The Divine Purpose Concerning Us
Anon. Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands. Every man's character is a germ capable of large development. There are slumbering possibilities in us all. We are made for ends known to God, and there is an ideal in His mind concerning each one of us. I. THE PSALMIST'S TRIUMPHANT CONVICTION. "The Lord will perfect." This is what we need to impart interest to life. There is no cry so pitiful as "Nothing to live for." On all hands there are disappointed folk who, thinking of condition rather than character, find life "tame." But once let a man or woman reach this assurance that through all the various scenes of life God is moulding them, and even by the "strokes of doom" fashioning them "to shape and use," and all the life sparkles with glad significance. II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THE CONVICTION IS BASED. 1. God's mercy. "Thy mercy, O Lord," etc. This must ever be our first appeal, to mercy. For which of us has a flawless record of submission to the Divine purpose? With our past of perversity; what can we do but cast ourselves on God's infinite pity? And in Christ we have the plan of God's redeeming mercy made known to us as it was not to prophet and psalmist of old. We see that mercy has provided for the ruined life to be restored and built up again according to the plan of the great Architect. 2. God's justice. "Forsake not the works of Thine own hands." This is a plea that every reconciled soul may urge. "Thou hast made me: I reverently challenge Thee to complete Thy work." He is a "faithful Creator," and if you are seeking to answer the end for which He made you, His everlasting honour binds Him to fulfil His part. How full are the New Testament pledges to this effect that He will complete His work in our character — Philippians 1:6. (Anon.). Parallel Verses KJV: The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. WEB: Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me; your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don't forsake the works of your own hands. For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.