Psalm 132:1-18 Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: I. PREPARATORY WORK. The picture of my text may be a rebuke to the slothfulness of us all, to the feeble wavering purposes of Divine services which we languidly entertain and partially carry out, to the preference of our own comfort to God's work, which leads us all to give but the superfluity of our time, or of our means, or of our sympathy, to the service of our brethren, or, what is the same thing, to doing the work of God. But it should come with a special message to men, and emphatically to women, of comparative leisure and freedom from corroding frets and consuming toils. Brace yourselves for continuous service, give yourselves in resolved self-dedication to it, and fling behind you your leisure and regard for your own selfish repose, that you may lay some stone in the Temple of God. II. THE PRAYER FOR GOD'S BLESSING ON THE WORK. The prayer rests upon the profound conviction of the incompleteness of all our organizations and works if taken by themselves. The Temple may be finished. But something more is needed. Not till the ark is in the Holiest of all, and the cloud of glory fills the house, could they say, "It is finished." And the lesson is of everlasting importance. It is true for all ages of the Church. None, perhaps, ever needed it more than our own. We need to guard ourselves most jealously lest we come to pug the instrument in the place of the power, to "burn incense to our own net, and to sacrifice to our own drag." If ever we do that, then we shall soon haw to say, "We have toiled all night and caught nothing." III. THE DIVINE ANSWER, WHICH MORE THAN FULFILS THE PSALMIST'S DESIRES. The prayer had pointed to David's swearing to the Lord as a plea on which its petitions rested. The reply points to a mightier oath than David's, as the ground on which God's mercy is, sure. The king "sware to the Lord." Yes, but "the Lord hath sworn to David." That is grander and deeper. Another parallel of the same kind occurs between the former and the latter parts of the psalm. The one alleges David's finding out a habitation for the Lord," as a plea. The other replies, "The Lord hath chosen Zion," etc. A mightier will than David's had determined it long ago. State this in its widest form, and what does it come to but that great truth, that God's own love is the cause, and God's own promise, based upon His unchangeable nature, the guarantee for all His merciful dealings with us? He is His own all-sufficient reason. The day shall come when the weary work of the ages shall be accomplished, and the glory of the Lord shall fill that wondrous house. In that lofty and glorified state of His Church the prayers of earth shall be surpassed by the possessions of heaven. Here we ask that. God would dwell with us, and there "the tabernacle of God shall be with men," etc. Here we ask for righteousness as our garment, and there it shall be granted us to be arrayed in "fine linen, clean and white," etc. Here we ask for joy in the midst of sorrow, and there "they shall obtain joy and gladness," etc. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: A Song of degrees. LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions: |
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