Psalm 78:7-8 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:… My text tells us how past, present and future — memory, hope and effort, — may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present. I. ASSOCIATE GOD WITH MEMORY BY THANKFUL REMEMBRANCE. We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a long connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and life was all hurry and bustle. II. LIVE IN THE FUTURE BY HOPE IN HIM. Hope owes to Memory the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation. And he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, "I hope with certitude and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled." But they whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, and one that fills all the future. III. LIVE IN THE PRESENT BY STRENUOUS OBEDIENCE. After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign; and a hope that grasps it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. Both should yield motives; both should impel to such service. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:WEB: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, |
    |