3420. Could He Not? Ah! But He Would Not

A Sermon Published On Thursday, August 20, 1914.

And some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” {Joh 11:37}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1944, “Might Have Been, or May Be” 1945}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3420, “Could He Not? Ah! But He Would Not!” 3422}

   Exposition on Joh 11:1-44 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3236, “Gospel Cordial, The” 3237 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Joh 11:27-46 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3386, “Christ Our Peace” 3388 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Here was very good reasoning. Jesus Christ had opened the eyes of the blind, could he not, therefore, have healed Lazarus of the disease which proved fatal? Of course, he could. He who can avert one evil can avert another. It would have been no more difficult for Christ to have healed the fever, or whatever it may have been, which afflicted Lazarus, than to have opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. The first was impossible; but that achieved, no difficulties remained. “Impossible” is a word which does not fall into language when you have to deal with Christ; and, therefore, when he has once proved, by a miracle, that he is truly the Christ, then it is clear that, always afterwards, nothing is difficult or impossible for him.

2. The same truth, in another form, holds good, namely, that when Christ has conferred one blessing, he can also confer another. He is not as we are, who, with one gift, have exhausted our means, and who can only bestow good wishes afterwards because we have no more means. But Jesus Christ is just as full of power as if he had never exerted that power; and after a thousand miracles, he is just as willing and as able to bestow further favours. One evil averted is a good argument that another can be; one good received is a good argument that another may be received from the very same divine hand.

3. Stop for a minute, therefore and encourage your hearts with such reasoning as this. “The Lord, who delivered you out of six troubles, can he not also deliver you out of the seventh? The Lord, who has been with you these forty years in the wilderness, shall he leave you in this forty-fifth or fiftieth year? He who has brought you this far, and bestowed on you early signs of his faithfulness, is it a hard thing for you to believe that he will continue to do the same? You have been preserved out of dangers; why not out of the next? You have been provided for in necessities; why not be provided for again? You have been raised up when most cast down; why not be raised up again? You have found a way out of the very depths, when the pains of hell got hold on you, and the snares of the devil surrounded you; why can there not be a way found for the rescue again?” The Lord, who has done, can do, and is doing. That he has done so in the past, is a guarantee that he will do so in the present, and in the future. He has already made an investment — if I may so speak — of his love, and of his grace and of his faithfulness in you, and he will not lose what he has already spent, but he will carry on the good work to perfection, until he shall bring you to himself in everlasting glory. Comfort yourself, then Christian, with this blessed memory of your past experience, and be assured that this man, who opened your eyes when you were blind, can keep your life from spiritual death; yes, and if you were dead, yet you should live by his strength, for he is able to do very abundantly above what you ask, or even think.

4. The same encouragement may be suggested to any here who are anxious about their souls. The salvation of anyone ought to be an encouragement to any other. If God had saved one sinner, why not another? If the precious blood of Jesus has made one drunkard sober, why not another? And if, among the white-robed hosts, there are some who had defiled their garments with the foulest stains, why should I not yet be there by the very same blood-washing, and the very same mercy of my gracious God? He who opened the eyes of one blind man can open the eyes of all blind men, if it so pleases him; and he who gives to one perfect pardon and acceptance, can give to another the same, wherever he chooses to bestow them. Let no man despair. There are examples of great sinners saved on purpose to encourage others to trust in Christ. I do not care how aggravated your iniquities may have been; I am quite sure they have been already paralleled in some other cases — in some other cases, too, where salvation has ultimately come. You are not beyond the divine range. You have not sinned yourself into hell yet. Mercy can still reach you; the blood can still cleanse you; the divine heart can still receive you; and even the heaven of God can still find room for you, though you are the chief of sinners. This is a good argument, we say — this which was used by Jesus. What has been done can be done. If Christ does one form of good, he can do another. If he opens the eyes of the blind man, he can heal the sick so that they shall not die.

5. But now, after that encouragement, there comes up a great difficulty. It is certain that, if Christ had willed it, Lazarus need not have died; then Mary need not have sat still in the house weeping; then Martha need not have said, with sorrow and with broken heart, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” There was no need that Lazarus should suffer all that pain, and all that languishing, and pass through the gates of the grave — no absolute need for it. Christ could, if he had chosen, have prevented that man from dying; and, what is more, if Christ willed it, he could prevent all your troubles, and all mine. If he chose, none of his people need ever have so much as a headache, or a pin’s prick of the finger; not one of them ever need be poor, or have any losses or any crosses. Not one of them ever need be tempted, for he could chain up the devil. Not one of them need die, for he could take them up to heaven, like Elijah, or translate them, like Enoch. It stands proof positive, if he could open the eyes of the blind, he could, if he would, prevent any of his people from sickness and from death, and from all other ills, he could prevent and save them. It would be possible for Christ if he so willed it, to avert all our sufferings, and all our losses from us. Then why does he not do it? “Behold how he loved him!” said the Jews, and yet the next thing they said was, “Well, but if he opened the eyes of the blind, could he not, if he had willed it, have prevented this man from dying? Yet he did not do it; but Lazarus died.”

6. Now, I am quite sure, brethren, if you had a dear one at home who was sick, and I came in to see you, and I could with a word raise your sick friend, I dare not go out of your room without doing it. You would feel very grieved with me if I did. You would think it was very unkind; and, moreover, I could not find it in my heart not to do it, I am sure. Speak a word? Why, I would speak any number of words, if I could raise your sick ones from being sick, and keep them from dying. You would think me very unkind if I did not, and so these Jews could not understand it. They said of Christ that he burst into tears at the thought of Lazarus being dead; they said, as they saw him in that genuine burst of sacred passion, “Behold, how he loved him!” and they could not comprehend it, that, with a power which could open the eyes of the blind, and which must be sufficient to prevent the death of Lazarus; yet he did not prevent it, but the loving Christ allowed his friend Lazarus to sleep until he was laid four days in the grave, and his body began to stink with corruption.

7. Brethren, we are now about to look the question in the face, and what shall we say about it?

8. I. The first thing we shall say about it is this, that: — IT IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT FOR US TO MAKE ENQUIRIES CONCERNING THE LOVE AND THE WISDOM OF OUR Lord.

9. It may seem a very strange thing to us that he does not prevent the afflictions which are so grievous, and that he does not give us some of those mercies which we think would make us so comfortable, but we have no right to ask questions. A servant must not be always asking his master, “Why do you do this? or why do you do that?” and the student is not expected to understand all the doings of the professor at whose feet he sits. A master builder would soon discharge the carpenter on the work who should always be saying, “Why should that piece of timber be shaped like that, or why must those stones be placed in such a position?” The architect is supposed to know the plan, not the Irish labourer the plan. It is enough for the architect to know, without every small body on the work understanding everything that is to be done. We are not, therefore, to be always asking questions. There is another spirit that ought to rule us, rather than the spirit of captious criticism. A man goes and takes stones, and he puts some of them into the earth, deep down; some of them he places higher up, one upon another; some he daubs with mortar, some he places where they cannot be seen, and some he polishes, and puts them into the corners. Are the stones to say to the builder, “Why do you place me here? or, Why do you place me there?” The potter takes his lumps of clay, and puts them on his wheel, and one vessel is made for dishonour, and another is made a graceful form for honour, but shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” It is not for the thing that is created to begin to question its Creator, for then the Creator might well reply, “Who are you and where were you when I made the heavens and the earth? when I balanced the clouds, and laid the foundations of the earth? Declare now, if you can answer me!” That wonderful sermon from the mouth of God himself at the close of the book of Job rolls like crashes of thunder over our heads, and makes us cower down, conscious of our insignificance; and when we dare to lift up our heads once more, we find on our lips words like those which came from the mouth of Job, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

10. For you and for me to think to understand God is as though some tiny insect, whose whole life was comprehended in an hour, should expect to understand the marches of the heavens, and to comprehend the revolutions of the spheres. The child by your side, taking up a shellful of water, has no idea of what the sea is, and you, when you look at God’s ways, see no more of God’s ways than that little shellful, as it were, compared with the sea. Stand still, and see that he is God. Let him be exalted in the earth; yes, let him be exalted in the heavens. He gives no account of his matters. He does as he wishes in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of this lower earth. Ah! Lord, it is better for us to lie passive in your hands than to be attempting to sit on your throne, holding the balance and judging your work! What if he does not make me rich, but lets me pine in poverty, what if he does not heal me, but allows me to linger out a life of sorrow? What if he does not bless my undertaking, but he permits heavy trials to overcome me? I will not ask him why. “I was dumb with silence; I did not open my mouth, because you did it,” that is the spirit in which we may look at this question.

11. II. I want you to remember one thing more, and that is this: — THAT WHATEVER GOD MAY DO OR MAY NOT DO WITH US, IT IS ALWAYS THE CHRISTIAN’S WISDOM TO HOLD TO THIS: THAT CHRIST IS ALWAYS LOVE.

12. The Jews said, “Behold how he loved him!” They could see that by his tears, though he let him die. Now, there were good reasons, though the Jews might not see the reasons; and, brethren, there are good reasons why God withholds that right hand of his which is so full of bounty, and why at other times he stretches it out, and good reasons why he lifts that left hand of his which is so heavy to strike, and brings it down on you, the chosen child of his heart. But do not think that Christ can be anything but kind. If you have trusted in him, never believe that he can hate or forget you. Never think that he can suspend his affection towards you. No, never once will he deal with you according to any other rule than that of love, never once. The dealing may be very dark, but do not judge by appearances. Your conscience may be very guilty, but he is greater than your guilt. Your heart may condemn you, yet he can absolve you, and his love is not measured by even your consciousness of his presence. He has forgiven you, and he will not visit you in wrath for sin. No, though Satan tells you that repeated strokes must argue for an angry God, he is the father of lies from the beginning, and do not believe what he suggests. It cannot be possible that God is unkind. The camels are destroyed; the oxen are stolen, the children have perished; the body is covered with severe boils and blains, but “Though he kills me, yet I will trust in him,” says the triumphant patriarch. “Shall we receive good from the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil? The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.”

13. Be then, as Job was, and as David was when, being about to describe the perturbation of his mind on account of the affliction of the righteous, and the prosperity of the wicked, he began the psalm by saying, “Truly God is good to Israel,” as if he started with that, and nothing could ever drive him from it. Though the wicked prospered, and the righteous were chastened every morning, yet God was good to his own covenant people in the most supreme and emphatic sense. But now let us come to this question again, for it still looks difficult.

14. III. If faith makes no enquiries and resignation shall be content, still: — THERE IS DIFFICULTY.

15. Let us see now. If Christ had prevented Lazarus’s death, what would have happened? He might have done so, if he had liked; but, in the first place, Christ would not have been glorified by raising Lazarus from the dead. If Lazarus does not die, he cannot be raised, and that display of miraculous power could not be exhibited. You will let Lazarus die, then — you all agree to that — so that Christ may have an opportunity of raising him again. See, then, if you do not have a trouble — and Christ can prevent it if he wishes — but if you are not brought into trouble, you cannot have the deliverance; Christ cannot put out his hand of love to save you, if there is nothing to save you from. Oh! then, be quite content to bear trouble, in order that your blessed Lord Jesus may make himself illustrious as he comes to you in the very nick of time, and delivers you out of the depth of your distress.

16. In the next place, if Lazarus had not died, Lazarus himself would not have been so honoured. Everyone said afterwards, “That is Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead.” He was a marked man, and I am sure, if you were Lazarus, you would say, “All! well, it is worth while to die to be raised again, to have the honour of such a favour.” Now, beloved, if you are not tried and troubled, you cannot become one of the experienced saints; it cannot be said of you by your brethren, “That man has passed through six troubles and through seven, and yet the Lord’s faithfulness has been proved in them all.” You will miss great pleasure if you miss great affliction. Depend on it, you will be more a loser by missing trouble than you have so far imagined.

17. In the next place, Mary and Martha would not have had such a sweet lesson from Christ. Their poor eyes were red, I do not doubt, with their four days’ weeping, and the previous day’s watching and nursing; but then, oh! what joy they had when they saw their dear brother restored again! Such a meeting did make amends for all the grief of parting; and though they had heard the Lord Jesus talk about the resurrection and the life, they heard that dear powerful voice cry, “Lazarus, come out.” Why, it was for their education, their spiritual profit and benefit, that the Lord allowed Lazarus to die. He might have prevented it, but they were such gainers by the affliction that it proved his love that he did not deny them the benefit of the trial.

18. Notice, again, if Lazarus had not died, then those few would not have been converted because they saw Lazarus rise from the dead, and it is said “Therefore, many of the Jews believed in him.” Well they might. It was a wonderful sermon to see a dead man come out bound in his grave-clothes; but how could he have come out like this if he had not died? It was for the benefit of those spectators that the trial was allowed to come. Oh! you do not know, some of you, how many precious souls may have their destiny — speaking after the manner of men — wrapped up in your affliction. There is a “needs-be,” for the good of others, that through your testimony others may believe; that you should be brought into the very depths, and made to be sad, that afterwards God may intervene for your rescue.

19. Yet again, the result of the resurrection of Lazarus was that our Lord rode in triumph through the streets of Jerusalem. There seems to me to be a connection between these two things. If you read the next chapter, you find our Lord taken in triumph through the streets, with palm branches and great shoutings; and probably what moved the multitude to do it, the immediate cause, was this marvellous miracle which Christ had performed. Oh! beloved, Christ often gets great triumph among the sons of men from the deepest trials of his people, out of which he rescues them, and shall not you and I be well content that he should stand back and hide his face, and even seem to be an enemy to us, if, out of all this, his glory shall spring? If he shall get hosannas and shouting, and the waving of palm branches; and if men on earth and angels in heaven shall do him extraordinary homage because of the work he works in us, oh! shall we not be content that our choicest joys shall wither, and our best comforts for a while shall die?

20. In the case of Lazarus, you can all see that, though he need not have died — in one respect Christ could have kept him alive — yet it was a great proof of love on Christ’s part that Lazarus did die. Now, I believe that everything else that has happened in the world, if we had light enough to see it by, would turn out to be the same. I know it is a difficult question sometimes to figure out why God permits certain evils. When people say, as the negro did, “Well, now, God is greater than de devil, why, do not he kill de devil?” I am sure I cannot answer the question, but I am very well persuaded that if, on the whole, it would be the best thing to do to kill the devil, he would do it; and it is, after all, in a most mysterious way, the best thing for his people, and the most glorious thing for himself, that the devil should be permitted to exist.

21. The fall — what a mysterious thing that is! It might have been prevented. I cannot hold any limit to the omnipotence or God: if he had willed it, there need not have been a fall. Then why did he permit it? I reply to that in the same spirit. I do not know, and I do not want to know; but I think I can see such a display of divine mercy, and love and grace, and every other attribute, in the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the fall, terrible thing as it is, seems to be a grand platform on which the glory of God could be displayed. When the Lord brought his people out of Egypt, they might have gone right straight to Canaan. Why did he not take them there at once? Why did be make them go around by the Red Sea, and come to that difficult place? Why — why did he not, indeed? They would not have had half the fears, nor half the terrors. No; but then, remember, there would not have been so many Egyptians drowned, and there would not have been such grand shouting, nor such sweet clashing of Miriam’s cymbals, nor such beating of tambourines, nor such dancing of nimble feet, and they would not have said, “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider, he has cast into the sea!” All the difficulty only led to a greater triumph. God was glorified; his enemies were put to confusion, and his people’s memories were stored with thoughts of the mighty works of God, which might stimulate their faith as long as the world should stand. It is best as it is. God orders all things right, after all; and though he might prevent this, and does not, and he might give us that, and does not, we believe it is all for the best, and bow our heads, and wait until the light shines, so that we may understand more of the reason why.

22. Now, beloved, the point I want to come to is this: depend on it, that as I have proved in the case of Lazarus, it was the best thing that the worst thing should happen; so it is in your case. You are in trouble tonight. Now, Christ could have prevented it; could have carried you to heaven on a feather-bed if he had chosen, could have made you ride to heaven all the way in a chariot that never jolted, on a smooth level road right straight up to Paradise, without a single rut or any stones on it, but he does not choose to do so.

23. IV. Now: — LET US SEE IF WE CANNOT FIND A REASON.

24. If we cannot, it will not matter, if you believe it is right. Still we will try. The roughness of the road that you are travelling now, may it not be necessary to wean you from this world? Oh! but the goods of this world are like bird-lime {a} to birds; they stick to our feet, and keep us from mounting towards heaven. “Ah!” one said, as he looked over his gardens, and house, and park, “these are the things that make it hard to die.” Indeed, and these are the things that make it hard to live near to God. When a man’s heart begins to be contented with the things of this world, when he finds his satisfaction here, he is not inclined to look up to his God. Now, perhaps, you are one of that kind who could not bear too much prosperity. Every gardener will tell you that there are some of his flowers that he cannot put in the full glare of the sun, they would never do well there. So with you; you grow better in the shade. Your nearness to heaven and your soul’s health require this affliction.

25. Besides, may it not be that this affliction is sent on purpose to try your faith because it is weak? “What,” you say, “try my faith because it is weak? I thought you would have said not try it because it is weak.” Ah! but faith grows by trial. When faith is weak, a too heavy trial would crush it, but a suitable trial is overruled by God for the strengthening of it. You must, you must grow. The Lord would not have his children be stunted and dwarfed, and this trial is sent so that you may be made to grow.

26. Further, you may not only be made to grow in faith this way, but also in close communion with your God. I have read recently one old Puritan, whose opinion is that we never grow, except in affliction. I could not endorse that, but I am afraid there is a great deal of truth in it, for almost all the sunshiny days we have we waste, and when God is very gracious to us in temporals, we generally find that these lean cattle of our ingratitude will eat up the fat cattle of God’s mercies. We do grow best, depend on it, when the wind blows us away from our natural havens to the great port of peace, which is found in communion with God in Christ Jesus. When our soul has nowhere else to flee to for shelter, she flees to Christ. When she sees all her crutches and all her props broken away, and all her foundations made to reel, then she throws her arms around her own dear Lord, and there she hangs in rapture and simple childlike love and confidence, brought nearer to God than she ever was by the strength of her trials, and that is always a divine result, a divinely valuable result. It is a great mercy, if nothing else should come of it — a great mercy to have troubles, if they should have this result.

27. Brothers and sisters, if Christ would, he could prevent our having affliction, but he will not prevent them, because he wants to make something of us. For example, he wants to make some of us to be comforters to others; but how can you comfort others in trouble when you have never experienced the same? Oh! what poor hands some of us make in trying to comfort some of God’s saints who have been in much deeper water than we have ever sailed on. Why, we find they look at us as mere boys, and wonder how we should have the impertinence to bring consolation to them. But when we can say, “I have just experienced just the very trial you are now passing through, and the Lord sanctified it, and supported me under it,” then the mourner opens wide his ears, and the soul receives our comfort as though it were honey-droppings from the comb.

28. My dear brethren, you will never be qualified to understand and explain some of the promises without trials. Some of God’s promises cannot be read, except by the firelight of affliction. There is a kind of invisible ink that people sometimes use, which does not show until you hold it to the fire, and some of the promises seem to be written in that kind of ink. You do not understand them until you get a trial, and in the trial you find out that God has fitted every word of the consolation to the providence in which he has placed you. But, indeed, my brethren, when I consider the infinite variety of blessings which come to us, drawn by the team of black horses that our Father always keeps for this purpose; when I consider how God is glorified by the endurance of the saints, and by the graces which they receive as a result of tribulation; when I consider how their joy will be swollen at the last, when they come to their rest, by the memory of their pilgrimage here below, I can only think that it is a fine sign of special mercy that God does not allow his people to go into the abundant fields of unbroken prosperity, but into the fields of trial and of trouble, that they may be enriched, and that their souls may be established.

29. Come then, let every murmuring thought be gone; let every dark suspicion be discarded. Let us kiss the hand that strikes us, and look up to our Father’s face, even when he chastens us, and, in this way, we shall soon find the trial turn to joy, the bitter cup will become sweet, and resignation will sweeten it all.

30. If these words shall have ministered any consolation to God’s suffering ones, my heart shall be glad. I sometimes need such thoughts myself, and there are times when, if I could have them spoken to me by someone else, they would be to me like the paths of God which drop with fatness. Now, there may be some of you — I know you are tried and troubled — to whom this will be just the very word. If so, do not let Satan take it away from you. Lay hold of it by faith, and feed on it with joy and comfort. Yes, “‘Comfort, comfort, my people,’ says your God; ‘speak comfort to Jerusalem.’” So I wish that you may be happy and a rejoicing people in the midst of all your troubles.

31. But, alas! this does not belong to all of you. It is only comfort for those who belong to Christ; but some of you do not belong to him, and have never trusted him. May the Lord bring you this very night to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those about to be baptized say to you tonight, “We affirm ourselves to be believers in Jesus; we are buried in water to show that we desire to be dead to all the world, and buried in the death of Christ; we rise out of it to show that we desire to live in newness of life by the quickening power of the resurrection of Christ.” You will have no right to this ordinance until you have trusted the Saviour. When you have trusted him, when you have fully relied on him, when he becomes all in all to you, then you may take the sign, because the thing signified is yours.

32. May the Lord bless you, for Jesus’ sake.

{a} Bird-lime: A glutinous substance spread on twigs, by which birds may be caught and held firm. OED.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ps 119:25-40}

By the help of God’s Holy Spirit, this psalm may serve for the purposes of self-examination, for we may ask ourselves as we read, “Do I feel in that way? Are my prayers like those of this good man? Is my experience like his?” We may often ask ourselves, “Am I as watchful, and as careful, and as fond of God’s Word as he was?” Such questions will do us good.

25. My soul cleaves to the dust: quicken me according to your word.

He does not like to feel the cleaving of his soul to the dust. There are some who feel it, but they seem content to continue in that condition; but no sooner does David feel it than he cries, “Quicken me.” A sense of sin is of little value, unless it leads us to desire to escape out of it. “Quicken me. I lie as dead an if it were dust to dust. My soul seems cleaving to it, as if it had come to its own, and meant to rest there; but, Lord, give me life. Your Word promises me life. You have ways laid down in your Word for giving life. Quicken me, according to your Word”

26. I have declared my ways, and you heard me: teach me your statues.

I have told you all about myself. Now tell me about yourself. “Teach me your statutes.”

27. Make me to understand the way of your precepts: so I shall talk about your wondrous works.

It in a bad thing to talk about what we do not understand and he who shall preach what he has never experienced is very likely to do so. Yet, beloved, there is no understanding of God’s precepts unless he shall teach them to us. We are void of understanding. He must enlighten. He must instruct. “Make me to understand the way of your precepts.” Some are very anxious to understand the doctrines, and some to understand the prophecies. All that is well and good, but “Make me to understand the way of your precepts,” give me practical godliness, help me to live for your praise, “so I shall talk about your wondrous works.” I will not talk until you have taught me. But when you have taught me, then my subject shall be your wondrous works. The wondrous work of making me to understand you shall be something to speak about, and all the wondrous works of nature, and providence, and grace shall be the subject of my continual conversation.

28. My soul melts for heaviness:

For the best of men sometimes suffer the sharpest sorrows. Hearts of stone are not likely to be so sensitive as hearts of flesh. “My soul melted for heaviness.”

28. Strengthen me according to your word.

He needs strength, but he does not want to obtain it in any way, but the way of God’s appointment. “According to your Word.” Somewhat like our hymn, which says: — 

   He that suffered in my stead,

      Shall my physician be,

   I will not be comforted

      Till Jesus comforts me.

“Strengthen me,” but let it be “according to your Word.”

29. Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me your law graciously.

Do not let me lie. Do not let me be tempted to lie. Do not let me be pestered with the falsehoods of others. Remove the way of lying far from me, and oh! by your grace, grant me to know the law. That is a remarkable combination of words. “Grant me your law graciously.” Has law anything to do with grace? Yes, such a law as he speaks of — the law in the heart — the law in the hand of Christ — the law written in the life of the believer — not the law of merit and of salvation by works, but “grant me your law graciously.”

30. I have chosen the way of truth: I have laid your judgments before me.

As a seaman spreads out the chart before him, so that he may follow the right channel, and not miss his track — as a traveller spreads out his map, so that he may keep to the right way. “I have chosen the way of truth. I have laid your judgments before me.”

31. I have stuck to your testimonies:

As if I were glued to them — sealed to them. They said I was very old-fashioned. They said I did not keep pace with the times. They said I was not a man of thought. I did not care about that. “I have stuck to your testimonies.”

31. Oh Lord, do not put me to shame.

And he never will. If we stick to him, we may be quite sure that we shall come out of every difficulty and every opposition triumphantly. “Do not put me to shame.” And although he spoke like this, yet you perceive the activity of his soul.

32. I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge my heart.

Give my heart freedom. Knock off my fetters. Take away my heaviness. Remove my ignorance from me. Give my soul room, and she will run but it will be in the ways of your commandments.

33. Teach me oh Lord, the way of your statutes; and I shall keep it to the end.

Here is the art of finally persevering. Here is the way of continuing to the end, and the same shall be saved. We must begin with a teachable spirit. He who is not willing to learn has not begun properly. We ought to disciple all nations, but he who will not learn is not yet disciplined. “Teach me.”

But the teaching we must have must come from God. “Teach me, oh Lord. I am not content to have the Word second-hand. Be my school teacher. Teach me, oh Lord. I shall never learn unless you teach me. You who made me — you who gave me a new heart — you must write that law on my heart, or it will never be written there. Teach me, oh Lord. Teach me the way of your statutes. Teach me practical godliness. So teach it to me that I shall learn it, and put it into practice; and if I am taught by you, then I shall keep it to the end; not otherwise.”

34. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law: yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

A lack of understanding is a very great lack. There is little wonder that men turn aside from an outward religion which has never taken possession of their thoughts and minds. If they only subscribe to the creed which they have never studied — if they only carry out a life — the mere shell of a life — the inward principles of which they do not know, they will soon turn aside. “Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law.”

35. Make me to go in the path of your commandments; for I delight in them.

“Not only teach me the way, but make me to go in it. Take hold of me as a mother does with her little child, and teach me how to walk, and help me in the walking.” Make me to go. It is a feeble word — a most expressive prayer. “Make me to go for I delight in them.” When a man delights in God’s way, he will be sure to be made to go in it.

36. Incline my heart to your testimonies,

Bend it that way — incline it.

36. And not to covetousness.

For, naturally, my heart would go after the world, and cleave to its riches and its treasures, and begin to covet, but, Lord, bend it the other way. If you do not love God’s testimonies, the tendency will be to become a lover of the world. “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to covetousness.”

37. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity:

Or “make my eyes to pass from beholding vanity.” I am a runner in the race. Do not let me stop to look at anything, but may my eyes pass by vanity. Let me not be like her in the fable who paused to gather the golden apples {b} in the race, and so lost it and was deceived. If the world’s golden apples are thrown in my way, make my eyes to pass from beholding vanity.

37. And quicken me in your way.

More life towards you will deaden me to the world. The more I follow after God, the less I shall care to follow after the world.

38. Establish your word to your servant,

Make it fast, firm, sure.

38. Who is devoted to your fear.

I am established in you. Establish your Word to me. You have bound me firmly to your altar. Oh! give me the firm blessings and sure mercies of David.

39. Turn away my reproach which I fear: for your judgments are good.

I fear lest I bring a reproach on you, and then on myself. Oh! do not allow me to do so. I am not afraid of the reproach of the world. I consider the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. But, oh! let them never have to charge me with sin, and let me not fall into such monetary difficulties or other troubles, that men will be able to make a charge against me out of them. Help me to provide things honest in the sight of all men. “Take away my reproach, which I fear, for your judgments are good.”

40. Behold, I have longed after your precepts: quicken me in your righteousness.

{b} A huntress named Atalanta who raced against a suitor named Melanion. Melanion used golden apples to distract Atalanta so that he could win the race. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_apple#:~:text=Alternatively%2C%20as%20part%20of%20the%20mysterious%20apple%20branch,Atalanta%20so%20that%20he%20could%20win%20the%20race."