The Righteous Encompassed by Mercy
P. Du Bois. Psalm 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusts in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. God's mercies are always more numerous than we see them. We choose to call one tiring or another a benefit and a blessing because it happens to fit our desires, or, at least, our ideas of what a blessing ought to be. But we are too insensible, too short-sighted, to see all the stars of God's goodness in the sky. Only here and there do we perceive a point of light, a larger or a lesser sun or planet. But had we finer spiritual vision, we should perceive the innumerable points of light in what are now to us but the dark interstellar spaces. The highly-sensitized plate of the astronomical photographer reveals a countless multitude of stars where a field-glass, or even a telescope, fails to discover aught but blank space. We have not gone so far yet in our spiritual perceptions — we are not yet so spiritually sensitized — as to see our sky a blaze of light. But each new revelation, each new star or group of stars, as it appears above our horizon, ought to be an evidence that the dark is not darkness, but light unperceived. The sky of life is not merely studded with mercies. It is itself mercy. (P. Du Bois.) Parallel Verses KJV: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. WEB: Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.