Homilist Psalm 119:73 Your hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments. I. RECOGNIZING GOD AS THE AUTHOR OF HIS EXISTENCE. "Thy hands." I am not the creature of chance or of necessity, the product of the blind forces of nature. I recognize Thy hands, the hands of infinite skill and goodness. He made us. 1. Then, to study our constitutions is to study Him. 2. Then His claims upon our activities are absolute. No one has a right to us but Himself. We are His. II. LOOKING TO GOD AS THE EDUCATOR OF HIS SPIRIT. Thou hast commandments concerning us — laws that should rule all the powers with which Thou hast endowed us. I am ignorant of them, enlighten me, I beseech Thee. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Thou hast given me a capacity for moral knowledge; but that knowledge I have not. I am in the dark. Kindle within me that light that will enable me to go the way Thou wouldst have me go. I have a wonderful nature that I know not how to use. "Give me understanding." III. IMPLORING GOD AS THE PERFECTER OF HIS BEING. He knew that God made him for the purpose, and that that purpose could only be realized by correct moral information, a practical obedience to His will. And hence he prays, "Give me understanding." 1. This plea is rational. It is from the less to the greater. Thou hast made me for Thyself. I want to be Thine by my own willing and devoted service. Thou madest me without my choice or consent. I entreat Thee to give me that, to make my being a blessing to myself and an honour to Thee. 2. It is a powerful plea. It is the cry of a child in distress to a tender parent. It is more than this — it is the cry of a frail, ignorant, dying creature to the loving and almighty Author of its being. I should not have been, had it not been for Thee. Oh, grant me what I ask, and make my being blessed. 3. It is a loyal plea. What I ask for is, not the gratification of my own selfish wishes, but that; "I may learn Thy commandments" — learn them — practically learn them. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.WEB: Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments. |
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