Homilist Psalm 83:1-18 Keep not you silence, O God: hold not your peace, and be not still, O God.… These words reveal two tendencies in the human mind in relation to the Creator. I. A NECESSARY tendency. By this, I mean, the tendency to think of our Maker as like unto ourselves. The psalmist here imagines Him to be silent and inactive, two conditions Which belong to ourselves, but which are impossible to Him. Indeed, we cannot think of God in any other way. We invest Him with our own attributes, and thus we humanify Him. Hence, how infinitely more glorious is the God which Christ adored and revealed, to the God which even the best men ever had, even the prophet and the apostles. This fact — 1. Accounts for the conflicting theologies of men. 2. Argues the necessity for following Christ. If we would reach exalted ideas of the Great Father, we must study and imitate His Blessed Son. II. A CULPABLE tendency. The culpable tendency indicated here is twofold. 1. A practical ignorement of God's unremitting communications and activity. "Keep not thou silence, O God." Silent! He is never silent. He speaks in all the sounds of nature, in all the events of history, in all the monitions of reason. 2. A proneness to regard Him as indifferent to us because we are in trouble. The psalmist seemed to think that because he and his countrymen were in great trial, the Almighty was silent and indifferent. How often is this the case with us all! How often we are inclined to think in affliction that our Maker has forsaken us! (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: {A Song or Psalm of Asaph.} Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.WEB: God, don't keep silent. Don't keep silent, and don't be still, God. |
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