Psalm 4:6 There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance on us. Life is not all a thing of beauty. If we listen to a Psalm, it may have as many hearse-like harmonies as notes of gladness. The minor rapidly succeeds the major. Weariness is implied in this cry of the human heart. There is social, political, religious unrest. But let us thank God that it is as it is. This despair, this conflict between right and wrong, this struggle after the true way, all these tell of the grandeur and nobility of our nature. These very longings carry along with them assurances of satisfaction; these desires prophesy fruition. They tell the story of the soul's fatherhood, — it was made for God; and He who formed the soul alone can fill it. Thus we have reached back to the Infinite at last. Oh, that I know whore I might find rest! Oh, for a living, loving, personal God! The heart must have something to love; something whereon to rest; something ill which to trust. God is not an abstraction, but a very present Help. Not afar off, but close at hand. Not merely love, but the Loving One. Not cold Omnipotence, but the Helping One. A being who rewards personal longings with personal gifts; personal cravings with personal sympathy. All this we find in the dear Christ of the Cross. He will show thee, O man, what is good. Trouble may now and then ruffle the fringes of your outer life, but the life hidden with Christ in God shall never be stirred by the winds and waves of earthly care. Founded upon the Rock, you shall never, never be moved. (John Hemphill.) Parallel Verses KJV: There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.WEB: Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us. |
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