Psalm 42:6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites… I. As APPROPRIATION. "O my God." In proportion as you feel your need of anything, and value it, you are anxious to make it your own. II. THE CONFESSION. "O my God, my soul is cast down within me." "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." Observe, here, the speaker himself. David, a great man who had even reached the throne, is the man who says, "My soul is cast down." Do you imagine that the head never aches that wears a crown? Or that you are more likely to escape the winds and storms by building your house high on the side of the hill? A Christian merchant, some years ago, who had retired from business, and employed his substance in the cause of God, lately said to me, "I have found my troubles increase in life precisely in proportion to the number of my servants, and the growth of my property." Paul says, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed." This is well. It is not the water without a vessel, if it were as large as the Atlantic, that would sink it; but the water that gets in. While the mind is calm, peaceful, and heavenly, outward distresses are of little importance. But when all is dark without, and gloomy within too, then is he tried. "A man's spirit may sustain his infirmities, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" — and we may add, who can cure? III. HIS RESOLUTION. "Therefore I will remember Thee." At, this is not a natural resolution: we are naturally alienated from the life of God. He destroys every drop of water in our vessels, in order that we may be compelled either to perish of thirst, or to inquire after Him, the fountain of living water. And it is well if we remember Him, and ask, "Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night?" Thus it was with Manasseh: in his affliction he sought the Lord God of his fathers, and He was found of him. It was thus with the prodigal, in the parable; when he began to be in want, he said, "I will arise and go to my father." How many have done this since! IV. A SPECIFICATION. "I will remember thee from the land of Jordan," etc. Are there not spots toward which you can look, where God perhaps freed your mind from a grievous snare and temptation, and made you free indeed — where perhaps God commanded a wonderful deliverance for you — where He turned the valley of death into the morning — where at evening-tide it was made light. These Mizars, these little hills, are worth their weight in gold. (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. |
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