We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud. Sermons
The returned exiles found the contemptuous treatment of their neighbors the hardest thing to bear. Contempt is always hard to bear; but it is hardest to bear when we have an inward and painful conviction that we are so weak and poor that the contempt is in no way unreasonable. Those are just the times when we want a kindly word and a sign of confidence and hope, and then we feel most deeply if, instead, we are scorned, made a laughing-stock, and disheartened. That was the case with our Divine Lord. On the cross he needed the sign of love and word of sympathy; instead he had to bear the scorn and contempt which the psalmist suggestively anticipated for him ( Psalm 22:6-8). The returned exiles had a similar experience. In their time of frailty a little neighborly help would have been so much to them. It would have given them quietness, security, and the cheer of sympathy. Instead of this, contempt humbled them, made them anxious, plucked out hopefulness, and filled them with fear. Contempt is a moral atmosphere in which nothing good or beautiful ever grew yet, or ever will grow. Hope the best of men, and you help them. Despise them and expect failure for them, and you crush them. I. CONTEMPT, WHEN IT IS UNREASONABLE, CAN BE BORNE. It is sometimes a mere product of malice and envy. There is no real ground for it, and we may know that there is no ground. We may properly cherish the consciousness of our power and worth; and then we can appraise the contempt of the envious at its true value, it cannot hurt us. The contempt is weak, it is not we who are weak. And the contempt will fail, not we. "What can harm you if ye be followers of that which is good?" The world despises the godly. It is no matter; the future is with the godly. II. CONTEMPT, WHEN IT IS REASONABLE, IS PAINFULLY DEPRESSING. Because it exaggerates our own sense of weakness, and so still further weakens us. Our sense of disability and insufficiency is oftentimes a great distress to us, and makes the struggle of life too hard for us. Precisely what we need is some sign of confidence, some kindly encouraging word, the cheer of some one who can see things more hopefully than we can. Consequently, we feel all the more deeply when our weakness is only despised; we hear loud and confident prophecies of our speedy failure, and men raise the laugh which crushes hearts more than open scorn. Then what can we do but turn from man to God? - R.T. Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorning of those that are at ease. Homilist. I. Man's disregard for man EXPLAINS THE SOCIAL SORROWS OF THE WORLD. Were all men lovingly interested in each other, would there be pauperism, fraud, oppression, persecution, war, etc.? II. Man's disregard for man reveals the MORAL APOSTASY OF MANKIND. The constitution of the soul, with its moral sense and social sympathies, as well as the Bible, assure us that man was made to love his brother, that no man should seek his own supremely, but each another's weal. Sin has broken the social bond, shattered the social temple, unstrung the social harp. III. Man's disregard for man PROVES THE WORLD'S NEED OF A REDEEMER. If men do not care for men, who is to help the world? There is only One who can do it, and that is Christ. He came for this purpose, He came to redeem men from all iniquity. () The quarrel is very old, and easily explained. It is the antagonism between darkness and light, between sin and holiness, between Satan and Christ, between hell and heaven. And though it may not be pleasant to be mocked and calumniated by these men, what a humiliation it would be to receive their praise! How low would you sink in your own esteem, were they to make flattering speeches, and tell you that you had done famously! That is a patronage from which one would instinctively recoil. Be thankful that they can use no other weapons than calumny and contempt. The Jews had to contend at the same time with open violence. Were their power equal to their will, they would deprive you of your civil rights, they would confiscate your property, they would confine you in dungeons, they would burn you at the stake. In Athens, they would have condemned Socrates, the greatest and best philosopher of antiquity, to drink the cup of hemlock; and they would have banished Aristides, because they were tired of hearing every one call him Aristides the Just. In Jerusalem, they would have goaded on the senseless rabble, and swelled the ferocious shout, "Not this man, but Barabbas." In St. Andrews, they would have sat at the castle windows, and feasted their eyes when good Patrick Hamilton was consuming in the flames, and they, would have gone in afterwards, and dined with an unimpeachable appetite. In slave countries, they would tar and feather the missionaries, who proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. The same satanic spirit still reigns; and can we be too grateful that these enemies of the Cross are kept in chains! We live in a land of civil and religious freedom; and they cannot go beyond the boundaries of misrepresentation and scorn. They may show their teeth and growl, but they cannot bite. They may curse you, but they cannot lay a finger upon you. (). If it had not been the Lord who was on our side. Homilist. I. ACKNOWLEDGED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (vers. 1-5).1. The words represent the great troubles from which the Almighty wrought deliverance, as springing out of the hostility of man. 2. The hostility of man is represented by two figures — (1)As the rage of wild beasts (ver. 3).(2)As the rage of rushing waters (vers. 4, 5).II. PRAISED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (vers. 6, 7). 1. Temporal. Israel in Babylonian exile. 2. Spiritual. Without figure, the unregenerate soul is in thraldom, and the Gospel alone can deliver it. III. TRUSTED AS THE DELIVERER FROM GREAT TROUBLES (ver. 8). This trust is founded — 1. On His past goodness. 2. On His glorious name. 3. On His unbounded resources. () I. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY ESTIMATING HER DANGER (vers. 3-5, 7).II. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY RECOGNIZING HER DELIVERER (vers. 1, 2, 8). III. THE CHURCH RIGHTLY EXPRESSING HER GRATITUDE (ver. 6). This psalm abounds with striking figures, which, intelligently explained, may be forcefully applied. () To this writer the nation's life had been full of "ifs" and "thens" — its saddening possibilities with their dreary consequences. If we had stood alone, if God had not been round about us, if unerring wisdom had not thought for us and worked for us when the calamity threatened, — then had we been as the bird in the snare of the fowler, then had we been overwhelmed! Ifs and thens, — possibilities and their consequences.I. HUMAN POSSIBILITIES MAY BE UNDER DIVINE CONTROL. Whenever God calls a life into existence, He fills it to the brim with "ifs" and "thens," with possibilities and their consequences. Take the first recorded scene in human life, remembering that it is highly symbolic. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it;" that was a life of far-reaching possibilities, which God made still clearer by laying down His "if" and "then": if man obeyed, then all would be well; if he disobeyed, then all would be ill. God has treated every life since upon the same broad, universal Scale; and we need to bear in mind constantly, earnestly, that our life is arranged in the same fashion. II. DIVINE DELIVERANCE FOLLOWS DIVINE CONTROL. God has filled each life with its possibilities that there may ever be the supreme need for His guidance. God has not stereotyped life for us. Each sets up his life's story from founts of movable type; it may be in this way, it may be in that, as we set the type. This makes life so magnificent, so awful. But when God is on our side, when we have chosen Him for our controller, when we set the type of life as He directs, then the printed page comes forth at last fair and clear upon imperishable parchment; and God shall read its record before assembled worlds, and pronounce it "well done," for it will be His work done by us under His superintendence and by His strength. Let the life be under Divine control, and it must be crowned with Divine deliverance as surely as sunrising brings the light. () Why should believers need to be rescued from the teeth of the wild beast: why not prevent the wild beast from laying hold of them? Why should they need to be delivered from the snare of the fowler: why not prevent the snare from being set? Why should they need to be snatched from the swiftly rushing torrent, which is just about to overwhelm them: why not keep back the floods of waters, and bid their proud waves be still? Afflictions are sent by God.I. TO PROMOTE OUR SPIRITUAL IMPROVEMENT. The branches are pruned, and they bring forth more fruit: the flowers are crushed, and they yield their precious perfumes: the gem is cut deeper, and it sparkles with new lustre: the gold is thrown into the crucible, and, purified from the dross, it shines with greater splendour than ever. Once, in company with a clerical friend in a rural district, I paid a visit to a member of his church, whose affliction had been severe and protracted. He was a stone-mason. His sufferings had evidently been sanctified; and, some remarks being made in connection with this, he said, "I must have been a very hard stone, sir; for I have needed a great deal of hewing." II. TO TEST OUR SINCERITY. Not on a review day can the brave man be distinguished from the coward. Amidst brilliant uniforms, and waving banners, and the sounds of martial music, and applauding spectators, you cannot discriminate the true man from the counterfeit. But the real character is known, when comes the tug of war, and the enemy is before you, and friends and companions are falling thick around you. So it is in the Christian warfare. Far more moral courage is demanded for a sick-bed than for a field of battle, where men are urged on to the work of mutual destruction. And who can tell what a hallowed influence may proceed from afflictions, when endured in an uncomplaining and cheerful spirit! () 1. The figures employed describe the situation of God's people in any place or age, when they suddenly find themselves overtaken by calamity, when sorrow bursts upon them like the mountainous wave on a ship, when floods of ungodly men make them afraid, when they seem to feel in their flesh the teeth Of slander and malice, when they are unexpectedly entangled in perplexities and difficulties like the bird in the snare. So the early believers in the Messiah were troubled by Jewish and Roman persecutors, saints in many lands have been worried by Papal wolves, the evangelists of the last century were mobbed by worldly men, and the Christians in Madagascar and British India were more recently assailed by heathen foes. So the man of business is smitten by misfortune, disease springs upon its unsuspecting victim, and a family is diminished by death. So the convicted sinner is stricken by the terrors of God's law, the convert has to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, and the righteous soul is in heaviness through manifold temptations. All the cry is, what can be dons? How may we escape? Who will help us?2. If Christians, we can profitably call to mind many escapes from evil. 3. It becomes us carefully to trace blessings to their source. The poet is less particular to describe the danger and the escape than to proclaim and praise the great Deliverer. We did not save ourselves. It was not the stamp of our foot that quieted the earthquake, not the sound of our voice that stilled the tempest, not the might of our arm that slew the lion, not the power of our hand that rent the network. It was lint any creature except as sent by God, armed with a portion of His strength, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, that in any degree accomplished our salvation. ()
People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Arrogant, Ascents, Contempt, David, Ease, Easy, Exceedingly, Filled, Full, Greatly, Ones, Oppressors, Pride, Proud, Psalm, Ridicule, Sated, Scoffing, Scorn, Scorning, Song, Soul, SportOutline 1. The godly profess their confidence in God
3. And pray to be delivered from contempt
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 123:4 5793 arrogance
8805 pride, results Psalm 123:3-4 5961 superiority Library But Concerning True Patience, Worthy of the Name of this virtue...
12. But concerning true patience, worthy of the name of this virtue, whence it is to be had, must now be inquired. For there are some [2650] who attribute it to the strength of the human will, not which it hath by Divine assistance, but which it hath of free-will. Now this error is a proud one: for it is the error of them which abound, of whom it is said in the Psalm, "A scornful reproof to them which abound, and a despising to the proud." [2651] It is not therefore that "patience of the poor" which …
St. Augustine—On Patience Parable of the Pharisee and Publican.
^C Luke XVIII. 9-14. ^c 9 And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought [It is commonly said that this parable teaches humility in prayer, but the preface and conclusion (see verse 14) show that it is indeed to set forth generally the difference between self-righteousness and humility, and that an occasion of prayer is chosen because it best illustrates the point which the Lord desired to teach. The parable shows that …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Psalm 123:4 NIV
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