Psalm 27:9 Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me… In times of distress it is not well always to have a choice of helpers. For while we are selecting, our danger may have overtaken us. While the fox was considering which way to run, the hounds had seized him; while the sick man was selecting the physician, his disease carried him off. It is well to be shut up to one help, if that help is all we need; as the old proverb hath it: "Hobson's choice, that or none." Now, this is the believer's condition. And it is well in going to God to have a good plea, such as is provided for us here: "Thou hast been my help." A soul in sore distress is in no fit condition to puzzle itself over deep, dark reasonings; it wants a child's plea, just as Dr. Guthrie, when dying, wanted "bairns' hymns." It is told of a famous Hebrew scholar, Dr. John Duncan of Edinburgh, that he was easily imposed upon; but the imposition never moved him, and he was willing to submit to it for the chance of doing good. He said, "I find they know how to get round me; they say, 'You helped me before '; and I never can resist that: it teaches me how to pray." And do we not like to help our old pensioners? and they know we do. Now, in our text we have: I. EXPERIENCE GRATEFULLY TELLING HER TALE. How many of us can and must say, "O God, Thou hast been my help"? Go over the history of David, and see how often he had cause to say this. II. NECESSITY PLEADING EXPERIENCE. She pleads, "It is consistent with Thy holiness; it is within Thy power; it is fitting to Thy wisdom; or else all that Thou hast done will be thrown away. Thou art the unchanging God, and to Thy love I appeal." It is the plea of a child to a father, "Father, thou hast always fed me: wilt thou let me starve?" III. EXPERIENCE INSTRUCTING FAITH. To trust, because God has been your help for so long; and so constantly and so singularly; and with glory to Himself. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. |
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