samuel Pearce, 1800.